Biographies

2009 TCWF Sabbatical Program Award Honorees

Kim Carter, Executive Director, Time for Change Foundation

With a deep, personal commitment to helping women overcome cycles of homelessness, addiction, abuse and incarceration, Kim Carter founded Time for Change Foundation (TFCF) in 2002. TFCF provides transitional housing for homeless and formerly incarcerated women and their children in San Bernardino County. Their emergency and transitional shelters offer mental health and substance abuse services, employment referral and job development, parenting classes and other assistance to help clients become healthy and self-sufficient. Carter graduated from San Bernardino Valley College. She serves on the board of the African American Health Initiative and on San Bernardino County and California Department of Corrections commissions that address women’s health and delivery of responsive services.

Lynn Dorroh, CEO, Hill Country Health and Wellness Center

Hill Country Health and Wellness Center is the sole provider of health services for a 2,000-square-mile region of rural Shasta County. For more than two decades, Lynn Dorroh has been involved with Hill Country as a mental health clinician and as a board member. In 2004, she was named chief executive officer. Since then, she has directed the Center’s transition to a federally qualified health center (FQHC) and overseen a building project that resulted in a new facility that triples the size of the clinic. In addition to her work with Hill Country, Dorroh chairs the Northern Sierra Rural Health Network, a nine county regional consortium of rural health providers. With a master’s in counseling from California State University, Hayward, she is also a licensed marriage and family therapist.

Betty Alvarez Ham, Founder and President, City Impact, Inc.

For low-income migrant and agricultural workers and their families in the Oxnard area, City Impact offers services including therapeutic counseling, mentoring programs for youth at risk of gang involvement, parenting education, family literacy, as well as cultural and recreational activities. Ham founded City Impact in 1995 and now directs an organization that serves children as young as six months and grandparents in their 90’s. Ham also serves on the Ventura County Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council and the Ventura County Healthy Families Prevention and Intervention Council. She received a Master of Divinity degree from Fuller Theological Seminary and is an adjunct professor in the department of religion and philosophy at Azusa Pacific University.

Stuart Kandell, Executive Director, Stagebridge

Stuart Kandell founded Stagebridge in 1978 to promote healthy aging by providing opportunities in the performing arts for older adults to educate, entertain and help them share their experiences with younger generations. Since then, Stagebridge has created and produced 32 plays about aging and toured them to more than 300,000 individuals in senior centers, schools, nursing homes, libraries and theaters throughout the Bay Area. Kandell directs the oldest senior theater in the nation and the only professional theater training company for older adults on the West Coast. The organization received the American Society on Aging MetLife Mind Alert Award in 2009. In addition to degrees in drama and education, Kandell has a Ph.D. in intergenerational studies from the Union Graduate Institute.

Debra Lynn Marsteller, Executive Director, Project Independence

Project Independence serves adults with developmental disabilities in Orange County. It is a one-stop provider of programs offering independent living services, supported employment services and behavioral support programs. Today, the organization provides assistance to more than 700 adults who live in their own homes, work regular jobs and participate in community life. Debra Marsteller has served as executive director of its sister organization, Vantage Foundation, since 1982 and helped to drive a merger with Project Independence in 2007, thus creating a stronger organization capable of serving a broader range of disabled adults. Marsteller holds a master’s degree from San Diego State University. She is a member of the California Disability Services Association and serves on the Orange County Health Care Council Committee of Older Adults with Disabilities.

Roy A. Martin, Executive Director, GraceSource, Inc.

GraceSource provides child abuse prevention services for women and families in Yuba and Sutter counties, operating two family resource centers with home visitation programs. It is also one of four California agencies implementing the Supporting Father Involvement research study on ways to engage families on the important role fathers play in their children’s lives. In the 10 years since Roy Martin joined the organization as executive director, it has grown from a part-time staff of three and an annual budget of $50,000 to a $500,000 budget and a staff of nine full-time and five part-time employees. Martin has a master’s in educational administration from California State University, Sacramento. He is a member of the Yuba Child Abuse Prevention Council Working Group and the Family Resource Center Network of Yuba County.

Robin Novack McCrae, Executive Director, Community Human Services

Robin Novack McCrae has been the executive director of Monterey-based Community Human Services (CHS) since 1992. CHS provides access to professional, affordable mental health and substance abuse counseling and recovery services for individuals and families, with a special focus on programs that treat the unique needs of youth. The organization has more than quadrupled in size during her tenure and now serves nearly 4,000 people each year. McCrae holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from University of California, Davis. She serves on the Monterey County Children’s Council and its violence prevention subcommittee, the Coalition of Homeless Services Providers and the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council.

Richard A. Veloz, Chief Executive Officer, South Central Family Health Center

Richard Veloz has spent more than 35 years working in health care as an advocate, clinician, lobbyist, lawyer, administrator and educator, with a focus on underserved and hard-to-reach populations. He is currently CEO of South Central Family Health Center (SCFHC), which provides comprehensive health care to adults and children, with an emphasis on health education and preventive medicine. It is the primary medical care provider for the community of South-Central Los Angeles. Services include: screening, diagnosis and treatment, health maintenance, preventive care, prenatal and well-child care, adolescent health services and behavioral health programs. Veloz received a master’s degree in public health and his J.D. from UCLA. He is a member of the board of trustees of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science and chairs the board of directors of Southside Coalition of Community Clinics.