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Community Advisory Board
Current Member Roster
| Azi Carter (East County) is a resident of Pittsburg and currently studies at UC Berkley. Through education, she gained an understanding of the war on drugs and the negative impacts mass incarceration has had on society. Education has given Azi a voice she never had, and she intends to use it to represent communities of color and elevate important issues impacting the lives of young people and senior citizens. Serving on the CAB will allow Azi to participate in local decision-making processes that affect the reentry population. Azi would join the CAB as a well-organized, punctual, and self-motivated influencer within the various communities she is a part of with a commitment to represent the needs and interests of her fellow community members. | |
Brenda Lee (West County) a lifelong resident of Richmond and a retired systems analyst with the University of California, Berkley and a graduate of the California State University, Hayward. Brenda is concerned about public safety. As a result, she would like to be an active decision maker in the reentry of those returning to the community, especially our youth in Contra Costa County to become active productive members. Her background has been a willingness as well as eagerness to work with people to help them improve themselves. As a retiree, she has time to devote to improving her community and would like to be an active participant in the process. Brenda shared that her family members have been part of the criminal justice system and she has been instrumental in helping them navigate the system and resources to maintain a productive life. Brenda shared that she loves volunteering in several capacities, she also enjoys participating as a poll worker during the election season. | |
| Crawford Carpenter (Central County; Committee Chair) is a retired businessman who lives in Danville. As a concerned citizen Crawford is looking to stay involved in important efforts that allow him to give back to his community. He would like to be a part of CAB to assist with people impacted by the criminal justice system by help to support a system that helps guide returning residents into productive lives rather than exposing him/her to a more hardened and harmful criminal justice system. In the past, Crawford has provided election services as a Clerk & Inspector, served on a City Planning Committee, an Ohio State Commission and completed Danville’s Citizen Police Academy. While on CAB he would like to see divergent views brought together that results in more resolution and less gridlock. | |
Evan Decker (West County) is a resident of Berkeley but works in San Pablo at the Contra Costa Community College District as the Dean of Workforce and Economic Development. He has worked in education for the past 20 plus years in the Bay Area. It has been his lifelong goal to support educational opportunities and economic mobility of individuals and communities. He dedicates himself to the support and advocacy of community collaboration, resilience, and individual accountability. He is intrigued by cross sector partnerships and strong equity focused policies that support the rising tide of individual and community impact. As a tenured employee at the College District, he holds a vested interest in policies, accountability and economic impact of the City of San Pablo and West Contra Costa County. He manages state and federally funded workforce programs focused on Career Education, community and industry partnerships, adult education, formerly incarcerated and K-12 population. He also has a seat on the Richmond Workforce Development Board and is a Steering Committee Member with the Contra Costa County Adult Education Program. Evan enjoys sporting events and spending quality time with his family. | |
| Joel Nickelson-Shanks (West County; Alternate Member) is a native for Richmond, and has been a part of the Contra Costa College (CCC) and West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD) family for several years, initially as a Middle College High School student. He then attended Howard University and after receiving his bachelor’s degree in African- American Studies with a minor in Business, he returned to the Bay Area and attended Mills College where he earned his master’s degree in Educational Leadership. Joel has a wealth of experience working with students as a fulltime substitute teacher in the WCCUSD, a Resource Specialist at Gateway to College, and a Student Life Coordinator at CCC. Joel currently serves as the Outreach Manager at Contra Costa College and in his free time he enjoys long walks on the beach and observing his surrounding environment. | |
| Reverend Julius X. Van Hook (West County; Alternate Member) is a resident of Hercules, and Director of Spiritual Care and Interfaith Juvenile Chaplain for the Contra Costa Probation Department and a current member of the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council for Contra Costa County. He is very active in matters related to juvenile justice and mentorship for at-risk youth. Julius is also the Executive Director of ICHANGE (Interfaith Chaplaincy Affirming a New Generation of Excellence), a non- profit organization birthed out of his ministry. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, he received a B.A. in Organizational Management from Patten University, Oakland, CA, a M.Ed. in Educational Leadership from Concordia University, Portland, OR., Four units of ACPE Certified Clinical Pastoral Education Units from The Shaw Chaplaincy Institute at the University of The Redlands, San Anselmo, CA and The Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Walnut Creek, CA, and he is currently pursuing a M.Div. from the Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, CA. Reverend Van Hook is an Ordained Elder in the Church of God in Christ Inc. Most recently, Julius released his debut book entitled, "Do It With Dignity" a 30-day guide to let go of people and things that hold you back." This published work afforded him the opportunity to tour internationally in Africa, China and Australia within just months of its release. Julius is an active member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., and is a trumpeter for social justice, a lover of people, and highly motivated to continue his service of supporting our most vulnerable communities. | |
| Justin Van Zerber (West County) is a resident of El Cerrito and works in Oakland. Justin is excited about potentially being a part of a group that explores ways to use data and best practices to enhance the approach to criminal justice across Contra Costa County. This is a great opportunity to collaborate and learn together, furthering more equitable investment and practices to ensure Contra Costa remains safe while treating all residents with respect. Justin has led program management, strategy , operations, and process building at community-based organizations for over 12 years with a track record of generating replicable systems that have a community focused lens and a detailed path forward. During that time, he spent four years strengthening grass-roots employment and job training programs for reentry youth and young adults, working directly with police, judges public defenders, schools, and families to advocate for appropriate responses that ensure participants had the resources they needed to be successful. He currently serves as the Director of Programs at a statewide nonprofit that bolsters community-based programs by providing access to basic material needs for vulnerable populations. Through this work he uses data to inform design making and has seen firsthand the inequities in the way communities serve different populations. Justin would like to use his skillset and energy to help drive the goals of the CAB aligned with the Racial Justice Oversight Body forward. | |
La Tanyua Thompson (West County) is both a resident and works in Richmond. As a result of her living and working in the community she knows the needs of the people. It is important that there is a voice for the voiceless to advocate for the best interest of the community. La Tanyua is interested in mental health as the number of mental health illnesses and suicide cases continue to rise. Resources are necessary and information must be accessible to those in need. Resources are needed for education, after-school programs, tutors, back-to-work programs, housing for men and women as well as support for the homeless population. La Tanyua recently completed a mental health advocate program that provides clients with the resources that are needed. She is a life coach that works with women that have experienced trauma. She has over 10 years’ experience working with families that have suffered the loss of loved ones. For the past 18 months La Tanyua has worked with Men and Women of Purpose (MWP) as a life coach. She works with the MWP staff, clients in the community of West County jails and the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAM) for the last 6 month. La Tanyua realizes she brings her own life experience with the tools to navigate life’s challenging times. | |
| Lanita Mims (East County) is a resident of Oakley. She’s owned a small event company for 27 years and worked in mental health, foster care, education, and juvenile justice for over 30 years. Lanita has studied event planning, criminal justice, and business management, implementing most of the things learned. While working and volunteering in several California’s systems of care, Lanita found her love for helping and supporting the family members of people who are incarcerated. She has supported and helped with writing petitions, teaching people how to write letters of support, guest in support groups to speak to family members about the law, changing laws and the effects. Lanita has found her passion and has enjoyed over 20 years of working with people and family members in finding employment, housing, and letters of support. | |
| Nicole Green (East County; Committee Vice Chair) has been a Contra Costa County resident for ten years and is currently residing in Pittsburg which has allowed her to see the growing community concerns around incarceration and barriers of individuals who have been released. She has been employed with non-profits who focus specifically on the reentry population and has worked to help identify strategies that remove barriers. Over the past three years Nicole has assisted with employment, housing, mental health, and specifically with the AB 109 populations when she was employed with Shelter, Inc. and Goodwill Industries. In addition, she has collaborated with various non-profits and with Contra Costa County Department of Health, Housing and Homelessness strategizing and establishing processes to assist these individuals. | |
Rena Moore (West County) is a resident of Antioch and works in Richmond. Rena would like to provide input on community needs and to able to assess implementation of the realignment plan. As a potential CAB member, she would like to advise the Community Corrections Partnership (CCP) through CAB of community engagement strategies. Understanding her life experience being formally incarcerated with the reentry population. Rena currently has a seat on the Participant Advisory Board for Rubicon Programs. She also works with the Safe Return Project in Richmond. She has previously worked with America’s Job Center in Concord; in this role she assisted formally incarcerated clients with employment and furthering their educational goals. She also does homeless outreach and collaborating with clients who have been formally incarcerated. Rena’s life experience and giving back to the community makes her an ideal candidate to serve on the CAB. | |
| Scott Parsons (Central County) is a resident of Moraga and retired from a full career as a law enforcement executive in both the Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff and the Federal Reserve System. Scott’s formal education covers both Public and Business Administration and he has had a broad range of assignments which he feels prepared him to be a balanced member of the Community Advisory Board. Like many of his colleagues on the Board, Scott is committed and dedicated to policies that give incarcerated people every opportunity to be successful in society. Scott was born in Berkeley and been a resident of Contra Costa most of his life. He is a Board member on the Rescue 1 Foundation and the Lamorinda Sunrise Rotary Club. In his free time, he enjoys boating on the Delta and Lake Tahoe. |