FII Staff & Board

Maurice is Founder and CEO of the Family Independence Initiative. Previously he ran a successful community development agency in San Francisco and Oakland and was honored by President Clinton for his work. Maurice sits on the boards of the California Endowment and the Hitachi Foundation.

Michelle has worked at the Family Independence Initiative since six months after its inception. During which time, she completed her studies for a Master's in Business Administration/ Management at Cal State University, Hayward in 2004. Michelle is a native of Oakland, California, where she is a committee member of the Iu Mien Scholarship Fund since 2000. She was a member of the Board of Directors of the Lao Iu Mien Cultural Association (LIMCA) from 2004-2006. Michelle continues to work to help her community preserve its culture and language through various events and projects.

Mia grew up on the East Coast surrounded by accomplished writers, journalists, lawyers, photographers, educators, artists, and activists. Mia brings to her work at FII a wide-range of professional experiences from her time in the publishing world, her on-going practice in birth work, and a decade spent in the field of youth health education. She holds a B.A. in African American Studies from Oberlin College. Mia sits on the board of directors of People's Grocery, the Young Women's Health Leadership Program Advisory Board, an is long-time volunteer with Critical Resistance. She lives with her husband and two children in Oakland.

Prior to joining FII in 2009, Jorge worked for seven years in the financial securitization sector. His experience focused in underwriting bond financings for U.S. municipal entities, investor owned and publicly owned utilities as well as infrastructure projects the U.S. and Latin America. He holds an M.A. in International Relations with a focus in Business Management from the University of California in San Diego and has a B.A. from Amherst College. Jorge is a Woodrow Wilson Fellow from Princeton University.

Aishah was born in the Bay Area to activist parents and grew up in Richmond and Oakland, CA. She is the mother of three and the second oldest of seven siblings. Aishah is a community organizer, artist and seeker of knowledge. She received her BA from UC Berkeley with an interdisciplinary degree in Anthropology, African American Studies, and Public Health. Aishah is a former FII participant and an FII Community Fellowship alumni. She has over 10-years of experience working in African and African-American cultural arts and youth arts. She has co-organized various projects focused around women's health, community healing, and empowerment. She believes that internal and external oppression is the source of many societal ills and thus uses her art and her community work to address these issues.

Jesús comes to FII with more than a decade of experience working with youth, most recently as Deputy Director of the Hyde Square Task Force. He has over 15 years' experience in working with urban youth and as a community organizer. Jesús is a member and Co-Chair of the English for New Bostonians Oversight Committee, and serves as a board member for the New England Grassroots Environment Fund and the Boston Foundation for Architecture.

Lizeth, a mother of two, is originally from Mexico. She recently renewed her career path by becoming an assistant teacher and completing her GED. Since 2002, Lizeth has been an active volunteer at her Catholic church. She's been a Community Leader in her church since 2006. Lizeth plans to get a Masters in teaching, in addition to learning sign language and perfecting her English.

Tamara is the mother of three, and lifelong resident of Bayview Hunter's Point. She has worked for over 15 years in the San Francisco Unified School District as a preschool teacher, and is currently a school bus driver for Laidlaw providing transportation to students throughout the district. She has worked as an informal community leader providing resources to parents to increase parent engagement in the schools and working to secure neighborhood and school safety.

Maria is married, a mother of 7 children, and a housewife. She was born in Nicaragua, and has lived in San Francisco for over 25 years. She has attended high school and has some college level knowledge. She dedicates her volunteer time to working with FII and to her children's private schools. She also cares for her child with special needs. Maria working toward becoming a parent mentor at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital.

Sindy was born and raised in the Mission District of San Francisco. She moved into Bayview district in San Francsico where she resides. She graduated from John Adams High School and continued her education at Skyline College in San Bruno and San Francisco City College. She hopes to complete her general education and transfer into medical school. Sindy has been working with her community since 2006

Makerita was born and raised in Samoa and came to the United States in 1978. She is the mother of two children, one is attending SF State University and one is attending Visitation Valley Middle School. Makerita is an advocate for her Samoan community and greatly involved with her church. She is also a parent member for Coleman Advocates for Youth and Families in San Francisco, advocating for students and parents in the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD). She helped win the fight to get the SFUSD Board to have the districts materials for families translated into Samoan. She is a very strong, dedicated mother to her children, family, friends and her community.

Gese was born and raised in San Francisco, CA. She grew up in the Potrero Hill projects raised by her mother, friends, and family in the neighborhood. Because of all the blessings her mother received from others to help keep her and her siblings on track and out of trouble, she lives her life trying her best to help others in her community or anyone who crosses her path. In 2009 joined FII, where she has strengthened her ability to make changes in her life as well as the lives of others.

Gabriela is a high school senior at Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory in San Francisco. She has six brothers and sisters, one of whom is a disabled child. Despite the financial hardships that her parents face, she and her younger sister attend to an excellent Catholic High School. She has also been able to travel to places such as London and Hawaii with her school chorus. Her goals are to graduate high school and attend college with a major in Vocal Performance and a minor in Nursing. She plans to achieve her "American Dream" by having a career that she enjoys and, in the future, having a family of her own.

Chuck Parrish is founder and former Executive VP of Phone.com (now Openwave), former VP of Contel Cellular, GTE Mobile (now Verizon), Board member of CFED, board member of Novarra Inc of Itasca and former Chief of Staff, US Department of the Interior in the Carter Administration.

Tony Mayer is retiring Managing Director and CEO of J.P. Morgan Capital Corporation. Mr. Mayer is a Trustee of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. He is also a Director of Public/Private Ventures, Expansion Capital Partners, and a number of private companies.

Bob Friedman is founder and chair of the board of the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) and former member of the Levi Straus corporate board. Bob also sits on the boards of the National Fund for Enterprise Development, EARN, the Rosenberg Foundation, the Friedman Family Foundation and the Koshland Committee of the San Francisco Foundation. Bob has been central in the development of the IDA matched savings accounts and an asset agenda for this country.

Sherry Hirota is chief executive officer of Asian Health Services, based in Oakland. Formerly a founding member of The California Endowment's Board of Directors, Sherry was appointed member of the Advisory Committee on Research on Minority Health of the ORMH, National Institutes of Health along with many other appointments. Sherry has a long history of working in some of our most difficult communities.

Diana Smith is the Chief Executive Partner at New Profit, Inc., a national venture philanthropy fund that seeks to harness America's spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship to help solve our country's biggest social problems. Diana s the author of three books and regularly lectures to business and nonprofit audiences and has taught as a guest lecturer at Columbia's Executive Education Program, Harvard Law School, Harvard Business School's Executive Programs, and Harvard's Graduate School of Education.

Maurice Lim Miller is Founder and CEO of the Family Independence Initiative. Previously he ran a successful community development agency in San Francisco and Oakland and was honored by President Clinton for his work. Maurice sits on the board of the California Endowment and the Hitachi Foundation.