Mike Blockstein (he/him/his)

CO-PRINCIPAL

Mike Blockstein is a visual artist and educator. He has created and led projects nationally, working with youth, community leaders and organizations to reflect on, understand and shape their physical, social and political geographies, including A Chinatown Banquet in Boston Chinatown, Market Makeovers’ work on healthy food access, PDUB Productions in Los Angeles’ Historic Filipinotown, Temple Street Slow Jams, and Greetings from East L.A. He has a long track of pushing paradigms in the visual arts, as Director of Southern Exposure, a San Francisco artists’ organization, through the National Association of Artists Organizations, and as a rare visual artist with a Master in Public Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School.

Shirley Ramirez-Rivera (she/her/hers)

Creative Civic Engagement Associate

Shirley Ramirez -Rivera is an educator and passionate community advocate working at the intersection of arts, urban planning and community engagement to amplify the lived experiences of residents of marginalized communities. Shirley’s connection with Public Matters began when she was a high school student working on Proyecto MercadoFRESCO. She was a former intern and Urban Future Lab Fellow. Previously, Shirley worked as a community planner with Pueblo Planning and as Community Programs Coordinator for the Cayton Children’s Museum. She is an active member of East Yard for Environmental Justice. Shirley received her B.A. in Public Policy at the University of California, Riverside.

Christine Vazquez (she/her/hers)

Community Liaison

Christine Vazquez, an urban planner and Community Liaison for Public Matters. A native of East Los Angeles and the first East Los Angeles Renaissance Academy graduate to attend USC, Christine’s passion for transportation and community advocacy began in high school where she first interned with Public Matters and realized just how passionate she was about empowering her community. Her experiences with East LA’s built environment, public transportation, and her father’s work as a truck driver inspired her career in urban planning. Christine holds a bachelor’s degree in urban studies and planning and a master’s in urban planning, with a focus on transportation, from USC’s Sol Price School. She received a commendation from Supervisor Hilda Solis for her research on bike share programs.

Reanne Estrada (she/they)

CO-PRINCIPAL & CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Reanne Estrada is an internationally exhibiting artist whose visual art practice includes drawing, sculpture, media production, graphic design and social practice. With Public Matters, she combines her background in visual arts with social marketing, education, and leadership development to reach and connect with focus populations and project partners, with an emphasis on communities of color, low income individuals, youth, older adults, and people with disabilities. Her individual work and collaborative practice with the Mail Order Brides/M.O.B. have shown in museums, galleries, film festivals, and public spaces. Reanne has an A.B. in Visual and Environmental Studies from Harvard University.

Nubes Chen (she/her/hers)

Creative Community Planner

Nubes Chen is a community-based planner and designer. By combining her creative and analytical thinking, she works with communities to explore holistic and creative urban solutions to preserve local culture, ensure economic resilience, and build social infrastructure. Nubes is also an active placekeeping advocate and community organizer for LA Chinatown. Previously, she has four years’ experience as a senior regional planner in China. She delivered 10+ urban development and revitalization plans for local government, public agencies, and private developers. She holds a Master of Urban Planning from USC Price School with a concentration in Arts and Culture and a B.A. in Economics and Business.

Jami Johnson (she/her/hers)

Operations Manager

Jami Johnson is a visual artist and community-based organizational Swiss army knife with a long-standing career in the not-for-profit and community engagement agency sectors. Her creative practice includes photography and short-film production in the events industry as well as non-profit. Her passion for capturing the collective spirit and energy of communities and mission-driven groups is the inspiration for her visual work. She is a graduate of California State University, Long Beach, with a B.S. in Sociology/Consumer Science and Otis College of Art and Design with a certification in fine art photography.  

David Lawrence (he/him/his)

MEDIA SPECIALIST

David Lawrence is a media artist, designer, producer, and researcher. He is a founding member of Stretcher, a collective of San Francisco Bay Area artists and art critics who have published an online art magazine since 2001. His works include award-winning radio documentary, books, laserdiscs, CD-ROMs, and interactive public space kiosks. While at Lucasfilm Ltd., he did groundbreaking research and production in the emerging field of interactive multimedia with partners including the National Geographic Society, the National Audubon Society, and Apple Computer, Inc. He holds a degree in Conceptual Design from San Francisco State University.

Grace Cruz

Grace Cruz is a Co-Founder of PRIME School, a public charter school focused on Equity, Empowerment and Community Partnerships. Students apply their academic skills and knowledge to community issues, providing viable solutions and implementation to real world problems. Prior to this, Grace taught history and served as a school leader in middle and high schools in New York, San Francisco, Mexico City, Honolulu and Los Angeles. She previously served as an Assistant Head of Middle School at the American School Foundation in Mexico City and as the High School Principal at Mid-Pacific Institute in Honolulu, where she collaborated with a core group of faculty to develop Mid-Pacific Exploratory (MPX), which included the creation of community learning opportunities in conjunction with the STEM program. Grace has served as an instructional coach and professional development provider to support schools in Project Based Learning and Curriculum Design. Grace graduated from NYU with a BA and MA in History and Education, and received her certification in School Leadership and Administration (with a focus on Informational Technology) from Johns Hopkins University.

Vera deVera

Vera deVera brings more than 30 years of experience in philanthropy, nonprofit governance and public policy. She most recently worked at the California Community Foundation where she led a ten-year community building effort that resulted in the formation of the El Monte Promise Foundation. Vera also oversaw the Foundation’s capacity building programs and co-managed the Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative. She’s served as Senior Director for the Fannie Mae Foundation’s western region, as a staffer to two elected officials and as a senior policy analyst for a statewide real estate trade association. Now an independent consultant, Vera remains a trusted and engaged strategic philanthropic thought partner as a Board Trustee for the Durfee Foundation, a member of the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Islander Giving Circle and a Legacy Society donor to the California Community Foundation. Vera holds a B.A. in Political Science and an M.A. in Urban Planning from UCLA, and a J.D. from Southwestern University School of Law.  She is a Certified Professional Coach.

Ron Milam

Ron Milam brings 17 years of leadership experience in the nonprofit sector, having served over 150 sustainability-oriented organizations as a consultant. He’s currently serving as interim director for Smart Growth California, an initiative of the Funders Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities. Ron is skilled at developing leadership, building stronger teams, improving organizational effectiveness and facilitating collaborative change. Previously, he served as founding Executive Director of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition. Ron holds a masters degree in Organization Development from Pepperdine University.

Dr. Dennie Palmer Wolf

Dr. Dennie Palmer Wolf is a Principal at WolfBrown, a nationally recognized cultural planning and nonprofit arts consulting agency. As a researcher at Harvard Project Zero, she led studies on the early development of artistic and symbolic capacities. She directed Project PACE (Projects in Active Cultural Engagement) at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, focusing on youth as vital, but often ignored, forces in cultural planning. More recently, she has pioneered evaluation studies that build the capacities of organizations, funders, and the communities they serve, co-authoring More Than Measuring, a longitudinal study of the effects of arts-based learning, sponsored by Big Thought, a 50-organization consortium in Dallas. Wolf has published widely on issues of assessment, evaluation, artistic, and imaginative development. Her work shows a commitment to increasing youth’s access to learning featuring inquiry, innovation, and imagination both in and out of school. In 2013, she was awarded the National Guild Service Award from the National Guild for Community Arts Education.

McCrae A. Parker

McCrae A. Parker has over 20 years of experience in the youth development, workforce development and media education fields through his work with organizations such as Just Think!, Children Now, the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth and Families, and the San Francisco Conservation Corps. McCrae served as Managing Director at ZeroDivide (San Francisco, CA) where he managed technology capacity building and broadband expansion projects for under-resourced and under-served communities in California and the Western US. Prior to ZeroDivide, he served as the Director of Strategic Initiatives at Youth Radio, a national youth journalism and media training organization based in Oakland, CA. At Youth Radio, McCrae was charged with the development of innovative local and national program models that supported young people’s education and career exploration, 21st century workforce readiness, and media production. McCrae studied Comparative Literature and Film at Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA.

Mark Wolf Podlasly

A member of the Nlaka’pamux Nation located in the Pacific Northwest, Mark is an independent consultant who assists indigenous and local communities to identify and engage local economic, social and education opportunities. A graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) and the HKS Centre for Public Leadership, Mark develops and delivers strategy and leadership programs for urban communities, tribal governments and regional financial institutions to better understand and benefit from proposed urban land redevelopment, energy/mining/transportation infrastructure, and community financial trust management. Previously Mark ran a successful executive education practice in Asia, Europe and the US, designing corporate strategy and leadership programs for clients including GE, Unilever, General Mills, Clorox, and Goldman Sachs.

Randy Tan

Randy leads the Southern California public sector and education consulting practice for Slalom LLC – a global business and technology advisory firm. He has managed and delivered business and technology transformation projects for over 100 agencies in the State of California and across the country. He specializes in strategic planning, performance management, and organizational efficiency and effectiveness – with the goal of improved service delivery and customer experience. In addition, he has experience serving as an Adjunct Faculty at Seattle University and Saint Martin’s University instructing on leadership, project management, and operations management at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Randy holds a M.H.A. from the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development (now the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy), and a B.S. in Human Development from UC, Davis.