"What we do to our children today, they grow up and do to the world tomorrow!"
Grandparents Parenting . . . Again Board Members
Anne Pierce
Director & Chief Executive Officer
Anne is the founder of our agency. She is a grandmother who has been raising her 2 grandsons since 1993. A former Controller for a financial planning company, she gave up her career when she took custody of the boys. She began Grandparents Parenting . . . Again when she moved home to Santa Rosa and could find no other support out there for people in her situation. The agency began as just a support group meeting twice a month. It only took a short time for her to realize that if the group incorporated as a nonprofit, it could provide many more services.
Paula Peterson
Chairperson
Paula is the grandparent of a 12-year-old girl, with whom she has lived for nearly all of her granddaughter's life. Paula is a former Northern California Representative of Tough Love International, Transition Leader/Coordinator of Parents Supporting Parents, and a recently retired Sonoma County Human Services, Youth Training Programs Coordinator. She has suffered the same loss and tragedy as many of the grandparents in the Grandparents Parenting . . . Again organization. In fact, this is what drove her to request Judge Rosenfield's Guardianship Clinic training along with Anne Pierce. Paula has been a strong advocate of the trainings and the group ever since. It is with great honor she accepts the board seat.
Diana Poulson
Diana Poulson is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and teaches at the University of San Francisco as well as at Santa Rosa Junior College. Diana comes to us not only as a professional but also as a client. As a grandparent parenting again, she and her 2 grandchildren have been enjoying the social functions at Grandparents Parenting . . . Again for several years.
Tess MacNeil
Tess MacNeil lives in west Santa Rosa with her partner, Max, their 16 year-old son, Aedan, their miniature dachshund and two cats. She is a family case
manager with River to Coast Children's Services, where she has enjoyed working with parents and grandparents for the past nine years.
Tess was born in San Francisco and grew up primarily in Marin and Sonoma Counties as part of a large, extended, close-knit family. She attended college
locally at Santa Rosa Junior College and then Sonoma State University, where she majored in cultural anthropology.
Tess has always enjoyed political and social advocacy work. Her previous volunteer experience includes work for the Center for Peace and Justice, Parent
Voices, Catholic Charities Family Support Center, and the Jesse Peter Native American Art Museum.
Tanya Carvajal
Tanya Carvajal is 21 years old, Mexican American and a former foster child.
Currently, she is the Site Director for V.O.I.C.E.S. (Voice Our Independent Choices for Emancipation Support) Sonoma, a non-profit that helps youth gain
access to resources in their community by providing a drop - in resource/ community Center. Tanya is also a full time student at the Santa Rosa Junior College,
studying pre-law and social and behavioral sciences.
Kathleen Zurga
Kathleen has been active in the nonprofit world since 1989, working with environmental, human rights, and social service organizations. She was a case manager with Council on Aging, connecting seniors with community services and working to help them maintain their independence. During part of her youth, she was happily raised by her grandparents.
Jim Waliszewski
Jim became a member of the Board of Directors in early 2010. After a thirty plus year career as a teacher and elementary school administrator here in Sonoma County,
Jim retired in 2007. During his lengthy tenure as a school principal, Jim had the opportunity to get to know and to attempt to assist an ever-increasing number of
grandparents (and other relatives) who were raising elementary school-age children.
Jim and his wife live in Santa Rosa, and are the proud parents of two young adult children living in southern California.
To contact Board members please email: grands@sonic.net