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Board of DirectorsDavid Lewis, President and cofounder, is a Community Outreach Specialist with the San Mateo County AIDS Program. He is a Master Facilitator for Gordon Graham and Company in the Framework for Change video curriculum. Mr. Lewis was featured in the Bill Moyers documentary "Circle of Recovery" and currently speaks on the national speakers circuit. He was awarded the California Peace Prize in 1995 and the Positive Image Award in 1992. As a founder of the recovery movement in East Palo Alto, he has established a network of support with other providers as well as a network within the state Department of Corrections. Mr. Lewis focuses on African-American men, parolees and ex-offenders, and longtime addicts. Nadia Bishop, Esq. is an attorney with Crosby, Heafey, Roach & May in Oakland. Prior to her current position, she was the Supervising Attorney of Family Advocacy and Support at the East Palo Alto Law Project and a Lecturer at Stanford Law School. She also served as a staff attorney with the Alliance for Children's Rights. Ms. Bishop graduated from Stanford Law School in 1995. Luther C. Brock, Sr. is the Program Director for the Aids Research Consortium and is one of the founding staff members of Free at Last. Mr. Brock helped to build Free at Last from the ground up, establishing links with parole, probation, the AIDS program, and social service agencies. A member of Leadership Mid-Peninsula in 1995, a member of the State and County HIV Prevention Planning Committee, and a founder of the EPA AIDS Task Force, Luther brings an expertise in HIV education and health services and community recovery. Priya Karim Haji, Treasurer, is former Executive Director and cofounder of Free at Last. She spearheaded program design and development as the agency expanded in seven years from one program in 1993 to a multi-service agency with over 50 employees. As a board member she continues to act as a liaison with government agencies, foundations, and public policy groups, advocating for funding and social reform. As Board Treasurer she oversees the agency's budget and finances. A former Echoing Green Fellow, a 1996 Do Something Foundation Brick Award winner, member of the San Mateo County Women's Hall of Fame, Priya also is the first recipient of Free at Last's Courage to Change Award, given in September 2001. She is currently pursuing an MBA at the University of California, Berkeley. Karl Hamel, Secretary, Trademark Paralegal for Gray, Cary, Ware, Freidenrich law firm in Palo Alto. He also serves as counselor for the First Offenders Program for Occupational Health Services. Mr. Hamel has been a longtime resident of East Palo Alto and supporter of community recovery. Beatrice Lares, M.D., (Ex-Officio member) is a Mexican immigrant who served on the faculty of the UCLA/UC Drew Medical School in Los Angeles for ten years, with a focus on training minority physicians to practice medicine in under-served communities. She also brings a special emphasis to clients with dual diagnoses. Linda Mills, J.D., M.S.W., Ph.D., (Ex-Officio member), is Assistant Professor at the UCLA School of Social Welfare. She has done research for the US General Accounting Office and Brandeis Health Policy Institute, taught social welfare and law classes at Berkeley and John F. Kennedy University. Dr. Mills founded and directed The Hawkins Center of Law and Services, an award winning, self-supporting legal and social services agency in Richmond, California. Her treatment emphasis is on persons with disabilities, public assistance recipients, and survivors of domestic violence. Vicki Smothers, Vice President, is a cofounder of Free at Last. As the Community Programs Specialist II for Prenatal Advantage, Ms. Smothers coordinates prenatal services and counsels teen mothers from East Palo Alto. As a longtime resident of East Palo Alto she has an extensive knowledge of community dynamics and resources. Ms. Smothers is also one the founders of the East Palo Alto AIDS Task Force. She provides expertise in the area of the recovery of women, including parolees and ex-offenders. Janet Thomas is the founder and director of a home for disabled individuals. She has worked in the field of recovery with women and brings her knowledge of services, the needs of women and of the disabled to the Board. She has been a resident of East Palo Alto for many years. |
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