STAFF
“In a working environment that is very challenging and stressful, it was impressive that the program has retained staff and volunteers over the years. The program has seen clients become volunteers and staff move on to pursue graduate degrees, coming back in other capacities to help the agency, which are testaments to the value that the program gives the community.”
- San Francisco Department of Public Health, in a 2008 evaluation of HYA
Executive Director: Mary Howe
Mary is a formerly homeless youth who assumed leadership of HYA in 2006, securing fiscal sponsorship for the newly merged organization and spearheading its consolidation and growth. She has over ten years' experience in direct service and outreach with marginalized and underserved populations. Prior to serving as Executive Director of HYA, Mary was an Outreach Counselor and later the Center Manager for Haight Ashbury Youth Outreach Team, the Program Coordinator for San Francisco Needle Exchange, and a Trainer for the Drug Overdose Prevention and Education Project of the City and County of San Francisco. She is the recipient of a 2009 Bay Area Unsung Hero Award from KQED Northern California and is one of 5 San Franciscans to receive a $5,000 Local Heroes Award from Bank of America. Mary loves to read, travel to far away places, and watch shows about true crime and medical anomalies. She has a cat, Lucy, who has the ability to stand. It amazes all who witness it.
mary@homelessyouthalliance.org
Program Coordinator: Nina Willer
Nina was introduced to HYA in 2005, when she came to the Bay Area from her native Germany to attend a friend’s funeral. There, she met Mary, and spent the rest of her visit volunteering at HYA. In April 2006 Nina permanently relocated to the Bay Area and began working as an Outreach Counselor. In October 2008, Nina transitioned into the newly created position of Program Coordinator. Her duties include overseeing and supervising the outreach team, ordering supplies, organizing professional trainings for staff, and building collaborative relationships with other service providers. In her new role, Nina is dedicated to lending a voice to those who don’t have one or are afraid to speak up. Outside of HYA, she doubles as a Doula (baby catcher) and travels to discover the few parts of the world she has yet to see. She likes to listen to 80’s dance music with her dog Zackery and tortoise Rupert; they may be the only ones who truly understand her.
nina@homelessyouthalliance.org
Development Associate: Suzanne Rivecca
Suzanne began fundraising for HYA in August 2008. Before that, she worked in grant writing and development for St. Anthony Foundation and Community Housing Partnership. She is also a fiction writer whose book of short stories is forthcoming from W.W. Norton in July 2010. Since starting work at HYA, she has successfully peer-pressured her boss into partaking in frequent doughnut binges, has rediscovered her junior high musical tastes, and has learned many new phrases that she cannot say in polite company.
suzanne@homelessyouthalliance.org
Outreach Counselor: Khristine Jones
Khristine has mad love and respect for HYA. A former participant of HYA, she began volunteering at the needle exchange in 2005 after transitioning off the streets. Khristine evolved into a superstar outreach counselor in 2007, dedicated to the cause of empowering homeless youth. Working at HYA allows her to take part in the community she loves so much and to give back by being a positive force in the lives of the youth we work with. Her favorite projects include needle exchange, the weekly art and writing group and overdose prevention trainings. Her sidekick, a mischievous Rottweiler named Tonka, is a fixture at our drop-in and helps her run important errands around town. In her downtime, Khristine hunts down epic waves for surfing adventures, dresses Tonka up in turtle costumes, and rocks out at music shows.
khristine@homelessyouthalliance.org
Outreach Counselor: Lani Riccobuono
Lani has been a member of the HYA team since 2007. She came to HYA by way of Tenderloin Health, where she worked at their needle exchange and did HIV testing and counseling. Lani has been active in prison abolition and anarchist organizing work for many years and her politics led her to dedicate her life to harm reduction. She is a member of Critical Resistance, a national organization dedicated to dismantling the prison industrial complex. Lani is Bay Area born and bred, but pieces of her heart remain scattered in New Orleans and Hawaii. Her spare time consists of searching for the perfect Vietnamese sandwich, navigating the crazy world of collective living, and daydreaming about a future in which she will get enough sleep.
lani@homelessyouthalliance.org
Outreach Counselor: Kyle House
Kyle has been a happy member of the HYA family since February 2008. Although of male origin, he seems to have gained acceptance from the female pack. Kyle helps facilitate a weekly “Dude’s Group,” and otherwise can be found hangin’ in the drop-in ready to help however he can. For Kyle, the most rewarding aspects of working at HYA are helping participants get housed and off the street when they are ready, and seeing them grow and change in positive, life affirming ways. He spends his down time playing music and hanging with his dog, Razzle.
kyle@homelessyouthalliance.org
Outreach Counselor: Clara Brandt
Clara joined HYA in August of 2008 after volunteering at SFNE since 2005. Clara has a background as an interviewer and phlebotomist for the UFO and SWEAT studies, and utilizes her medical and counseling background to educate participants about safer injection, vein care, and overdose prevention techniques. She also co-facilitates HYA’s monthly “Sex Group” where participants can receive support and information regarding STIs, safer sex strategies, sex work, and sexual trauma. Clara is passionate about HYA’s participant-centered harm reduction approach, and plans to attend school to become a nurse practitioner so she can further serve the needs of San Francisco’s vulnerable populations. On her down time, she studies for her biology classes and teaches the material to her cats, Howie and Judith.
clara@homelessyouthalliance.org