Andrea Garcia is a Physician Specialist at the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, where she spends some of her clinical time at the American Indian Counseling Center. As a Mayoral appointee for the Los Angeles City/County Native American Indian Commission, Dr. Garcia serves as Chair of the subcommittee on homelessness. Andrea is an alum of SJPLA’s inaugural Racial Equity Initiative Fellowship.

Community Events Coordinator

Petrona’s purpose in life is to foster spaces of joy and liberation.

Co-Chair

Eric Ares serves as Housing and Homelessness Director for Los Angeles City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez. Prior to this he was the Sr. Manager of Strategy and Systems Change at the United Way of Greater Los Angeles.

Chris Ko serves as VP, Impact & Strategy for the United Way of Greater LA overseeing its efforts to combine community power, donations, and new solutions to support neighbors in crisis and close the prosperity gap.

Paul is best known as a communications and public affairs strategist. Paul has over 25 years of experience working to engage and influence a range of audiences on key issues such as juvenile & criminal justice, racial equity, homelessness and health care.

Secretary

Margaret Hardin is a global products CEO and board director who helps scale B2C and B2B2C companies by building passion brands, creating go-to-market strategies, and evaluating acquisition opportunities.

Program Operations Manager

Anh’s mission in life is to contribute more good to the world.

Michelle’s career has been defined by standing up for equity and access for disenfranchised individuals and communities and is currently the CEO of LIFT.

Treasurer

Vera is a program director at the Weingart Foundation where she manages the John W. Mack Movement Building program, capacity building partnerships and grantmaking in Ventura County.

Healing Justice & Wellbeing Senior Manager

Alli brings a background of project management, administrative operations, event logistics, and wellness work to SJPLA.

Executive Director

Christine is passionate about channeling our collective power to create enduring justice and community.

Senior Program Manager-Racial Equity in Homelessness

Frank brings to SJP over 16 years of experience in creative marketing, digital engagement strategies, and communicating complex issues into compelling brand stories for non-profits.

Co-Chair

Helen Leung is the Executive Director of LA Más, a community-based organization that builds collective power in Northeast Los Angeles.

Program Manager

Michelle has a mission: create spaces where everyone feels like they belong. They value connectedness, justice, and personal growth.

Partnerships Manager

Sharon brings to SJPLA a background in the social change, innovation, and human rights space in Australia, South Korea, and the U.S.

Senior Communications Manager

Teresa has spent her career communicating for nonprofits, private industry, athletics teams, and candidates.

Sam is the Founder & Executive Director of LA Room & Board. With nearly 14 years of experience in higher education as a student affairs practitioner, most of his career has been built in Housing & Residential Education.

Director of Operational and Financial Sustainability

Yolanda enjoys helping people embrace who they are and connecting them to work they love.