Kristine Lazar to Host Exceptional Children’s Foundation 80th Anniversary Gala

CBS News California investigative journalist and Emmy Award winner to host ECF 80th Anniversary Gala on June 17 in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, June 16, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Kristine Lazar, Emmy Award-winning investigative journalist and CBS News California reporter, will serve as host for the Exceptional Children’s Foundation (ECF) 80th Anniversary Gala on Wednesday, June 17, 2026, at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.

Lazar’s decision to emcee the evening is not incidental. Over a career defined by holding institutions accountable and telling the stories of people the system overlooks, she has covered the world of developmental disability with the same rigor she brings to every investigation. In 2014, she won an Emmy for a feature on a middle-aged woman with Down syndrome who received a surgery that enabled her to dance — a story about what becomes possible when someone finally gets the support they need. ECF has been making that possible for 80 years.

As the mother of three children, Lazar brings to this evening something no script can manufacture: a personal understanding of what it means to want the world to be built for your child. For the nearly 4,000 children, adults, and families ECF serves across Los Angeles County, that is not an aspiration. It is a daily necessity — and one that ECF is, uniquely in California, equipped to meet across every stage of life.

“Kristine Lazar has spent her career giving a voice to people who need one. That is exactly what ECF has been doing since 1946. Having her in that room on June 17 means something to the families we serve — and it means something to us.”
~ Veronica Arteaga, President & CEO, Exceptional Children’s Foundation

Founded in 1946 by a group of Los Angeles parents who built the city’s first program for children with developmental disabilities because no government program would, ECF is the only organization in California delivering services across every stage of life for people with developmental disabilities — from birth through adulthood. According to the World Health Organization, 1 in 6 people worldwide lives with significant disability. ECF’s 80-year record is what a sustained, community-built answer to that reality looks like.

The 80th Anniversary Gala will also feature entertainment by comedian and television host Jay Leno and will honor philanthropists Jenni Kayne and Richard Ehrlich for three generations of family commitment to children and adults with special needs and their longstanding support of ECF’s Kayne Eras School. The evening will include dinner, live and silent auctions, and program highlights reflecting ECF’s eight decades of community impact.

EVENT DETAILS
What: Exceptional Children’s Foundation 80th Anniversary Gala
When: Wednesday, June 17, 2026, 6:00 p.m.
Where: Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90049
Info: ECF.net

ABOUT KRISTINE LAZAR
Kristine Lazar is an Emmy Award-winning investigative journalist and consumer reporter for CBS News California, part of the largest investigative team in the state. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Lazar has spent nearly two decades reporting stories that hold institutions accountable and change outcomes for ordinary Californians. Her reporting on the 2008 Metrolink accident in Chatsworth led directly to the passage of federal legislation limiting cell phone use by train conductors and engineers. She broke what became a multibillion-dollar unemployment benefits fraud scheme during the pandemic and has helped hundreds of victims recover stolen funds. In 2007 she won an Emmy for investigative reporting on child prostitution, and in 2014 for a feature on a woman with Down syndrome whose surgery finally allowed her to dance. She is the mother of three children.

ABOUT EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN’S FOUNDATION
Founded in 1946, Exceptional Children’s Foundation (ECF) is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit and the only organization of its kind in California providing a full spectrum of services for children and adults with developmental disabilities and other special needs, from birth through adulthood. Since its inception, ECF has impacted more than a quarter of a million individuals and families through programs and services that empower people of all abilities to achieve greater independence, confidence, and inclusion. Learn more at ECF.net

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