The Rishwain Award, sponsored by Brian Rishwain '87, a successful entrepeneur and attorney, seeks to recognize UCLA students who bring an innovative, entrepreneurial spirit to social justice work. 

While working on their undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees, this year's applicants to the second annual Rishwain Social Justice Entrepreneur Award are actively addressing issues such as poverty and homelessness, language and literacy barriers, education, hunger, and criminal justice, just to name a few.

Two UCLA students, Bryan Pezeshki and Krista Barnes, were honored May 18 at the UCLA Meyer and Renee Luskin School of Public Affairs for their efforts to address social justice locally and globally. Each received a $2,500 award.  

Bryan Pezeshki, (pictured left with Brian Rishwain) president of Swipes for the Homeless, a campus group founded by Bryan to help mitigate hunger both on and off campus through an innovative use of unused meal card “swipes.” The "swipes" are collected each academic quarter and are redeemed for meals and non-perishable food for the homeless and hungry in Los Angeles (including Westwood) through a number of local agencies. The Swipes program also helps stock a food closet at UCLA for UCLA students who may be dealing with poverty and homelessness. During a recent drive, Swipes collected more than 4,500 meals which stocked the UCLA Food Closet and also provided 1,000 meals for the Los Angeles-based agency Stand Up for Kids. Bryan is an undergraduate majoring in Neuroscience with a Political Science minor.

Krista Barnes, a graduate student in African Studies, is the founder of The REEL Project, a nonprofit organization that connects people “through, film, music, stories, technology and information.”

Barnes’ organization produces humanitarian films and media projects for populations in the developing world such as the film, Today We Pack, Tomorrow We Settle, whose purpose is to encourage and empower thousands of Congolese refugees to return home.

In addition to its media projects, the organization also provides micro-credit loans to aspiring business owners in post-conflict Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Pictured right is a still from a REEL project screening at a Zambian refugee camp.