E-mail: acabangun@gmail.com
Ben Cabangun is a queer Pinoy son of immigrant parents hailing from the
Inland Empire of
Southern California. HIV/AIDS activist, researcher, and educator, Ben was a teacher with Pin@y Educational Partnerships at Burton High School from 2007-2008, and later a teacher and coordinator at
City College of San Francisco from 2008-2010. Ben currently manages all prevention education programs at the
Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center—the largest non-profit health services, education, research, and policy organization targeting Asians and
Pacific Islander communities living with or affected by HIV/AIDS. Ben also sits on the City/County of
San Francisco HIV Prevention Planning Council, where he serves on the evaluation committee, and is currently a community consultant group member for the HIV Prevention Section of the
San Francisco Department of Public Health.
Lastly, Ben is currently the Political Action Chair of the Gay Asian Pacific Alliance (GAPA) Board of Directors. Previous to
San Francisco, he served his community through the Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team, Asian American Drug Abuse Program, and Barangay—The LGBT Filipino Association, all in Los Angeles. He studied
Asian American Studies at
San Francisco State University and
California State University, Long Beach.
Dawn Bohulano Mabalon, Ph.D. (Vice Chair)
E-mail: dmabalon@sfsu.edu
Assistant Professor, Department of History
San Francisco State University
Dawn Bohulano Mabalon, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of History at San Francisco State University, where she teaches courses in US history and race and ethnicity. A third generation Pinay born in Stockton, California, she received her M.A. in Asian American Studies from UCLA in 1997 and her Ph.D. in history from Stanford University in 2004. Her poetry, essays, articles and curriculum have been published in the books and anthologies: Tomorrow’s Memories: The Diary of Angeles Monrayo (University of Hawaii, 2003), Coming Home to a Landscape: Writings by Filipinas (2003), Pinay Power: Pilipina Peminist Theory (Routledge, 2006), Positively No Filipinos Allowed (Temple University, 2006), and in the Pin@y Educational Partnerships Sourcebook (Phoenix Publishing, 2007). She is the past chair and founding board member of the Little Manila Foundation, which works for the preservation and revitalization of the Little Manila Historic Site in Stockton, serves on the advisory board of the Manilatown Heritage Foundation, and is a National Trustee of the Filipino American National Historical Society. She is co-author of Filipinos in Stockton, a book of historic photos and essays (Arcadia Publishing, 2008). She is a Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow for 2007-2008. She is currently completing her book manuscript, Life in Little Manila: Filipinas/os in Stockton, 1917-1972. Her research interests include Filipina/o American community history and culture, foodways and food history, and Pinay Studies.Ray Buenaventura, Esq. 
E-mail: raybesquire@yahoo.com
Ray Buenaventura is an Attorney licensed to practice law in California and Washington D.C. He is currently in private practice and focuses on criminal defense. He is a Certified Criminal Law Specialist and has been practicing criminal defense for nearly 18 years. Mr. Buenaventura is also on the faculty at Lincoln Law School (San Jose). Mr. Buenaventura is a member of the San Mateo County Bar Association, Filipino Bar Association of Northern California (Board Member & Officer), Asian American Bar Association and Alameda County Bar Association.
Mr. Buenaventura is very active in the community. He was appointed to the Library Board of Daly City and currently serves as a Commissioner. He is the past President of the Filipino American Democratic Club of San Mateo County. Mr. Buenaventura also serves as an Alternate and Associate Member of the Democratic Central Committee of San Mateo County and is also a member of the Fil-Am Democratic Caucus and the Asian Pacific Islander Caucus of the California Democratic Party. Mr. Buenaventura served as a Delegate to the California Democratic Convention in 2007, 2008 and 2009. In April 2008, Mr. Buenaventura was elected as Delegate to the Democratic National Convention for President in Denver (August 2008).
Mr. Buenaventura is involved in several non-profit organizations, including the Pilipino Bayanihan Resource Center (Director & Vice-President), Daly City-Sister City Committee (Director & Vice President), Filipino Mental Health Initiatives (Oversight Member) and the Knights of Columbus Foundation for Developmentally Disabled Children (Director and 2nd Vice President), Skyline College President’s Council (Board Member) and the San Francisco-Manila Sister Cities Committee (Member).
Mr. Buenaventura has also contributed his legal services pro-bono to those in need. He has volunteered his legal services to the United States Center for Refugee and Immigrant Children. He has voluntarily represented children who are facing deportation and removal from the United States. He is also a regular volunteer to Community Law Night, a service provided by the San Mateo County Bar Association. Further, he has volunteered for the San Francisco Voluntary Legal Service Program, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, Asian Law Caucus and Safe Harbor Homeless Shelter.
Arlene Sudaria. Daus-Magbual
E-mail: amianan@mail.sfsu.edu
Associate Director of Program Development
Arlene S. Daus-Magbual is a Pinay that was born in East Los Angeles and raised in Long Beach and Riverside CA. Arlene is the Associate Director for Pin@y Educational Partnerships (PEP). She received her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at the University of California Riverside, and her Master of Arts in Asian American Studies at the San Francisco State University. Arlene is currently a Doctoral Candidate in Education Leadership at San Francisco State University. Her experience with non-profits include organizations such as Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics, Asian Pacific American Legal Center, Oakland Kids First, Girlsource, the Filipino American Development Foundation and the Filipino Community Center. She currently resides in Daly City, CA with her husband, Roderick Daus-Magbual and daughter, Amianan.
Roderick Raña Daus-Magbual Ed.D.
E-mail: rod@filipinocc.org
Roderick Raña Daus-Magbual is a Bay Area transplant via Riverside and Long Beach, CA. He received his BA in Liberal Studies from UC Riverside in 2000, his MA in Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University (SFSU) in 2004, and his Education Doctorate at the University of San Francisco (USF) in the Organization and Leadership (O&L) Program with a minor in the International Multicultural Education (IME) Program. Over the past several years, Rod has served as a teacher, coordinator, and as the current Associate Director of Curriculum Development for the Pin@y Educational Partnerships (PEP). He has had experience with several youth, student, and community organizations throughout California such as: the Asian Pacific Student Programs (APSP) at UC Riverside; Summer Program for Empowerment & Leadership (SPEL) sponsored by Search to Involve Pilipino Americans in Los Angeles; Festival of Filipino Arts & Culture (FPAC); Upward Bound Program at Cal State Fullerton (CSUF); the Japanese Community Youth Council (JCYC); and the Asian Youth Prevention Services at the Filipino Community Center (FCC) in San Francisco, CA. In addition, Rod teaches at Skyline College in San Bruno, CA where he teaches Sociology 142: "Filipina/o Community Issues" under the Kababayan Program. He also enjoys playing, reading, cooking, and raising his daughter, Amianan with his wife Arlene. Rod truly believes in a critical education that explores history and its influence on identity to transform society. He's motivated by love and the pursuit for peace and social justice.
Michelle Ferrer
E-mail: michelleferrer7@gmail.com
Michelle Ferrer is a pinay educator/writer born in Manila, Philippines and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has a B.A. in Psychology from San Francisco State University and is a Masters Candidate in International Multicultural Education at the University of San Francisco. Michelle has provided leadership development training to teen-age youth for the past seven years through cultural and creative arts. In Oakland, she works alongside youth leaders/organizers to fight for educational justice. As an educator, she approaches her work with passion, commitment, patience, and heart. Michelle believes creating safe learning spaces for ALL is crucial and necessary. She has performed her poetry at APAture, Diwang Pinay, Bindlestiff Studios,and MACLA (San Jose). Her short story "Fin" appears in "Bunsen Burnt" (Kearny Street Workshop, 2007). Her poem "What I Wish My Father Knew" was recently published in the anthology "Walang Hiya" (Carayan Press, 2010). Michelle's first short play “Isa Makes Three” premiered in Bindlestiff Studio’s “Bakla Show” (2010). She is a former student teacher with PEP and is honored to continue serving on the Board of Directors.
Mark Grafilo
E-mail:
Bio pending
E-mail: ryanl@cycsf.org
A Bay Area transplant from Los Angeles, Ryan Leano graduated in 2005 from SFSU, where he received his master’s degree in
Asian American
Studies with an emphasis on Pin@y Critical Cultural Production, culminating in his thesis entitled, “The Rhythm of a Nation: The
Filipin@ American Movement in
Hiphop Dance.”
Ryan was also a b-boy, dancer, and choreographer as a member of
Team Millennia, a
Hip hop dance company based in
Fullerton, CA, which allowed him to train professionally in the Los Angeles dance industry. During his graduate
studies, he was a student-teacher in PEP, developing lesson plans that combined Pin@y studies and
performance art. His experience in PEP introduced him to the larger community of artists and activists, currently engaging in cultural work with
San Francisco Committee for
Human Rights in the Philippines (SFCHRP), a
human rights organization addressing
human rights violations in the Philippines and worldwide. He is also the current
Secretary General of SanDiwa, a national alliance of Filipin@ American youth promoting the rights and welfare of Filipin@ American youth and supporting the struggles of Filipin@s in the diaspora.
Currently pursuing his doctorate in International &
Multicultural Education with an emphasis on Human Rights, his research focus is on Transnational Cultural Work in the Philippines and the Diaspora in the Movement for
National Democracy. He still maintains dancing as a member of the
Hiphop dance company, SOULidified Project. Being a former PEP teacher and Co-Malong coordinator for 5 years, Ryan returns as a Board Member to give back to the space that was pivotal in his growth as a scholar, artist, and activist.
Eunice Mae Lee
E-mail: Bio pending
E-mail:
Bio pending
Julius Paras
E-mail: julius@filamthropy.orgtwitter: filamthropy
Julius is a multidisciplinary thinker, leadership strategist, and organizational catalyst who specializes in driving high-level, innovative ideas through to detailed, tactical implementation. Currently, he is managing a new alumni relations initiative at
Stanford University focused on the intersection of volunteer leadership and interest-based social networks. He includes Vipassana meditation,
hip hop dance, design thinking, and Mandarin Chinese among his many interests and is exploring diaspora and democratic philanthropy with
Asian American and
Pacific Islander communities.
He earned his BS in
Industrial Engineering from
Stanford University, where he was a co-founder of the Pilipino American Student Union (PASU) and the recipient in his graduating class of the
Sterling Award for exceptional volunteer service. His professional career spans both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors from his roles as an award-winning IT project manager at Hewlett-Packard, a social entrepreneurship fellow with the
Echoing Green Foundation, an early team member at a location-based technology start-up, and a change management/systems deployment expert with Agilent Technologies.
In 1995, Julius launched The BARANGAY, the first online resource guide for Filipino youth leaders, organizers, and service providers in the US, and, in 1997, established the Project PULL Academy Leadership Challenge & College Preview for Filipino American youth (aka Project PULL) – a summer
residential education program combining ethnic studies, leadership training, and mentorship, in partnership with Stanford University's
Asian American Activities Center (A3C) and Filipino Advocates for Justice (FAJ). Based on his original social change theory of “networked capability,” this initiative created a leadership pipeline for the
Filipino American community, with its graduates organizing next generation initiatives such as KAYA (
Filipino Americans for Progress), Designing Your Best Year Ever (dybye!), and Filipinas for Rights and Empowerment (FiRE). He met and worked with Professors Tintiangco-Cubales and Mabalon through these and other youth-led efforts and is appreciative of this opportunity to learn with the Pin@y Educational Partnerships community, serve on the organization's Board, and promote a critical Filpina/o
American studies curriculum for young people.
Laarni San Juan, RN, PHN, MPH
E-mail: laarnis@yahoo.com
Laarni graduated from San Francisco State University with a Bachelors of Science in Nursing and a minor in Asian American Studies. Her volunteer work in the community inspired her to pursue a Master's Degree in Public Health at UCLA. Laarni has always been intrigued with helping and teaching. Since her high school volunteerism at Glide Memorial Church, Laarni became fascinated with special population groups and curious about issues of poverty, health disparities, and cultural effects on health.
Laarni currently works as a Public Health Nurse for the San Mateo County Health System. She takes on a variety of roles including home visitation with low-income women and children, and teaches parenting classes which focuses on domestic violence prevention, cultural effects, family strengthening, and positive discipline.
E-mail:
Bio Pending
E-mail: cmzwarren@gmail.com
San Francisco Native, grew up in the Excelsior district from the bus fare being 35 cents to Crocker Amazon playground being a hot mess. I love helping out my community. I love music. Also I never had the best grades throughout school, however, I won't ever let the system bring me down for my love of learning. I come from a working class family of seven members. I attended school at Monroe Elementary, James Denman Middle School and Balboa High school. In the next 6 years I would like to take over my mom and pop's bakery, and be on my way to becoming a PEP teacher and a high school counselor.