Board of Directors

  • Ofelia was raised in East Palo Alto with a deep love for her community. As a first-generation college student, she earned a bachelor’s degree from UC Santa Barbara. She returned to the Bay Area eager to continue her education and gain more skills and knowledge to apply in service to her community. She earned a Master’s in Urban and Public Affairs from the University of San Francisco. Ofelia’s passion for pressing issues of gentrification, housing insecurity, and environmental injustice propelled her into a pathway that would lead her to work in diverse coalitions led by the people most impacted by these issues.

    Ofelia is the Executive Director of Youth United for Community Action (YUCA). She collaborates closely with youth of color from East Palo Alto, who are grassroots organizers, to create positive systemic change in our community. Ofelia volunteers on local boards and was recently elected to the East Palo Alto Sanitary District.

  • Leonora is an East Palo Alto native and former staff member at Ecumenical Hunger Program- one of Pahali’s placekeepers. She became Pahali’s first homeowner in 2015 when Pahali, in cooperation with Northern California Land Trust, acquired the home so it would be permanently affordable. Before she purchased her home, she and her husband and their six children had been homeless three times. After becoming CLT homeowners, Leonora’s family underwent unexpected tragedies, forcing her to become a full-time caregiver to her son. “But whatever storm knocks us out, we know we can always come back here now. This is home.”

  • Leonora is an East Palo Alto native and one of Pahali’s Placekeepers. She became one of Pahali’s first homeowners in 2011 when Pahali, in cooperation with Northern California Land Trust, acquired the home so it would be permanently affordable. Before she purchased her home, she and her husband and their six children had been homeless three times. After they officially purchased the home from PAHALI, Leonora’s family underwent unexpected tragedies forcing her to become a full-time caregiver to her son. “But whatever storm knocks us out, we know we can always come back here now. This is home.”

  • Mark has dedicated more than 30 years in the nonprofit sector to affordable housing. In 1992, he served as the founding Executive Director of Peninsula Habitat for Humanity, where he was instrumental in creating permanently affordable homes for 101 families, 33 of them from East Palo Alto. He joined a group of housing advocates in 1999 to organize the Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County (HLCSMC), serving on the Board from 2000 until 2009. In 2011, he served four years as Executive Director of HLCSMC and the Housing Endowment and Regional Trust of San Mateo County (HEART).

    He currently acts as Vice Chair for the EPACANDO Board and on several housing management and development Boards. Mark is an advisor to Sustainable San Mateo County, supporting the organization's work for 20 years. Mark earned a BA in Studio Art from Stanford University.

  • Tameeka was born and raised in East Palo Alto. For the past 15 years, she has been organizing local Bay Area communities. Her passion is to lift the voices of those who are underrepresented and give tools to low-income families of color to create change at institutional levels. She believes in the power of community-led planning and engagement.

    Tameeka has been part of campaigns ranging from education and immigration reform to climate change – but her focus has always been on affordable housing and land use. She has led community asset mapping exercises, community participatory planning processes, community-wide surveys, and data collection projects. Tameeka has also been involved in political housing campaigns, drafting and working to pass affordable housing ordinances.