CAHOMELESSYOUTH.ORG - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Housing Specialist / John Burton Foundation
Job Titles:
- Project Coordinator / John Burton Foundation
- Project Coordinator for the Homeless Youth Capacity Building Project
Mr. Oscar Wolters-Duran is the Project Coordinator for the Homeless Youth Capacity Building Project. He brings twenty years of experience directing youth development programs, and ten years of providing training, coaching and technical assistance in the areas of organizational and board development, strategic planning, evaluation, fundraising, and effective supervision. From 2000 to 2005 he served as the Executive Director of UC Berkeley's Young Entrepreneurs at Haas, and has since provided consulting services to many nonprofit organizations in the Bay Area and the Central Valley, including the California School Age Consortium, the California Endowment's Building Healthy Communities initiative in Fresno, and the National Academy Foundation.
Job Titles:
- Policy Director of the John Burton Foundation
Ms. Amy Lemley, MPP, is the Policy Director of the John Burton Foundation, founded by former California State Senator John Burton. Ms. Lemley develops and implements legislative, regulatory and administrative strategies to achieve the goals of the Foundation. Prior to joining the John Burton Foundation, Ms. Lemley was the Executive Director and co-founder of The First Place Fund for Youth, a nationally recognized program providing affordable housing and supportive services to former foster youth.
Ms. Debie Raucher, MSW, is the Housing Specialist for the Homeless Youth Capacity Building Project. Ms. Raucher has worked in the field of affordable housing for over twelve years, including serving as the Deputy Director of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic (THC) and as the Director of East Bay Housing Organizations (EBHO). She brings to the Project her experience providing assistance to non-profit and government agencies with designing and implementing new housing and homelessness related programs; needs assessment and analysis; the creation of written materials including policies and procedures and training curriculum; and conducting program evaluations including facilitation of community stakeholder processes. . Ms. Raucher also has demonstrated expertise in the procurement and oversight of a variety of funding programs that includes federal, state and local funding streams.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director / John Burton Foundation
- Executive Director of the John Burton Foundation
Ms. Diane Matsuda, JD, is the Executive Director of the John Burton Foundation, and manages grant oversight for the Homeless Youth Capacity Building Project. Prior to joining the John Burton Foundation, Diane was the Executive Officer of the California Cultural and Historical Endowment in Sacramento where she administered a $122 million capitol grant program to support and preserve projects of significant cultural and historical significance in our State.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of the California Coalition for Youth
Ms. Heather Dearing, MSW, is the Executive Director of the California Coalition for Youth. Prior to that, Ms. Dearing worked for the San Francisco Unified School District as the coordinator of their Foster Youth Services program. Ms. Dearing began her career in social services at the YMCA Youth & Family Services as the Director of the Independent Living Skills Program, for foster youth transitioning from care. As Executive Director, Ms. Dearing has done extensive training, technical assistance and development with members of her coalition through workshops, personal consultation and conferences, with audiences ranging from 5 to 150 people. Additionally, Ms. Dearing trained in the Technology of Participation method, an integrated set of facilitation methods and tools, including focused conversation, consensus-building, and action planning.
Job Titles:
- Project Manager for the Homeless Youth Capacity Building Project
Ms. Michele Byrnes, MPP, is the Project Manager for the Homeless Youth Capacity Building Project. She brings to the Project her three years of experience managing the THP-Plus Statewide Implementation Project, for which she conducts advocacy, research and training to expand the supply of high quality housing and supportive services for former foster youth. Prior to joining the John Burton Foundation, Ms. Byrnes was the Director of Honoring Emancipated Youth (HEY), a coalition of current and former foster youth and organizations working to improve opportunities for youth transitioning out of the foster care system in the San Francisco Bay Area. Prior to HEY, she worked as the Program Director at BRIDGE Housing Corporation, the largest nonprofit housing developer in California. In this role, she designed and implemented social services in affordable housing developments throughout the state.
Job Titles:
- Associate at the John Burton Foundation
- Project Associate
Ms. Simone Tureck, MSW, is the Policy/Project Associate at the John Burton Foundation, and manages the outreach and selection process for the Performance Management Training Series among other components of the Project. Prior to joining the John Burton Foundation, Ms. Tureck worked with and on behalf of youth in the fields of child welfare and public education, and has a background in program management and planning.