2012 Fellows

The 2012 BCLI Cohort Has Been Chosen!

Urban Habitat's Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute has chosen sixteen new fellows to train, support and place on priority boards and commissions throughout the region. We are excited to announce the following BCLI 2012 Fellows: 

	Nicholas Alexander (nominated by the City of Richmond Employment and Training Department) is the Facility Manager for the RichmondBUILD Green Careers Academy, where he manages the building performance and EPA Brownfields training. Since joining the City of Richmond, he has worked on a number of projects involving “at-risk” youth, English language learners, displaced workers from the residential construction industry, and the emerging green-collar job industries. Nicholas holds a B.A. in Public Policy and Economics from Duke University. He lives in Richmond.
	Ecaterina Burton (nominated by Ella Baker Center for Human Rights) is the Advocacy and Education Associate at the Alameda County Community Food Bank, where she is in charge of engaging partner agencies and clients in advocacy work on policies around hunger and poverty. Through her work with the Alameda County Community Food Bank, she launched a pilot summer lunch program in collaboration with the City of Oakland and Oakland Public Libraries. She is a founding member of Ella Baker Center’s Soul of the City campaign and an alumnus of the 2012 New Leaders Council. She lives in Oakland.
	Jacqueline Flin (nominated by Brightline Defense Project) is the Executive Director of the A. Philip Randolph Institute-San Francisco, where she advocates for social and economic justice in low-income communities and communities of color. She worked with the Office of Economic and Workforce Development to recruit low-income residents from the Southeast sector of San Francisco to participate in basic training classes. Jacqueline works in a number of multi-sector coalitions to develop education and employment programs for San Francisco residents and played a key role in the development of San Francisco's 2010 local hiring law. She lives in Davis.
	Cristál Gallegos (nominated by New Leaders Council) is a Program Coordinator and Director of La Voz Latina, a community empowerment and family resource center for Latino and other immigrants living in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco. Cristál has volunteered with Prison Radio, Freedom Archives, The Center for Third World Organizing, and was a union organizer for Justice for Janitors, SEIU 1877. She is an alumnus of the 2012 New Leaders Council and is a member of the New Leaders Council Advisory Board. She received her B.A. from San Francisco State University with a double major in Raza Studies and Political Science. She lives in Oakland.
	Mark Garcia (nominated by the Greenlining Institute) is the Systems Administrator at the Greenlining Institute, a national civil rights advocacy organization and think tank. Prior to his work with Greenlining, he worked with the California Community College system. He is an active member of the California Forward Summit steering committee. He has an economics degree from Occidental College and a Masters of Business Administration from Pepperdine University. He serves on the City of Richmond Economic Development Commission and hopes to use his experience and education to increase employment opportunities for Richmond residents. He lives in Richmond.
	Veronica Garcia (nominated by City College of San Francisco) is a Base Building Leader for Students Making a Change (SMAC), a community college student organizing project of Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth. With SMAC, she organized students, faculty, and trustee members to update the placement testing policy at City College of San Francisco to increase academic opportunities for all students, especially students of color. In addition to being a student, an organizer, and an advocate, Veronica is also a proud single mother, and a caretaker and healthcare advocate for her mother. She lives in San Francisco.
	Marlene Hurd (nominated by the Oakland Housing Authority) is a Commissioner for the Oakland Housing Authority, and was a seven-year resident of the Oakland Housing Authority prior to her appointment to the Board. She is the Chair of the OHA Board of Commissioners Ad Hoc Education Policy Committee and is a member of the Resident Advisory Board. Marlene is a graduate of Laney College, where she studied Labor Studies and of Mills College, where she studied Ethnic Studies and Public Policy. She is a former student trustee with Peralta Community Colleges Board and currently serves on the Mayor’s Commission on Persons with Disabilities and the Alameda County Consumer Affairs Commission. She lives in Oakland.
	Angela Jenkins (nominated by Victor Nelson, Class of 2010) serves on the San Francisco Human Rights Commission Equity Advisory Committee. She actively engages civic organizations that seek to equalize opportunity and redress and level playing fields in communities impacted by a legacy of institutional and unconscious bias. Angela is a graduate of the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University and her graduate work in social science statistics investigated the correlation between volunteerism and religiosity. She is a member of the African American Leadership Council and the San Francisco Out-Migration group. She lives in San Francisco.
	Sandhya Jha (nominated by East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy) is the Director of the Oakland Peace Center, which utilizes a physical space to incubate collaboration between non-profits working to create justice and peace in the city of Oakland and the Bay Area. Sandhya also serves as co-pastor of First Christian Church of Oakland and recently served as an interfaith organizer with the successful Revive Oakland campaign for good jobs at the former Oakland Army Base. She is the author of “Room at the Table: The Struggle for Dignity and Unity in Disciples History,” a book about people of color in the Disciples of Christ denomination of the Christian Church. She lives in Oakland.
	Jasmine Jones (nominated by the Black Organizing Project) is an Organizer for the Black Organizing Project in Oakland, where she works on the Bettering Our School System campaign, membership development, and youth development. Jasmine was introduced to organizing through a course tailored for organizing in communities of color provided by the Center for Third World Organizing. She hopes to use her organizing experience to work with community members to rebuild the spirit of Richmond and be a catalyst for building a more healthy equitable community. She received her B.A. in Sociology and the John Kinch Humanitarian Award from San Francisco State University. She lives in Richmond.
	Catherine-Mercedes Brillantes Judge (nominated by South of Market Community Action Network) is the Programs Associate at the Youth Leadership Institute and a Client Manager with PapaLoDown PR & Marketing. Catherine-Mercedes is a native of San Francisco and has experience coordinating programs with youth, political, labor, and community organizations in the Bay Area and New York City. She serves on the boards of the South Of Market Community Action Network and the Transitional Age Youth Initiative of San Francisco. She graduated with honors from Queens College in New York with a B.A. in Urban Studies. She lives in San Francisco.
	Audrey Lee (nominated by Jessica Buendia, Class of 2010) is the Energy Advisor at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), where she advises the President of the Commission on energy-related policies, focusing on investments in the smart grid, transmission infrastructure, energy storage, electric vehicles, natural gas, and research and development. Prior to her work with the CPUC, Audrey was a Presidential Management Fellow and senior economist at the Office of Policy and International Affairs at the U.S. Department of Energy. She holds a B.S. in applied physics from the California Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Princeton University. She lives in San Francisco.
	Zoë Polk (nominated by Theresa Sparks, Executive Director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission) is an attorney with the San Francisco Human Rights Commission (SFHRC), where she investigates and mediates discrimination complaints and works to eliminate systematic inequities through law enforcement and advocacy. Prior to joining the SFHRC, Zoë was a civil litigator, practicing in the areas of police misconduct, civil rights and consumer law. She currently serves on the leadership team of Outdoor Afro, a social community that reconnects African-Americans with natural spaces and one another through recreational activities. She lives in San Francisco.
	Dennis Rojas (nominated by Latino Connection PAC) has over 15 years of experience in the workforce development field as both a policy analyst and a practitioner. He has extensive knowledge of workforce legislation and policy, job training, employment services, and initiatives administered through the Workforce Investment Act. Dennis has directed and managed employment programs in six Bay Area counties and has worked with the Employment Development Department, the Department of Rehabilitation, the Veterans Administration, the Department of Labor, and government officials, and employment agencies throughout the region. He lives in Oakland.
	Robert Stahl (nominated by the Alameda County Public Health Department) was a Policy Associate in the Community Assessment, Planning, Education, and Evaluation Unit at the Alameda County Health Department, an agency that employs a policy and systems change approach to advancing its mission of health equity. Robert was previously a Local Organizing Fellow at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, where he worked with the Oakland Climate Action Coalition and the Green Collar Jobs campaign. He is currently pursuing a graduate degree from the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. He lives in Oakland.
	Patricia Zamora (nominated by Causa Justa::Just Cause) is the Oakland Lead Organizer at Causa Justa::Just Cause (CJJC), where she developed the organization’s first Tenant Rights Clinic in Oakland and works to defend low-income Oakland tenants against displacement. Prior to her work with CJJC, Patricia co-founded a queer Latina youth support group, Aquellas L.O.C.A.S., facilitated summer and after school programs for Latin@ immigrant youth, and started and coordinated a teen health program at Good Samaritan Family Resource Center. She serves on the Oakland Building Services Advisory Task Force. She lives in Oakland.