LEAD Participants and Alumni

LEAD Institute is an opportunity to engage with a dynamic and inspiring network of alumni in Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz Counties.

Activities help alumni to stay connected, continue learning, and renew energy for leadership growth.

Recent alumni activities include: reunions by class, professional development and peer coaching.

2026 LEAD Institute Participants

Monterey County Participants:

Cindy Aguilar-Castaneda, Director of Programs and Operations, Palenke Arts
Tiffany Avery, SUD Clinical Supervisor, Door to Hope
Christina Elvin, Harm Reduction Program Manager, Access Support Network
Abrena Ganaden, Continuum of Care Program Manager, The Coalition of Homeless Services Providers
Tara Gibson, Human Resources Manager, Veterans Transition Center of California
Rachel Goldberger, Program Manager, Community Association of Big Sur
Greg Hamer, District Coordinator, Salinas City Center
Bella Hockersmith, Grants Coordinator, Montage Health Foundation
Marisol Jacobo, Program Director – LCSW, Interim Inc
Jason Little, Executive Director, Read to Me Project
Lisa Max, Deputy Director, Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History
Leticia Molinero, Program Manager, Partners for Peace
Katie Reneker, Executive Director, MEarth
Alison Samuels, Program Manager, Meals on Wheels of the Salinas Valley
Lidia Wilding, Donor Relations Manager, Community Human Services
Maria Yanez, Community Service Coordinator, CHISPA
Rebeca Zuniga, Communications & Community Outreach Coordinator, First 5 Monterey County

San Benito County Participants:

Antonio J. Mendoza, Executive Director, Community FoodBank of San Benito County

Santa Cruz County Participants:

Mariam Alao, Director of Development, Senior Network Services
Rocio Andrade, Director of Strategic Initiatives, El Pájaro Community Development Corp.
Meghan French, Executive Director, BirchBark
Danny Ordaz, Program Manager, Ecology Action
Natalie Shuman, Programs Manager, Bird School Project

Monterey County Nonprofits & Alumni

2nd Chance Family and Youth Services (Laura Tinajero)
Access Support Network (Paris De La Rosa & Daniela Mejia)
Ag Land Trust (Virginia Jameson)
ALBA (Andrea Tinajero)
Alliance on Aging (Jody Rogers)
Alisal Center for the Fine Arts (Willow Aray, Juan Carlos Gonzalez & Javier Tamayo)
ARIEL Theatrical (Samantha Barnes)
Art Abilities (Ritika Kumar)
Arts Council for Monterey County (Berniz House & Erin Lyman)
Building Healthy Communities – East Salinas (Azucena Barrios & Carmen Gil)
Breakthrough Men's Community (Arnold Westphal)
California Breastfeeding Coalition (Robbie Gonzalez-Dow)
Camp SEA Lab (Amity Wood)
The Carmel Foundation (Aimee Cuda & Kimberly Willison)
CASA of Monterey County (Teressa Jimenez, Francesca Marietti, Maria Perez-Zamora & Karen Trevino)
Center for Community Advocacy (Natalie Herendeen)
Central Coast Center for Independent Living (Maria Magaña)
Central Coast HIV/AIDS Services (Katie Murphy)
Central Coast YMCA: South County Branch (Leti Bocanegra)
CHISPA (Jonathan Bohorquez & Ruth Rodriguez)
CSUMB (Rene Casas)
Coalition of Homeless Services Providers (Jocelyn Brady & Genevieve Lucas-Conwell)
Community Foundation for Monterey County (Aurelio Salazar, Jr. & Alisa Smith)
Community Homeless Solutions (Priscilla Ortega & Amy Price)
Community Human Services (Valerie Catania, Jennifer Hazen, Rob Rapp & Lenina Sanchez)
Community Partnership for Youth (Benjamin Bruce & Jorge Torres)
Door to Hope (Denise Felix, Patterson Emesibe & Adriana Rocha)
Downtown Streets Team (Cindy Hyatt)
Elkhorn Slough Foundation (Taylor Honrath & Juan Ramirez)
Environmental Justice Coalition for Water (Vicente Lara & May Nguyen)
Epicenter of Monterey (Sam Gomez & Richelle Santoya)
Everyone’s Harvest (Iris Diana Jehle-Peppard)
Family Connections – MPUSD/First 5 (Jan Phillips Paulsen)
First 5 Monterey County (David Dobrowski)
First Methodist Church in Salinas (Cindy Storrs)
Food Bank for Monterey County (Melissa Hartman)
Gateway Center (Amy Wright)
Girl Scouts of California’s Central Coast (Gina Silva)
Goodwill Central Coast (Richard Cheatham)
Greenfield Community Science Workshop (José Sánchez)
Hartnell College Foundation (Priscilla Amao)
Healing and Reconciliation Institute (Maya Sedillo)
HOPE Services (Greg Dinsmore)
Housing Resource Center of Monterey County (Alexa Johnson & Jennifer Rego)
Independent Transportation Network Monterey County (Cheryl Tsuchiura)
Interim, Inc. (Maritza Allen, Alejandro Amezcua, Christina Barnes, Lisa Corpuz, Carolina Cortez, Judith Gonzalez, Jennifer Hatch, Manuel Hernandez, Victoria Jimenez, Idalia Matthews, Sandra Peña, Lara Stahl, Carmen Torres & Rosa Torres)
iResult, LLC (Niña Magsaysay Rosete)
Legal Services for Seniors (Philip M. Geiger)
The Literacy Campaign for Monterey County (M. Crystal Macias-Diaz)
Loaves Fishes & Computers, Inc. (Jacqueline Leon & Elizabeth Panetta)
Lyceum (Joyce Breckenridge)
Mandell Gisnet Center for Conflict Management (Isabel Bjork)
Meals on Wheels of the Monterey Peninsula (Kari Martorella)
Meals on Wheels of the Salinas Valley, Inc. (Claudia Aguilera)
MEarth (Juliet Pool)
MILPA Collective (Elias Gonzales)
Montage Health (Nicholas Kite)
Monterey Bay Aquarium (Ava Ferguson, Ileana Ortega Brunetti, Jennifer Rigney & Karin Stratton)
Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust (Melissa Mahoney)
Monterey County Office of Education (Jennifer Suttie & Isabel Valtierra)
Monterey County Rape Crisis Center (Nina Alcaraz & Nicole Irigoyen)
Monterey Peninsula Foundation (Ambry Capistrano & Hana Kong)
NAMI Monterey County (Colleen Beye)
Natividad Foundation (Lisa Rico)
Osio Theater (Brandi Lamb & Tommy Pieper)
Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History (Ann Wasser)
The Parenting Connection of Monterey County (Jaimee De Pompeo)
Parents’ Place, Pacific Grove Adult School, PGUSD (Elizabeth Olney)
Partnership for Children (Jennifer Ramirez)
Peacock Acres (Nathan Jones)
Point Lobos Foundation (Anna Patterson)
Rancho Cielo Youth Campus, Inc. (Trish Alcocer, Elizabeth Jimenez & Cecilia Romero)
The Read to Me Project (Kirstin van Gend)
Restorative Justice Partners, Inc. (Jennie Burciaga)
Return of the Natives Restoration and Education Project (Emily Howard)
Salinas Regional Sports Authority (Jonathan De Anda)
Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital Foundation (Sheri Massolo)
Salinas Valley Pride Celebrations (Eric Mora)
The Salvation Army, Service Extension (Amelia Gomez)
Shelter Outreach Plus (Leticia Bejarano)
Sol Treasures (Jeff Hinderscheid)
Soledad Unified School District (Cristina Sotelo)
Special Kids Crusade (Laura Harris)
Sun Street Centers (John Bokanovich, Kate Englund, Chris Graveline, Eddie Hathcock & Marciano Huerta)
Turning Point of Central California (Pearl Sanchez)
United Way Monterey County (Erin Detka, Clare Margason, Kate Mitchell Mehle & Mayra Perez)
Ventana Wilderness Alliance (Mike Chamberlain)
Veterans Transition Center of California (Tessa Wise)
The Village Project, Inc. (Stacie Andrews)
Volunteer Center (Gilda Estrada)
Youth Arts Collective (Jesse Juarez & Marissa Serna)
Youth Music Monterey County (Vanisha Evans Douvon)
Youth Orchestra Salinas (Michael Gomez)
YWCA Monterey County (Germaine Esquivel)

San Benito Nonprofits & Alumni

BenitoLink (Laura Romero)
CASA of San Benito County (Esther Curtice & Olivia Tauvinkl)
Chamberlain’s Children Center, Inc. (Patrick Ellis, Krystal Jones & Gracie Lucatero)
Community Foundation for San Benito County (Raul Ceja & Salina Chacon)
Community Solutions (Vanessa Garcia)
Community Vision San Benito Co. (Colleen Johnson)
Emmaus House (Mary Lou Coffelt)
Live Like Geno Foundation (Tenille Ramirez)
Pinnacles Partnership (Rochelle Fischer)
San Benito County Farm Bureau (Mindy Sotelo)
United Way of San Benito (Vicki Fortino)
Youth Alliance (Zenedith Espinoza, Rodrigo Jimenez, Anthony Lopez & Bertha Perez)

Santa Cruz Nonprofits & Alumni

Arts Council Santa Cruz County (Nabil Ghachem, Yesenia Molina & Megan Searcy)
Break Away College Access Project (Carol Schimke)
Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music (Jessica Frye)
Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County Inc. (Mireya Gomez-Contreras & Juan Luis Romero)
Community Restoration Project (Javier Diaz)
CCOF Foundation (Shawna Rodgers)
Community Alliance with Family Farmers (Kathryn Spencer)
Community Bridges

Creative Muse Collective (Terri Steinmann)
The Diversity Center for Santa Cruz County (Emilio Barajas)
Ecology Action (Leann Leon)
Easter Seals Central California (Stephanie Flores & Stella Lauerman)
El Pajaro CDC (Amy Mascareñas)
Encompass Community Services (Leigh Guerrero & Maria Sanchez)
Grey Bears (Danielle Wong)
Habitat for Humanity Monterey Bay (Beth Bowman & Gabrielle Rubio)
Health Improvement Partnership (Haley Mears)
Homeless Garden Project (Darrie Ganzhorn)
Housing Matters (Evyn Robles)
Jacob’s Heart Children’s Cancer Support Services (Alexandra Dami)
Mesa Verde Gardens (Ana Rasmussen)
Monarch Services (Maria Barranco)
Museo Eduardo Carillo (Betsy Andersen)
O’Neill Sea Odyssey (Abby Newman)
Pajaro Valley Arts (Brianna Flores & Norma Villaron)
Pajaro Valley Prevention and Student Assistance, Inc. (Silvia Diaz)
Positive Discipline Community Resources (Stephanie Baron Lu)
Raíces y Cariño (Nora Yerena)
Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County (Lea Haratani)
Salud Para La Gente (Raphael Cendejas, Rosalba Contreras, Iliana Cuadros, Laura Cuadros, Michelle De Anda, Theresa Merendon, Rachel Sandobal & Dail Vannerus)
Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (Helen Aldana & Diana Kapsner)
Save Our Shores (Ginaia Kelly & Katie Thompson)
Senderos (Isai Pazos)
The Shelter Project (Norma Sanchez)
Tandy Beal & Company (Jennifer Radakovich)
Tannery World Dance and Cultural Center (Micha Scott)
UnChained (Marlo Botello-Aepli)
Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz County

Watsonville Film Festival (Consuelo Alba-Speyer)
The Watsonville Law Center (Henry Martin, Adriana Melgoza & Monica Pereira)
Watsonville Science Workshop (Darren Gertler)
Watsonville Volunteer Center (Blanca Carrillo)
Watsonville Wetlands Watch (Jonathan Pilch & Stephanie Rios)
Women’s Crisis Support – Defensa de Mujeres (Lucila Sanchez)
YWCA of Watsonville (Sonia K. Diego Martinez, Kimberly Garcia Contreras, Emelia Leon)