Lois J. Carson was a secondary educator of English and History. She retired after thirty two years a Director of the Community Action Partnership of Riverside County which focused on family and community development activities for the poor. She holds a BA in English, BS in Elementary Education, and two MS degrees with honors, one in English and one in Education. She is a "Distinguished Alumunus" at both University of California, Riverside and California State University, San Bernardino. After over thirty two years of service to the poor in the Inland Empire of Southern California she retired as the Executive Director of the Community Action Partnership for Riverside County in California. Under Carson's leadership in CAP, they won the prestigious national "Award for Excellence," the only public agency to hold that honor. She led CAP Riverside to distinction as a partner to community-based organizations, cooperating versus competing through funding, training, marketing and recognition.
Mrs. Carson was founder of the local chapter of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) and served twice as president; she also served ten years on the National Board. Carson served 24 years on the Board of Trustees for the San Bernardino Community College District and earned the honor of "Trustee of the Year" from the American Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT). She was co founder of the Assembly for for Catholics of African descent for the Diocese of San Bernardino and was conferred the Papal Award by Pope John Paul 23rd. She currently sits on the Board of the NBCC Catholic Education Foundation. She initiated the development of the Council and Court #257 of the Knights of Peter Claver and she is an active member of St. Anthony Catholic Church.