California Leaders of Color Fellows

2011-2012

	TSHAKA BARROWS | Community Justice Network for Youth Director, W. Haywood Burns Institute Tshaka Barrows is the Director for Community Justice Network for Youth (CJNY), a program of the W. Haywood Burns Institute (BI). CJNY is a national network of community-based agencies working primarily with youth of color and low income youth involved or at risk of involvement in the juvenile justice system. The focus is to keep young people out of detention and in their communities. Currently Tshaka is spearheading the development of community engagement strategies that empower community members to hold their juvenile justice systems accountable for racial and ethnic disparities.
	RAJASVINI BHANSALI | Executive Director, International Development Exchange Rajasvini is passionate about building the capacity of people and organizations to facilitate participatory and grassroots-led social change. She is currently the Executive Director of International Development Exchange (IDEX), a 25 year old grantmaking organization that promotes lasting social transformation through long term partnerships with innovative and impactful community led initiatives in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and through social change alliances in the United States. Vini has led a nationally renowned youth development organization; run a public sector community technology fund; and worked as a community organizer. Born and raised in India, Vini earned a Master′s in Public Affairs (MPA) with a focus on technology and telecommunications policy from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and Bachelor′s degrees in Astrophysics and Interdisciplinary Studies from UC Berkeley. She is a published poet and essayist and lives in San Francisco with her partner.
	EDDIE CARMONA | Executive Director, Faith In Action, Bakersfield & Greater Kern County  Eddie Carmona has been working with the PICO Network for six years, after spending five years as both a Community Organizer & Lead Organizer with OCCCO in Orange County he stepped into the role of Executive Director with Faith In Action. He is a graduate of PICO’s first Organizers Of Color (OOC) Leadership Class and has helped lead PICO’s regional Spanish Leadership Trainings in California. Prior to his work with PICO, Eddie studied grassroots organizing efforts in southern Mexico and the effects of free-trade agreements on local economies.  In addition, he served as a Student Organizer at UC Davis, where he graduated with his B.A. in Communications & Chican@ Studies (Social Policy emphasis) in 2005. He is originally from the city of La Puente in East Los Angeles.
	RAQUEL DONOSO | Executive Director, Latino Community Foundation Raquel Donoso is committed to building equity and sustainable communities in California. She is currently the Executive Director of the Latino Community Foundation, whose mission is to build a better future for California's communities by investing in Latino children and their families. Prior to that, Raquel was the Associate Director of Latino Issues Forum, a statewide public policy and advocacy institute. She has authored reports on the environment, health disparities, reproductive health, and education issues facing Latinos. Raquel has directed campaigns to improve access to health care for families, improve the environmental health conditions for communities throughout the state, address education equity, and increase civic participation in the Latino community. She has organized communities around electoral initiative campaigns in California including parental notification, employer-based health insurance, and the collection of data by race/ethnicity. A native of Los Angeles, Raquel now lives in the Bay Area.
	PATTY FERNANDEZ | Director, Girls Incorporated of the Central Coast Patty Fernandez, is currently the director for Girls, Inc. of the Central Coast. She has been with the organization for over 10 years. She is responsible for the management of all programs, including developing new enrichment components, coordinating recruitment of mentors and participants and overseeing the expansion of the programs to new schools. Her previous work includes being a counselor at California State University, Monterey Bay. There she worked with college and high school students, parents, and administrators, planning special events and fundraisers. She graduated from California State University, Monterey Bay with Bachelor of Arts in Education and received her Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of Phoenix.
	LISA FU | Coordinator, California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative Lisa Fu is the coordinator for the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative. The Collaborative strives towards environmental justice for the nail and beauty salon community. She is continually inspired by the communities and organizations that she works with to continue the fight for community-led change to improve the conditions of people's lives. She was born and raised in Los Angeles, has lived in San Diego, San Francisco, and Guam.
	PAMELA GUDINO | Family Support Program Director, Somos Mayfair Pamela holds a Masters degree in Public Health from San Jose State University. She has worked as a community organizer, primarily in farm worker communities in the Central Valley, and as a health educator, with an emphasis on chronic disease prevention and self-management. She also has experience conducting research and evaluations of health promotion and disease prevention programs. Pamela leads Somos Mayfair’s Family Support Program and supports the development of the promoter-led family wellness and early school success programming, recruitment, and deployment.
	NIKKI HENDERSON | Executive Director, People’s Grocery Nikki Henderson is the Executive Director of People's Grocery in Oakland, CA. People’s Grocery is a non-profit organization working to improve the health and economy of the West Oakland community through a local food system, connecting the social determinants of health to economic justice and healthy eating.
	XANDRA IBARRA | Program Coordinator, Partnership for Immigrant Leadership and Action Xandra Ibarra is a queer Chicana community organizer and performance artist raised on El Paso/Juarez border and currently living in the Oakland.  She has organized in communities of color within and outside the non-profit sector for over ten years in Texas, Washington, and now California.  She served on the national steering committee of INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, a national feminist organizing body of people of color, and is the founder and artistic director for Kaleidoscope Cabaret, a queer and people of color arts event.   She is currently a lecturer at San Francisco State University where she teaches Ethnic Studies and Queer of Color Theory.  Her performance work explores Chican@ iconography, issues of race, gender, and sexuality.
	AKUA JACKSON | Executive Director, Youth Together Akua Jackson is a native of Detroit, Michigan and graduated from the University of Michigan with a BA in International Grassroots Development.  She also completed a teaching credential program at New College of California.  Over the last 13 years, Akua has worked extensively with youth and young adults internationally and in the Bay Area as an organizer, a teacher, program coordinator, and facilitator.  Prior to joining Youth Together Akua ran the Organizing Training Program at the School of Unity and Liberation (SOUL) in Oakland.  She is currently serving as Youth Together's Executive Director.
	REY LEÓN | Executive Director, Valley LEAP Born in Fresno and raised in the Huron area. Rey has been organizing in the Valley for the past eighteen years and for the past nine years he has been advocating and successfully building coalitions, community capacity, advancing public policy; placement of the first PM 2.5 air quality monitor on the West Side of the Valley, systems change; developing the first ever environmental justice strategy for both the Fresno County Council of Governments and the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District as well as the formation of EJ bodies within both institutions and much more.  He is the founder and Executive Director of the San Joaquin Valley Latino Environmental Advancement & Policy Project (Valley LEAP), a Latino Valley based non-profit organization. Through Valley LEAP, Rey continues to organize with the grassroots and other partners to promote clean energy alternatives, green jobs and diesel mitigation in concentrated clusters of poverty in the central San Joaquin Valley.
	ARSENIO MATAKA | Directing Attorney, California Rural Legal Assistance, Stanislaus County Born and raised in the San Joaquin Valley, Arsenio Mataka has long been a passionate advocate for rural and underserved communities, with more than 10 years of community organizing and capacity building experience. He currently serves as Directing Attorney at CRLA in Stanislaus County, where he has the opportunity to fight for justice and individual rights alongside low-income communities.
	DIANE ORTIZ | Executive Director, Youth Alliance As the Executive Director of the Youth Alliance, Diane Ortiz works to establish services for underserved and vulnerable youth while working collaboratively to advocate for lasting community change. She has served on various committees and boards such as the San Benito County Mental Health Advisory Board, San Benito County Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council, and currently serves as a board member of the Community Foundation for San Benito County and the Region V Advisory Board.
	CAMILLE PANNU | Equal Justice Works Fellow & Staff Attorney, Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment Camille Pannu co-coordinates the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment’s Green and Just Economic Development campaign, which works to transform the San Joaquin Valley’s dirty and dangerous industrial economy through community-owned, “green” economic development projects. In collaboration with base-building community organizations, Camille supports grassroots efforts in creating shared, local economic and community projects. Raised in Richmond, California, Camille is  passionate about identifying strategies for building power, dismantling social inequality, and democratizing policy- and decision-making to include impacted and historically marginalized communities.
	MARY JANE SKELLERUP | Senior Director of Programs, Youth Leadership Institute, Central Valley MaryJane Skellerup is Senior Director of Programs, Central Valley at the Youth Leadership Institute where she oversees community programs that engage youth and adult partnerships in action research and advocacy using environmental prevention strategies to encourage healthier choices around substance abuse, nutrition and academic success. Previously, she was Regional Director for the Center for Multicultural Cooperation where, in addition to overseeing the production of over 150 volunteer produced digital stories featuring the Veteran, Hmong, Latino, Khmer and Laotian communities of Fresno, she developed and managed FresYES! Productions, a youth-run social enterprise that provides media production services to local CBOs. As Associate Director for the Global Information Internship Program at UC Santa Cruz, she taught courses on applying innovative information solutions to prolific CBO challenges and continues to return to campus each year as a Distinguished Visitor in Global Information and Social Enterprise Studies.
	DAVID VILLARINO GONZALEZ | President & CEO, Farmworker Institute of Education and Leadership Development (FIELD) David Villarino Gomez is President and CEO of the Farmworker Institute of Education and Leadership Development (FIELD), founded in 1978 by Cesar E. Chavez.   David worked for 28 years for the UFW, was appointed FIELD CEO in 2000 and elected President in 2008. FIELD’s Mission is to “Promote Economic and Social Prosperity for Latinos and other low-wage, low-skilled workers and their families.”  David is the grandson of Juan De Dios Gonzalez, the farmworker leader who led the first successful de-segregation lawsuit in the US. (Alvarez v. School Board, San Diego Federal District Court, 1931).
	QUYEN VUONG | Executive Director, International Children Assistance Network Quyen Vuong co-founded and currently serves as Executive Director of International Children Assistance Network (ICAN), a nonprofit organization with programs helping Vietnamese children and families in the Bay area and in Viet Nam.  Quyen also serves on the Board of Director of the Santa Clara Family Health Foundation, Pacific Links Foundation and participates in Community Advisory Committees of Mission College, San Jose Children's Discovery Museum, FIRST 5 Santa Clara County.  She received the Fulbright Fellowship in 1989 to work in the Vietnamese refugee camps in Hong Kong, and was inducted into Stanford Asian Alumni Hall of Fame in 2006.  Quyen holds a BA in Economics from Yale University and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
	MAIKA YANG | Executive Director, Stone Soup Fresno MaiKa Yang is the new executive director of Stone Soup Fresno. Previously she served as its Development/Training Officer. Compassion drives MaiKa to work closely with young people, parents, seniors, and members in the Southeast Asian community to develop leaders and advocates for the Central Valley region. MaiKa received her B.A. from the University of California at Davis in community and regional development with an emphasis on community groups, organization and management. MaiKa is a graduate of The Women’s Foundation of California Women’s Policy Institute. She is a recipient of KQED’s Youth Spirit Award for her work with young Hmong women and the KSEE 24 Asian American Portraits of Success Award.

2010-2011

Jaime Alvarado
Executive Director, Somos Mayfair
San Jose, CA

Fania Davis
Executive Director, Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth
Oakland, CA

Kanwarpal Dhaliwal
Co Executive Director, RYSE
Richmond, CA

Tiffany Eng
Co-Director, Asian Pacific Islander American Youth Promoting Advocacy and Leadership (AYPAL)
Oakland, CA

Jason Harvey
Founder/Executive Director, Oakland Food Connection
Oakland, CA

Lisa Hoyos
California Director, California Apollo Alliance
San Francisco, CA

Sujatha Jesudason
Executive Director, Generations Ahead
Oakland, CA

N'Tanya Lee
Executive Director, Coleman Advocates for Children & Youth
San Francisco, CA

thuan nguyen
Coordinator/ Director, CA Fund for Youth
Los Angeles, CA

Samuel Nuñez
Executive Director, Fathers & Families of San Joaquin
Stockton, CA

Dorsey Nunn
Executive Director, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
San Francisco, CA

Ana Pérez
Executive Director, CARECEN SF
San Francisco, CA

Elsa Quezada
Executive Director, Central Coast Center for Independent Living
Salinas, CA

Mari Rose Taruc
State Organizing Director, Asian Pacific Environmental Network
Oakland, CA

Sherry Tennyson
Executive Director, American Canyon Family Resource Center
American Canyon, CA

Manish Vaidya
Co-Coordinator, Alliance of South Asians Taking Action
San Francisco, CA

2009-2010

Nikki Bas
Executive Director, East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy
Oakland, CA

Susana De Anda
Co-Executive Director/ Co-Founder, Community Water Center
Visalia, CA

Jayeesha Dutta
Co-Director, Youth In Focus & Mind Power Collective
Oakland, CA

Alicia Garza
Co-Executive Director, People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER)
San Francisco, CA

Javier Guzman
Executive Director, Chicano Youth Center
Fresno, CA

Lamar Henderson
Program Coordinator, "All Dads Matter"
Merced, CA

Keith Kelley
President/CEO, Fresno West Coalition for Economic Development
Fresno, CA

Jeremy Lahoud
Executive Director, Californians for Justice Education Fund
Oakland, CA

Destiny Lopez
Executive Director, ACCESS/Women's Health Rights Coalition
Oakland, CA

Alma Martinez
Reporter, Radio Bilingue
Fresno, CA

Khanh Pham
Associate Director, National Radio Project
Oakland, CA

Gerald Richards
Executive Director, NFTE Bay Area
San Francisco, CA

Lolita Roibal
Program Director, Mobilize the Immigrant Vote
San Francisco, CA

Kemi Role
WAHT Program Director, Women's Community Clinic
San Francisco, CA

Joy Rucker
Executive Director, HIV Education and Prevention Project of Alameda Co
Oakland, CA

Marcela Ruiz
Directing Attorney, California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc.
Stockton, CA

Daniela Simunovic
Community Organizer, Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment
Delano, CA

Khampha Thephavong
Advisor/Board of Director, Lao-American Advancement
Fresno, CA