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MEET OUR TEAM
Angel Arellano
She/They
Admin Coordinator/Receptionist
Admin Coordinator/Receptionist
Andy Cabrera
They/Them
Clinic Operations Manager
Clinic Operations Manager
Ashlee Banks
She/Her
Wellness Services Director - East Oakland
Wellness Services Director - East Oakland
Benjamin Jackson
He/Him
Clinic Prevention Services Director - East Oakland
Benjamin Jackson was born and raised in Oakland ca. He is the Center's 1st Wellness Services Coordinator and is committed to linking our LGBTQ community to resources. A major focus of his work is to help improve health outcomes for all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people, with a special emphasis on those at the highest risk for contracting HIV and those living with HIV. He provides community members with information for housing assistance, food resources, education and training, addiction and recovery support & resources, health screenings, HIV testing, linkages to treatment and other wellness services.
Benjamin has worked with a variety of patients in different healthcare settings and in 2014, he discovered his passion for Public Health as an AAHU fellow with the Black AIDS Institute in collaboration with UCLA. When Benjamin is not at the center, he enjoys cooking, maintaining his health and fitness, listening to music, attending concerts, shopping, and traveling with friends.
Clinic Prevention Services Director - East Oakland
Benjamin Jackson was born and raised in Oakland ca. He is the Center's 1st Wellness Services Coordinator and is committed to linking our LGBTQ community to resources. A major focus of his work is to help improve health outcomes for all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people, with a special emphasis on those at the highest risk for contracting HIV and those living with HIV. He provides community members with information for housing assistance, food resources, education and training, addiction and recovery support & resources, health screenings, HIV testing, linkages to treatment and other wellness services.
Benjamin has worked with a variety of patients in different healthcare settings and in 2014, he discovered his passion for Public Health as an AAHU fellow with the Black AIDS Institute in collaboration with UCLA. When Benjamin is not at the center, he enjoys cooking, maintaining his health and fitness, listening to music, attending concerts, shopping, and traveling with friends.
Cielo Flores
He/Him
Youth Services Operations Coordinator
Youth Services Operations Coordinator
Donte Washington
He/Him
Care Services & Food Pantry Manager
Care Services & Food Pantry Manager
Jade Moncado
She/Her
Youth & Family Services Director
Youth & Family Services Director
Jessie Spivey
He/Him
Elder Services Director
Jessie Ray Spivey is a Sacramento native and transplant to Oakland, who spent his previous years in public service and volunteering in the community.
Jessie serves as Operations Manager at The Oakland LGBTQ Center and Co-Facilitator of Black Connect, a support group for Queer Black cis and trans masculine men. He is also the creator and founder of The Doudad, a full circle birth Doula practice that amplifies the voices of men in birthwork.
Elder Services Director
Jessie Ray Spivey is a Sacramento native and transplant to Oakland, who spent his previous years in public service and volunteering in the community.
Jessie serves as Operations Manager at The Oakland LGBTQ Center and Co-Facilitator of Black Connect, a support group for Queer Black cis and trans masculine men. He is also the creator and founder of The Doudad, a full circle birth Doula practice that amplifies the voices of men in birthwork.
Johanna Holden
She/Her
Development Director
Johanna Holden grew up in the occupied Ohlone community of Huichin (Berkeley, California), where she skillfully avoided her bullies by playing in the mud, climbing trees, and dancing. A proud Jew, transgender woman, dyke, she sees her work as Development Director as part of the proud legacy of building economic, political, and cultural independence for people of color-led community organizations in Oakland. She is overjoyed to be part of the thriving community that has sprung up around the Oakland LGBTQ Center, and when not writing grants, talking to donors, and finding ways to make non-profits serve the people, she co-facilitates the center’s White Allyship and Accountability Group and the Trans Women and Trans Femmes’ Support Circle. In her free time, she studies decolonized herbalism at Oakland’s Ancestral Apothecary, snuggles her cats, and cooks, dreams, laughs, and dances the revolution into being with her chosen family.
Development Director
Johanna Holden grew up in the occupied Ohlone community of Huichin (Berkeley, California), where she skillfully avoided her bullies by playing in the mud, climbing trees, and dancing. A proud Jew, transgender woman, dyke, she sees her work as Development Director as part of the proud legacy of building economic, political, and cultural independence for people of color-led community organizations in Oakland. She is overjoyed to be part of the thriving community that has sprung up around the Oakland LGBTQ Center, and when not writing grants, talking to donors, and finding ways to make non-profits serve the people, she co-facilitates the center’s White Allyship and Accountability Group and the Trans Women and Trans Femmes’ Support Circle. In her free time, she studies decolonized herbalism at Oakland’s Ancestral Apothecary, snuggles her cats, and cooks, dreams, laughs, and dances the revolution into being with her chosen family.
Joe Hawkins
He/Him
CEO/Co-founder
Joe Hawkins is a noted, Oakland California based community organizer, LGBTQ advocate, non-profit executive, event producer, and social entrepreneur. Joe was named by Business Equality Magazine as one of America's Top 50 over 50 LGBTQ Legacy Leaders for 2019 and the San Francisco Business Times honored him with the 2022, Selisse Berry - Leadership Legacy Award.
Joe first came to national prominence as one of the first gay men to ever appear as a guest on the iconic Oprah Winfrey talk show during the early 90's, defending his right to parent his son as an out gay man.
He was one of the many early HIV/AIDS activist and appeared on numerous talk shows to include Geraldo Rivera and the PBS documentary series Frontline, to highlight the often overlooked, intersectional issues experienced by Black LGBTQ people, to a national audience.
Among his many accomplishments, Joe is a co-founder and former co-chair of Oakland Pride and was voted Grand Marshall of both the San Francisco and Oakland Pride Parades.
He worked as a founding program member and CEO of OpNet Community Ventures, one of America's first high-tech training programs, launched in 1995, for low income youth and youth of color in San Francisco. Joe served as Regional Director for Innovative Housing, a shared housing non-profit for low income families and individuals in Marin County.
He worked as the Director of Administration at AIDS Project of the East Bay (APEB), served on the Ryan White Planning Council and was a founding organizer of the East Bay AIDS Walk.
Joe also created California’s largest and longest running Black LGBTQ Film Festival and produced California’s longest running LGBTQ Hip-Hop event that lasted 25 years. He produces Blatino Oasis, California’s largest and longest running gay and bisexual men of color getaway retreat, held annually in Palm Springs, California.
In 2017, Joe co-founded and is the CEO of the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, Oakland's first all inclusive, intergenerational, LGBTQ+ service center and a new model for service provision in Oakland. A military veteran, Joe’s service to the community has been recognized with numerous awards, including proclamations from 7 mayors of 3 cities and 4 governors in the state of California. His work with youth technology training programs was recognized by the White House and featured on Good Morning America and in numerous publications including USA Today and the Wall Street Journal. In 2014, the City of Oakland presented Joe with the Mayor's Proclamation, naming a day in his honor and in 2017, the Northern California chapter of the ACLU honored him with the Grover Dye award, their highest award for community activism.
In 2018, his vision for LGBTQ wellness programming resulted in the LGBTQ center receiving the American Psychological Association's Presidential Citation Award and in 2023 the Center was featured in a national ad campaign for its HIV prevention efforts.
Joe loves living in Oakland and the Bay Area and spending his free with his husband Nico, camping on the beach, touring California and spending time with his son and three beautiful grandchildren.
CEO/Co-founder
Joe Hawkins is a noted, Oakland California based community organizer, LGBTQ advocate, non-profit executive, event producer, and social entrepreneur. Joe was named by Business Equality Magazine as one of America's Top 50 over 50 LGBTQ Legacy Leaders for 2019 and the San Francisco Business Times honored him with the 2022, Selisse Berry - Leadership Legacy Award.
Joe first came to national prominence as one of the first gay men to ever appear as a guest on the iconic Oprah Winfrey talk show during the early 90's, defending his right to parent his son as an out gay man.
He was one of the many early HIV/AIDS activist and appeared on numerous talk shows to include Geraldo Rivera and the PBS documentary series Frontline, to highlight the often overlooked, intersectional issues experienced by Black LGBTQ people, to a national audience.
Among his many accomplishments, Joe is a co-founder and former co-chair of Oakland Pride and was voted Grand Marshall of both the San Francisco and Oakland Pride Parades.
He worked as a founding program member and CEO of OpNet Community Ventures, one of America's first high-tech training programs, launched in 1995, for low income youth and youth of color in San Francisco. Joe served as Regional Director for Innovative Housing, a shared housing non-profit for low income families and individuals in Marin County.
He worked as the Director of Administration at AIDS Project of the East Bay (APEB), served on the Ryan White Planning Council and was a founding organizer of the East Bay AIDS Walk.
Joe also created California’s largest and longest running Black LGBTQ Film Festival and produced California’s longest running LGBTQ Hip-Hop event that lasted 25 years. He produces Blatino Oasis, California’s largest and longest running gay and bisexual men of color getaway retreat, held annually in Palm Springs, California.
In 2017, Joe co-founded and is the CEO of the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, Oakland's first all inclusive, intergenerational, LGBTQ+ service center and a new model for service provision in Oakland. A military veteran, Joe’s service to the community has been recognized with numerous awards, including proclamations from 7 mayors of 3 cities and 4 governors in the state of California. His work with youth technology training programs was recognized by the White House and featured on Good Morning America and in numerous publications including USA Today and the Wall Street Journal. In 2014, the City of Oakland presented Joe with the Mayor's Proclamation, naming a day in his honor and in 2017, the Northern California chapter of the ACLU honored him with the Grover Dye award, their highest award for community activism.
In 2018, his vision for LGBTQ wellness programming resulted in the LGBTQ center receiving the American Psychological Association's Presidential Citation Award and in 2023 the Center was featured in a national ad campaign for its HIV prevention efforts.
Joe loves living in Oakland and the Bay Area and spending his free with his husband Nico, camping on the beach, touring California and spending time with his son and three beautiful grandchildren.
Jose Perez
He/Him
Wellness Services Director
Jose Perez was born in the “eternal spring land” of Guatemala and raised in Oakland California.
After working for over 10 years in the financial services industry, helping clients attain the best financial future possible, Jose decided to seek opportunities to use his skills to help members of the LGBTQ Community.
His search led him to the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, in 2018, where he offered volunteer personal financial management workshops.
Jose has now proudly joined the staff as a Wellness Services Coordinator, to fully devote himself to community service work.
In his new role, he will primarily assist community members by helping them navigate a variety of psychosocial, educational, financial, and healthcare service systems, in order to access the support that they need.
Jose's services at the Center also include community outreach, support group facilitation and health awareness presentations, to meet the holistic needs of our LGBTQ+ community.
Jose’s favorite quote: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world “ ~Mahatma Gandhi.
ln his free time, Jose enjoys the gym, trying new foods, nature hikes, writing and interior design.
Wellness Services Director
Jose Perez was born in the “eternal spring land” of Guatemala and raised in Oakland California.
After working for over 10 years in the financial services industry, helping clients attain the best financial future possible, Jose decided to seek opportunities to use his skills to help members of the LGBTQ Community.
His search led him to the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, in 2018, where he offered volunteer personal financial management workshops.
Jose has now proudly joined the staff as a Wellness Services Coordinator, to fully devote himself to community service work.
In his new role, he will primarily assist community members by helping them navigate a variety of psychosocial, educational, financial, and healthcare service systems, in order to access the support that they need.
Jose's services at the Center also include community outreach, support group facilitation and health awareness presentations, to meet the holistic needs of our LGBTQ+ community.
Jose’s favorite quote: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world “ ~Mahatma Gandhi.
ln his free time, Jose enjoys the gym, trying new foods, nature hikes, writing and interior design.
Lamar Coke
He/Him
Outreach worker-Recovery Services
Outreach worker-Recovery Services
Latisha Baker
She/Her
Data & Finance Manager
Data & Finance Manager
Maurice Tobin
He/Him
Clinic Prevention Services Director
Maurice Tobin is the Center's Director of Prevention Services and has worked with non-profits in Oakland for over 14 years. He is a licensed phlebotomist, certified sexually transmitted infections (STI) testing counselor and community health educator. Maurice came to the Center from the San Francisco Department of Public Health, where he worked as a Disease Control Investigator. His commitment to helping reduce the spread of HIV, Hepatitis C and STI’s, allowed him to work with organizations both locally and nationwide.
Clinic Prevention Services Director
Maurice Tobin is the Center's Director of Prevention Services and has worked with non-profits in Oakland for over 14 years. He is a licensed phlebotomist, certified sexually transmitted infections (STI) testing counselor and community health educator. Maurice came to the Center from the San Francisco Department of Public Health, where he worked as a Disease Control Investigator. His commitment to helping reduce the spread of HIV, Hepatitis C and STI’s, allowed him to work with organizations both locally and nationwide.
Rosalind Peppers
She/Her
Administrative Services Manager
Administrative Services Manager
Tim Nguyen
He/Him
Lifelong Medical Care Provider - PA, MPH, CAQ-Psychiatry, AAHIVS
Tim Nguyen is a practicing Physicians Assistant (PA) at the Glenn Burke Wellness Clinic (GBWC), a project of the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center. He has an undergraduate background in molecular and cell biology and health sciences from the University of California Berkeley. Tim completed his masters degree in kinesiology at SF State University, studying the effects of exercise on the immune system. He went on to complete his graduate training, obtaining a double masters in physician assistant studies and public health at Touro University California. While practicing primary care, he completed additional specialty certifications in HIV medicine with the AAHIVM and psychiatry, with the National PA Board. Clinically, Tim has been practicing primary care for the past eight years, with a clinical focus on psychiatry, HIV medicine, and LGBTQ health. Tim's hobbies include reading, drumming, gardening, hiking, and traveling.
Lifelong Medical Care Provider - PA, MPH, CAQ-Psychiatry, AAHIVS
Tim Nguyen is a practicing Physicians Assistant (PA) at the Glenn Burke Wellness Clinic (GBWC), a project of the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center. He has an undergraduate background in molecular and cell biology and health sciences from the University of California Berkeley. Tim completed his masters degree in kinesiology at SF State University, studying the effects of exercise on the immune system. He went on to complete his graduate training, obtaining a double masters in physician assistant studies and public health at Touro University California. While practicing primary care, he completed additional specialty certifications in HIV medicine with the AAHIVM and psychiatry, with the National PA Board. Clinically, Tim has been practicing primary care for the past eight years, with a clinical focus on psychiatry, HIV medicine, and LGBTQ health. Tim's hobbies include reading, drumming, gardening, hiking, and traveling.
Nicky Clemente
He/Him
Digital Media Volunteer
Digital Media Volunteer
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