Nonprofit Engagement Commission

LeRita Cavness is Director of Adolescent Know Your Rights, a non-profit designed to elevate autonomy, individual accountability, and knowledge of the rights of adolescents through personal reflection. She is currently in pursuit of an Educational Leadership & Policy Studies degree and thrives on shifting mindsets around the concepts of education, bias, and success. As a Nonprofit Engagement Commissioner, she hopes to amplify the realistic needs of the growing grassroots nonprofit base in Colorado, while actively pursuing methods of strengthening nonprofit communities through education and collaborative work.

Tracey, who joined The Colorado Health Foundation in November 2020 as a senior program officer, has amassed a breadth of experience in the philanthropic and nonprofit sectors, including public policy development and community investment projects. Backed by almost twenty years of expertise in family economic mobility, she searches for sustainable investments that create lasting solutions, and ultimately change the way philanthropy thinks about community-driven initiatives to emphasize self-sufficiency and self-determination.

Previously, Tracey served as the director of family economic security at Gary Community Investments, where she led the expansion of community-based investments in workforce, affordable housing and financial inclusion. Other highpoints of her nonprofit career include working on policy at Colorado Center on Law and Policy and community data management at Colorado Coalition for the Homeless. Prior to her roles in the nonprofit sector, Tracey was a technologist specializing in data systems and organizational change management.

Tracey remains committed to strengthening her community and serves as a board member for both Hope Communities and Funders Together to End Homlessness.

Tracey loves immersing herself in written and filmed stories, and is a self-described bibliophile and science fiction fan. When she is unable to travel internationally, Tracey loves to visit Crestone, Colorado, or explore her neighborhood through lengthy walks that end with a treat from a local restaurant or market. A proud aunt, she is close with her siblings who also live in Denver.

Cindy is the Executive Director of Groundwork Denver, and has served in various roles since 2010, including as a volunteer, Board, and staff member. Cindy has a background in nonprofit management, philanthropy, and has a deep passion for the environment. She earned a Masters in Business Administration from the Yale School of Management and a Masters in Environmental Management at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. She also has a B.A. from Tufts University. In her free time, she enjoys yoga, walking, and spending time with her family.

As Co-Founder & CEO of Barefoot PR, Cori Streetman has extensive experience working with local nonprofit organizations and businesses in the areas of communications, brand development, strategic partnership building, public relations, community investment initiatives and strategic message development. She is passionate about community service and has served on a number of nonprofit boards and committees. She also believes strongly in the power of the nonprofit sector to improve quality of life and drive economic development in our local communities.

DeDe de Percin is a nonprofit executive and strategist with over 20 years in senior management building successful Colorado organizations to effect social change. She is passionate about the independent sector, and is dedicated to innovation, systems change, cross-sector collaboration, and advocacy.

Djuana Harvell, PhD serves as Director of Special and Innovative Projects within the be well Health and Wellness Initiative at The Foundation for Sustainable Urban Communities. Djuana delivers project management, strategic planning, and implementation of key projects and programs, which include a focus on health education and advocacy. She leads collaborative efforts with diverse stakeholders, project teams, partners, and volunteers to implement health promotion, and prevention plans to address health disparities experienced by community members in Northeast Denver and Northwest Aurora.

Gerardo Lopez, a.k.a., Clever, has been working in gang intervention since 1998. Formerly of the notorious MS-13 from Los Angeles, Lopez escaped gang life and works to keep at-risk youth from making the same mistakes. Currently Gerardo serves as the Executive Director of Homies Unidos- Denver. He works with youth on a daily basis, doing gang intervention/prevention and talking to them about his history with gang violence, and how he was able to overcome the odds and leave that life behind. Lopez has joined several advisory boards, committees and councils which include: the Advisory Council for Denver’s District’s Attorney’s Law Enforcement and Community Relations, Denver’s Police Chief Search Committee, and the Safety Committee for Denver’s department of Human Rights & Community Partnership, which is in collaboration with Denver’s Department of Public Safety. He is also the subject of the award winning short documentary, Clever, which has played in film festivals in the U.S. and Mexico,

Lopez has become a go-to expert on MS-13, as the gang has become on-going talks of administrations. He has shared his story on NPR’s LatinoUSA, was featured on Telemundo’s “Unknown Hero Segment”, Denver’s NBC affiliate, KUSA and other media outlets. Gerardo has also spoken at Denver Public Schools, Los Angeles Unified School District, Adams 14 School District, Jefferson County, Adams 12, Colorado Courts, City and County of Denver and guest lectured at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, Metropolitan State University, University of Colorado Boulder, and has given keynote speeches at Washington State University, University of Northern Iowa.

Liane is an economist and nonprofit entrepreneur. She started her career at the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury Department in Washington D.C. When she had the opportunity to combine policy, politics, and on-the-ground implementation in her native Colorado, she veered to public education. That led to co-founding and leading Great Education Colorado, a thriving nonprofit dedicated to grassroots advocacy to improve education outcomes. After 10 years leading Great Ed, Liane joined Mile High United Way’s United for Schools (UFS) to concentrate on the social and societal factors that impact student outcomes. She developed the program to reduce chronic absenteeism of students from under-resourced neighborhoods by providing wrap-around services to families and strengthening the schools’ abilities to effectively connect with their diverse families. The program improved academic results, reinforced partnerships between parents and schools, and emphasized the importance of community leadership and engagement. Systems change is always in the background of Liane’s work, so she joined Elevated Denver in 2022 to reshape the way we tackle our growing homelessness challenge. Elevated Denver shifts power to those with lived expertise to create viable solutions based on user-experience stories and data. The results are sustainable, community-responsive solutions developed in a new model for social collaboration. Liane enjoys cycling, hiking and cross-country skiing under Colorado’s blue skies. She appreciates dynamic book club discussions, singing in a community choir and good friends.

Since joining Jewish Family Service of Colorado (JFS) as its President & CEO in November 2018, Linda has applied her vision, passion, and experience leading JFS through program optimization, pursuing new service opportunities, and an over $6M 150th Anniversary campaign. During COVID-19, Linda guided JFS in quickly adapting and transforming its programs and services to best meet the changing needs of the community. She relocated to Denver from the Chicago area, where she served as CEO & Head of School at Solomon Schechter Day School for nine years and the school’s Executive Director for four and a half years prior to that. She has deep Colorado connections and owns a home in Steamboat. Linda has been a leader of both nonprofit and for-profit organizations and business units in a variety of industries, ensuring mission fulfillment and sound financial viability. She currently serves on the Denver Nonprofit Engagement Commission and Network of Jewish Human Service Agencies Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. She has extensive organizational, operational, and management experience, and has successfully led capital campaigns, endowment growth, and donor cultivation and stewardship efforts. Linda earned a BA degree from Wellesley College and has participated in the Kellogg School of Management Center for Non-Profit Management at Northwestern University.

Madisen currently serves as a program manager for the Collaborative Impact Fund of Denver, an independent nonprofit organization committed to addressing social issues in Denver. The fund's mission is to identify and tackle unmet needs within the nonprofit and public sectors by fostering collaborative initiatives via partnership with entities across the City and County of Denver. Through public-private partnerships and support for nonprofit-led community projects, the fund aims to create sustainable solutions as it relates to nonprofit capacity building, supporting the recovery of nonprofits, and improving organizational resilience.

Melanie Tsuchida is a Senior Catalyst with Point b(e) Strategies, where she helps support nonprofits and organizations evaluate their impact, improve their programs and engage their communities authentically. Melanie is passionate about working alongside nonprofits to positively impact individuals and communities.