San Diego Martin Luther King, Jr. Foundation
Keeping the dream alive through scholarships to deserving youth since 1990
Reese A. Jarrett, President
Reese A. Jarrett is the President & CEO of E. Smith & Company, a real estate development, property management and asset management company that has engaged in over $100 million in real estate transactions in California and throughout the United States. He is a native of San Diego with a proud legacy as an entrepreneur, philanthropist, developer, volunteer and most importantly as an individual who has dedicated his life to improving the San Diego community.
Reese Jarrett's initial impact on San Diego was witnessed during the Civil Rights movement while he was Associated Student Body President at Abraham Lincoln High School from 1968-1969. He served as the very persuasive and articulate student spoke person for the unprecedented 10 day student walkout. The walkout resulted in the San Diego Unified School District’s Superintendent accepting all the demands of the student body including the hiring of the first African American principal in the school district’s history, Dr. Ernest Hartzog. He continued this journey as a real estate developer in San Diego. He and his business partner, the late Tom Carter, through Carter Reese & Associates directed the development and construction of over $200 million in real estate projects totaling approximately 600 residential and commercial units. They set the standard for quality urban in-fill development in San Diego’s older neighborhoods. They received local, regional and national recognition for their innovative design and planning. Reese Jarrett demonstrated a passion and commitment to the communities that he grew up in as a child. Specifically, he built affordable, quality housing in Southeast San Diego neighborhoods at a time when most developers didn’t even believe a market existed for such product. His willingness to invest in his community inspired a renewed sense of ownership and pride among families in communities that were often neglected and resulted in new investments in our traditionally underserved communities. A development that was the highlight of his career is the 23-unit quality affordable housing development at Jarrett Heights, named in honor of his father. This development set the standard for entry-level housing.
Mr. Jarrett has served on many Boards of Directors and various City and County Boards and Commissions. Mr. Jarrett has received numerous honors and awards for his many contributions to the San Diego community including the San Diego Daily Transcript 120 Top Influentials, the NAACP Business Development Award, the African American Golfers Hall of Fame Humanitarian Award, San Diego Magazine 50 People to Watch, the Greater San Diego Business Development Council Advocate of the Year Award, the KPBS Local Hero Award for Business, the Urban Housing Developer of the Year Award, the City of San Diego 4th City Council District Developer of the Year Award, the City of San Diego Recycler of the Year Award, and the San Diego Junior Achievement 30 under 30 Award. Reese Jarrett, a University of Redlands graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a licensed Real Estate Broker.
Board of Directors
Donald J. Schiffer, Esq., Secretary
Donald Schiffer is a higly respected lawyer in the San Diego community with over 30 years experience in corporate, finance, banking, and real estate law. He has built a reputation as a strategic advisor to boards of directors, senior management and entrepreneurs. Since 1994, he has been offering his services and expertise as an attorney primarily in the areas of business and real estate transactions law; representing entrepreneurs, investors, real estate developers and startups and existing small to mid-sized companies in their corporate, real estate and financial activities as well as forming and advising non-profit corporations. Prior to opening his practice, Mr. Schiffer had extensive experience in the real estate and banking, as member of the senior management and legal teams. He has served on the Board of Directors of several privately held corporations. He is a member of the California Bar and a graduate of from the University of Iowa (BBA) and Thomas Jefferson School of Law (JD).
Reverend George Walker Smith, Board Member
Reverend George Walker Smith has been breaking barriers in San Diego since 1963. After successfully advocating for district-based elections, he was the first African American to not only serve on the San Diego Unified School District Board of Education, but he became the first African American to hold public office in San Diego. During his sixteen years on the Board of Education, Reverend Smith led the board seven times as president or vice-president and worked tirelessly to successfully diversify the administration and teaching staff within the District. Nationally, Reverend Smith served as president of the Council of Great City Schools in 1972 and president of the National School Board Association in 1976. He was a member of the White House Conference on Children and Youth, the White House Committee on Education and the Arts, the Appeal Board of the National Council for Teacher Accreditation, and the National Advisory Commission on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. In 1989, Reverend Smith co-founded the Innovative Preschool Project, subsequently establishing the School of Success, now the McGill School of Success Kindergarten Charter. He also served in leadership roles on the California School Board Association, The Board of Trustees of San Diego Community College District, the California Junior College Association Committee on Student Personnel and Overseers Advisory Board of the University of California. Reverend Smith served as Pastor of the Christ United Presbyterian Church and is the Founder of the nationally acclaimed “Catfish Club.” He has received countless honors, awards and recognition for his many contributions to the City of San Diego, California, the United States and the world at large.
Dr. Dorothy L.W. Smith, Board Member
Dr. Dorothy L. W. Smith was educated in segregated schools in the Jim Crow South, where she learned from caring teachers the positive influence a teacher can have on the outcome of a child, even in the most difficult circumstances. At an early age, she set her goal on becoming a teacher in order to help students like herself to aspire. She earned three degrees while rearing her family and became an exemplary teacher, serving for 31 years at the high school, community college, and university levels. At San Diego State University, she became the first director of the Aim-to-Teach Program and greatly increased the number of African American and other students of color in San Diego State’s teacher credentialing programs. In 1981, Dr. Smith was elected to the San Diego Unified School District Board of Education. As a two-term board member, she advocated for groundbreaking measures to improve the education of all students, particularly students of color who had routinely been denied the opportunity for equal access to the highest and best courses, class sections, schools, teachers, and academic assistance. She also initiated the practice of displaying test data by racial group to reveal disparities among ethnic groups and the development of annual academic profiles to discern the quality of education and the resources at each school. As the first African American woman to be elected to public office in the City of San Diego, Dr. Smith served twice as president of the Board of Education and was awarded the Distinguished School Boards Award by the United States Secretary of Education. In addition, she received numerous awards for her commitment to San Diego’s and America’s children.
