Lived Experience & Advisory Planning (LEAP) Board
The Lived Experience Advisory and Planning (LEAP) Board is a 14-member board comprised of diverse people with lived experience of homelessness with an emphasis on racial and ethnic diversity in its composition. The LEAP will advise and plan with the Homeless Coalition Board and homeless service agencies about how to improve homeless programs, services, shelters, and housing.
Mission
Advise Sonoma County on homeless-related infrastructure, programs, policies, and how to spend money targeted for homeless services.
Vision
Our vision for the LEAP Board in Sonoma County is to ensure:
- Improved services and resources to better meet the needs of people experiencing homelessness within Sonoma County.
- The people of our county, via our Continuum of Care, have a system of care that ensures that all people experiencing homelessness have a safe, supportive and permanent place to call home; and until they do, have safe, legal, stable, and supportive shelter available, with feasible transportation access to their shelter, and case management and housing search assistance.
- An increased number of community members with lived experience, particularly Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), serving on advisory boards and working in all levels of government, for-profit, and non-profit service providers.
- Our advisory board addresses issues regarding homelessness in all regions of Sonoma County.
- Revised hiring practices which include community members with lived experience at the policy and planning level of public and private organizations, helping to restructure the homeless system and institutionalizing new and better practices.
- Policies that address the disparity we have experienced in Sonoma County, between community members’ financial resources and housing costs.
- Our commitment to equity and inclusion on the LEAP Board strives to engage all community members of lived experience, regardless of background, throughout Sonoma County, especially those whose voices have been traditionally marginalized.
The LEAP Board is committed to proactively advocating before problems occur, to reduce overall societal costs, including:
- Preventing eventual and/or imminent homelessness.
- Diverting those at imminent risk of homelessness from entering shelters.
- Engaging and empowering people who are experiencing homelessness to reclaim their dignity and to regain housing stability.
- Avoiding high criminal justice and hospital costs, and negative health outcomes, with appropriate housing, education, training, career and financial planning education, income, and access to health services.
- Aligning public and private efforts to address the problems we share.
Board Members
Rebekah Sammet
Rebekah Sammet has been a LEAP Board member since its inception in 2018 and served as the first Chair of the board. She serves on several committees for the Homeless Coalition such as the Funding & Evaluation Committee, Strategic Planning, and CoC Renewal Program Competition Workgroup. She is a former board member of the Leadership Council of HOME Sonoma County.
Rebekah's homeless experience began during her childhood. She first experienced homelessness in 1999 after her family's landlord sold their rental home in Santa Rosa. She experienced precarious housing situations; sleeping in countless homeless shelters, hotels, cars, and on playgrounds. She credits her survival to the determination of her single mother and the kindness of strangers. After experiencing homelessness as a child, she also experienced homelessness with her own children, striving to once again, find services. After 20 years, Rebekah was finally able to find stable housing and has now been housed since 2019.
Rebekah’s experience with Sonoma County's System of Care has given her in-depth knowledge and insight about how the system can be improved. She has witnessed improvements in the homeless system of care firsthand and continues to work in an effort to ensure services continue to improve going forward in the future.
Jessica Wolfe
Jessica was homeless for a year with her daughter. She opened and ran a drop-in center for people with severe mental health issues who were often homeless. She also has a daughter who has a mental health diagnosis and has been on the streets at different times. She wants to use her knowledge and experience to make a difference for those who experience homelessness in Sonoma County so that no one will be left outside or treated with disrespect and callousness. Being a high cost of living county means Sonoma County residents are all just one paycheck or rent increase away from being homeless. Everyone deserves a home and services provided with dignity.
Fabiola Guadalupe Serrano-Gutierrez
Fabiola was born in Mexico. She brought to America when she was one years old and has lived in America ever since. She experienced homelessness for the first time in 2017. During that time, she lived with her fiancé at Camp Mikaela, a former homeless encampment in Santa Rosa. She was eventually able to secure housing due to the efforts of outreach workers, whom she refers to as her “angels.” She maintained housing for 4 years before unfortunately falling back into homelessness. During that time, she slept under a bridge, until she met fellow LEAP Board member and outreach worker, Chessy Etheridge. Chessy was able to reconnect Fabiola with Lee, other outreach workers and the Coordinated Entry System. Through hard work and persistence, Fabiola was once again, able to secure housing. She found it even more difficult to maintain housing during the second time but refused to give up. Fabiola enjoys learning and cooking for her friends and family. She also enjoys art, more specifically beading, wood carving, and clay sculpture. Fabiola considers herself a very open-minded person and is willing to try her best to help others in whatever way she can. Fabiola can be reached by email. Please include “LEAP Board” in the subject line.
Chessy Etheridge
Chessy's journey into homelessness began unexpectedly after she bravely left an unsafe relationship that escalated during the pandemic. Having never experienced housing instability before, she initially believed securing new housing would be straightforward. However, her reality quickly transformed into navigating a complex and often bewildering system, riddled with unforeseen barriers. This personal struggle ignited a powerful passion within Chessy to advocate for systemic change. She firmly believes that the true challenges of homelessness remain largely invisible to those who haven't personally navigated its intricate and often frustrating pathways.
Driven by her lived experience, Chessy has become a dedicated and impactful advocate. She has served as the Co-Chair of the Sonoma County Lived Experience & Advisory Planning (LEAP) Board, is currently serving her second term as the Adult Lived Experience seat representative on the Sonoma County Homeless Coalition Board and is a member of the Coalition’s Coordinated Entry Advisory Committee. Her dedication and firsthand understanding make her an invaluable voice for change within the Lived Experience & Advisory Planning Board.
Kimberly Luis Stevens
Kimberly is a hardworking soccer mom to three handsome boys. She works as a personally invested and supportive housing case manager to 50+ previously homeless individuals. She considers both her children and her clients to be her family. Kimberly has turned her personal, life-shattering struggles with addiction and mental health into a mission of hope. Sharing her journey to uplift others in the community is not just a passion, it's a purpose for Kimberly.
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