After a near fatal bike accident 17 years ago, Austin chose a different path and has worked to make life better for people in Los Angeles.
 
Austin has always been a problem solver in business, in government and nonprofits. The results show it.

• The problem: barely 1 in 5 California public schools had a full time arts and music program. 
  
  Austin’s solution: He authored and led a coalition to pass Proposition 28, adding $1 billion annually for arts and music in our public schools, without raising taxes.
• The problem: 1 in 4 children need glasses, but many kids in low-income communities don’t have them, causing them to fall behind in school. Austin’s solution: He founded and oversees Vision to Learn, a nonprofit that provides children in low income communities with free eye exams and glasses – more than 600,000 kids across the country and 200,000 in LA now have the glasses they need to succeed in school and in life.