Oscar Chavez is the Assistant Director of Human Services for the County of Sonoma. Prior to joining the county, Oscar served as Executive Director of the Community Action Partnership of Sonoma County, one of the largest community benefit organizations in northern California.

Prior to moving to Sonoma County he was Director of Business Support Services and Director of Engagement and Public Relations for a large community based organization in Bakersfield, CA.

In his current capacity Oscar oversees the County’s Upstream Investments Initiative; a policy framework designed to strengthen our community’s ability to implement evidence informed practices and shift funding towards prevention. He is also responsible for the Department’s planning, research and evaluation functions as well as community and client engagement.

Oscar serves on the board of the Community Foundation, Sonoma County; member of the California Stewardship Network, a statewide effort to promote regional economies and civic entrepreneurship; steering committee member for Rise Together, a nine-county Bay Area initiative to cut poverty in half by 2020. He is the past co-chair of the Sonoma County Health Action Council and Sonoma County Innovation Action Council; former trustee, Windsor Unified School District and former commissioner of First 5 Sonoma County.

In 2008 he was chosen as one of the North Bay’s “40 under 40” leaders by the North Bay Business Journal; the recipient of the 2012 Sonoma County Jefferson Award and the 2012 North Bay Business Journal non-profit leadership award. In 2016 his was recognized as a HipGiver by Hispanics in Philanthropy. Oscar lives in Windsor with his wife Christine and their four boys (Cooper, Fischer, Greyson and Harrison)

Luigi was born and raised in Santa Rosa. His family came to California from Mexico for a better opportunity. Growing up on the south side of Santa Rosa, Luigi experienced his family involved in the gang life. This fueled his drive for the career choices he has made. Luigi wanted to commit his career to helping people.

As a therapist in the community, Luigi works with ages 8-75 years of age. From all walks of life; regardless of gender, social class or story… Luigi desires to help bridge people’s pain/trauma to their behavior. A proponent of the mantra, “Awareness creates choice which creates power,” Luigi hopes to bring to light the things we wish to change through our maladaptive behaviors. 

Luigi is currently the SOS Community Counseling Justice Director responsible for county contracts with Amarosa continuing education school, Mobile Support Team, and two diversion programs (Sonoma County Sheriffs Department and Healdbsurg Police Department

Luigi brings his clinical perspective to the Latino service providers. Hoping to continue to de-stigmatize mental health throughout the LatinX community. “I just want to begin the discussion of incorporating all possibilities of healing.”

Aura Aguilar is currently the bilingual housing counselor and investigations coordinator at Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California where she provides counseling services and support to Spanish-speaking tenants experiencing housing discrimination in Sonoma, Marin, and Solano counties.

After several years of a career in food marketing and social media in Sonoma County, Aura moved to St. Louis, MO for two years to get her Master of Social Work degree with a concentration in social and economic development and a specialization in policy. She has spent the last three years organizing and working to advance the labor rights of Latinx and immigrant communities using a racial equity framework.

My name is Juliet Rosales, I am a recent graduate from Sonoma State University. I received my bachelors in Chicano Latino Studies and currently a Youth Promotora at Latino Service Providers. My interest in community outreach has been a passion of mine since my first days in the Educational Opportunity Program as a freshman. I have done digital marketing work that advances equity in housing policy and increases participation in housing policy decisions. More recently, I have been working on engaging projects investigating various issues related to the higher education experience of Latinx students. I Looking forward to getting my Masters in Public Policy and Community Organizing

Maritza Perez was a former Youth Promotor and is now joining as a LSP Board of Directors. She grew up in Santa Rosa and graduated from Piner High School in 2017. Maritza is in the process of completing her Bachelors of Science in Nursing at Sonoma State. She is expected to graduate in the spring. She  is currently working as a public health nurse for Sonoma County where she supports first-time parents. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, playing tennis/pickleball, cooking, baking, and binge watching shows. She is excited to serve on the board and to contribute to an organization that provides impactful experiences for local youth in our community.

 Nohemi Castaneda Martinez was born and raised in Mexico City, Mexico.  She immigrated to the United States, as a minor, when she was 16 years old. She has made Sonoma County her home since 1985.  She completed a double major in Psychology and Criminal Justice and Criminology  with a minor in Sociology at Sonoma State University. She received a Master’s Degree in Social Work from CSULB. She has worked for the County of Sonoma since 1991, and as a Social Worker since 2001. She is currently a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, LCSW, and she is about to open a private practice in Sonoma County to provide bilingual/bicultural therapy to individuals and families. Additionally Nohemi has worked for various non-profit organizations such as KBBF radio as a program manager, and Child Parent Institute, CPI providing therapy to children that have suffered trauma. Nohemi is committed to advocate for the needs of her community, as well as, racial/ethnic equity.

Jessica Martinez Reyes recently joined  Latino Service Providers Board of Directors as a YP Representative while also being a part of LSP’s Youth Promotor internship program. Jessica is from Santa Rosa and graduated from Piner High School in 2020. Currently, she is attending Santa Rosa Junior College working towards becoming a sonographer. In her leisure time, she enjoys spending time outside, whether that be taking a walk or playing with her nieces and nephews, dancing to any type of Mexican music, and spending quality time with family. She’s  excited  to support the present Youth Promotores and voice their needs within the program. Jessica hopes to support creativity and growth for LSP as a whole. She wants to be a pillar in our organization and uplift the voices of the community.

Kembly Astua Mahiri is originally from Costa Rica and grew up in Sonoma County as the oldest daughter of migrant farmworkers. She graduated from Piner High School after having participated in college preparation programs like Migrant Education and Upward Bound.

She also became involved in peer education programs like LSP. Her dream was to pursue higher education in a helping profession. Kembly was accepted to Sonoma State University and decided to pursue a degree in Sociology due to her strong interest in understanding human behavior and the relationship between people and their communities. After receiving her B.A. in Sociology, she went to work for a local non-profit serving at risk adolescents. This work inspired her to pursue her Master Degree in Social Work to gain more education on promoting the well-being of individuals and communities.

I was born in Guanajuato, Mexico and came to the US at the age of 4 and grew up in the in the central valley. I attended University of California, Santa Barbara for my undergraduate degree and obtained a B.S. in Sociology.

I then pursued my Masters at Sonoma State University and received a Masters in Counseling with a PPSC credential. I have been working since 2010 for Seneca Family of Agencies, a non-profit that works with youth and families in the community that are involved in a system, either Family Youth and Children’s Services, Probation, or Behavioral Health. Seneca provides behavioral skill building and coaching, assessment, therapy, psychiatry and case management services to address the mental health needs of youth and families.

While beginning her career in the 1980’s in the field of psychology, Dory Magasis Escobar, PhD has focused her work for the last several decades primarily on community organizing, coalition building, and grassroots leadership development.

As Director of Healthy Communities and then of Community Benefit at St. Joseph Health Sonoma County for 13 years, Dory oversaw community organizing, collaboration and other Healthy Communities programs; as well as the organization’s Community Benefit planning and reporting. Dory’s innovative integration of community organizing and collaboration into hospital Community Benefit work led to her participation in national work groups convened by the CDC, Dept. of Health & Human Services, and the Obama Administration’s White House Office on Neighborhood and Faith-Based Partnerships. Prior to joining St. Joseph’s, Dory worked for 11 years in El Salvador in the areas of community mental health, community-based rehabilitation, community organizing, and coalition building.

Her experience excludes training community health workers, or promotorxs de salud; as well as working with promotorxs and their supervising institutions on how to understand and address the risk and protective factors for secondary stress and traumatization that are experienced at community, institutional and personal levels. Dory founded Coaction Institute to help build capacity of community leaders and institutions such as community-based organizations, hospitals, public health agencies, other community stakeholders seeking to increase and enhance their capacities in collaboration, strategic planning and program evaluation, and authentic community engagement. Currently, Dr. Escobar also coordinates the Applied Practice Experience component of the University of San Francisco’s Master of Public Health program, in which she teaches Public Health Program Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation; Cultural Awareness and Humility for Health; Leadership; Collaboration and Community Organizing; and Applied Practice Experience Preparation and Seminars.

Luisa McInnis is the Division Director, Assistant Vice President at Robert Half International. She manages both the Account Temps & Salaried Professional Service divisions where she specializes in supporting various organizations throughout the North Bay area with accounting and finance support staff.

She graduated from Seattle Pacific University in Seattle, WA with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications in 2016, while also competing on the volleyball and track & field teams. After graduating, she returned to her home town of Santa Rosa, CA and immediately began her involvement in the volleyball community of Sonoma County.

My name is Cesia Jovel, pronouns are she/her/ella, I am a first-generation immigrant born in San Salvador, El Salvador.

I have lived in Sonoma County since I moved at 13 years-old to the U.S. in 2009. I attended Rancho Cotate High School, where I was part of the college-bound program, Upward Bound. I am also a first-generation college and graduate student where I earned my B.A. in Psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Currently, I am a second-year graduate student at the University of San Francisco pursuing my M.A. in Counseling Psychology while also working at the YWCA of Sonoma County as Intake Coordinator in the Therapy Program.

Yesenia Hurtado-Rodarte spent most of her life in southern California, where blue skies and sunshine meet the echoes of fans cheering the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In 2015, she relocated to Sonoma County to work at Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) as an Outreach Coordinator; she later transitioned into her current role as a bilingual counselor for the Extended Opportunity Program and Services (EOPS) at SRJC. Yesenia’s professional experience and background have significantly focused on promoting educational equity and access for all students. She has extensive experience advocating for historically underserved students, such as foster youth, probation youth, and parenting youth. Collaborating with LSP on the Youth Promotores project is an opportunity to continue empowering young Latinx individuals to improve self-advocacy, de-stigmatize mental health and develop professional growth opportunities.