In the USA:

   In Canada:

Power of Hope
#7 - 1921 Fernwood Road
Victoria, BC V8T 2Y6
Office phone: 250-381-4673
Canada Director cell: 250-508-6897
pohvic[at]powerofhope[dot]org

TRUSTEES: Gloria Hansen, Chair; Diana Cawood, Kathryn Molloy, Diana Smith, Soasis Sukeweh, Mark Vonesch, Ian Watson, Bill Weaver

Power of Hope Staff
The Power of Hope is coordinated by a talented and diverse staff of artists, musicians, writers, actors, naturalists, community activists, and more. We have offices in Seattle, WA and Victoria, BC. Meet the staff!

Staff in the Seattle, WA office:

Michael Harris, Executive Director, joined the Power of Hope team in November, 2005. Over the past thirty years he has led non-profit organizations to success in the Pacific Northwest, working in the performing arts, youth work and advocacy, health and human services, low income housing development and the natural foods industry. In his youth he worked professionally as an actor / director / writer for theater. At the age of 16 he made his Broadway debut in the original cast of HAIR. Over the years Michael has worked for Microsoft, served on many non-profit boards and taught graduate studies at the University of Washington. In his spare time he leads sing-alongs for groups of all kinds in Seattle, where he lives with his wife, Patricia.
 

Alan Wong, Program Director,is responsible for the design, delivery and quality of POH youth and adult programs wherever they are offered. During his many years with POH, Alan has organized and facilitated experiential art workshops and leadership programs with thousands of teens and adult youth workers in classrooms, community centers and other locations around the nation and abroad. Alan is a poet and musician who trusts deeply in the creative process as a means of personal and community transformation. Alan’s given Chinese name, “Peng”, means, “peace, balance, and equilibrium” – qualities he strives to bring to his work and to the world around him.

Kat Vellos, Program Manager / GEAR UP coordinator, is a native of Belize, and a recently naturalized U.S. citizen. She wakes up each morning to manifest creativity in service of the greater good. She has a rich background in visual art and spoken word/poetry, and received her B.A. in Graphic Design at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida. Kat has served youth from K-12 as an AmeriCorps member and committed youth work volunteer. In fact, she started off with Power of Hope as an energetic volunteer for Hip Hop Hope! In all her endeavors, Kat strives to create environments that value positive and authentic community as well as individual evolution through courageous self-expression. In her spare time she's creating vegetarian masterpieces in the kitchen, sending snail mail, and thinking in ink, rockin' them spoken words.

Devon Little, Volunteer Coordinator/Americorps Team Leader, grew up exploring dance, theatre, nature and different cultures. In college, she studied Sociology and Peace & Conflict Studies. In general, she has focused her time working with transformative communication models in dynamic, cross-community settings, including a race relations group, process work in Northern Ireland, a nonviolence youth organization, a half-way home, and a dialogue-project across religious and political divides in Colorado Springs. She continues her education by studying Nonviolent Communication, Spanish, educative movement and dance, and permaculture, as well as offering experiences in the performing arts and dialogue.

Maureen Nelson, Program Manager / GEAR UP Coordinator, joined the POH staff after spending two years as an AmeriCorps with the Youth Voices program.  She trains and guides the new Americorps team in the Bellingham office as well as, handling administrative duties and staffing youth events.  Originally from Seattle, she graduated from Western Washington University in 2003 with a B.A. in Theatre Education.  She has worked with youth in local schools and in-patient facilities, supporting her passion for the arts, conscious youth work, community change and more well-rounded school curriculums and environments.

Jamie-Rose Rothenberg, Executive Assistant, first encountered Power of Hope as a youth, when she attended a summer program in 2000. She has since returned to the organization as a mentor and a summer camp manager. She is thrilled to enrich her Power of Hope education and experience through this year of service as a youth voices coordinator. Throughout her youth education career, she has coordinated programs in a variety of subjects, such as: mural-arts, creative writing, literary magazine production, and reading literacy. As a graduate in Peace and Global Studies and a recipient of a “Grant for Peace” from Davis Foundation, Jamie-Rose believes that the arts are a powerful medium through which constructive social change may be inspired.

Eli Steffen, Youth Voices Coordinator/ AmeriCorps Volunteer, has been involved in theater since the age of 7.  In 2007, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College with a concentration in Drama and Community Studies.  While at school, he developed an interest in community theater.  Most recently, he co-produced and performed in the Public Circus, which brought clowning and acrobatics to children affected by Hurricane Katrina. Eli also has a background in youth organizing and non-profit administration, which he gained as the Assistant Coordinator of the Vashon Youth Council, a youth-run social justice organization. Eli is excited about the opportunity to learn and serve with all the great adults and youth at The Power of Hope.  

Rebecca White, Youth Voices Coordinator/Americorps, arrived on Power of Hope’s scene after spending a year working in Esteli, Nicaragua with the Mural Arts Organization, FUNARTE (Foundation to Support Children’s Creative Art). She serves as an Americorps Youth Voices Coordinator with Power of Hope. She received a bachelor’s degree in Peace and Global Studies from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. She speaks Spanish and has experience working with refugees and mentoring international students. She hails from the Empire State (NY) and loves many things, including art as a means of community development and social empowerment; and her 50-year-old cat, Clarissa.

Staff at the Victoria, BC office:

Gita John-Iyam, Canada Director, comes to Power of Hope with twelve years experience with Community Development agencies in India and Canada. She is passionate about working with and for children and youth. She was raised in a Gandhian Christian center begun by her parents during India's freedom movement, and her life has been deeply influenced by this experience. Her work background and interests include food security, environmental protection, natural healing and simple living.

Adele Woodyard
Growing up in the theatre, amongst a community of artist, the passion for a more expressive and positive world has been deeply rooted from an early age.   This passion has brought Adele to various community organizing projects and to working with youth in a variety of facilitator/ educator roles.  Her work has taken her across Canada on her bicycle, and back to Victoria where she continues to work on bicycle advocacy projects at home.   Adele helps run The Bike Lab Society, teaching young people about bicycle mechanics and of bicycles as vehicles for environmental and social change.  Adele is also a member of The Velo Vixen’s, a bicycle performance troupe, planning events and performances around town, celebrating the community of cyclists in Victoria.  In the summer you will find Adele paddling around the west coast of Vancouver Island, leading kayak trips and sharing her passion of the intricacies and wonders of life in the ocean.
 

Jenny George has a background in community organizing and alternative education. She is currently enrolled in a post-degree professional program at the University of Victoria with the hopes of becoming a middle school teacher. Jenny is thrilled to be working creatively with so many great young people.

Greg Smythe - Administrative Associate

Inspired by the possibilities of possibility and the magic of creative expression, Greg joined the Power of Hope team in January 2009. As a volunteer counselor, facilitator and laughter yoga leader, he believes that supporting authentic creative expression is an integral part of painting a balanced and sustainable world. Prior to Power of Hope, Greg's worked in several administrative and facilitative capacities at home, in The Gambia, and in South Korea, to support social animation and sustainable participatory approaches to education. While possessing a BA in sociology, he believes that credentials are only as good as the credit we give our-selves. His hobbies include, watching the world turn, playing in the mud, and embracing what's alive in the moment. Greg loves the way trees grow without hesitation and hopes to encourage this expressive growth in others. He is so grateful to be a part of an amazing community of creative collaborators.

Co-Founders of The Power of Hope:

Charlie Murphy is an accomplished recording artist and former director of training for the YMCA Earth Service Corps, a national youth environmental organization.  For his work with Power of Hope, Charlie was awarded an Ashoka Fellowship in 2005.  This prestigious award honors “leading social entrepreneurs recognized to have innovative solutions and the potential to change patterns across society.”

Peggy Taylor, MA, brings a rich experience in holistic education, the arts, nonprofit management, and publishing to her creative work with youth.  She is co-author of Chop Wood, Carry Water: A Guide to Finding Spiritual Fulfillment in Everyday Life and was co-founder of New Age Journal, where she served as editor-in-chief for fourteen years.  Peggy is a creative development specialist with a Masters of Education in Creative Arts in Learning.

Our Mission
The Power of Hope unleashes the positive potential of youth through arts-centered intergenerational and multicultural learning programs that value self-awareness,
leadership, community and social change.

The Power of Hope has offices in Victoria, BC and Seattle, WA.
We are 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the USA and a registered charity in Canada.
Contributions to Power of Hope are tax-deductible in the US and in Canada.