EQUITY KIDS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Secretary of the Board of Directors
Camille is a trained Parent Educator, a Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) Practitioner, and a Licensed Professional Counselor Associate (Supervised by Lacey Fisher LPC-Supervisor, RPT-S). She is employed at Roxanne's House, the Child Advocacy Center for Hays and Caldwell Counties, as a children's counselor where she assesses children's individual, social, and therapeutic needs and provides individual and group counseling for clients who are child victims of child abuse. Camille has been a Pre-K CLASS Coach for the United Way for Greater Austin's Success By 6 program and a child support specialist for the SAFE Alliance. Camille has a B.S. in Behavioral Health Counseling from Drexel University and a M.A. in Counseling from St. Edward's University.
Cathy grew up in a family of seven children and as a college student co-created prison and black literature courses, kicking off years of activism around race and poverty issues. In Montgomery, Alabama, she developed programs on behalf of incarcerated people and their families, collaborated with mothers in prison to maintain ties with their children, and advocated for justice policy changes in the state legislature. While helping resettle refugees in Maine, Cathy partnered with community groups to welcome diverse populations and worked with local agencies to expand and provide equitable services. Cathy recently retired after 25 years as the Executive Director of the New Mexico Criminal Defense Lawyers Association during which she trained lawyers, coordinated a successful campaign to repeal the death penalty and organized against police violence.
Emily was born in Cartagena, Colombia, and raised in Houston, TX. She received a B.S. in Human Development and Family Science from the University of Texas at Austin. Emily has worked as a parent educator, therapeutic teacher, and program supervisor for nonprofits in Central Texas such as The Safe Alliance, Any Baby Can, and Communities in Schools. Emily continues to work with vulnerable communities to deliver prevention services to eligible families, including home visitation and crisis intervention. She has specialized in working with at-risk pregnant women and children with health and developmental issues and has created and executed social-emotional lesson plans for groups of children with severe trauma and sensory needs.
Job Titles:
- Co - Chair of the Board of Directors
Linda has more than 25 years of nonprofit experience in the Austin area through both staff and board positions. As a staff member, Linda has held key positions in education, and development and served for ten years as the Associate Director of West- cave Outdoor Discovery Center. She played instrumental roles with Westcave as it grew from a two-person to a ten-person staff and has also worked collaboratively with organizations as they deepened their focus on equity. Linda has also served on several nonprofit boards, which includes experience as a board chair. Linda has a Nonprofit Leadership and Management certificate and is a graduate of Texas Tech University and Brown University. She is the mother of two adult children.
Orleana is the mother of two elementary school-aged children. Orleana became involved in racial and social justice activities as a young person volunteering with organizations such as the Fellowship of Reconciliation, an interfaith peace fellowship focused on human and civil rights issues through advocacy, activism, and educational programs and the American Friends Service Committee, an organization that works worldwide to challenge injustice and build sustainable peace with justice. As an adult, Orleana has worked with organizations serving youth and as a home healthcare worker for the elderly. In addition to her service on the Equity Kids board of directors, she has worked with her church's youth ministry.
Job Titles:
- Co - Chair of the Board of Directors
Pat is the mother of four adult children and several grandchildren. Pat has been a lifelong dedicated advocate on criminal and social justice issues that include abolition of the death penalty and alter- natives to mass incarceration. As the executive director of a peace and justice organization, Pat worked on programs that included racial and economic justice and peaceful resolution of conflicts. From 2004 to 2006, Pat served as a commissioner with the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission which modeled challenging hate violence and seeking healing justice. She currently works in philanthropy funding organizations working to reform the criminal justice system, support the advocacy of marginalized communities and elevate the principle of nonviolence. Pat is a graduate of Smith College.
Sarah lives in California and is a mother to a ten- year-old boy. She is very active volunteering in her son's school and organizing community events. Sarah is a California attorney with a part-time practice specializing in Estate Planning. She earned her J.D. from Columbia Law School. Prior to attending law school, Sarah was the National Director of Operations at Bridgemark, a division of BDO Seidman, with responsibilities included Accounting, Human Resources, Information Technology, and Data Management. As part of the management team, she played a key role in strategic planning, devised and implemented national policies and procedures, developed sales and marketing materials, and provided oversight and direction to finance and administrative staff.