Our Board

Anastacia Snyder, Executive Director
Catalyst Domestic Violence Service

Anastacia is the Executive Director of Catalyst Domestic Violence Services where she is responsible for the management of the agency's operations including shelter-based emergency services, four outreach sites, counseling, legal services and community education and prevention programs.  Prior to her executive role, she was the Education and Prevention Services Program Director for the agency.  During her tenure in that position, Ms. Snyder was responsible for the development and implementation of a comprehensive education and prevention program.  She has designed training curricula around medically-mandated reporting issues, the effects of domestic violence in the workplace and related laws, the effects of domestic violence on children and working with clients in the CalWORKs setting as well as a teen dating violence prevention program.

In 2003, Ms. Snyder was selected by Attorney General Bill Lockyer to participate on the Statewide Task Force on Local Criminal Justice Response to Domestic Violence.  Recently, she was invited to participate in the Law Enforcement Response to Children Exposed to Domestic Violence Protocol Working Group by the Attorney General's Crime and Violence Prevention Center.

She became active in working in the domestic violence movement when she joined the Butte Glenn Family Violence Prevention Council in 1994.  Ms. Snyder has served as the Chair of both Data and Community Education Committees as well as the Chair of the Council from 1997 to 1999 and currently sits on the Council's Executive Committee.

Ms Snyder participates in the Child Abuse Prevention Council, Butte County Death Review Team and the Children's Services Coordinating Council (CSCC) and serves on the CSCC Executive Committee in an appointed position.  Additionally, Ms. Snyder is an active member in the Domestic Violence Association of Rural Northern California, a collaborative of directors of domestic violence programs north of Sacramento.

Ms Snyder is a graduate of St. Mary's College in Moraga, California and attended California State University, Chico pursuing a Master's Degree in English. Anastacia serves as Vice President of the Board of Directors of the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence.

Adrienne Lamar, Associate Director
Jenesse Center, Inc 

Adrienne Lamar has spent the past 12 years as a stanch advocate for black women’s health issues, including the issue of domestic violence, working to address the many health problems that disproportionately affect black women and other women of color.  

Ms. Lamar has worked at the state level with the California Black Women’s Health Project, and on several projects with the National Black Women’s Health Project in Washington DC.  Ms. Lamar has spent the last five years as the Associate Director for Jenesse Center, Inc., a non-profit organization that provides comprehensive services to women and their children who are victims and/or survivors of domestic violence.   

Ms. Lamar has participated in a nation-wide planning effort with the National Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community, to address domestic violence among African Americans in Los Angeles and its surrounding communities. Ms. Lamar has been recognized for her leadership and commitment to battered women and social justice by several county, state and national organizations, including the Los Angeles County Domestic Violence Council, Department of Children and Family Services Family to Family Initiative and the UCLA School of Social Work.  

Atashi Chakravarty, Executive Director
Narika

Atashi is the Executive Director of Narika where she joined the organization as a volunteer in 1999 and has been involved with the agency in different capacities since that time.  Atashi is a long-time Bay Area resident and active community volunteer. She currently serves as Chair of the East Bay API Coalition To End Domestic Violence Coalition (APIDVC), is a member of the Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition's (BAIRC) Leadership Council, serves on the Advisory Committee of the Marin Human Rights Roundtable to End Hate Violence, and serves on the Management Team of the Alameda County Family Justice Center as a representative of the APIDVC.

Ms. Chakravarty graduated from the University of California, Riverside in 1994 with a B.A. in Economics and Political Science. She worked to develop the first women's magazine at UCR called Diva! and the first LGBTQ magazine called Dish! in 1992 to help create an expressive venue for the issues and debates of the day. She also created the award-winning first non-profit monthly newsletter for the Marin non-profit community, called the Leadership Journal, with current RFP and resource information for non-profits in Marin.



Ben Schirmer, Executive Director
Rainbow Services, Ltd.
Los Angeles Region Representative

In 2003, Ben became the Executive Director of Rainbow Services shortly after moving from Florida.  Since joining Rainbow Services, Ben has been active in the Los Angeles City Domestic Violence Task Force and the LA County Domestic Violence Council.  At the state level, he was appointed as the Co-Chair for the Southern region, along with Barbara Hope on the grassroots Domestic Violence Task Force in 2003 and eventually ended up as the Regional Rep for the Los Angeles Region of the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence.

Shortly after graduating from law school, Ben began working for the State of Florida Attorney General's Office.  First, he handled dependency cases and civil prosecution of parents who were accused of abuse, abandonment, or neglect of their children.  Next, he handled termination of parental rights trials, and finally he was promoted to the position of Managing Attorney for that division of the Attorney Generals' office. Ben was then recruited to run a non-profit agency in Florida that focused primarily on services for abused, abandoned and neglected children. 

His hobbies include long walks on the beach and making candles out of recycled milk cartons.  He strongly encourages everyone to recycle and be kind to poodles; they really are a misunderstood breed.

Ben is the past Chair of the Membership Committee and currently serves as Co-Chair of the Finance Committee of the Board of Directors of the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence.



Beverly Upton, Board Treasurer
Executive Director, San Francisco Domestic Violence Consortium and Partners Ending Domestic Abuse

Beverly is the Executive Director of San Francisco Domestic Violence Consortium and Partners Ending Domestic Abuse, a 17-member consortium of Domestic Violence organizations and their supporters committed to effective direct services and public policy. With a background in business and design, she joined the struggle for the human rights of garment workers in the US as well as India and Pakistan to formalize “codes of conduct” for garment factories.   As a survivor of domestic violence she brings to the movement both her commitment to human rights and her passion to end family violence. Beverly serves as Co-Chair of the Finance Committee of the Board of Directors of the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence.



Cherri Allison, Esq., Executive Director
Family Violence Law Center

Cherri is the Executive Director of the Family Violence Law Center (FVLC). Ms. Allison holds a law degree from the University of Santa Clara, School of Law and a Bachelor's degree from the University of California at Berkeley. She is currently completing her Masters Degree in Administration of Criminal Justice. Ms. Allison has more than seven years of legal non-profit management experience. Ms. Allison also has over thirteen years of experience as a family law attorney. Prior to coming to FVLC, Ms. Allison was the Director of Programs at the Alameda County Bar Association. In addition to Ms. Allison's expertise in non-profit management, she has experience in board development, program development, grant writing and investments. She is a member of the management team for the Alameda County Family Justice Center, a Board Member of the ACLU-NC, past President of the Board for the Women Lawyers of Alameda County, is a former Board Member of FVLC, and the Charles Houston Bar Association. A lifetime resident of Alameda County, Ms. Allison has been a longtime advocate for victims of Domestic Violence and those who are marginalized by the judicial system.

Cynthia Hunter, Director
Santa Clara County Domestic Violence Advocacy Consortium 

Cynthia Hunter is the Director of the Santa Clara County Domestic Violence Consortium, a collaborative of nonprofit domestic violence organizations striving to increase their collective power, work for policy change, and bring visibility to domestic violence. She has been involved in anti-violence work in Santa Clara County since 1998, when she became a volunteer with the YWCA of Silicon Valley Rape Crisis Center. Ms. Hunter actively participates on several anti-violence initiatives and committees, including the Santa Clara County Domestic Violence Council, the City of San Jose Family/Domestic Violence Advisory Board, the South Bay Coalition to End Human Trafficking and the Santa Clara County Greenbook Project. She is on the board as the Bay Area Regional Representative for the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence, and is an advisory board member for the Center for Relationship Abuse Awareness. Ms. Hunter has a BA in Community Studies from UC Santa Cruz.

Debra Suh, Executive Director
Center for the Asian Pacific Family

Debra H. Suh is the Executive Director of the Center for the Pacific Asian Family (CPAF), a non-profit Los Angeles based organization that opened the first multi-lingual and multi-cultural emergency shelter in the nation that specialized in serving Asian Pacific Islander survivors of domestic violence.  CPAF services also include a domestic violence transitional shelter, and the only sexual assault program targeting immigrant Asian and Pacific Islander survivors.

Prior to joining CPAF in 1999, Ms. Suh worked at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles since 1991, where she was a staff attorney representing indigent domestic violence survivors.  There, she created the Asian and Pacific Islander Unit to ensure that low-income limited English speaking immigrants have access to free legal services and representation.  Ms. Suh also served as the president of the Korean American Bar Association of Greater Los Angeles and the Women's Organization Reaching Koreans.



Eve Sheedy, Domestic Violence & Legislative Policy Advisor
Los Angeles City Attorney's Office

Eve Sheedy is the Domestic Violence Legislative and Policy Advisor for the Los Angeles City Attorney's office. She became involved in the Domestic Violence field in the mid 1980s as Head of the Domestic Violence Prosecution Unit at the Santa Monica City Attorney's Office. Thereafter, she began WORKSAFE, a consulting business that provided domestic violence threat assessment and management to businesses, government agencies, and individuals.

She has been active in policy and legislative development, working on some of the first statutes to protect the rights of working domestic violence survivors in California.  For several years, Eve was active on the Public Policy and Research Committee in the California Alliance Against Domestic Violence. She co-chairs the Legal Issues Committee of the Los Angeles Domestic Violence Council and chairs the Legislative Committee of the Los Angeles City Domestic Violence Taskforce.

She was awarded the Sheila James Kuehl Award for Commitment to Domestic Violence Survivors and their Children by Sojourn Services, a domestic violence service provider in Santa Monica, California.

Ms Sheedy received her law degree from Boston University School of Law and her B.A. from Haverford College where she was a member of the first class of women degree candidates. Eve presently serves as the Board Liaison to the Public Policy Research Committees of California Partnership to End Domestic Violence.



Gael Strack, Executive Director
National Family Justice Center Alliance

Gael Strack is the Executive Director of the National Family Justice Center Alliance, an alliance of Family Justice Centers newly formed in May 2007. For many years, she served as an Executive Director of the San Diego Family Justice Center. The San Diego Family Justice Center provides co-located services for 25 agencies (government and non-profit) under one roof to provide services to victims of domestic violence and their children.  In the past, Ms. Strack was a prosecutor for over 17 years at the San Diego City Attorney's Office. She joined the office in 1987 and served in many capacities including an Assistant City Attorney for the Office of the San Diego City Attorney's Office and Head Deputy City Attorney overseeing the Child Abuse and Domestic Violence Unit and Special Projects.  She has also worked as a deputy public defender and a deputy county counsel for the San Diego County Counsel's office handling juvenile dependency matters.

Ms. Strack currently sits on the Executive Committee of the Comprehensive Technical Assistance Project for the President's Family Justice Center Initiative.  She is the Past President of the San Diego Domestic Violence Council and former commissioner of the American Bar Association's (ABA) Commission on Domestic Violence. In her spare time, she is an adjunct law professor for California Western School of Law teaching “Domestic Violence and the Law,” heavily recruiting legal interns for the Family JusticeCenter.

Ms. Strack has been honored with numerous awards, including the San Diego Attorney of the Year for 2006. She is a nationally and internationally recognized trainer on domestic violence, teen relationship violence and strangulation. Gael has also co-authored a series of strangulation articles in the Journal of Emergency Medicine, the National College of District Attorney's Practical Prosecutor, and the Journal of the California Dental Association with Dr. George McClane and Dr. Dean Hawley.

Most recently, Gael contributed to two books published by Volcano Press (www.volcanopress.com) in April 2006 – Hope for Hurting Families – with Casey Gwinn as the lead author and The Physician's Guide to Intimate Partner Violence and Abuse -
with Drs. Salber and Taliaferro.  Ms. Strack is a graduate of the Western State College of Law. She is married and has two teenage children.



Janet Trott, Southern Regional Rep, Executive Director
DOVES of Big Bear Valley, Inc.

Janet is the Executive Director of DOVES and has served in this capacity since 1989, shortly after moving to Big Bear Lake. When she began at DOVES, the agency's annual budget was a mere $79,000.  Through her leadership, DOVES has grown to purchase their own shelter facility, opened two Outreach Centers, one in Big Bear and one in Crestline, with the entire San Bernardino Mountains being their primary service area.  Of note, DOVES pioneered the long-term shelter program. Janet received her non-profit education from the Metropolitan YMCA of Los Angeles after working for them for several years.

Ms Trott is an active Soroptimist, has served on Big Bear Lake's Recreation and Parks District Board, and as a Board Member of the San Bernardino County FEMA Board. In April 2006, she was honored for her work in the field of Domestic Violence as  "Woman of the Year" by the Inland Empire Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners. (NAWBO).

As an active Board Member, Janet's goal is to assist the many Domestic Violence agencies in the Southern Region to unite with one voice. Janet serves as the Regional Representative for the Southern Region of the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence.

Joelle Gomez, Executive Director
Women's Center of San Joaquin County

Joelle Gomez has been Executive Director of the Women's Center of San Joaquin County since 1997.  From 1992 to 1995 she served as the Development Director of the Women's Center, raising over 1 million from both private and public resources, enabling the Center to maintain and grow critical services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.  Ms. Gomez is a member of the San Joaquin County Domestic Violence Task Force, the San Joaquin County Death Review Team, participates on the Northern California Youth Authority Citizens Advisory Committee.  In April of 1998, Ms. Gomez received recognition from State Attorney General Dan Lungren for her exemplary service to the Attorney General's Family Violence Prevention Program.  Most recently, Ms. Gomez was selected as a member of the Attorney General Bill Lockyer's Task Force on the Criminal Justice Response to Domestic Violence.

In 2005, Ms. Gomez was presented the “Leadership Stockton 2005 Alumni of the Year for Professional Development” Award.  In 2004, United Way of San Joaquin County bestowed her “Community Star” Award in recognition of her community involvement.   In 2002, she received the Amiga of the Year Award from El Concilio and Woman of Distinction Award from the University of the Pacific. She's a 1994-1995 Leadership Stockton Alumnae.  She enjoys her work, empowering women and children, as well as utilizing her fund raising and grant writing skills to benefit others.

Ms Gomez is a graduate of the University of San Francisco and attended Oxford University in England. Joelle serves as the Chair of the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors of the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence.



Joelle Vessels, Director
Interface Children Family Services

Joelle is Director of Domestic Violence and Mental Health Services at Interface Children Family Services.  Ms. Vessels has extensive experience providing mental health treatment services for adults, families and children in residential treatment and outpatient clinic settings as well as within a variety of school systems.

Ms. Vessels has provided chemical dependency treatment, counseled families of developmentally disabled children, provided therapy to adolescent sexual offenders and their families, victims of domestic violence and child abuse, conducted community presentations, facilitated workshops and authored a relationship column in the San Bernardino Star.

Her extensive experience in non-profit and private practice has involved collaboration and cooperation with Child Welfare,
Law Enforcement, Probation, Court, and other public systems through which children and families were referred for mental health treatment and intervention for mental illness, criminality, addiction, family dysfunction, loss and grief and family and community violence.  Licensed since 1990, she has been an Interface team member since 2002 providing leadership, training and clinical supervision, program development and services design.

Ms. Vessels served Ventura County as Co-Chair of the Adult Crisis Services Sub-workgroup Committee for the Mental Health Services Act program development in 2005.  She is currently a committee member of the Mental Health Board Children's Services Committee and a committee member of the Sexual Abuse Prevention Committee/Partnership for Safe Families and Communities.

Joelle is the new Regional Representative for the Coastal Region of the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence.



Joyce Scroggs, Director
Plumas Rural Services - DV Services
Far North Region Representative

Joyce is Director of Domestic Violence Services for Plumas Rural Services, (PRS) Inc. and has served in this capacity since 1995. She also serves as the Regional Representative for the Far North Region of the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence.

Since 1975, Ms. Scroggs Joyce has lived and worked in Plumas County.   Her work on behalf of women and children in the county includes the establishment of the only local, confidential shelter for survivors of domestic violence and their children. Through her efforts, PRS-Domestic Violence Services has doubled its budget and services and now also provides services in Sierra County. Joyce serves as chair of the Plumas County Family Violence Prevention Coalition.  Her diverse career includes service as the county librarian, local radio newscaster, hospital community relations director, and an elected official of the Plumas County Board of Supervisors.

As a volunteer, Joyce founded the League of Women Voters of Plumas County in 1993. Joyce is a board member and treasurer for Women's Mountain Passages. As the long-time coordinator of Health Watch for the Plumas District Hospital Volunteers, she enrolls local residents in a 24-hour, personal monitoring system.

Joyce believes that all of her jobs and community service have given her the opportunity to reach out, and help women and girls reach their greatest promise. For some, that means overcoming obstacles. Breaking down barriers for women and girls to reach self-sufficiency, gain resiliency and a strong sense of self-worth is Joyce's passion. Ms. Scroggs is a graduate of Howard University and Rutgers University.

Joyce serves as the new Chair of the Membership Committee of the Board of Directors of the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence.



Karen Cooper, Executive Director
Family Services of Tulare County
President and Central Valley Region Representative

Karen has served as Executive Director of Family Services of Tulare County for over sixteen years.  Family Services provides prevention and intervention services in the areas of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse.

Karen was born and raised in Visalia, is a graduate of UC Berkeley and received a Masters in Social Work from California State University, Fresno.  She is married and has three adult children. She began her domestic violence advocacy work as a volunteer in the late 1970's and early 1980's. She has worked for twenty-eight years in non-profit management, has served on numerous community Boards of Directors or Advisory Boards and in leadership positions with the Tulare County DV Council, SART, and Child Abuse Prevention Council.  Karen served on the Advisory Board for the MCH/BWP Evaluation Technical Assistance and Training team and is a Governor's appointee to the Domestic Violence Advisory Council (DVAC).

Ms. Cooper serves as the Board President of the Board of Directors of the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence.

Kathleen Krenek, Executive Director
Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence 

Ms. Krenek has worked in domestic violence prevention and intervention over the past 21 years at two battered women’s organizations, one state domestic violence coalition and one national domestic violence organization.  

From 1985 through 1989, Kathleen was the Executive Director of the Women’s Resource Center, a shelter for battered women and their children. From 1989 through 1998, she was the Policy Development Analyst at the Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence, a statewide membership organization of battered women’s programs. From 1998 through 2000, Kathleen was the Director at the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence, a national source of comprehensive information and technical assistance including research, policy analysis and program development. Since 2001, Kathleen has been the Executive Director of Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence, a comprehensive program serving domestic violence victims and their children. 

Kathleen’s other contributions to the field include authoring publications such as “The Battered Women’s Movement: Transforming Our Vision to Meet Women’s Needs” (2000) and co-authoring “Up From Poverty:  A Proposal to Transform Wisconsin’s Welfare System” (2000).  

Marci Fukuroda, Supervising Attorney
Violence Against Women Projects, California Women’s Law Center

Marci Fukuroda is the Supervising Attorney of Violence Against Women Projects at the California Women’s Law Center (CWLC). CWLC is a statewide law and policy center that works to advance the civil rights of women and girls. Ms. Fukuroda directs CWLC’s work in the area of Violence Against Women, including examining the ways in which violence impacts and intersects with issues of discrimination, health, and economic security for women. Ms. Fukuroda’s work emphasizes collaboration with community organizations and the implementation of a range of strategies to advance the rights and status of victims of intimate violence and sexual violence.

Ms. Fukuroda currently directs several violence against women initiatives, including: Murder at Home Project, which investigates and develops policy recommendations for improving legal, community and media responses to intimate partner violence and intimate partner murder; the Domestic Violence Advocate Legal Support Network, to promote the sustainability of California’s battered women’s shelters; the Habeas Project, which provides legal assistance and support to incarcerated battered women in filing habeas corpus petitions; S.T.O.P. (School Training, Outreach and Prevention) Teen Dating Violence Initiative, which promotes the health and safety of teens in their dating relationships.

Marsha Krouse-Taylor, Executive Director
Casa de Esperanza, Inc 

Ms. Krouse-Taylor began her work in the Domestic Violence Movement in 1970 as a volunteer, teaching women and girls self defense.  In 1980 she became Casa de Esperanza’s Director of Children’s Services. During her tenure at Casa she has also worked as a front line counselor/advocate and Program Director of several programs, and she has been the agency’s Executive Director since 1986. In 1998 she was appointed to the California Alliance Against Domestic Violence, and became the Board Chair in 2002.   

In 1981 Ms. Krouse-Taylor founded the Legal Assistance Project at Casa to challenge local Judges who were disallowing the filing of restraining orders without dissolution petitions.  In 1983 she was part of a core group of statewide children’s rights workers who brought the Child Assault Prevention (CAP) Project to California.  This began a statewide movement that culminated in the passage of AB2443, and funding for each county in California to have a child abuse prevention project.  Over the years she has also been active as a founding member of the Yuba Sutter LEAD program, and a founding and board member of three non-profit agencies in her community.  

Sharon Turner
Regional Director

STAND! Against Domestic Violence 

Sharon Turner has been involved with the domestic violence movement for over twenty-five years.  Her work with abused women began in the 1970s while she was working internationally in small rural villages in Africa, Brazil, Jamaica and India. During this time she helped design and implement small economic enterprises that enabled women and youth to become economically self sufficient.  

Ms. Turner has worked at STAND! Against Domestic Violence for the past 14 years.  During her tenure there she has served as director of emergency shelter and transitional housing sites.  Ms. Turner also has designed and implemented community partnerships in prevention including:  the award-winning Mt. Diablo Relationship Violence Prevention Project, a school-based initiative that annually educated 125 school staff, 2,500 seventh- grade students and 100 parents, over a five-year period; the Collaborative Response To Victims of Crime in Richmond, an initiative that built upon relationships with faith communities and victim service organizations to create a cohesive partnership between these two groups; and the Faith Task Force, an eight-year collaborative of faith leaders who facilitate seminars in the community in conjunction with STAND! The Task Force has published a booklet, “God Is Not Abusive: Three Faiths Address Domestic Violence.”  

In addition to her work of the Faith Task Force, Ms. Turner is also co-leading the Zero Tolerance DELTA project, a primary prevention initiative of the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence. She is a member of STAND!’s Senior Management Team as well as a member of the countywide Death Review Team.  

Teri McCune Oostra, Senior Director
Rural Human Services 

Teri began working in the health care administration field in 1976, first coordinating mental health group programs in Harvard's HMO.  She advanced to the role of Department Head for their Mental Health Department, and then to upper management.   

In 1985 Teri relocated and began working for Rural Human Services, located in the most northwest corner of California (Del Norte County).  When she started, the agency ran a “total volunteer program” with only minimal operational funding for domestic violence services.  In 1995, they received MCH funding and added a shelter and in 2004, RHS opened Harrington House, a business center and 28-bed shelter.  They currently have more than 12 employees devoted to working with battered women and their children. Last year Harrington House served 13,752 meals and logged in 4,584 bed nights.  Teri was promoted to Senior Manager in 2006. In her current position, she has fiscal and program responsibility for Harrington House and the title of Senior Director for Rural Human Services. 

Teri is an active member of her community.  She participates in many local organizations and is the Past President of Soroptimist and Smith River School's PTO.  In 1990 she was honored as Del Norte County's Young Woman of the Year. She currently sits on the Advisory Board for Northcoast Rape Crisis Team, Pelican Bay State Prison, California’s Department of Health’s Cultural Competency Training and the Board of Directors for the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence.  

Verna Griffin-Tabor, Executive Director
Center for Community Solutions

Verna has worked in the field of Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence for more than twenty years. Since 1998, she has been the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Center for Community Solutions, which is an innovative thirty-seven-year-old private, non-profit social services agency serving victims of sexual assault and domestic violence in San Diego County. CCS was the first women's center in the country. The center operated the first temporary restraining order clinic in the state, and currently staffs the only Rape Crisis Center in the City of San Diego.

Ms. Griffin-Tabor's career has been committed to the prevention and intervention of sexual assault and relationship violence. She served on the Statewide California Coalition for Battered Women's Board for three years and was active while that entity merged with the California Alliance Against Domestic Violence to become the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence.  She also serves on various community boards.

In 2006, the San Diego Domestic Violence Council honored her with the Lifetime Achievement Award; in 2003 the San Diego County Bar Association bestowed on her the Distinguished Citizen Award in recognition of her excellence in community leadership, and the San Diego Domestic Violence Council granted her the Andrea O'Donnell Award acknowledging her profound commitment to Sexual and Domestic Violence survivors.  In 2001, she served as President of the San Diego Domestic Violence Council.

Ms. Griffin-Tabor holds a Masters degree in Social Work with California licensure and a B.A. in Criminology. Verna serves as Chair of the Internal Committee of the Board of Directors of the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence.