AVP CA Steering Committee
AVP California is coordinated by a volunteer Steering Committee currently with ten members, as well as four outreach coordinators who are building AVP programs in different parts of California. The role of the Committee is to:
- Provide a point of contact for returning citizens and the general public.
- Provide leadership and support to serve prisons not served by any local council.
- Maintain website to provide information and resources to the general public, facilitators, and returning citizens.
- Interface, represent, and advocate for AVP with CDCR and other agencies and organizations.
- Collect, aggregate, and share data on workshops around the state with AVP USA.
- Raise funds through the annual mail appeal and grant proposals.
- Facilitate discussion forums for prison coordinators and community outreach coordinators.
- Consult to local councils and provide special trainings upon request.
- Maintain facilitator and program high standards.
- Raise funds to support facilitators with workshop-related expenses (mileage, accommodation, etc)
The Steering Committee solicits nominations for new committee members each spring. New members are introduced and confirmed at the annual Facilitator Gathering in October. Steering Committee members serve a term of three years, and may serve two consecutive terms.
To contact the Steering Committee, please send a message to steeringcommittee@avpcalifornia.org
Steering Committee Members
Erika Hermosillo
Stockton Council; First term expires 11/2024
Erika Hermosillo is an educator, activist, parent, wife, and someone who believes in the power of people. From a young age she understood that the health of a person (mentally, spiritually, physically, and emotionally) is inextricably linked with community. She comes from a legacy of powerful people who have been impacted by generational trauma. Her mother worked relentlessly to break patterns of abuse and addiction so that Erika could do the same. AVP has been a space where she has been able to do the healing and processing work that allows her to continue to break cycles that would have otherwise impacted her children. It continues to support collective learning and healing and Erika feels blessed to be alongside others doing this work.
empowerederika@gmail.com
Thom McCue
Santa Cruz / Salinas Valley Council; First term expires 11/2024
I took my Basic, Advanced, and T4F workshops around eight years ago. Since then, I have helped facilitate around 25 workshops, including all three workshop levels and Trauma Awareness/ Resiliency. Most of my facilitation has been in Soledad Prison (CTF). However, I have also facilitated in the community, a county jail “farm” facility, and the Kingdom of Jordan. My familiarity with AVP stretches back over 35 years ago through friendships with facilitators. My wife, “Loving Linda,” has facilitated for around fifteen years and has served on the AVP/CA Steering Committee. She is my inspiration. I am currently retired, having a career in urban planning, affordable housing development, and local government services. Much of my work was for, or in cooperation with, non-profit and community organizations. I recently “termed off” the Ben Lomond Quaker Center Board of Trustees. Over the six and a half years I served on the Board, I functioned at various times as Board Co-Clerk, Governance Committee Clerk, Finance Committee Clerk, and Treasurer. I firmly believe that all people have the light of Transforming Power within us. If we all turned
toward this light, the world would be a matrix of joy, fulfillment, and sustainability.
tamccue@aol.com
Betty McEady
Bay Bridge Council; first term expires 11/2023
Bountiful Betty became an AVP Facilitator in 2010 and facilitators in community, educational, and jail contexts; she also has conducted several mini-sessions in independent senior living residences in California. Because of her interest in understanding more about the authentic value of AVP to incarcerated and formerly incarcerated facilitators, she based her PhD research in psychology on the question of “What does ‘Being-in-the-World Nonviolently’ mean to AVP facilitators in prison and outside of prison?” Perspectives of the study participants informed answers to this question. Bountiful Betty is the affirmation name she chose because it symbolizes the abundance of time, energy and support that she gives to AVP. Additionally, it symbolizes the unending personal enhancement and transformation she continually experiences as a facilitator in workshops and on AVP committees.
bjmceady@gmail.com
Missy Lebray
Stockton Council; first term expires 11/2024
Mindful Missy became a facilitator in April 2017 conducting workshops a Mule Creek State Prison and the Stockton community. She currently is the outside coordinator for Mule Creek Yard A and part of the Stockton Local Council. She is familiar with meeting in a circle and sharing personal experiences as a member of groups in recovery from drugs and alcohol. She has been clean since January 2013. Missy graduated in Fall 2015 from California State University, Stanislaus with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and is currently enrolled in a Master of Public Administration program. She has conducted applied social research for six years at a local non-profit and California State University. Missy is a mother of two children and wife of a counselor and member of a Christian motorcycle ministry with which they are both involved.
mssmrdth515@yahoo.com
Rob Osak
Central Valley Council; first term expires 11/2023
Communication/Tech Committee
RocknRoll Rob is the prison coordinator for Corcoran State Prison. He has been an AVP facilitator since 2016. He is a Homeschool Teacher in Visalia and loves travelling and sailing in his free time. His interest in world cultures has brought him to facilitate in Belize and he intends to contribute more to both AVP California and AVP International in the future. Current AVP affiliations include San Joaquin Valley, Central Valley, Stockton, the Visalia area, and Belize. He has facilitated youth, international, community, prison, and mini workshops. He is a Spanish student with the goal of facilitating workshops in Spanish in California and in the Americas. La paz es el camino!
rob.osak@gmail.com
Mark Thomas
Bay Bridge Council; first term expires 11/2023
Marvelous Mark is a current member of AVP California and the AVP Bay Area Council. He has been involved with AVP in many capacities since 1992 when he started participating in AVP at USP Lompoc – facilitator, trainer of facilitators, workshop coordinator, member of board of trustees of AVP USA. Mark currently lives in Contra Costa County of the San Francisco Bay Area. He has been employed as a psychology instructor, an adult education instructor, and a restorative practitioner over the last 20 years usually serving marginalized populations.
thomastp22@gmail.com
Gary Wolff
Los Angeles Council; First term expires 11/2022
Finance Committee and Treasurer
After retiring from a career in telecommunications engineering management, Groovy Gary became a facilitator in December 2005. For many years he regularly facilitated at Chuckawalla Valley State Prison and Centinela State Prison. Groovy Gary also has considerable experience working with not-for-profit organizations with a focus on financial operations and governance matters. He served as treasurer for both AVP-USA and the Pacific Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends.
avp-grooveygary@earthlink.net