Rev. Kathy Cooper-Ledesma

The Rev. Kathy Cooper-Ledesma, an elder in the California-Pacific Conference of the United Methodist Church, is the Senior Pastor of Hollywood United Methodist Church.

From 1994-2005, Rev. Cooper-Ledesma served the California Council of Churches, the public policy and education arm of the mainline Protestant community in California, as Board Chair and later as program staff.  She directed statewide projects on interfaith relations, public/private partnerships, welfare reform implementation, and faith based child care.  From 2005-2006 she worked as a project specialist at the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture on issues relating to communities of faith and preschool for all, her strong expertise.

Kathy is the author of First Fruits for California’s Working Poor.   This six-session study guide for congregations, published in 2004,  is designed to bring greater awareness to people of faith about the lives and conditions of those receiving federal Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) through the state's CalWORKs (California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids) programs.  

Rev. Cooper-Ledesma is the convener of the board of The Wall/Las Memorias Project and the former chair of the Community Advisory Panel of the LAUSD HIV/AIDS Education and Prevention Unit.   Kathy is one of the founding members of the Homeless Task Force of the Hollywood area faith communities (LA VOICE), and has worked consistently to create community support for permanent supportive housing for the many people who call the streets of Hollywood their home.   She is a board member of Housing Works LA, and a former member of the Los Angeles County Bring LA HOME! Blue Ribbon Panel on Ending Homelessness.  In addition, Kathy served on the County’s Safe Surrender Task Force, resulting in the creation of effective public policies encouraging women to not abandon, but safely surrender, unwanted babies at local hospitals and fire stations. And, Kathy is the past co-chair of the Bishop’s Task Force on Children and Poverty for the Cal-Pac UM Conference.  

In 2005, Kathy received the Boutilier Award for Distinguished Ecumenical Service from the Southern California Ecumenical Council.  She received her B.A. degree from Occidental College and the M. Div. from the Claremont School of Theology.  She has been married to Rene Ledesma for the past 20 years. They and their two sons, James, age 18 and Joshua, age 15 reside in Los Angeles, California.