“Having personally viewed Streetside in the classroom, I believe it is a wonderful program that brings not only knowledge, but joy and deep levels of engagement.”

— Susan Stauter, Artistic Director, San Francisco Unified School District

ADMINISTRATIVE

Linda Johnson, Executive Director
Linda Johnson has been involved with agencies that serve youth for over fifteen years. Prior to beginning her work as Executive Director of Streetside Stories in 2001, Linda worked with at-risk youth in a youth crisis shelter and a drop-in community center. As a program director for Mercy Housing California, she developed and oversaw programs for youth and families before moving into fund development. She holds a BA in English from Ohio State University and an MSW from the University of Iowa.
linda-at-streetside-dot-org

Melissa Wong Renati, Administrative Coordinator
A native San Franciscan and graduate of Lowell High School and U.C. Berkeley, Melissa performs with Opera Piccola (“Small Works”) in their original musical folk tales series, and has also taught in their theme residency programs. She also taught Theater Arts/Creative Movement for Performing Arts Workshop’s (PAW) and Richmond District After School Collaborative’s (RDASC) programs at SFUSD elementary schools. A singer/actor, she performed and toured in France, Santa Fe, NM, and California venues with Word for Word Performing Arts Company’s production of Amy Tan’s Immortal Heart. She has also performed with TheatreWorks, George Coates Performance Works, Asian American Theater Company’s New Works Incubator Program; and has sung at the Classical Music Festival in Newport, RI, at the Summer Arts Festival in Fairbanks, AK, and at the Bracebridge Dinner pageants at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park. Melissa is currently cantor/song leader at Old Saint Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco.
melissa-at-streetside-dot-org

DEVELOPMENT, OUTREACH AND MARKETING

Greg De Benedictis, AmeriCorps VISTA Outreach Associate
Greg’s passion for youth empowerment through the arts started when he was given his own chance for creative expression through an after-school arts program. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a dual degree in Mass Communications and Sociology. His passion is using communication outlets for social change, especially where youth are involved. Greg has worked in the magazine industry, independently consulted with social media outlets and advised interested college-bound students on colleges, universities and scholarships. He loves to jog, cook, learn French, and smile.
greg-at-streetside-dot-org

Kerry Dyer, AmeriCorps VISTA Programs & Partners Associate
Kerry started with Streetside as a Development intern and recently joined AmeriCorps as Streetside's Programming and Parterships VISTA. Kerry attended the University of Colorado at Boulder and was awarded a B.A. in Sociology. She has seen and experienced the impact that story telling can have starting back in elementary school when writing was a way for her to overcome being shy and quiet and helped her find her voice. Kerry was born and raised in the Bay Area and has always had a strong desire to be a part of a cause whose purpose is to inspire and provide resources to kids, especially through the arts. Kerry enjoys cooking, doing arts and crafts, being outdoors, chocolate, and horror movies.
kerry-at-streetside-dot-org

PROGRAMS

Chrissy Anderson-Zavala, Co-Deputy Director, In-School Programs
Chrissy is a Xicana writer from Salinas, California. She studied and taught poetry in June Jordan’s Poetry for the People at UC Berkeley, where she graduated with a dual degree in English Literature and Peace and Conflict Studies. In Salinas, she tutored young people with a focus on youth activism and community violence prevention. She worked with WritersCorps for three years. She also worked as a teaching artist and teacher coach with the Performing Arts Workshop. She received her Master of Arts degree in Education with a concentration in Policy, Organization, and Leadership Studies from Stanford University. She was a recipient of the SF Arts Commission 2009 Cultural Equity Individual Artist grant.
chrissy-at-streetside-dot-org

Raphael Cohen, Tech Tales Artist Facilitator

Jack DeJesus, Digital Arts Teacher Coach
After dropping out of high school and scrapping community college, young Jack found himself at a crossroads. As fate would have it, an old friend hooked him up with a job as a Peer Educator for an HIV educational theater program in Hollywood. Since then, Jack's journey in youth work has taken him everywhere from school-based health clinics to juvenile halls to after-school programs; his areas of focus ranging from sex education to media arts to anti-oppression work. Most recently he worked at Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice, where he coordinated a Young Men's Program which focused on challenging male supremacy and redefining gender and masculinity. He is the founder of P.O.K.E.R familia—a people of color bike ride in the East Bay, and is a former host/producer of Apex Express on 94.1 FM KPFA. When he's not working, he spends a lot of time in the kitchen, on his bicycle, or rehearsing with his band.
jack-at-streetside-dot-org

Julia Eden Ris, Tech Tales Artist Facilitator

Sandra Garcia, Storytelling Exchange Artist Facilitator
Sandra Garcia is an award-winning poet and prose writer whose work has appeared in anthologies including Breaking Ground: Anthology of Puerto Rican Women Writers in New York 1980–2010, as well as in literary journals. She was the executive producer of She Hurt Herself Again, the docudrama short video created to raise awareness about teen date rape and to empower young women through media literacy (YWCA). A cultural worker and educator, she produces events for leading arts institutions and has been a teaching artist and a program coordinator for over 10 years. Currently she is the host and curator of the monthly full-moon poetry series Lunada, at Galería de la Raza in the heart of the Mission, while working on an MFA in poetry at Antioch University in Los Angeles.
sandra-at-streetside-dot-org

Tiffany Golden, Community Programs Artist Facilitator
Tiffany Golden has been working with youth for ten years as an instructor. Her
passion for youth development began after she graduated from the Academy
of Art University. She divides her time between Streetside Stories and
making feature films. Tiffany deeply believes in the healing power of art
and expression, and is grateful to be a part of Streetside Stories.
tiffany-at-streetside-dot-org

Philipe L. Harrington, Community Programs Artist Facilitator
Philipe Harrington is a multimedia artist, expressive arts therapist and educator from the South. Philipe previously worked making youth media with Health Initiatives for Youth, GirlSource, Horizons Unlimited, and outLoud Radio, the only LGBTQA youth documentary radio project in the United States. Philipe studies somatic healing and holds a masterÕs degree in counseling psychology with an emphasis in expressive arts therapy from the California Institute of Integral Studies. Philipe loves cats, tigers, bicycling, ice cream, mermaids, sewing, and sparkly things.
philipe-at-streetside-dot-org

Chelsea Hirschton, Program Coordinator
Chelsea joined Streetside in 2011 and is excited to continue her work in youth social service. Hailing from Richmond, Vermont in the heart of the green mountains, she attended the University of Vermont where she was awarded a Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art and a Masters in Education. She has an immense appreciation for the greater world around her and a desire to get involved with her community. Over the last few years this aspiration has been fulfilled through her positions in youth social service directly working with youth. Chelsea is excited to bring her knowledge and experience to the programming side of the Streetside family and looks forward to supporting the incredible work they do. In her free time you can find her behind her camera lens, out walking her dog, or spending time with family and friends.
chelsea-at-streetside-dot-org

Cecilia Ottinger Long, Master Teaching Artist, Storytelling Exchange
Cecilia has an extensive background in education, ranging from policy research and lobbying to teaching and tutoring. Cecilia is also an academic coach with the East Bay Center for Performing Arts. Cecilia's passion is singing jazz and acting. She has produced two CDs and performs regularly at several clubs in the Bay area. She has also performed at clubs and jazz festivals internationally. Cecilia is also an inspirational vocalist and performs at several Unity and Religious Science churches in the Bay Area. She is currently working on a one-woman show and CD, and conducts jazz performance workshops. As an actress, Cecilia has performed with George Coates Theater Works and the Ross Valley Players. She holds a Master's in Public Administration from George Washington University and a Bachelors' in Social Welfare from the University of DC.
cecilia-at-streetside-dot-org

Jovelyn Richards, First Edition Teaching Artist
Jovelyn Richards is a published writer and performance artist. Ms. Richards has been teaching creative writing and theatre in the bay area to students K- 12th grades for 15 years. Ms. Richards believes that one of the joys of teaching theatre skills to students is sharing in the endless possibilities in which magic can emerge within the imagination of our youth. Jovelyn is a published writer for both the stage and printed media, and has worked in radio as host for Women's Magazine, KPFA 94.1. She is a visiting artist at the California Institute of Integral Studies, as an alumni of Creative Inquiry Program and a guest lecturer at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology and Napa Community College.
jovelyn-at-streetside-dot-org

Ashley Simmons, Community Programs Artist Facilitator
Ashley is ecstatic to join Streetside Stories this year. Previously she has worked as a teaching artist at the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, the Carmel Ballet Academy, and The Unusual Suspects with incarcerated youth in Fresno. She received a BA in Theater as Social Action from California State University Monterey Bay and is a passionate director and actor. Ashley has been an activist for five years on women’s rights, anti-war, and immigrant’s rights struggles.
ashley-at-streetside-dot-org

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