Board of Directors
 Jael Myrick is the Chair of the Saffron Strand Board of Directors. Jael has served West Contra Costa communities for the past two years as a Field Representative for California Assemblymember Nancy Skinner. At age 21, Jael founded the organization Standing To Represent Our Next Generation (STRONG) to encourage young people to be politically active and advocate for their interests. He also has coordinated Membership Action Campaigns for the California League of Conservation Voters. Jael joined the Board of Saffron Strand in early 2010 because of a long held commitment to fighting poverty and working to improve the lives of the homeless and people who have suffered economically.
 Lea Hundley is the Vice Chair of the Saffron Strand Board of Directors and its founding Chair who joined the Board in 2009. She works at Seton Medical Center Foundation as an executive assistant and office manager. She has five years of experience at Seton providing direct support for the executive director and has expertise in planning large events and grant writing. Lea is adept at working with the Seton Board of Directors, CEOs, and other high-profile business executives and community leaders. Lea's abilities to organize and build community are outstanding. She joined Saffron Strand because she believes that everyone deserves a real opportunity to succeed. Lea's way of giving back to the community is to help create opportunities for homeless persons, enabling them to resume productive, independent lives.
 Chysandra Nair is the Secretary of Saffron Strand, Inc. She works at the Richmond Police Department as a dispatcher. Prior to moving to California, Chi worked in Wisconsin as the statewide coordinator of the Minority Counselor Training Institute of the Wisconsin Association on Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse and as a laboratory technician in the University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison. In volunteer work, she has helped rebuild homes destroyed by a hurricane, cooked meals in a center for abused children, and helped the victims of vehicle collisions, heart attacks, and attempted suicides as a firefighter and emergency medical technician. Chi appreciates how Saffron Strand can help homeless persons use their time productively, improve their social and vocations skills, and interact in positive ways with their communities.
 Grace Shocron, the founding Vice Chair of the Saffron Strand Board, is the owner and manager of Panache The Spa, whose volunteer professionals were vital to the successful start up of Saffron Strand services for the homeless. Panache The Spa is one of the most successful service and retail businesses in the "Gourmet Ghetto" of North Berkeley. Grace has an entrepreneurial background that includes more than 25 years in business in the Bay Area. She has extensive experience in vocational training and team-building for numerous salon operations. A native of the Philippines, Grace believes in the power of community, especially to help the less fortunate learn to help themselves. Those who benefit then can help others who are less fortunate, too. Saffron Strand's solutions to homelessness spring from this strategy.
 Priscilla Leadon is the Dean of Economic Development and Career Technical Education at Contra Costa College where she secures and manages education grants for special populations including foster youth and middle and high school students, as well as for local workforce and community organizations. She also handles grants to support career technical education or occupational careers programs at the college, where she previously administered programs such as EOPS, CalWORKs, CARE, and Re-Entry and Outreach. Priscilla’s previous work experience includes executive administration, sales management, and personnel recruitment in information technology (IT) and other fields. Priscilla holds a Master of Science degree in Educational Psychology-Counseling from California State University-East Bay. She recognizes the special role Saffron Strand can play in helping the homeless re-enter the job market with valuable, in-demand work skills.
 Jeanice Cummings has more than 20 years of experience as a professional practitioner in human services fields, most recently brokering supportive services for pregnant incarcerated women and teens, along with related program planning and design. She has worked as a dual diagnosis case manager, crisis counselor, and program coordinator for a San Francisco Bay Area battered women’s program. Jeanice’s experience includes work as a juvenile probation officer, home supervisor for juveniles placed on house arrest, facilitator of parenting groups in juvenile hall, food program specialist, legal aid intern, rental counselor, and homeless advocate. Jeanice supports Saffron Strand’s work on an individual, intensive basis to improve the lives of homeless women with children and youth.
 Joe Escobedo is an entrepreneur and authority on personal image consulting for a cross-generational audience, with achievements throughout the Bay Area as a makeup artist and licensed cosmetologist. Joe has a diverse and devoted clientele at a busy nursing home salon franchise he owns and as a master hair stylist in an upscale Berkeley spa. He also delivers self-assurance and positive self-image on location, from weddings to hospital rooms, marketing through his website, www.theglambox.me. Local media have featured Joe for his work benefiting the indigent elderly. Also, he was a volunteer hair stylist at Saffron Strand's debut in providing personal care and wellness services at Project Homeless Connect 4 in Richmond. Joe knows he can help the homeless even more by applying his expertise and energy as a Saffron Strand board member.
 Rodrigo Sicilia is an event coordinator and fundraiser who assists non-profit organizations throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. He specializes in getting young people aware, involved, and politically active in their communities. Rodrigo has been working with youth since 1999. His first experience in youth activism was in the Mission District of San Francisco where he became a youth leader working with a wide variety of youth, including gang affiliates and gang members. He led youth groups in faith-based organizations, exercising an open-door policy so that anyone in high school could attend and speak out about any troubling topic in their communities. Rodrigo’s education has included training through the Gamaliel Foundation in Chicago where he excelled in the National Leadership Training program. He has used his training to help organizations with event consulting and funding development. Through his work, Rodrigo has been able to inspire people of all ages to become self-empowered and self-motivated in order to overcome obstacles in their personal lives and in their communities. Rodrigo recognizes the potential of Saffron Strand to change the lives of homeless youth, helping them re-direct their energy and effort in positive ways that benefit themselves and their communities.
 Reverend Brian Stein-Webber is the Executive Director of the Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County, a board-based organization of 105 congregations and groups which promotes understanding chaplaincy, partnership, advocacy and service. He is also pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Oakland. Reverend Stein-Webber received his Master of Divinity degree from Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary (PLTS) in Berkeley and served congregations in Phoenix, Arizona and Long Beach, California as well as serving as an administrator of PLTS. He is married to the Reverend Mary Stein-Webber, a therapist in Oakland, and has two children, Philip and Juliana. Reverend Stein-Webber seeks to help Saffron Strand network among many faith and community based groups in which he is active and where Saffron Strand can complement and enhance other efforts to reduce homelessness.
 Katherine Lucero is an Honorary Board Member of Saffron Strand. She is a Superior Court judge of Santa Clara County who currently sits as supervising judge in Juvenile Dependency Court, overseeing hundreds of cases involving abused and neglected children. Her judicial experience includes the Superior Court Appellate Division, Juvenile Delinquency Court, Adult Criminal Court, Family Court, and Dependency Court. In 2002, Judge Lucero started a Family Treatment Court to assist parents with substance abuse problems. Before her judicial appointment by the governor in 2001, she had spent her entire legal career in the area of child abuse and neglect, including work as a deputy district attorney specializing in crimes against children and the elderly and as a Juvenile Dependency Superior Court commissioner. Judge Lucero has trained other judges and child welfare professionals at local, state, and national conferences on issues such as the impact of domestic violence on children, family drug courts, immigration issues in dependency court, and the disproportionate impact of the child welfare system on children of color. Judge Lucero sees potential in the Saffron Strand approach to improve the lives of children and their parents who are homeless.
 Yvonne Nair is the Founder, President, and CEO of Saffron Strand, Inc. As a non-profit executive director, Yvonne has led the successful growth and development of large and small organizations in public health and human services, including the Wisconsin Association on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, ARH Recovery Homes, and Contra Costa Clubhouses. Her expertise covers innovative workforce development programs and non-traditional vocational education and job training. She holds a B.S. in psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as well as certifications in small business, office software applications, and social services training institutes. Born and raised in Malaysia, Yvonne is a naturalized U.S. citizen with two adult children. She founded Saffron Strand to meet the critical need for new solutions to the problem of homelessness.
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Advisory Committee
 Larry Gottlieb is the Director of Adult Homeless and Outreach Services at Eliot Community Human Services in Lexington, Massachusetts. He has more than 30 years of experience in helping underserved populations, including the homeless in Northeastern and New England states. He holds the degrees of Master in Public Administration, with a concentration in Healthcare Administration from New York University, and Master in Social Work from Yeshiva University in New York City.
Through Community Healthlink, Inc., an affiliate of the University of Massachusetts Healthcare Systems, Larry developed and implemented a model for comprehensive homeless case management services. Larry’s Homeless Emergency Assessment and Response Team (HEART) was a HUD-funded project that provided a full range of services to adult homeless populations. Larry led the plenary session at Saffron Strand’s first annual conference in 2009.
 Sue Guy is the Director of Human Resources at Pacific National Bank and has more than 20 years of experience in employee relations, performance management, career counseling, and recruiting. Her employment background includes PricewaterhouseCoopers, Right Management Consultants, and nine years leading her own firm, Career Counseling Services. Sue holds an undergraduate degree in Social Work and a Master degree in Career Counseling from San Francisco State University. She has been active in community-based organizations, including Habitat for Humanity, Julia Morgan School for Girls, Wardrobe for Opportunity, and the Registrars of Voters. Through Saffron Strand, Sue wants new ways for homeless persons to acquire the skills they need for gainful employment, economic independence, and permanent housing.
 Dr. Jeff Ritterman was elected to Richmond's City Council in 2008 and has served as the city's Vice Mayor. Until the end of 2010, he had worked for nearly 20 years at Kaiser Richmond Medical Center as a cardiologist, including as Chief Cardiologist. In 2011, he joined the Joint Medical Program of the University of California (UC Berkeley-UCSF) as a clinical professor of medicine. Dr. Ritterman has received numerous awards for clinical excellence and for contributions to the Richmond community and Contra Costa County. He is a member of Contra Costa County's Public and Environmental Health Advisory Board and Vice President of the San Francisco chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility. Dr. Ritterman has been active in Saffron Strand since 2009, working on the Advisory Committee and as co-chair of Saffron Strand annual conferences.
 Susie O'Bryant is a Workforce Services Specialist with Contra Costa County, providing services to employers and laid-off workers throughout the region. She also is the Board Secretary for the Employer Advisory Council of Contra Costa County. Susie has many years of involvement in local workforce and economic development, having been a Business Services Representative for EASTBAY Works, as well as staff to the Contra Costa County Workforce Development Board. Susie has been actively involved in local professional organizations and Chambers of Commerce and has served on the board of the Pleasant Hill Chamber. Community involvement, relationship-building, and leadership are a significant part of Susie's life and work, which now includes helping Saffron Strand's mission to get Contra Costa homeless back to work.
 Johanna Ferman, MD is a public psychiatrist who has traveled the path less taken to break the cycle of disability and poverty due to untreated illness. With a consistent focus on prevention, Dr. Ferman’s work on the integration of addiction treatment with mental and physical health care has been nationally recognized for its innovation and sustainability over several decades, garnering Robert Woods Johnson Foundation grant support and the Gold Achievement Award of the American Psychiatric Association. Early in her career, her work as a clinician at Rikers Island Jail in New York City became a turning point for her subsequent focus on system reform. She became Deputy Commissioner for the New York State Office of Mental Health, then CEO and Medical Director of the non-profit Center for Mental Health in Washington, DC, then a Director in the Contra Costa County Department of Health Services. Combining her front-end, management, and regulatory experience, Dr. Ferman recently launched Integrus Health Group (www.integrushealth.com), to concentrate her energies on the primary and behavioral health care integration that has now become central to health reform.
 Megan McHugh is a professional filmmaker and photographer who specializes in documentary filmmaking. Originally from Denver, Megan moved to San Francisco in 2011 to start the film consulting and production company Art Curved Straight LLC (ACS) with Joseph De Mario. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Documentary Studies from the College of Santa Fe in New Mexico. Megan’s filmmaking experience includes travel for film projects in Asia, Central America, and South America. Her first feature-length film, WORDS, documents a group of American students who travelled to India in 2008. A South American project involves a lyrical film exploration of landscapes in Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and Argentina. Megan’s commercial film experience includes work in Los Angeles as director of photography for several videos for Evian Water. With each project, Megan intuitively uses sound, still and moving images, sometimes incorporating traditional art media. Her films are formally beautiful, yet exist within an anthropological-sociological framework. Current ACS projects include a film entitled Firebreak, an ad for the Eduardo Martinez Richmond City Council Campaign, and a promo for Saffron Strand’s third annual national conference on homelessness.
 Joseph De Mario is a visual artist (photographer and videographer) and curator. Originally from Los Angeles, Joseph moved to San Francisco to start Art Curved Straight, LLC (ACS) with filmmaker Megan McHugh. He studied art, design, and art history at UC Berkeley and UCLA as an undergraduate and holds a Master of Fine Arts in Visual Art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In addition to photographs, Joseph has been making site-specific installations, performances and videos for more than twenty years. He has collaborated with many artists. During 1999-2009, he was Visual Art Curator at The Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles. Joseph founded and directed Bakery Art Exhibitions (BAE) and curated 70 BAE exhibitions by emerging and mid-career artists. Presently, Joseph is editing Ave Pildas, Black & Whites '62-'64: Cincinnati & Pittsburgh Jazz. The book contains photographs of jazz greats by Ave Pildas and an essay by Kirk Silsbee. Joseph also is working on a series of his own photographs entitled “Are You There?” and co-directing a film for ACS entitled Firebreak.
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Professionals Who Help
Attorney Elizabeth Riles of Bohbot & Riles, LLP gave excellent council and support throughout Saffron Strand’s start up phase. She understood, appreciated, and respected our unique approach to the problems of the homeless. Elizabeth made our 501(c)(3) tax-exempt application very easy. Thank you so very much, Elizabeth, for all your help and support which went far beyond your professional services. Thank you for believing in our mission!
Brent and Elisa of LogoBang.com helped design Saffron Strand’s logo, brochure, and website. They were wonderful to work with: Kind, caring, and creative. They listened to what we wanted and helped us get there in a cost-effective way. They added much to our image and helped in every way to make Saffron Strand look good. Thank you very much, Brent and Elisa, for your help, support, and extra effort. Thank you for making this vital work easier!
Ken Bosworth, founder and owner of New Focus Media, Inc., keeps Saffron Strand’s website up-to-date. Ken is a greatly talented producer, graphic designer and web developer whose job history includes New Focus Media, ,Inc. and Tri-Media Corporation and whose recent clients include Komplex Records, Bay Area Tents, High Risk Clothing, and many more. Saffron Strand is very grateful for Ken’s dedicated, professional, and caring help. |
Partners and CollaboratorsMany Contra Costa and other Bay Area community organizations and businesses support the innovative work of Saffron Strand in helping the homeless gain valuable job skills and getting them back to work in local communities. They join Saffron Strand’s effort as partners, offering volunteer and in-kind help, or as collaborators, cooperating with Saffron Strand in key programs, projects, and events. Please thank and support Saffron Strand’s Partners and Collaborators. |
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