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Oregon Staff

  • Sue Levin

    Oregon Executive Director
    503.914.4637
    Sue, the co-founder and former CEO of lucy activewear, comes to Stand for Children with a diverse background as an entrepreneur, corporate executive, and consultant. In 2009, she served as an Education Fellow at the Meyer Memorial Trust.
  • Toya Fick

    Government Affairs Director
    Toya comes to Stand from OHSU, where she was the Associate Director of Local and Federal Relations. She has long been committed to education. Her career includes three years as a teacher – two at Teach for America – and three years working on education issues in the office of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. Toya also worked on education policy with the DC-based Alliance for Excellent Education. Toya lives in NE Portland with her husband and two-year-old daughter.
  • Kim Melton

    OR Metro Director
    503.914.4672
  • Janene Kajitani

    Development Coordinator
    503.914.4669
    Though originally from Battleground, Washington, Janene Wallace spent most of her life in the San Francisco Bay area. She completed her undergraduate education at the University of California Santa Cruz, where she developed a strong interest in social issues.

    As a volunteer mentor with at-risk youth, Janene recognized the importance of child advocacy and adequate school funding. After earning her B.A. in Sociology and Anthropology, Janene worked in administration and traveled on and off before returning to the Pacific Northwest in the summer of 2005.

    When she is not busy Standing for Children, Janene enjoys books, music, hiking and exploring Portland.
  • Emily Nazarov

    Portland Organizer
    503.560.8893

    Emily Nazarov was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. She received her B.A. in Political Science from The University of Portland and her J.D. from Pennsylvania State University, the Dickinson School of Law. After graduation from law school, Emily returned to Oregon and spent a decade working as a lawyer in Portland.

    Emily joined Stand for Children as a member and Team Coordinator in 2004. In 2010, Emily decided to make a career change and joined the Stand for Children staff as an Organizer. She is now working on building Stand teams in North Portland and supporting existing teams in the Portland Chapter.

  • Joy Marshall

    Lane County Director
    541.912.2921

    Joy Marshall grew up in Michigan and attended great public schools all of her life, including the University of Michigan Honor's College. She taught middle school in Chicago before becoming involved in grassroots organizing for social change.

    Her first political job was on the campaign to re-elect Chicago Mayor Harold Washington in 1987. Since then, she has organized on numerous issues, including universal health care, equitable taxes, and worker rights. She has run over two dozen political campaigns, but has lost count!

    She founded and built two Stand for Children chapters in the Eugene area, who have won higher standards for child care providers, eliminating soda and junk food from local schools, and millions of dollars in school funding. The chapters are now focused on supporting great schools and a great teacher in every classroom.

  • Mirna Cibrian

    East Multnomah County Organizer
    (503) 267-4280
    Before joining Stand, Mirna voluntarily organized and worked with more than 150 fellow parents in the Reynolds School District and at Reynolds Middle School.They showed up at school board meetings and spoke out about the needs of their children and other underserved students in the district. They held education forums and collaborated with school leaders to hold joint parent meetings. She came to Stand from El Programa Hispano, a program of Catholic Charities, where she was a mental health case manager, providing culturally sensitive services to Latino families in Multnomah County. She also worked as a school community liaison in the Gresham-Barlow School District, providing supportand setting up meetings for families in the English Language Learner department.
  • Rhonda Fister

    Operations Manager
    503.914.4670

    Rhonda is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati with degrees in Marketing and Finance. After 14 years at Lexis-Nexis, she joined the WorldCom Foundation, dedicated to helping K-12 teachers integrate technology as an effective learning tool into the classroom. Through this work, she had the opportunity to visit a diverse cross-section of schools nationally, giving her a firsthand look at the public education system.

    After having her own children, Rhonda became an activist to make positive change for all kids. In 2009 she became a Team Coordinator for the West Linn-Wilsonville chapter of Stand for Children, working on issues such as stable school funding and early childhood education. Rhonda joined Stand for Children's staff in September 2009.