Santa Monica Close-up

For Black History Month the Third Street Promenade is featuring Santa Monica Trailblazers, Black Santa Monicans who have contributed greatly to our rich history. Their names & faces appear along the Third Street Promenade as part of a decorative banner program.

Featured in this banner is Nat Trives, known around town as "Mr. Santa Monica," Nat Trives has dedicated much of his life to serving the City by the Sea, first as a police officer and later as a member of the City Council, mayor, and an emeritus professor in of Criminal Justice at California State University, Los Angeles.

While at Cal State LA, Nat also served as a special master for the Northern District Federal Court overseeing the consent decree governing the resolution of race and gender bias issues in the San Francisco Police Department. He also served as a member of the senior staff at the Santa Monica Community College District, as deputy superintendent and chief government relations officer with responsibilities for the College Foundation and all external relations.

Nat's six decades of professional work were also paralleled with an impressive string of volunteer commitments with scores of national, state and local organizations. He served on the national boards of both the National Urban League and the National Conference of Community and Justice (NCCJ); and on national committees of the National Association of Independent Schools, the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the National League of Cities. He was a member and chair of the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training; he was a member and Chair of the Los Angeles Regional Criminal Justice Planning Board. Nat was a member of the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) and chaired its Public Safety Committee. He has served as a member and chair of the Personnel Commission for both the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District and the Santa Monica Community College District. He served on the California Commission on Judicial Performance.

Nat is past president of The Rotary Club of Santa Monica and has been an active member since 1976. Nat is currently serving as a member of the board and past president of the Santa Monica Family YMCA. He has served on the Board of the Santa Monica Historical Society Museum. He is past chair of the Board for Santa Monica Convention and Visitor's Bureau and past chair of the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce for 2004-05.

Nat also enjoyed his role as chair of the board of the Center for Healthy Aging, which has merged with WISE & Healthy Aging. His dedication to education also includes having served as president and board chair of Crossroads School, where he enters his 40th year of volunteer service. He is the founding board president and chair of the board of New Visions Foundation, as well as being the founding president and chair of the Board of Trustees of New Roads School. He is a founding board member and past chair of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Westside Coalition. He was a member and past president of the Santa Monica Gems, a local philanthropic scholarship organization which provided thousands of dollars to Black students attending Santa Monica area schools and Santa Monica College prior to its dissolution.

Source: MrSantaMonica.com