First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom
Jennifer Siebel Newsom is a filmmaker, thought leader, and the First Partner of California. For more than a decade, Jennifer has been at the forefront of changing our society’s limiting gender norms and stereotypes. She wrote, directed, and produced three critically acclaimed and widely seen documentaries on the subject, Miss Representation, The Mask You Live In, and The Great American Lie and founded The Representation Project, a nonprofit that uses film and media to catalyze cultural transformation.
Jennifer’s films have been seen by over 28 million people worldwide, and The Representation Project’s social action hashtag campaigns have reached more than 650 million people.The Representation Project is responsible for single-handedly shifting the norm of sexist Super Bowl ads with the #NotBuyingIt campaign. Similarly, their #AskHerMore campaign transformed sexist reporting on the red carpet, and empowered women in Hollywood to address inequalities in the industry, giving early momentum to the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements. Since becoming First Partner of California, Jennifer has championed various issues related to gender equity and raising healthy, whole children including the launch of her first initiative, #EqualPayCA.
Mayor Libby Schaaf
Libby Schaaf is Mayor of Oakland California. She was born and raised in Oakland, which she proudly describes as, “The most unapologetic Sanctuary City in America.” During her tenure, Oakland has undergone an economic revitalization and building boom, as well as cut gun violence in half. Her “17K/17K Housing Plan” has helped increase Oakland’s affordable housing production, stabilize rents, and decrease evictions. In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Mayor Schaaf to California’s first Council of Regional Homeless Advisors. She created Oakland’s first Department of Transportation, whose equity-based paving plan is the first of its kind in the nation. Mayor Schaaf is most proud of launching the Oakland Promise, a bold cradle-to-career initiative to send more low-income Oakland kids to preschool and college. The Oakland Promise has sent more than 1,400 Oakland students (and counting) to college with scholarships and mentors, and will give every baby born into poverty a $500 college savings account at birth.
Angela Barranco
Angela Barranco is the Undersecretary of Natural Resources at the California Natural Resources Agency. Barranco has been chief executive officer for River LA since 2018. Barranco was senior vice president for Better World Group Inc. from 2017 to 2018 and deputy director of the Climate Action Campaign from 2016 to 2017. Barranco was associate director of public engagement for climate and environment for the White House Council on Environmental Quality from 2014 to 2016. She was deputy chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development from 2013 to 2014.
Mark Rossow
Mark Rossow is currently Asm. Eduardo Garcia’s senior legislative staffer for the 56th Assembly District and has been working in the State Assembly since 2013. Mark is best known for being the lead staffer for Proposition 68 during its time in the legislature and also has a successful history of working on legislation relating to housing, utilities, the internet, as well as other environmental issues. Mark is an active member of the community involved with several efforts on his personal time including his time as Communications Director for the Sacramento Del Rio Trail Project, Communication Director for Net Impact-Sacramento, advocating on behalf of the Sacramento Good Governance ordinances, and organizing with local software developers and artists to develop targeted investments towards the Creative Economy in Sacramento. He studied Politics at the University of California, Santa Cruz and the University of Kent in the United Kingdom and currently spends much of his free-time in his garden where he enjoys growing purple tomatoes and peppers.
Tatiana “Tati” Butte
Tatiana “Tati” Butte is a Youth Advocate with Outdoor Outreach. Tatiana was born and raised in Southeast San Diego. She recently graduated with Honors from Morse High School and is now attending San Diego City College where she is focusing on Administrative Justice. Tatiana is also a recent graduate from the Outdoor Outreach Leadership Program where her passion for the environment and advocacy flourished. Tatiana has been highly acclaimed for her contributions to her school and community, and is recognized on the Wall of Excellence by City Councilmember Monica Montgomery of San Diego District 4. She is also an American Legion Auxiliary's California Girls State Alumni and a General Tommy Franks Four Star Leadership Alumni. Her aspiration is to continue to help her community, especially in experiencing the Here and Now through the outdoors.
Panel 1: The Status of Children’s Health in California
Anthony Wright has served as Executive Director for Health Access, the statewide health care consumer advocacy coalition since 2002. Health Access has led state and national efforts to win consumer protections, fight budget cuts and invest in our safety-net, encourage prevention, and advance coverage expansions and comprehensive health reform. Wright led California’s coalition effort to help pass the Affordable Care Act and state laws to implement and improve it, and campaigns to successfully pass first-in-the-nation laws to ensure timely access to care, and to stop hospital overcharging of the uninsured.
Ted Lempert is the President of Children Now, a research and policy organization based in Oakland that is focused on transforming children’s advocacy. Children Now coordinates The Children’s Movement of California. Mr. Lempert is also a Lecturer in the Political Science Department at UC Berkeley. Previously, he was the founding CEO of EdVoice, a California education reform organization. Mr. Lempert was a California State Assemblymember representing Silicon Valley from 1996 to 2000 and 1988 to 1992. He served as chair of the Assembly Higher Education Committee and co-chair of the Joint Committee to Develop a Master Plan for Education. He had more than 75 bills signed into law, including major policies in the areas of education, health care, children and families, tax policy and the environment.
Linda Tenerowicz is the policy advocate for the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network working on issues of access to healthcare and health equity for underserved communities. Prior to joining CPEHN, Linda worked as a Legislative Aide to State Assemblymember Freddie Rodriguez, advising him on health policy, public safety, and the State budget. She is also an alumnus of the Capitol Fellows program where she worked as a consultant for the Senate Committee on Public Safety. Linda is originally from South San Francisco and graduated from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles with her BA in political science. Coming from a multiethnic background of Filipino and European heritage, Linda is passionate about celebrating cultural diversity and ensuring that communities of color are met with culturally competent and dignified healthcare. She hopes to bring her years of experience working in both houses of the Legislature to promote policies to achieve that goal.
Sammy Caiola has been covering medical breakthroughs, fitness fads and health policy in California since 2014. Before joining CapRadio, Sammy was a health reporter at The Sacramento Bee. She has degrees in journalism and gender studies from Northwestern University. In 2015 Sammy completed a data fellowship at the University of Southern California, which led to a three-part series on black child death in Sacramento County. She has also reported extensively on autism spectrum disorder, reproductive health care, LGBT health, and conjoined twinning.
Panel 2: Improving Youth Health through Parks
Jon Christensen is an adjunct assistant professor in the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, Luskin Center for Innovation, Department of History, and Center for Digital Humanities at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is a journalist-in-residence at the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, a founder of the Laboratory for Environmental Narrative Strategies in the IoES, and a senior fellow in UCLA’s cityLAB. He is a consulting producer for the ‘Earth Focus’ documentary TV series produced by Public Media Group of Southern California (KCET| PBS SoCal | Link TV) and the Thomson Reuters Foundation. He is also a partner and strategic adviser at Stamen Design, a National Design Award-winning interactive design studio specializing in mapping, data visualization, and strategic communications. And he serves on the board of directors of the Liberty Hill Foundation and the Los Angeles River State Park Partners, and on the advisory board of Friends of the Los Angeles River.
Emily Teitsworth is the Executive Director of GirlVentures. Emily grew up in Oregon surrounded by opportunities to learn from the natural world. After living in South India, France, Guatemala, and seven US states, and working as a horse wrangler, roofer’s assistant, communications consultant and translator, she found home in the Bay Area. Emily is passionate about ensuring that all girls have the opportunity to discover their strengths and experience the transformative power of the wilderness, and strives to bring respect, empathy, humility and humor to her work. Emily holds a Master’s in Sustainable International Development from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, and graduated magna cum laude from Wesleyan University with a degree in Philosophy and Psychology. Prior to joining GirlVentures, Emily co-founded and scaled Rise Up, an Oakland-based organization that has become a globally recognized model for girl-centered advocacy.
Lesford Duncan is the Senior Director of Programs at Outdoor Outreach, providing leadership to the development, implementation and evaluation of Outdoor Outreach's programs and initiatives. Since 1999, Outdoor Outreach has helped over 14,000 at-risk, under-represented, and system-involved youth explore their world, challenge themselves, and discover what they’re capable of, using the outdoors as a platform for positive outcomes in youth development and resilience. Lesford has a career background in developing programs, partnerships, and policies that enhance the health and resilience of children and families. Prior to joining Outdoor Outreach, he worked in Child Welfare and Behavioral Health for the County of San Bernardino. There, he educated on the effects of childhood adversity (ACEs) and developed trauma-informed programs for building resilience in children and youth. Lesford received his B.S. in Biology from the University of Florida, and MPH in Health Policy and Leadership from Loma Linda University. He is also a Senior Fellow with the Atlantic Fellows for Health Equity, ultramarathon runner, and avid hiker and outdoorsman
Panel 3: Growing Future Parks Stewards with new Pathways to Parks
Jennifer Fischer is the manager of interpretation and education in the Angeles District of California State Parks. She oversees interpretive staff and programming for 12 state parks in the Los Angeles area. A born Angelino, Jennifer graduated from California State University, Northridge, with a BA and MA in history. In fact, she began her career with State Parks as an history intern 12 years ago at Los Encinos State Historic Park. As such, Jennifer is passionate about mentoring students and helping them with career opportunities in outdoor education. For the past three years, Jennifer has been working very closely with the Santa Monica Mountain National Recreation Area’s education team to bring students participating in the Every Kid Outdoors program to parks on both National Park and California State Park land. Together, over the last three years, the two agencies have served more than 58,000 4th graders and have forged a much stronger partnership and working relationship at the field level of which Jennifer is very proud.
Jayni Rasmussen is the Senior Campaign Representative for the Outdoors Alliance for Kids (OAK) & Youth at Sierra Club. OAK is a strategic partnership of over 100 nonprofits and businesses with a shared mission of connecting children, youth and families with the outdoors. Previously, Jayni was the Advocacy and Outreach Manager for the National Recreation & Park Association, where she led the organization's advocacy efforts, including creating the award-winning Park Champion initiative. Before NRPA, Jayni worked at Ocean Conservancy on government and stakeholder relations. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, she is a graduate of Kent State University and holds a B.A. in Political Science. Jayni now lives in Washington, D.C., and can often be found exploring the outdoors with her partner, Marshall, and their dog, Lola.
Amy Lethbridge is the Executive Director of Community Nature Connection. Amy grew up running wild through the creeks and forests of Northern California. A 1988 encounter with schoolchildren in Southern California who had never seen the ocean opened her eyes to the deficit of nature that many urban children experience and her life’s passion was found. Amy has worked for the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA) for over 28 years and is a Deputy Executive Officer. She serves as a pro bono Executive Director of Community Nature Connection, as she did when it was previously named the Mountains Education Program (MEP). Amy has a B.A. in Liberal Studies, a Masters in Organizational Management and a PhD in Leadership and Change and, as adjunct professor at Antioch University - Los Angeles, she was part of the academic team that developed the Masters in Urban Sustainability Degree. She recently served as the President of the National Association of Interpretation and is a Certified Interpretive Guide, Manager, and Trainer. She has trained tour guides and park/natural area managers in outdoor education and heritage interpretation in nine countries. Her very favorite thing is when she is sharing an outdoor activity with a young person and they tell her, “I saw this once on TV.”
Jorge Savala is the Community Outreach Director for Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks focusing on planning and implementing strategies to expand use of the park system by people of all ages, cultural backgrounds and abilities. He has spent the last 13 years serving as a volunteer Community Organizer in Santa Cruz County. His involvement in the 2006 Human Service Campaign led to the expansion of the Sherriff Activity League into Live Oak, a new Boys and Girls Club, Family Resource Center/Volunteer Center, and the Day Worker Center. Today, he serves as Vice Chair of the board for Santa Cruz Community Health Centers and on the Santa Cruz County Youth Violence Prevention Taskforce.