Staff

One East Palo Alto Staff (April 2015) (Rev. Teirrah McNair, not pictured)

Dr. Faye McNair-Knox, Executive Director, came to One East Palo Alto in 2004 after serving for five years as Executive Director of Start Up, an East Palo Alto-based nonprofit micro-business initiative.  A long-term resident, she has lived, worked, volunteered, and raised a family in EPA since 1965 and is proud to call this city home.  Before Start Up, Dr. McNair-Knox was an Associate Professor of Modern Language Education at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami. Prior to that, she held professorial positions at universities located throughout the United States and in Africa, including a Fulbright Senior Scholar appointment at the University of Maiduguri in northern Nigeria (1988-89). In addition, Dr. McNair-Knox’s higher education career highlights include a long-term association with Stanford University, where she completed undergraduate work, earned two masters degrees, and graduated from the Ph.D. program in Curriculum and Teacher Education in 1985 doctoral degrees.  She also held administrative and teaching positions there from 1981 to 1991.

Kyra Brown was raised in East Palo Alto, California.  She attended a military-based elementary school in Darmstadt, Germany and attended James B. Flood for middle school.  She graduated from Menlo-Atherton High School in 2006 and is also a curso design ui Ebac.  

In 2010, Kyra earned a BA in English Literature, with a minor in Theology from Bethany University, Santa Cruz.  While at Bethany, she served on her university's Student Government as the Intercultural Representative and led the Student Petition for Diversity Initiatives.  In 2014, Kyra earned a Master's of Divinity degree with an emphasis in Social Justice from Howard University, Washington DC.  While at Howard, she served as the Student Government Vice President at her graduate school and under her leadership, this group was named one of Howard University's organizations of the year. 

She has nearly 10 years experience working with youth of color, predominantly from low-income communities.  Her experience includes: serving as a Residential Advisor at UC Berkeley's Summer Math and Science Honors (SMASH) Academy, where she co-taught English Rhetoric/Critical Thinking to rising high school sophomores and tutored ESL students for three summers.  She has also worked at One East Palo Alto as a Peer Mentor for the Sponsored Employment (SEP) Program for two summers, where she case managed ten youth with significant barriers to employment.  Kyra has taught numerous workshops in the Bay Area from college readiness, to workplace etiquette and activism through the arts. 

Kyra hopes to earn her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and work as a therapist with populations who have faced trauma and help them create pathways for healing and wholeness.  She is a lover of the arts and seeks to integrate them into her healing work in the world.  Later, she would like to specialize in counseling victims of religious trauma, teach religious tolerance and become an ordained minister.  Kyra is excited to be working with the Behavioral Health Advisory working group. 

Ligia Hernandez, as a 19 year resident of East Palo Alto (EPA), Ligia Hernandez, comes to One East Palo Alto (OEPA) with work experience in Ravenswood City School District. Ms. Hernandez has worked as an After School Program Leader at Willow Oaks Elementary, which she herself previously attended for nine years. As After School Program leader, she worked with all grades, but predominantly kindergarten, first, fourth and fifth graders. Her additional work experience includes OEPA’s Sponsored Employment Program (SEP) where she took on the role of Peer Mentor (PM) for young people ages 14-24.  In the PM role, Ms. Hernandez supported her SEP mentees’ efforts to resolve work related disputes as well as personal tensions.

Ms. Hernandez earned an A.A in Psychology from Cañada College. She is preparing to attend San Francisco State University where she will work towards completing a Bachelors of Arts degree in Communicative Disorders and a minor in Special Ed.

Carlos Jalpa, a 27 year EPA resident, is a Latino Social worker with over 12 years of experience working in nonprofit sector organizations in both Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. Mr. Jalpa served as Coordinator of the Citizenship Program at the Centro Bilingüe in East Palo Alto for four years. He also served as a home visitor for Family Support Center of the Mid-Peninsula in EPA and as a case manager at El Concilio of San Mateo County’s Emergency Services Partnership, also located in EPA.

Mr. Jalpa moved on and worked as CA Certified Counselor on Domestic Violence at the Support Network for Battered Women in Sunnyvale. Presently, he is working for the Community Health Awareness (CHAC) as parent educator helping and supporting Latino families in Mountain View and Sunnyvale cities.

Mr. Jalpa graduated from California State University at San Jose with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and a minor in Mexican American Studies. Prior to that, he earned an Associate of Arts Degree in Individual Studies from Foothill College and a Family Development Credential (FDC) from College of San Mateo. Mr. Jalpa is a member of the Apostolic Assembly Church in East Palo Alto.  There, he has served as a leader in different areas such as, Sunday School Superintendent and Sunday School teacher for children, teens and couples. He also volunteered as Director of the Juniors Ministry for several years and is currently Coordinator of the Second Harvest Food Bank distribution at Apostolic Assembly Church.

Belinda Borgo Jimenez, a family member of a consumer of mental health services, currently holds the part-time position of Program Communications Facilitator and will split her time performing this role for The Mouton Center and its expanded peer support/self help operations. Belinda came to The Mouton Center with experience working in a local community based organization. She currently holds an A.A degree in Psychology as well as an A.A in Sociology and a Certificate of Proficiency in Social Welfare from Foothill College. She is currently attending Notre Dame De Namur University in Belmont where she is pursuing her Bachelors degree in Psychology. She spends her free time volunteering at a local school.

William Chester McCall, a fifty-seven year resident of East Palo Alto, Rev. William Chester McCall, III comes to OEPA with over forty years of work experience in the community based non-profit and community organizing sectors. His work has been with with federal, state and local governmental agencies and with multicultural, multiracial and economically diverse communities. Rev. McCall has served as the Executive Director of the East Palo Alto Senior Center, the Homeless Program Supervisor for the City of Oakland, and shared a sixteen year street ministry in San Jose, California. Ordained United Church of Christ, he maintains dual standing with The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) and has served congregations in Tulsa, Oklahoma, San Diego, California and Los Angeles, California as an Interim Minister. Rev. McCall also founded a Unitarian Universalist congregation in Durham, North Carolina and most recently was pastor at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Restoration in Philadelphia.

Rev. McCall earned his Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from California State University of San Jose and his Masters of Divinity with emphasis in pastoral counseling and theology from Pacific School of Religion of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. He currently serves as a National Anti-racism- Anti-oppression Multicultural Diversity Trainer for the UUA, working with congregations and community based organizations seeking to be an anti-racist-anti-oppressive multicultural and diverse institution.
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Rev. Teirrah McNair, Sponsored Employment Program Coordinator, is an ordained Christian minister, educator and writer with over 35 years of experience building people through the arts, literacy and biblical studies.  A product of both Ravenswood City School District and Sequoia Union High School District, McNair was active in EPA’s struggle for incorporation, taught English and drama at Nairobi College, was a California Arts Council artist in residence at Kavanaugh School (now Cesar Chavez Academy) and the Shule Mandela Academy, and spent nine years as a literacy specialist assigned to the local nonprofits East Palo Alto Senior Citizens Center, Free At Last and Our Common Ground.  Her continuous goal has been to empower students and audiences to step up, speak out and boldly walk into their destinies.  As such, Rev. McNair has graced auditoriums, schools, churches, museums and sound stages as both actor and workshop facilitator.  Bay Area theater aficionados will remember her critically acclaimed performance productions of “Dirty Laundry”, “Faithwalker: The Life and Times of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune”, the revelatory “Hiding Out”, as well as her many other works.

Ana Pulido, Office Manager, came to OEPA in 2010 with a zeal for community service and advocacy. Born and raised in East Palo Alto, she comes with multifaceted experiences in youth services and music and was the youth band director of the East Palo Alto Apostolic Assembly of the Faith in Jesus Christ as well as the co-director of a camp serving 150 youth annually. Currently she serves on Nuestra Casa board that is a community education organization dedicated to increasing civic participation and promoting economic self-sustainability of the Latino immigrant population of East Palo Alto and the area served by the Ravenswood City School District. In addition, she is the President of Ravenswood City School District and is serving her second term advocating for students to ensure quality education. She has a Bachelor’s in Science Degree in Business from San Francisco State University._

Kava Tulua, Special Projects Consultant, OEPA Mental Health Initiative & Victor Lopez Community Mentor Project Coordinator currently serves as a consultant on a variety of projects to One East Palo Alto (OEPA) and El Concilio of San Mateo County (ECSMC).  Prior to her current role as OEPA’s Special Projects Consultant, Kava was promoted to Coordinator of Programs for the organization after serving as Community Organizer for a year.  She is the co-founder of Ta’ahine ‘o Moana, a project that supports the holistic growth of young Pacific Island women which is currently being implemented in Los Angeles.  She completed her Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology from John F. Kennedy University where she was a mentor, panel speaker and teaching assistant to new and continuing students as well as a School-based Counselor for the Cupertino Unified School District.  She received her Bachelor’s Degree in History from the University of California, San Diego.  In November, 2006, Kava was hired as Executive Director for the Pacific Islander Community Center (PICC) in East Palo Alto.  During her time at PICC she re-organized their After-School Program and reconnected it to its community partners and school.  Following her work with PICC, Kava was offered an opportunity to work with OEPA which she believes is the culmination of leadership development, and community advocacy and engagement.  Finally, as the Community Mentor Project Coordinator for the Sponsored Employment Program, Kava has witnessed community connectedness at its best.

Viliami Young, a consumer of mental health services, currently serves as TMC’s part-time Consumer/Family Member Program Facilitator and will assume the full-time role of Peer Wellness Mentor Coach. He is a native of the Island of Tonga whose commitment to community service has been lifelong. A former police officer in the Tongan police force and founding member of Fili Tonu, a youth health initiative sponsored by the Tonga Family Health Association, Viliami is an experienced community health advocate and educator who turned his personal struggles with mental health into triumph through service.  In his role at The Mouton Center, he draws upon personal experiences to advocate for members of the Pacific Islander community who, like himself, have been stigmatized for their struggles with mental health. September 2012 will mark his second year in the C/FMPF position, where he has used his thorough knowledge of San Mateo County services to help himself and other consumers of mental health services navigate through wellness and recovery processes. At TMC, Viliami has also provided peer support to Pacific Islanders and other ethnic group residents of East Palo Alto, East Menlo Park and Redwood City who utilize the center’s support services.