Nayiri Nahabedian has been a committed community activist, children’s advocate, and champion of progressive education policies for over twenty-five years. She has dedicated her personal and professional life to improving the lives of the children and families in the community around her, and has cultivated a long history of leadership and service.
Nayiri moved to Glendale from the Boston area while a teenager, and graduated from Glendale High School. She enrolled in Glendale Community College, where she was part of the Scholars Program. She then transferred to UCLA, where she would earn a Bachelor’s in psychology.
After receiving her Master’s in Social Welfare from UCLA’s School of Public Policy and Social Research, she worked for the LA County Department of Children and Family Services in the central and south Los Angeles areas. She helped struggling families recover from physical and sexual abuse, domestic violence, and drug addiction. Later, her passion for community building and learning led her to become a full-time faculty at California State University, Los Angeles’s School of Social Work, where she teaches courses on child wellness, public policy, and social justice.
As an elected member of the Glendale Unified School District’s Board of Education since 2007, she is a forceful advocate for every student’s opportunity to learn and succeed, and a staunch supporter of workers at all levels. She has played a critical, district-wide role in significantly reducing the rates of expulsion and suspension, introducing mental health services by social worker interns, strengthening foreign language academies and establishing financial literacy curriculum.
She currently serves on the California Children’s Savings Account (CSA) Coalition, California Suburban School Districts consortium, Los Angeles County School Trustees Association, and the GUSD’s World Languages Advisory Committee and Adelante Latinos Committee. She is Advisor to California State Assemblyman Nazarian on a trailblazing initiative that will create a savings account for every child born in California.
Nayiri has previously served as the vice-chair of the Commission on the Status of Women for the City of Glendale, the co-chair of Community Action Against Bullying, the chair of the Forum for Armenian Cultural and Social Studies, the co-chair for Californians for a New Century Alliance. She also served on the Board of the Montrose-Verdugo Chamber of Commerce, Glendale Civic Leaders Roundtable, Sunrise Rotary’s Bully Me Not Coalition, the Association of Low Wealth School Districts, Glendale Parks and Recreation Social Service Providers Consortium, and the Los Angeles County Committee on School District Organization. Lastly, Nayiri cofounded community programs and organizations, including the Generation Next Mentorship Program.
