Tamara Bauman
Tamara Bauman is a Rapid Re-Housing advocate at Solid Ground and is described as a “tenacious justice-seeker.” Tamara works to amplify the voices of program participants and to ensure anti-racist policies and procedures are operationalized throughout the system.
Reverend Dr. Kelle J. Brown
Reverend Dr. Kelle J. Brown is a faith leader of a church that has over its history created Plymouth Housing and Plymouth Healing Communities, and is a member of the Washington State Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for a Moral Revival leadership team. Reverend Dr. Brown leads in a community poised to participate in the movement toward justice and equity that produces safe and stable housing for those often blocked from participation.
Jenna Burgoyne
Jenna Burgoyne served on the Youth Action Board and is passionate about housing equity and housing as a human right. Jenna’s vision of a successful Advisory Committee is one that partners with providers, policy and advocacy groups, and centers people with lived experience to make long-lasting and radical change.
Leeze Castro
Leeze Castro was a member on the Youth Action Board and provided leadership to the End Youth Homelessness Now Campaign, presenting EYHN data to Seattle City Council and emceeing the campaign launch. Leeze also served as a member of the Northwest Network’s Youth Leadership Board and feels most fulfilled when doing empowering work that prevents other people from being traumatized when needing help from broken systems.
Shanéé Colston
Shanéé Colston works as a peer counselor and Diversion Coach where Shanéé draws on her lived experience to draw out people’s stories to help them find solutions for themselves. The Theory of Change gives Shanéé power for her voice to be heard in spaces where normally, it isn’t. It gives her a chance to offer instant feedback, because she is currently on the frontlines and can bring experience and insights that others cannot.
Brianna Franco
Brianna Franco has been a Youth Action Board member since 2019. Before she had come to this Board she had advocated on several youth and young adult foster care and homelessness issues through her own experiences in both institutions, but had yet discovered her own power and agency to make change. Since joining the Youth Action Board, she has been placed into spaces young people have not traditionally been a part of, nor been able to take the lead on. To build a better system to end homelessness, she and the Youth Action Board invite young people to continually be involved, build community, and engage as they all are critical components to influence the necessary changes in this scope of work to end youth homelessness in King County.
Marvin Futrell
Marvin Futrell is a staff organizer at Nickelsville and a Clinical Instructor at the University of Washington’s School of Public Health. Marvin is working on expanding systems to address the needs of Seattle’s growing number of people experiencing homelessness and supporting participatory, democratic processes in organizations owned and operated by individuals experiencing homelessness.
Kristi Hamilton
Kristi Hamilton is a member of Samaritan Beacon and volunteers with organizations like Companis, Chief Seattle Club, and was one of the original members of Operation Night Watch. Kristi has worked as a geriatric, psychiatric nurse, and as a drug and alcohol counselor. Kristi brings a unique perspective with lived experience of homelessness, as well as a background as a homeowner and landlord. As an older, Native woman with lived experience of homelessness, Kristi brings hope and sees opportunities for systemic change.
Norine Hill
Norine Hill is the Executive Director/Founder of Mother Nation and member of the Oneida Nation. She is a former elected Tribal Council member of her Tribe and Education Board with over 25 years of Executive grassroots management experience building cultural programs, creating non-profits, networking, and collaborating with Tribal entities. Norine is committed to inter-generational governance, where Elders with Mentees move their legacies into the next generation, while embracing new technologies and synthesis to develop new and better ways to serve and communicate with the community. Norine applies her experience in recovery from multi-abuse trauma, homelessness and alcohol addiction to her grassroots leadership at Mother Nation.
Benjamin Allen Miksch
Benjamin Miksch is the WA State Housing Specialist for the UnitedHealthcare Community Plan and has worked on housing affordability and homelessness issues since 2009 on behalf of Senator Maria Cantwell, the WA Low Income Housing Alliance, the Third Door Coalition, and as a Board Member of the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness. Benjamin will work to amplify the voices of people with direct experiences of homelessness to ensure every single person has access to the safe, healthy, and affordable place to call home that they deserve.
Linda Peoples
Linda Peoples is a current leadership team member of the Lived Experience Coalition and Consumer Advisory Council. Linda is deeply engaged in antiracist community organizing as a way to undo systemic and institutional racism to create communities where everyone has housing.
Marisol Tapia Hopper
Marisol Tapia Hopper brings extensive experience providing services that advance the social and economic well-being of immigrants and refugees. In her efforts to advance equity-driven policies in social service programs for systematically underserved communities, she co-chaired the Tri-County Refugee Planning Committee, and currently serves as a member of Governor Jay Inslee’s Poverty Reduction Workgroup. Marisol is guided by a strong commitment to equity and dignity in service delivery to fully address and serve the holistic needs of children, adults and families experiencing homelessness.
Kristina M. Sawyckyj
Kristina M. Sawyckyj is the vice chair for the South King County Healthcare for the Homeless Advisory Group, an appointed member to the Seattle’s Commission for People with Disabilities, a Vice Co-Chair of the Washington State Behavioral Healthcare Council, the Disability Access Coordinator for the Transit Rider’s Union, a member of the Lived Experience Coalition Leadership Team, and an instructor with the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. Kristina believes that in order to change homelessness, we need to change oppressive forces and make housing a human right for all.
Robin Tatsuda
Robin Tatsuda is the Executive Director of The Arc of King County and has a background in promoting equity and social justice through the lens of disability, including the intersection of disability and other marginalized identities such as race, ethnicity, gender, national origin, etc. Robin’s approach is to ensure programming and services are fully informed by and accountable to the community served. Given over 64% of people experiencing homelessness have one or more disabilities, it is critical to ensure that disability accessibility is included in the strategies to end homelessness.
Karen Taylor
Karen Taylor is the Executive Director of the Lived Experience Coalition, a Village of Hope member, a Diversion Coach, a Black Prisoners Caucus member, a member of the Urban League of Seattle, and an anti-racist organizer with the People’s Institute NW. Karen has experienced homelessness several times in her life, and, as a Seattle native knowledgeable about the history of organizing in the city, is a dedicated champion for change and disrupting racism in partnership with community.
Sherry Tillman
Sherry Tillman is the Intake Manager Specialist at Mary’s Place where Sherry connects families experiencing homelessness to shelter. Sherry wants to bring front-line perspective to this committee to help create solutions that are focused around the needs of those who are experiencing homelessness and improve the system so that families have a voice, feel respected and represented, are able to become self-sufficient, and have options where they don’t have to experience homelessness at all.