Leadership

Program Manager

Sara Gurdian is the Program Manager of the Coalition.

As the program manager, Sara educates member organizations and residents about the County budget process and promotes meaningful and inclusive community engagement. She is a champion for practices rooted in equity that address gaps and disparities faced by those most impacted. Her understanding of local and regional policies has influenced her core belief that it is essential to center community voices throughout decision-making processes. As a Bay Area native, Sara learned to have a deep appreciation for people who make our communities great, regardless of gender, immigration status, color, identity, or from different walks of life. She is fortunate enough to connect with people and find alignment on issues we most care about and affect us as human beings.

Steering Committee

**Sandra Naughton**,

**Interim Deputy Director for First 5 Contra Costa**
Sandra has more than 20 years of experience in the early childhood, youth, and family services fields, working on policy, strategy, evaluation, communications, and operations. Her professional path has been motivated by a deep commitment to help improve opportunities for children and families, particularly those most impacted by disparities. Sandra spent about 11 years working for the City & County of San Francisco in various departments focused on eliminating disparities and creating more opportunities for children, youth and their families in terms of access to early care and education programs, expanded learning programs, youth leadership and workforce development programs.

**Roxanne Carrillo Garza**,

**Executive Director for Healthy Contra Costa**
Roxanne currently works with resident leaders, community-based organizations, base builders, and systems leaders to develop collective policy advocacy strategies to improve health, safety, school and neighborhood environments, and economic development opportunities. Prior to joining Healthy Richmond in 2013, Roxanne was a Public Health Program Manager for Contra Costa Health Services

**Tumani Drew**,

**CCC Site Director for The Young Women’s Freedom Center**
Tumani (a.ka. Tu) is a sister to hella siblings. She is a descendant of warriors and resilient women. She lets her ancestors and experience guide her path in fighting against white toxic patriarchal systems.Tumani studied grassroots methods and the power of historical transformational social movements while obtaining her bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies at SFSU. She gained experience with community organizing during her internship with the Black Organizing Project where she helped mobilize their Bettering Our School System (B.O.S.S) campaign that successfully removed all levels of police out of all OUSD schools.

**Mariana Moore**
,

**Senior Director for Ensuring Opportunity**
Mariana Moore proudly serves as Senior Director of Ensuring Opportunity’s, which brings together advocates across issues and sectors in a collective effort to end poverty in our community. We focus on the root causes of poverty in challenging and changing unjust and racist policies, practices, and narratives that keep our neighbors in Contra Costa members from reaching their full potential to thrive.

**Solomon Belette,**

**Coordinator for East Contra Costa Alliance**
As an Executive leader with strong planning and strategy skills, Solomon Belette is committed to building organizational capacity, promoting collaborative opportunities, and working towards greater equity and social justice. His leadership is focused on strengthening the nonprofit and philanthropic ecosystems both locally and globally. As a Social Sector leader, he wants to use his knowledge and experiences in strategic planning, innovative program development, public policy and advocacy, as well as managing social sector initiatives designed to achieve greater social impact.

Rachel Rosekind

Rachel Rosekind, PhD, MLIS

Rachel Rosekind, PhD, MLIS, strives to build social infrastructure and communities of care that lift people up instead of pinning them down or hemming them in. Through her practice, Root and Bloom, and numerous service roles, she seeks to amplify underrepresented voices in print and in public and move underserved communities to the centers of social and political concern. As an educator, editor, researcher, and consultant at the nexus of economic, racial, and social justice, Rachel is dedicated to excavating and examining root causes to catalyze strategic interventions that promote more inclusive and accessible communities and equitable, just, and accountable resourcing. Pushing past systems, she coordinates and contributes to mutual aid projects and rapid response efforts in numerous capacities and regions. Accordingly, she works across sectors and beyond siloes to forge relational awareness and expansive solidarity

Jess Temple

Rubicon Programs Director of Legal Services

Jess Temple joined Rubicon Programs in January 2020 as a Staff Attorney, and was promoted to Director of Legal Services in January 2024. Prior to joining Rubicon, Jess amplified the urgent work of nonprofits and organizations seeking to increase access to justice and legal services at the state and international levels. Most recently at OneJustice, Jess lead a team focused on building capacity and increasing access to immigration and reentry legal services in rural communities across California. Previously, Jess contributed to regional and international human rights advocacy, technical assistance, and litigation at the International Justice Resource Center, Schonbrun Seplow Harris Hoffman& Zeldes, LLP and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Jess is driven by the principle that all people are equal in dignity and rights, and leverages her varied experience to deliver person-centered and community-based legal support. As a Bay Area native Jess is delighted to serve the communities that helped raise her. Jess received her B.A. from UC Santa Cruz and her J.D. from UCLA School of Law. At UCLA, Jess served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs and received the Morris Greenspan Memorial Prize awarded to the top graduating student in international law.