Pathways to Housing Justice Session 3: Accelerate Action!

Alexandra Desautels is Director of Strategy, Alignment, and Learning for The California Endowment (TCE). Over her decade at TCE, Alex led grantmaking in diverse areas such as inclusive community development, strengthening democracy, and narrative -- with the through line focusing on justice and organizing for the future we all deserve.  In her current role, she leads TCE’s largest grantmaking department’s learning and strategy setting, keeping her passion for the work lit through organizing with other funders to liberate philanthropy’s vast resources for justice. Before joining TCE, Alex led the Alameda County Public Health Department’s work, partnering with local organizers to advance policy and systems change solutions to racialized health inequities. The daughter of public servants, Alex, grew up in Maryland and currently resides, gardens, and drives her kids around in Oakland, CA.

Lorena Melgarejo has served as the the Executive Director of Faith in Action since 2017. With over 25 years in community organizing experience, Lorena started her career as a union organizer for Justice for Janitors and later worked as a faith-based organizer for Faith In Action Bay Area. In 2005, she became Lead Organizer for San Francisco Organizing Project (the organization that became Faith In Action Bay Area). Before she stepped into her Executive Director position with Faith in Action Bay Area, Lorena worked for years to build leadership within the Latinx immigrant communities in San Francisco and San Mateo County, as well as supporting efforts across California.

Jazmin joined Common Counsel Foundation in 2017 and is the Director of Strategic Initiatives focused on Housing Justice. In her role, Jazmin oversees the Fund for an Inclusive California and the Community Ownership for Community Power Fund.  She is responsible for developing, implementing, and managing the initiatives, fundraising, and program development. With over 15 years of experience in housing justice, immigrant rights, and social justice movements, Jazmin has successfully organized funders and raised over $25M to support base-building and community-ownership organizations across California.

Before joining CCF, Jazmin spearheaded the development and launch of the San Francisco Foundation’s inaugural Rapid Response Fund for Movement Building, bolstering grassroots organizations at the forefront of racial and economic justice in the Bay Area. Additionally, Jazmin worked across the Foundation’s departments to increase resources for immigrant and youth-led grassroots organizations. Other previous roles include Policy Manager at Immigrants Rising, formerly known as Educators for Fair Consideration, and Policy Advocate at Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network. Under her direction, E4FC developed its first policy platform and created a leadership team of undocumented youth who successfully led a statewide policy campaign to make career licenses accessible to all Californians regardless of immigration status.

Her dedication to social justice is deeply rooted in her family’s immigration journey to the United States. Jazmin grew up in Boyle Heights and graduated from the University of California Berkeley with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Economy.

Currently, she is the co-chair of the San Joaquin Valley Funders Collaborative.

Khanh Russo serves as the Vice President of Policy and Innovation. In this role, he leads a policy & innovation agenda focused on accelerating racial equity, economic inclusion and systemic change towards a more just society. Khanh’s expertise focuses on advocacy, power building, grantmaking and policy. Previously, Khanh lead San Jose Mayor Liccardo’s strategic initiatives focused on education, workforce development, innovation, performance management and budget. He also worked in the private sector leading social responsibility initiatives for Cisco Systems and Kaiser Permanente. Khanh received his MS in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University and B.S. from Santa Clara University.