PJC Staff
Administrative Team
Current and Former Positions
-
Administrative Director, Northern California Breathmobile ®, 2007-Present
-
Executive Director/Co-Founder, Prescott-Joseph Center for Community Enhancement, Appointed August, 1998-present (Volunteer)
-
President, West Oakland Community Collaborative, August, 2004-present
-
Program Director, West Oakland Asthma Coalition, July, 2001-present
-
Medical Director (Retired), Clinical Laboratory, California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, 34 years
-
Assistant Pathologist, Englewood Hospital, Englewood, New Jersey, 1966-1967
-
Associate Pathologist and Chief of Clinical Laboratory and Vice-Chief of Department of Pathology, California Pacific Medical Center (formerly Presbyterian Medical Center), 1967-2000
Ouida Joi Cooper-Rodriguez joined PJC in April 2004 and currently serves as the Interim Deputy Executive Director, after previously serving as Deputy Executive Director for over 10 years. During her time at PJC, she has also served as Program Director and Operations Director. In her current role, she is part of the Executive Team and supports operations and the delivery of a variety of programs that provide much needed services to adults, children, youth, and families in West Oakland, and the greater Bay Area. Ouida provides long-term planning and management in the areas of finance, human resources, development, and compliance, as well as supports the Executive Director in community relations and Board administration. She has an MA in Management and a BA in Behavioral Science/Psychology (Magna Cum Laude). She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) in Nonprofit Leadership & Management. Ouida is a veteran of the United States Air Force and the Army National Guard.
Ron Carino, Development
Ron Cariño is the founder and Principal of Carino Consulting. Ron has been a non-profit Executive Director, Fund Development Specialist, and Grant Writer for 20 years. He has raised millions of dollars through various funding sources including foundation grants, government contracts, and corporate sponsors.
Jaime Henderson, Executive Assistant
BIO COMING SOON
Robert Shen, Bookeeper
BIO COMING SOON
Program Teams
Father Charles D. Burns, SVD, Pre Preschool Program
Dr. Kristen Burmester, Ph.D.
Co-Founder/Advisor
Ouida Joi Cooper-Rodriguez, M.A.
Acting Program Director
Gloria Gil
Pre-Pre Lead Teacher (Bilingual)
Chloe Chan
Assistant Teacher/Team Lead
Miriam Gonzalez
Assistant Teacher
Shunnae Baker, M.S., CCC-SLP
Licensed Speech-Language Pathologist
Michelle Jordan
Music Teacher
Veronica Alvarez, LCSW
Parent Wellness & Early Childhood Development
West Oakland Food Pantry
![IMG_0693[1].JPG](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a0f5ac_2335ac8e761e4018855ef9d9a38733f9~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_94,h_125,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01/IMG_0693%5B1%5D_JPG.jpg)
"Our motto is: "No one should go without food." We want to make sure no one is ever turned down when requesting something to eat or in need of food. I joined the Prescott-Joseph Center in 2008 as the Food Pantry Manager for the West Oakland Pantry. Our mission is to provide healthy alternative food options for this community. We currently have a crew of dedicated neighborhood volunteers that help us weekly to distribute and provide food to the community. They have been a tremendous support. Families have told me if it were not for our program, they would not have any food. Looking towards the future, the need continues to grow and we are always looking for more donors and support to fulfill the increasing needs of the residents we feed."
Northern California Breathmobile® Program
Washington Burns, MD
Breathmobile® Acting Medical Director/Administrative Director
Manisha Mandhare, Pham.D.
Breathmobile® Program Director
Mary Frazier, RN (Retired)
Breathmobile® Project Advisor
The Northern California® Program is staffed by a combined team of in-house staff and a team of medical providers ranging from licensed respiratory therapists, registered nurses, nurse practitioners and medical doctors. Prescott-Joseph también ofrece servicios en español
Manisha joined the Breathmobile team in August 2021. Before coming to PJC, Manisha owned and operated an independent community pharmacy in North Oakland for 10 years. She has worked as Clinical Pharmacist specializing in hospice and long-term care and served as a Clinical Research Coordinator for COVID-related clinical trials. Most recently, she has helped coordinate and administer COVID vaccinations. She brings her experiences working with patients in ambulatory care clinic and pharmacy settings to improve patient health outcomes. She is enthusiastic to serve pediatric asthma patients to improve their long-term asthma management and their quality of life. In her role as Breathmobile Program Director, she will work to develop and expand current outreach efforts while engaging with stakeholders for Breathmobile sustainability. Manisha has a Doctor of Pharmacy Degree and has completed a Pharmacy Practice Residency in Ambulatory Care at Kaiser Permanente. She is currently pursuing her Master of Public Health at University of California at Berkeley with an emphasis on community health.
Christina Castaneda
Bilingual BMo Program Coordinator (Bilingual-Spanish)
Christina is a Bay Area native, and daughter of immigrants. From a young age, she has been passionate about serving her community and over the years has work as a Spanish Interpreter, Coordinator of free immigration information workshops, and as the Spanish Lawyer Referral Service Coordinator at the Alameda County Bar Association. Christina joined the Breathmobile team in August 2021. In her role as BMo Program Coordinator, she coordinates mobile asthma care services for children in schools and other community-based organizations in Alameda, Contra Costa, and soon to be Southern Solano Counties. In her free time, she likes to collect music records, shoot film photography, and play music with her 13-year-old daughter Luna.
James Acuña
Breathmobile® Patient Services Representative/Driver (Bilingual - Spanish)
James Acuña has worked for the Prescott-Joseph Center and the Northern California Breathmobile Program since 2009 as the Bilingual Patient Services Representative / Driver. He is a graduate from California State University, Long Beach with a BA Degree in Liberal Arts and is the recipient of the Every Breath Counts Service Award in 2013. James has had extensive training in disaster readiness through the Red Cross and Oakland’s C.O.R.E. Programs and has volunteered as a little league baseball coach for the past 7 years. In his spare time, James enjoys playing the guitar and collaborating with other musicians in the East Bay. James is also very committed to the East Bay communities by serving as a health educator and by providing health access to those who live in under-served areas
Leslie Leon
Van Coordinator/Breathmobile® Program Medical Assistant (Bilingual - Spanish)
Leslie Zeceña graduated from Contra Costa College in 2014 as a Medical Assistant (MA). She began working at PJC in 2014 as an Intern, then became a part time Medical Assistant. In March 2017, she joined our staff as a full time Medical Assistant for the Breathmobile. While on the Breathmobile, Leslie take the patients vitals, does a pulmonary function test, asthma education, as well as providing translation for patients. Leslie is bilingual in English and Spanish and also provides outreach for the Breathmobile. She visits schools, attends meetings and community festivals, and conducts asthma education classes for parents and children. Leslie also helps with the administrative work in the office, which includes scheduling appointments, making reminder calls to families, updating flyers, translating materials into Spanish, as well as help coordinating with Breathmobile partners and contacts. Leslie is also an Asthma Facilitator through the American Lung Association which allows her to teach a program called Open Airways For School. This program educates children on how to self-manage their asthma.
Chris Venenciano
Breathmobile® Program Van Coordinator
Contra Costa County Team Lead
Chris joined the BreathMobile team in March of 2018. He is the Van Coordinator for PJC’s second BreathMobile located in East Contra Costa County. Chris provides asthma education to all the families who visit the East County BreathMobile to help them better manage their asthma. He also helps the community by giving Asthma Management classes to parents, faculty and staff, and community centers throughout the county. Besides helping the community youth breathe easier, he also helps them stay fit by running the youth martial arts program for the City of Pittsburg, Parks & Recreation Department on the weekends.
Francisco "Paco" Galvez
Breathmobile® Patient Services Representative/Driver - Contra Costa County
Francisco “Paco” Galvez is from Riverbank, CA in the California Central Valley. He graduated from CSU Stanislaus with a BS Degree in Business Administration/Marketing. He also took extensive classes in Computer Graphics and Art Classes. Francisco has always had a passion art, music and gardening. In his spare time, he likes to work on various art projects, from comic-book art, computer graphics, and painting wall murals to airbrush art or painting on canvas. Francisco started at the Prescott-Joseph Center in August of 2018 as a Bilingual Patient Services Representative/Driver for the Breathmobile in Contra Costa County. He wants to make a positive impact for the community of Pittsburg CA, and the nearby areas in the region by providing asthma education and outreach to the parents of school children who have asthma.
JESSICA LOPEZ
Breathmobile® Program Medical Assistant (Bilingual-Spanish) - Contra Costa County
Jessica joined PJC in August 2019 as a Bilingual-Spanish Medical Assistant. She graduated from Mt. Diablo Adult Education as a Certified Medical Assistant in 2014. On the Breathmobile, she assists patients with taking their vitals, performing pulmonary function tests and helps to interpret. She also assists with scheduling appointments and reminder calls, as well as charting. Jessica enjoys going to local schools and community events to participate in outreach in the community to make people aware of our services.
West Oakland Community Collaborative (WOCC)
Born and raised in the diversely rich community of Oakland, California, Malkia Chionesu found her purpose of helping to illuminate the lives of others. With over ten years of experience working with non-profit organizations and educational institutions, Malkia discovered that she could deeply and intuitively understand individuals. This inherently gave her opportunities to educate and work congruently with a variety of populations. With her passion for serving people in human-centric ways, over the last few years she has been serving purpose-driven organizations and individuals with consulting and coaching services. With the desire to create socially responsible entities, in 2019, Malkia completed her master’s degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology…Malkia desires to transform the lives of the people she works with, to empower them to shift their corners of the world.
KaSelah is an Oakland native committed to her community. She is the Founder and Director of KaCierge, a networking and consulting business providing services to local community based organizations. KaSelah is best known from the West Oakland Pop-up Village. She writes, "The Pop-Up Village is a site activation tool that harnesses the power of design to catalyze the magic that emerges when people and programs come together in public space. The Pop-Up Village brings together a constellation of dynamic programming in customized buses, vans, pop-up shops, furniture, and other types of mobile architecture and nature. Place matters, and its power has been taken from those who stand to gain the most from its thoughtful creation. The Village seeks to bring regenerative design back into the hands of community."