EDUCATION
Master of Arts
Religion
1996-1998
School of Theology at Claremont
Claremont, California
Student Body Co-Chair
Bachelor of Arts
Religion
Sociology
1992-1996
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York
Student Advocacy Group Founder and Chair
WORK HISTORY
Executive Director
2012 - Present
Home Ownership for Personal Empowerment, Inc.
Long Beach, California
Executive Director of a non-profit housing developer providing homes for people with an intellectual or developmental disability. Worked with federal, state, civic and private industry to acquire, renovate, build, maintain, and support housing across Southern California. Responsible for oversight of all areas of the organization including board management and development, fundraising and events, program development and oversight, property acquisiton and renovation, property management, financial relationships, monitoring and compliance, administration and accounting, quality assurance, and service provision.
Increased fixed asssets by over 20 milliion dollars, negotiated and leveraged federal funding of over 5.5 million dollars, and increased housing capacity by over 80 people in 3 years while acquiring and renovating 20 new properties. Doubled annual revenue from 1.7 million to 3.4 million dollars in a span of 6 years. Current gross revenue at nearly 6 million.
Responsibly grew internal organizational capacity to sustainable levels and created departments to manage assets, operations, fundraising, housing development, program services, financial management and compliance activities.
Grew the fundraising department through varous initiatives including planned-giving, major gifts, and various campaigns and events including an annual golf and tennis tournament, open houses, and auxiliary sponsored events.
Developed partnerships across both the County and the State by co-founding various member organizations including the Long Beach Developers Roundtable and also the Lanterman Housing Alliance (LHA): a collaborative of the state-wide regional center housing organizations; served as the LHA Chair for three years with achievements including obtaining grant funding for start-up costs and publishing recommendations to help tackle the housing crisis for people with inellectual and development disabilities.
Created the organization’s Investment Policy Statement, vetted investment firms and community foundations, and grew investments, created an endowment, and assured financial viabilty for the organization for years to come.
Oversaw HUD corporations as well as HOPE’s three main housing models. Diversified income streams through the creation of a housing services program and launching into larger-scale development within the mainstream housing industry.
Managed year over year succesful audits including the parent organization’s first ever Federal Single Audit which concluded with no findings. Grew compliance monitoring deparment to ensure future success and overall transparency.
Initiated human resources, housing services, asset management and property management departments and instituted quality assurance measures to improve staff morale and client and customer satisfaction, while also maximizing efficiencies, minimizing expenses, and growing income.
Director
2010 - 2012
Southern California Integrated Health and Living Project
Los Angeles area, California
Management and oversight of a specialized multiciplinary team, as a collaborative of eleven Southern California Regional Centers, which focused on resource development of housing and day programs, and also transition of individuals from State develpmental centers into the community. Grew the program from start-up to success including oversight of an over seventeen million dollar start-up budget and an annual million dollar staff budget. Supervision of multidisciplinary staff to include clinicians, case managers, quality assurance staff, and resource developers.
Defined SCIHLP’s mission, vision, and values statements to ensure clear staff direction and compliance with organizational outcomes. Developed a culture of customer service within the team and worked to uncover ways in which staff could support regional centers better.
Created and implemented tracking systems for all contracting and development including completion of milestones and development progress. Oversight of over twenty start-up contracts with various development partners to include housing organizations and service providers.
Developed and modified existing procedures for regional collaboration on both transition activities and resource development in order to establish clearer defintion of roles and responsiblies to ensure effective and efficient inter-agency collaboration.
Managed all correspondance with the State Department of Developmental Services including Community Placement Plan funding requests and compliance reporting.
Developed and chaired three committees for regional center partners in order to encourage regional collaboration: Steering Committee, Regional Transition Workgroup, and Regional Resource Development Workgroup. Meetings successfully worked to disseminate best practices, share resources, and promote regional cooperation.
Coordinated all research and data collection with regional center partners in order to uncover regional trends and to asses regional needs. Met and reported regularly to regional center Executive Directors group including meetings with State Department of Developmental Services chief administrators.
Developed multidisciplinary assessment tool, report format, and process for both assesing the needs and developing provider training strategies for serving individuals exiting a State Institution who moved into the community.
Managed service provider regional training program including assessment of needs and creation of regional database of curricula. Program focused on identifying service provider training needs in order to ensure the highest quality provision of services.
Management of resource development team for the Harbor Regional Center. Supervised multidisciplinary staff to include clinicians, case managers, quality assurance staff, and resource developers. Managed regional center departments including behavior services, mental health, skilled nursing, de-institutionalization, and affordable housing.
Harbor Regional Center
Torrance, California
Manager
Resource Development
2008 - 2010
Responsible for housing development needs of Harbor Regional Center’s affordable and licensed housing programs including state housing grants initial application, implementation, tracking, and progress reporting. Managed acquisition of single family homes—to be used as licensed residential facilities—which involved all aspects of funding, lender correspondance, and escrow process.
Oversight of new program development for all residential and day programs for HRC clients. Peformed needs-analyses, provider selection, program design creation and review, rate setting and negotiation, site selection and remodelling, licensing, and program implementation. Created both internal and external application materials and monitoring tools to streamline, evaluate, and track program start-up process.
Responsible for multi-million dollar Community Placement Plan (CPP) program development and placement budget including contracting with vendors, milestone tracking, and compliance.
Supervision of transition specialists and client transition process from State Developmental Centers into the community; annually met or exceeded deadlines and requirements. Devised parent support/mentoring program for families of adults who reside in the State Developmental Centers.
Management of the Regional Center behavior services team to include oversight of a four-member clinical team to include managing team work flow, creation and implementation of evaluation tools and progress reporting formats and timelines, vendor monitoring and quality assurance, and creating and implementing systems for targeted program reviews.
Oversight of skilled nursing facilitites located in the HRC service area including supervision of nurse vendor to include assurance of client support, safety, and progress at facilities. Also responsible for the creation and implementation of a multi-disciplinary SNF client review committee which was successful in reviewing client progress and matching clients to residential resources which resulted in marked decrease in SNF population.
Management of regional center mental health resources development including both internal and community program development, evaluation, and consultation services; supervision of mental health team including psychiatrist and psychologists.
Created novel college program for young adults attending the local city college. Program saw students successfully obtain gainful employment.
Assistant Manager
Resource & Assistive Technology Center
2004 - 2008
Harbor Regional Center
Torrance, California
Management of specialized Resource and Assistive Technology Center including supervision of multidisciplinary staff.
Design and implementation of a vareity of specialized service programs including computer training lab and assistive technology assessment center; secured annual grant to enhance inventory of a technology lending library.
Created, implemented and oversaw family support group program including creation of a sibling support program.
Engaged in community outreach, curriculum design, publications creation and distribution, and database maintenance.
Case Manager
2000 - 2004
Primary responsibilities involved case management for individuals with developmental disabilities in the South Bay of Southern California.
Duties included individual and family assessment and needs identification, planning for provision of appropriate services, monitoring and evaluation of service delivery, and advocacy.
Special projects included procurement of corporate donations, testing of specialized software.
Honors: HRC Eagle Award (2003); ARC Golden Dove Award (2004).
Harbor Regional Center
Torrance, California
Duties included on-the-job training, support, and advocacy for individuals with developmental disabilities at various work sites in the community.
Also responsible for formal progress evaluation and reporting, coupled with intra-agency communications and collaboration.
California Elwyn
Torrance, California
Employment Specialist
1998 - 2000
SKILLS
Executive Leadership and Board Management
Public Speaking and Outreach
Fundraising, Event Planning and Grant Writing
Curriculum Development and Resource Development
Community programs design, implementation, and monitoring
Coalition Building, Policy Development and Implementation
Creation and maintenance of budgets and data
Recruitment, monitoring, and evaluation of staff
Certification: Assistive Technology (CSUN: 2006); Word software; Webpage Design