Board of Directors

Courtney Baltiyskyy (she/her) is an advocate for children, youth, and their families. She has over 15 years of experience in child and youth program development and is now the Vice President of Policy and Advocacy with the YMCA of San Diego County. Courtney helps strategize for social impact, focusing on multiple policy issues including child care, expanded learning programs, youth homelessness, and mental and behavioral health. She holds a BA from Whittier College and an MPA from San Diego State University. Courtney served in the Peace Corps in Ukraine and still works to support communities there. She is also the founder and facilitates the Children First Collective San Diego. Many would say she has built a career on leveraging the intersection between sectors through a collaborative spirit, innovative thinking, and evidence-based decision making. Connection to nature through gardening and exploring the outdoors with her two young kiddos gives her joy.

Ed Center is a queer brown dad who coaches parents and other kid-raisers toward greater connection, calm, and joy. Ed worked in education for 25 years, starting as a high school teacher, always focused on the needs of kids of color. During the height of the pandemic, Ed’s son suffered an acute mental health crisis. Searching for support, Ed discovered the field of positive parenting and learned strategies and tools to strengthen his connection with his son, leading to healing for the whole family. However, Ed was frustrated with the lack of attention to diverse cultures and traditions in the positive parenting courses and literature, as well as a dearth of focus on healing trauma in children and parents. He started The Village Well to bring more connection, joy, and healing to families of color. The child of a Filipino American mother and White-American father, Ed grew up in Hawai’i, and feels at home there, in the Philippines, in San Francisco, and wherever he smells good barbecue.

Arron is a social entrepreneur and strategic advisor who works with labor, philanthropy, education, and nonprofit leaders to build the capacity of, and sometimes transform, public systems to better serve and support low-income communities. He previously served as the associate director of education at the now sunset S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, where he worked on policy and system improvement in public education, with a focus on STEM education and whole child development strategies. Arron started his career in anti-poverty work with low-income communities in Nebraska before moving to the Bay Area in 2001. He continued working on family issues including preschool, child care, and afterschool programs first at a state intermediary and then at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Arron proudly serves as a Trustee of the National Equity Project and as a board member of Safe & Sound.

Efrain Mercado Jr. is the Legislative Advocate and Liaison Coordinator for the California Teachers Association. In this role he provides support and leadership regarding CTA’s priorities to state agencies as well as partner organizations. Prior to this role he held the position of Director, Education for Children Now where he led Children Now’s efforts with the California Department of Education and State Board of Education regarding state level policy decisions related to the System of Support, English Learner issues, assessments, and accountability. Prior to Children Now he served as the Senior Policy Director for the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association (CCSESA) and provided policy leadership to County Offices of Education and to the state around standards, assessment, and accountability. Prior to his work with CCSESA, he supported the Common Core State Standards at the National Association for State Boards of Education and ASCD. Efrain has a background in policy development expertise, leadership in supporting educators and developing partnerships to promote College and Career Readiness for all students.

While in high school Efrain was a part of the federal TRIO program, Upward Bound, based at the University of California, Riverside. A native of California, Efrain now resides in El Dorado Hills, California with his wife Melanie and their three children, Madison, Sean, and Bryant.

Rene Casas currently serves as the Deputy Director of Programs at Youth Alliance. Rene has worked tirelessly to address issues hindering the upward mobility of communities of color. His background is grounded in multi-generational organizing, following in his father's footsteps. Rene has learned restorative practices and techniques from various sources but credits his personal growth and development to the teachings of La Cultura Cura. Rene is also a co-founder and a previous board member of MILPA (Motivating Individual Leadership for Public Advancement), an organization authentically working with system-impacted individuals to address multiple inequities through system and policy change. In 2015, Rene was awarded the National Juvenile Justice Network (NJJN) Fellowship, where he spearheaded a community-level approach to youth justice policy and systems change, addressing the school-to-prison pipeline. Since 2017, Rene has been part of the executive advisory board of the National Alianza for Youth Justice (NAYJ). He has also served as a commissioner for the Juvenile Justice Commission in Monterey County. Rene earned his Criminal Justice BA degree from California State University Chico and has recently received his Master of Social Work degree from California State University Monterey Bay. As a Social Work Intern with the Alianza, he helped lead a National qualitative research on how Latinx youth get tracked in the juvenile justice system along with a system-impacted youth (The Latinx Data Gap). Rene hopes to further address systemic and institutional racism through a robust and authentic lens of racial equity and social justice.

Ken Geisick is the Superintendent of Saratoga Union School District. Prior to Saratoga, Ken served as the Superintendent of two Central Valley school districts: Riverbank Unified and Orland Unified. He also served as the Chief Educational Services Officer for Think Together, a statewide non-profit providing quality afterschool programming across 40 school districts. Ken was a member of the California School-Based Health Alliance board and adjuct faculty at Chapman University.

Hana Ma (she/her) serves as a Program Officer on Sobrato Philanthropies’ Silicon Valley team. In this role, she collaborates with partners to support children, youth, and families to have equitable opportunities to thrive in the region. Previously, Hana led The Education Trust-West’s early learning portfolio and contributed to research and analysis of policies and practices in support of educator diversity and educational equity for California’s students. She also supported grantmaking in education policy and advocacy at the S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation and led an afterschool employment program for immigrant youth in San Francisco. Outside of education, Hana has represented children seeking asylum in immigration court and served as a re-entry social worker for adults on parole. Hana grew up in Taiwan and spent the latter part of her childhood in San Jose. She holds BA degrees in French and Psychology from UCLA and a JD from the University of San Diego School of Law. Aside from serving on the board of Partnership for Children & Youth, she volunteers as a pro bono attorney with Tahirih Justice Center, a tutor with Healthy Cities Tutoring, and a mentor at Sequoia High School. Outside of work, Hana finds joy in spending time with her two energetic and curious young children.

Lisa R. Villarreal is a founding board member of Partnership for Children & Youth with a forty year career from grassroots to CEO at the local, state, and national levels. She currently serves as an executive consultant to philanthropic and nonprofit boards in the fields of education, science, child advocacy, racial equity, and community partnerships.