Rafael Bautista | Board Liaison
Rafael was born in Oaxaca, Mexico and has lived in Oregon for 22 years. He has 4 children ages 21, 15, 8 and 6, and enjoys playing basketball with his kids and watching soccer during his free time. Rafael was part of the first group of Lideres Verdes, a group of community leaders compensated by Verde to participate in up to 100 hours of training in community organizing. Rafael lives in the Cully neighborhood, and joined the Board in September 2012. He serves as the Board liaison to the Verde Outreach Advisors.
Karen Guillen-Chapman | Center for Diversity & the Environment
Karen Guillen-Chapman works for the City of Gresham as the Recycling Coordinator, where she is always on the lookout for ways to increase awareness in the community about resource conservation and recycling. A member of the Center for Environmental Diversity's Environmental Professionals of Color, she is committed to involving diverse communities in the environmental movement. Her experience in public service combined with her passion for connecting with communities makes her an asset to Verde's Outreach Advisors. Originally from Costa Rica, Karen hopes to return someday to share her knowledge of recycling systems with those in her home country.
Demetria (Demi) Espinoza | Native American Youth and Family Center
Demi Espinoza is the Coordinator for the Coalition of Communities of Color and NAYA Family Center’s Community/Economic Development. Demi set her roots in Portland after residing from the desert area of Southern California, where she grew up and went to college. Her prior work experience includes a background in political campaigns with Equality California’s Win Marriage Back field manager and as a Union Satisfaction Representative for Health Care workers at Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Before starting with the Coalition, she was an organizer with Basic Rights Oregon’s Marriage Matters campaign to manage an LGBT Inter- Faith Taskforce committee to build coalitions with open and affirming congregations. Currently, she volunteers with Basic Rights Oregon’s Our Families leadership team, seeking to uplift the voices of LGBT people of color through statewide public education efforts and is also a cohort member of Unidas, Latino/a statewide leadership program. She is inspired by the people and the community she works with every day.
Queta Gonzalez | Center for Diversity & the Enviroment
Queta believes that our differences can make us stronger. A commitment to family, community, learning, service and compassion underpin her actions and activities. Her work in social, environmental and economic justice began in her youth and continued to grow ever since. She is the Program Director for the Center for Diversity & the Environment where she works with people across the United States to build a more equitable, inclusive and diverse environmental movement.
Pedro Moreno is the Outreach Worker for Verde. Originally from the state of Guerrero in Mexico, Pedro has lived in the United States for over 20 years. He began working for Verde in 2006 as a Landscape Crew Member, driving trucks to various locations in Portland to perform landscape restoration work with the other workers of Verde. He now works in the community doing outreach around various environmental and equity issues.
Tony DeFalco is the Living Cully Ecodistrict Coordinator for Verde, coordinating the nation’s first equity driven ecodistrict designed to re-interpret sustainability as an anti-poverty strategy. His expertise in community economic development, environmental protection and sustainability spans 15 years of working locally and nationally in environmental advocacy, coalition building and policy advocacy. His current focus includes redevelopment of a landfill into a park in a low-income neighborhood in Portland and strengthening communities of color and low income communities in deriving economic benefit from environmental investments.