Meet our Advisory Board
Alejandra Cervantes
Director Nuestra Voz – Líderes del Valle de Sonoma [email protected] Since arriving in the Sonoma Valley from Mexico after college, Alejandra has a been a tireless advocate for the local Latino community; both its health and its social and political power. From her early days as a volunteer at St. Francis Solano Church and her role as a Board member of La Luz Bilingual Center, to her current role as Founder and Director of Nuestra Voz, Alejandra has been a strong presence in local and regional efforts to engage, mentor and support community volunteers in addressing health, education and other unmet needs of Latinos in the valley. Her work has been recognized by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, as well as by CA Assemblyman Bill Dodd, who named Alejandra “Sonoma County Woman of the Year” in 2016 for her contributions. Ana Santa Maria Demers Promotora de Salud; Northern California Center for Well-Being (volunteer) and Community Action Partnership – Sonoma County. [email protected] Ana has been a volunteer Promotora de Salud for the No CA Center for Well- Being since 2012, and was recognized by the Department of Health Services as a health champion. "Our main goal is to share the information we learn in trainings at the Center with others in our community, so that we can help low- income families improve their living conditions through prevention, education and health care." In addition to serving as a volunteer with Community Action Partnership’s Via Esperanza program, where she provides support and resources to parents and families, Ana has volunteered with Catholic Charities in Sonoma County. Arnie Barragan Community Organizer; Santa Rosa Together (volunteer). [email protected] Arnie was the longest active member of St. Joseph Health Sonoma County’s award-winning community organizing team, the Neighborhood Care Staff; where he supported marginalized residents in organizing their neighborhoods and building partnerships with public and private partners in order to create the changes they wanted to see. He was part of the team that helped to create the grassroots leadership training program, “Agents of Change Training in Our Neighborhoods – A.C.T.I.O.N.” Arnie was a member of the City of Santa Rosa’s Community Advisory Board, and continues to serve as a volunteer community builder with the grassroots effort, Santa Rosa Together. Nancy Combs
Principal, Nancy Combs Communications, LLC [email protected] Her professional track record exceeds four decades, including a long career at Henry Ford Health System, where she last served as director of community health integration. An accomplished writer, editor and strategist, Nancy also is a skilled convener of community and faith-based partnerships, and an articulate public speaker. Nancy's expertise spans publications, new project/grants development, health literacy, storytelling, speech writing, journalism, news releases, award submissions, leadership communications and web writing. Eileen Barsi
Consultant; Population Health/Community Benefit. [email protected] Eileen is a health advocate who has dedicated her professional career to the service of others, with a specific focus on underserved and vulnerable populations. Following 26 years in the health care sector, she has formed her own consulting business and offers consulting services in the areas of Community Benefit / Population Health as well as comprehensive care of the older patient along the care continuum. Previously she was the Senior Director of Community Benefit at Dignity Health and a member of the Mission Integration Team, accountable to the Audit and Compliance and Strategy Committees of the Dignity Health Board of Directors. For the last several years Ms. Barsi has served as the co-chairperson of the Community Benefit Committee of the Catholic Health Association; is a member of the National Advisory Council of the AHA Association for Community Health Improvement. Ms. Barsi currently serves as an advisory member for Stakeholder Health, a national movement of leading health care systems in the U.S. Stakeholder Health has evolved from a learning collaborative originally convened by the White House Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships Beth Dadko
Population Health Specialist, Santa Rosa Community Health. [email protected] Beth manages Health Action's Community Engagement and Communications at the Sonoma County Department of Health Services. In addition, Beth serves as the Chair of Santa Rosa's Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board and a 2009 Fellow of the Leadership Institute for Ecology and the Economy. Beth has a Master's in Public Health (MPH) from the University of Washington in Community-Oriented Public Health Practice and BA in Biology and Spanish from Grinnell College. Kevin Barnett
Senior Investigator, Public Health Institute. [email protected] Kevin Barnett is a Senior Investigator at the Public Health Institute. He has led research and fieldwork in hospital community benefit and health workforce diversity at PHI for over two decades, working with hospitals, government agencies, and community stakeholders across the country. Current work includes a partnership with The Governance Institute and Stakeholder Health with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to build place-based population health knowledge among hospital board members and senior leadership, a national study of hospital interventions to address food insecurity, and a partnership with the Carsey School of Public Policy to convene regional meetings of hospital and community teams with community development financial institutions to design intersectoral health improvement strategies. He serves as the Co-Director of the California Health Workforce Alliance, as a member of the Board of Directors of Communities Joined in Action, and as a member of the Board of Directors for the Trinity Health System. Kate Lorenzen
Non-Profit Mgmt Expert; Stakeholder Engagement, Capacity Building and Partnership. [email protected] Kate has a long history of community organizing, coalition building and advocating for social justice in both the U.S. and El Salvador. She served as the Grassroots Organizing Coordinator for the SHARE Foundation in El Salvador after that country’s civil war, helping to engage and support Sister Parishes and other critical partners of rural and urban communities recently turning their attention to community development and consolidating the successful community health and education systems that they built in the midst of social upheaval. Once back in the U.S., Kate went on to serve as the lead for local and regional organizing efforts to address the environmental triggers associated with asthma. After completing her studies at University of San Francisco for a Masters in Non-Profit Administration, Kate brought her remarkable community building skills to higher education through her work as the Associate Director at the University of Washington’s Professional and Continuing Education. Lori Allio
Consultant; Collective Change Assessment, Evaluation, Strategy Design, Capacity Building. [email protected] Lori has over 20 years of experience as a funder, organizational leader, researcher, planner, manager, educator, evaluator, and facilitator committed to equity and thriving communities. She is an expert in multi-sector and multi- systemic efforts which create measurable impact on key issues in society. She has extensive experience in multiple fields: political economics, democratization, regional economic change, the social determinants of health, cradle to career education, re-entry, international and sustainable development, labor markets, migration, human trafficking/human rights, and comprehensive community change. Lori has skills as noted below and has partnered with a broad spectrum of clients. Lori has worked in diverse communities in Mexico, Eastern Europe and the United States. Arthur Himmelman
Consultant; Community and Systems Change Collaboration. [email protected] Arthur is a nationally recognized consultant who assists organizations and communities in the design, implementation/facilitation, and evaluation of community and systems change collaboration. He has worked with partnerships in affordable housing, community economic development, social investment, supporting the advancement of students of color, early childhood education and development, retire volunteerism, inner-city higher education, community crime prevention, drug and substance abuse prevention, healthy communities, public health, community benefit and other health related collaborations among others. His speaking, consultations, and publications include insightful conceptual frameworks for understanding collaborative change, and user-friendly, practical guides promoting mutual respect, mutual learning, and mutual accountability in the collaborative change process. The theme for his work is building bridges from service to justice. Prior to creating his consulting practice, Arthur was a senior fellow at the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, a senior program officer at The McKnight Foundation and at The Saint Paul Foundation, and a senior associate at the Center for Health Leadership and Practice, a program of the Public Health Institute in Oakland. Arthur also served as the director of a consortium of colleges expanding access to higher education for inner-city communities and as the co-founder and director of an inner-city center for higher and community education. Arthur has served on numerous nonprofit boards, including organizations increasing access to the arts, providing women safe passage from abuse, supporting decent and affordable public housing, and advocating and organizing for social justice. |