MEET OUR TEAM
Alphabetical order by first name
Amin Robinson
He/Him
Youth Services Coordinator
Angel Arellano
She/They
Admin Assistant/Receptionist
Andy Cabrera
They/Them
Lead Benefits Enrollment Specialist
Ashlee Banks
She/Her
Youth Services Manager
Benjamin Jackson
He/Him
Clinic Services Manager
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.
Cata Stewart
She/Her
Recovery Services Specialist
Cata Stewart is a Recovery Specialist here at the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center and is a Substance Use Disorder Certified Councelor II (SUDCCII), with 22 Years of sobriety. Her modalities are CBT, MI,DBT MBCT. "I’m grateful for organizations such as the LGBTQ center and other Programs that provide resources and support to special interest groups and marginalized populations. Through programs just like these I was afforded a life I couldn’t have imagined. I’m excited to serve the community in which Im a part of Thank you for letting me be of Service."
Cielo Flores
He/Him
Youth Services Operations Coordinator
Dawn Edwards
She/Her
Chief Operations Officer (COO)
Dawn is responsible for supervising our direct services management team and the creation, execution, development, monitoring, reporting, quality assurance, and evaluation of our many programs and services. Dawn was born and raised in Los Angeles, and currently resides in Oakland, where she has lived off and on for the past 30 years. She earned a BA in Political Science, a Master of Public Administration, completed three years of law school, and has earned a Master of Educational Leadership with an emphasis in Early Childhood Education from Mills College. Dawn has over 19 years of non-profit work experience. Her professional focus has been centered on non-profit management, policy advocacy, early childhood education, restorative justice practices, legal research, project/program management, curriculum development, direct services and facilitation of a variety of workshops to the community. Dawn is a founding board member at the Center and served as the VP of the Board of Directors for the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center for over 6 years. She is also a graduate of the Rockwood Leadership Fellowship and a past LeadStrong Women of Color Fellow. In her spare time, Dawn co-facilitates the Black Women Connect support group, is a mom, wife, a published author with two current book projects in the works, a blogger, and a trained dancer and gymnast who has performed with several companies throughout the Bay Area. We are incredibly honored to have Dawn on our executive management team, as we grow to meet the many challenges facing our community here in Oakland and around the Bay Area.
Donte Washington
He/Him
ART Linkage &
Outreach Coordinator /Food Pantry Coordinator
Erikka Lisette Palafox
She/Her
Recovery Services Specialist
Jade Moncado
She/Her
Supportive Services Manager
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.
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.
Awards & Features
click on links to view videos and articles
San Francisco Business Times: 2022 Selisse Berry - Leadership Legacy Award
Business Equality Magazine as one of the Top 50 over 50 LGBTQ Legacy Leaders for 2019
Co-founder Oakland LGBTQ Communtiy Center - 2017
A Center of Our Own - 2019
PBS documentary series Frontline 2012
Founding Member of Oakland Pride 2010
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.
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.
Power X is a Latino/Latinx Affinity group
Learn more about our group, click here
Lamar Coke
He/Him
Outreach worker-Recovery Services
Lasandra Williams
She/Her
Youth Services Director
Latisha Baker
She/Her
Data Manager
Lulu Rossbacher
She/Her
Clinic Admin Coordinator
Josilyn Green
She/Her
Youth Advocate
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.
No More Hiding & Beautifully Imperfect
Rosalind Peppers
She/Her
Administrative Services Manager
Sam Claude
They/Them
Recovery Services Specialist
Stephanie Wilborn
She/Her
Education & Training Director
Tim Nguyen, PA,MPH, CAQ-Psychiatry, AAHIVS
He/Him
Lifelong Medical Care Provider
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.
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Quinn Fowler
They/Them/She
Clinic Lab Technician
Winter Oxford
She/her
Executive Assistant
Winter is a California native with familial Georgia roots who grew up in a large predominately Latin family in Salinas, CA. While attending CSU Sacramento in pursuit of a degree in Journalism with a minor in Ethnic Studies, she developed an awareness to the privileges of some, while also being confronted with the realities and disadvantages of under-served communities. Spending her teenage years to mid 20’s experiencing all the culture the Bay Area has to offer, Winter decided to plant roots in Oakland in 2014. Since then, she has worked with the LGBTQ community, the service industry and in the health and wellness sector. She has over 10 plus years of customer service experience and has managed and been an integral part of various team efforts and has a knack for aiding businesses to move more efficiently and increase productivity. She brings her knowledge and love of the community to the Center and works to help people access the resources that they need, in order to thrive. She attributes her strong work ethic, empathy, and desire for learning new cultures to her mother who has constantly supported every personal endeavor. In her downtime she is in school and studying to obtain her real estate license, learning about holistic wellness including herbalism, voicing her strong stance in regards to current and past social unrest and economic disparities to those who need to hear it, bartending private parties/events, and of course binge shopping the most adorable sweaters for her four-legged child (a small terrier mix with the attitude of a grumpy elderly socialite) Marvin.
Administrative Volunteer
Eric Hsu
Volunteer Web Admin
Nicholas D. Clemente
Peer Group Facilitators
Dawn Edwards
Marisa Musso
Paul Bolduc