Darcel Woods, a native of California, has lived in the Pomona Valley for more than 40 years. Darcel attended schools in the Pomona Unified School District and graduated from Ganesha High School. On an academic scholarship, she earned her Bachelors Degree in Music Education from Cal State University Fullerton, and later attained a Masters in Public Administration from the University of La Verne.
Darcel’s multi-tiered career in Criminal Justice includes her work within the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Orange County Probation Department, and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Division of Juvenile Justice. In 2007, Governer Schwarzenegger appointed Darcel as a Commissioner to the State Board of Parole Hearings; Darcel was charged with determining whether or not a person eligible for parole was suitable for release, making recommendations on pardons, reprieves, and commutation of sentence to the Governor. In addition to this role she has served her community as a deputy sheriff, a probation counselor, a high school teacher, youth correctional counselor, and parole agent.
Darcel has dedicated 19 years to educating and preparing community college students for careers in law enforcement, judicial services, and corrections. She has done this through her work as a professor at Mt. San Antonio College and Chaffey College. Darcel is currently a tenured professor at Chaffey College and has served as the public safety subject area coordinator for three years. For nine years she worked for a Regional Occupational Program (ROP) as their principal grant writer and administrator of their Special Projects Department. While there, Darcel designed programs and lead collaboratives that served Los Angeles and San Bernardino County residents and schools. She led both education reform initiatives and community-based employment training and job placement programs, School to Career, teen pregnancy prevention, “Business In The Classroom”, Success Project (a Correctional Reintegration Program), mentoring programs, CalWORKS employability skills workshops, probation/school district/community school life skills classes, and displaced worker community resource referral services.
Darcel was appointed to 5 two year terms by the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors to its Workforce Investment Board’s Youth Council. She served from 1998 as an Education Representative funding and monitoring community programs which focused on reduction of school drop out rates, after school programs, summer youth on-the-job-training, as well as academic tutoring throughout the county. Darcel has served on the Los Angeles County Economic Development Committee, Mayor Tom Bradley’s Los Angeles County Gang Task Force, and the Los Angeles County Human Relations Council. Darcel has been an alternate delegate to the Los Angeles County Democratic Party Central Committee.
Darcel has been an active member of her community since the 1980’s dedicating her time and attention as a volunteer to varied programs, including community action committees, at-risk youth task force, senior centers, victim advocacy, school music programs, YWCA, food banks, mentoring and youth athletics.
She is the youngest of four children. Her parents Norman (a mail carrier, meat cutter, truck driver, city jailer, and community volunteer) and Carmelita Woods (one of Pomona’s first Head Start teachers, school district truant officer, and community organizer) stressed education, integrity, self-accountability, and solid work ethics. These are some of the core values Darcel will take with her to Sacramento when the people of the 59th Assembly District elect her as their Assemblymember in 2010.