Community Board Members

Board President / Search Committee
Maria Ramirez
Pharmaceutical Tech
Ramirez has been an active member of the community for many years. She has small children in the public school system and has progressively become more and more involved as her children have gotten older and she has faced many of the roadblocks and issues faced by all Latino immigrants in East Palo Alto. She strives to help create a better and more just environment for her children and set an example of participation, advocacy and activism.

Vice President / Finance Committee Co-Chair / Search Committee
Bernardo Huerta
Electrician, Planning, Public Works & Transportation
Huerta was born and raised in East Palo Alto. He is a product of the public school system and is currently working for the City of East Palo Alto. He is a community activist and sits on the Community Board of One East Palo Alto. He is passionate about creating pathways to success for the immigrant community. Huerta is very involved in local and city issues and is always a community voice supporting the Latino community. An avid videographer, Huerta can usually be found behind the lens documenting important events in our community.

Treasurer / Finance Committee Chair
Angelica Luna
Personal Bank Officer, California Bank & Trust

Luna is a member of the board of the YMCA in East Palo Alto. She also serves on the Finance Committee for St Francis of Assisi Church. As a volunteer for Start Up, she has provided workshops for new businesses regarding information about various banking products.

Board Member & Search Committee Chair

Former Director of Nuestra Casa and long time advocate for the Latino immigrant community. Ms. Valdez has worked for various organizations including a grassroots community health center that worked to serve the Latino immigrant community where she directed the Nuestro Bienestar/Our Wellness Community Health Department for the organization. She has served as the Director of School & Community Services for East Bay Agency for Children, a nonprofit organization providing programs and services to children, She served as the Executive Director of the Border Rights Coalition (BRC), a nonprofit organization documenting and monitoring immigration law enforcement abuses. Over the past eleven years, she has served as a board member or active volunteer in over twenty organizations.

Board Member
Jose Diaz
Recent immigrant, Landscape gardner

Diaz is an active participant in the Adult ESL program. He has acted as “Promotor” for his class making him a key liaison between the organization and the participants. Diaz has participated in workshops and training sessions in East Palo Alto and Oakland in his attempt to become more knowledgeable regarding the pertinent issues in the community and to allow him to become a more active participant in shaping the future of East Palo Alto.

Board Member
Marta Monje
Childcare Worker, Local Chair of Peninsula Interfaith Agencies, Cesar Chavez School PTA Chair

Monje has been active in the community for many years, service in various capacities with local agencies. She is currently the Local Chair of Peninsula Interfaith Agencies, and serves as PTA Chair for Cesar Chavez Academy.

Board Member
Carlota Flores

Board Member
Paula Mitchell
Mother and Administrative Associate, Event & Labor Services Department, Stanford University

Mitchel is an active participant in the Parents as Leaders program. She has participated and continues to be active in the Bay Area Parent Leadership Action Network (PLAN). She is a past President and Treasurer of the Green Oaks Academy PTA. She has participated on the School Site Council for Green Oaks Academy since 2005 & Cesar Chavez Academy' since 2007. She is currently a soccer coach for the PCSSL League in East Palo Alto. She has been a resident of East Palo Alto for 25 years and has been working in the schools to help create change for the benefit of her own children as well as those of other immigrants in the community. Mitchel is the mother of 4.

Board Member
Luis Vizcardo
Start-Up EPA Program Manager

Vizcardo is Start Up’s Program Manager. Originally from Perú, he served as Professor of Computer Skills Development at the Instituto Tecnologico in Lima. He holds a four-year degree from the University of San Ignacio de Loyola as a computer analyst and programmer. Vizcardo is an involved resident of the East Palo Alto community, and is a member of One East Palo Alto. As Program Manager, he works toward outreach goals of increasing community awareness and the participation and enrollment of Start Up’s target populations of East Palo Alto and East Menlo Park in the organization’s program. In 2003, he graduated from the Promotor Education and Employment Project (PEEP) at Cañada College. He holds a California Family Development Credential, as well as a certificate in Multi-cultural Community Health studies from El Concilio of San Mateo County. Vizcardo has worked with Start Up since March 1999.