For more than 25 years, Tanya Tull has played a significant role in the development of innovative solutions to the crisis of homelessness, both in Los Angeles and nationwide. In 1980, she founded Para los Niños (For the Children), a nonprofit agency located in L.A.'s Skid Row, which operates child care and family support programs for a primarily immigrant population. In 1983, in response to the increasing number of homeless families on the streets of Los Angeles, she co-founded L.A. Family Housing Corporation, a nonprofit agency that develops emergency shelters, and transitional and permanent housing. Since 1988, her work has focused primarily on the development of new methodologies to promote systemic change. That year, she created A Community of Friends, which develops supportive permanent housing throughout L.A. County for the chronically mentally ill and other special needs populations. Also in 1988, she founded Beyond Shelter, where she currently devotes all of her time. In 1996, Dr. Tull served on the U.S. National Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, Habitat II, held in Istanbul, Turkey. She is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Housing Conference and serves on special advisory groups for the National Alliance to End Homelessness, the National Low Income Housing Coalition, and the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, all based in Washington, D.C. In Los Angeles, she chairs the LA City/County Coordinating Council on Homeless Families. She received her B.A. from Scripps College, Claremont, Calif., teaching credential from UCLA, and an honorary doctorate in social sciences from Whittier College (1992). She was also a Senior Fellow at the UCLA School of Public Affairs (2005-2006), and continues that involvement ongoing.  Dr. Tull has received much recognition for her work, including the Jefferson Award from the National Institute of Public Service (1982); the CORO Foundation Public Affairs Award (1983); the Ralph Bunche Peace Award during the "Year of the Homeless," United Nations Organization, Pacific Chapter (1987); the Founders Award from the National Association of Fundraising Executives (1988); the Gleitsman Foundation's National Citizen Activist Award (1996); the Community Service Award from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) (2002); and an El Angel Award from the California Latino Caucus Institute (2005).

In 2009, Tanya Tull was elected a Senior Fellow at Ashoka, the global association of the world's leading social entrepreneurs.  For further information, please click here.

To watch Tanya Tull's acceptance speech upon receiving the Gleitsman Foundation's National Citizen Activist Award in 1996, please click here
[Please note: Tanya's speech begins approximately 8 minutes into the video].

Christine Mirasy-Glasco is an exceptional leader with over twelve years of experience in the field of homelessness. Prior to joining Beyond Shelter, she led the Contracts and Grants Management department of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), a joint powers authority of the City and County of Los Angeles whose mission is to plan, coordinate and implement initiatives to end homelessness in Los Angeles County. Christine held several management roles during her 12-year tenure at LAHSA and possesses an acute understanding of the complex issues and challenges that face homeless individuals and families. Prior to joining government, Christine managed the US office of Visions in Action, an international nonprofit organization based in Washington D.C that promotes social and economic development through volunteer opportunities in developing countries. In this capacity, she was exposed to the multiple facets of nonprofit management. Christine's early exposure to the effects of poverty shaped her passion for empowering disenfranchised persons. She holds a Bachelor's degree in International Law from the University of Nice, Sophia-Antipolis, Nice, France, a Master's degree in International and European Law from the University of Paris II - Panthéon-Assas, Paris, France and a Pre-doctorate degree in International Economic Law from the University of Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris, France.

Ryan Macy-Hurley has more than 10 years of experience working on issues related to homelessness and poverty as a case manager, community organizer, and trainer. At Beyond Shelter's Institute for Research, Training, and Technical Assistance, Ryan is responsible for coordinating the agency's training, technical assistance, and evaluation activities. He is an experienced consultant on the Housing First approach for homeless families and has conducted trainings and presentations around the country on the topic. He has a Master's Degree in Social Work with an emphasis on Management and Planning from the University of California, Berkeley. Before joining Beyond Shelter, Ryan worked at Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency, a nonprofit homeless services provider, where he organized clients and community members to fight for tenant protections in Oakland, CA, and at the Global Fund for Women, a San Francisco-based international women's fund, where he conducted research on female human rights issues.

Nizar Karimi brings over 20 years of experience in Operations, Project Management and Finance from both the nonprofit and private sectors. His experience includes working at Mattel, Inc. for 10 years in their Operations Finance Department.  As the manager of the department, Nizar traveled extensively to Hong Kong, Southern China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Italy for annual operations budget and audit purposes.  Upon leaving Mattel, Inc. Nizar had a short lived experience with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and then moved onto the Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority (LAHSA).  During his eight year tenure with LAHSA, Nizar worked in the Fiscal Department, ultimately as the Acting Senior Manager of Finance.  Mr. Karimi's educational background includes an undergraduate degree in Accounting and an MBA with a concentration in Finance.  In his spare time, Mr. Karimi serves as an Honorary Board Member of the Aga Khan Foundation USA for the Western Region, a non-profit organization serving the underprivileged of the global community (www.akdn.org). He is also a Board Member of the New Academy of Science and Arts (NASA), two charter schools located in Los Angeles.

Melissa Paul has close to 15 years of experience working with nonprofit organizations. While receiving her bachelor’s degree in developmental psychology at San Francisco State University, Ms. Paul worked as a supervisor at the Campus Community Involvement Center, where she supervised and counseled students in various internship positions. She then worked for three years as the assistant to the board liaison of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation before relocating to Los Angeles to serve as the medical volunteer coordinator for the Venice Family Clinic. She later held the position of assistant director of development at the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Greater Los Angeles for three years.

Amy Sterling Casil is a fifth generation native Southern Californian. Prior to joining Beyond Shelter, she worked as a campaigner for United Way and served as Director of the Family Service Association and Home Again Project in, CA, for 10 years. She is also an award-winning professional writer, possessing an M.F.A. in creative writing from Chapman University and bachelor's degrees in literature and studio art from Scripps College. For the past six years, she has shared her knowledge by teaching English, writing and journalism at several colleges in Southern California.

Maxine Moshay is a native Angeleno.  After many years volunteering for various non-profit causes in Los Angeles, mainly benefiting children, 10 years ago, Ms. Moshay began a career in development. She has been Executive Director for two Los Angeles non-profits, The Amie Karen Cancer Fund for Children, a support group for the Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Department at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the Beverly Hills Education Foundation, where she was involved in fundraising for the Beverly Hills Unified School District.  There, she  was instrumental in forming education partners with local businesses as well as the funding for the television station, KBEV. Additionally, Ms. Moshay has acted as a consultant for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Business and Professional Committee and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Carla Murphy joined Beyond Shelter in 2006 as the Program Manager, Government Contracts, and is responsible for providing program and contractual support, operations assistance, and monitoring and oversight of all government contracts. Ms. Murphy also supervises the Rental Assistance Department at Beyond Shelter. Prior to Beyond Shelter, she worked for over 20 years in the Health Care Industry, including 6 years in the capacity of Contract and Compliance Management at two major Health Maintenance organizations and the remainder as the Regional Operations Manager at a non-profit health care management corporation, specializing in consulting, marketing and enrollment services for HMOs and State Medicaid agencies. Ms. Murphy was also the first Program Manager at the Rita D. Walters Learning Complex for Family and Community Development (RDWLC) where she was employed for approximately three years. She received her BS Degree in Human Services from California State University, Fullerton, and has completed the coursework towards a Masters Degree in Public Health from California State University, Northridge. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, a national Public Service Sorority, and current President of the Fremont Regency Condominium Association.

Roshe Malakuti has over 16 years experience in the field of social work and psychology.  Prior to Beyond Shelter, she worked for the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services for 10 years, first as a Children's Social Worker and then as a Supervising Children's Social Worker in the Intensive Services Unit, where she supervised Children's Social Workers for more than 300 children at any given time.  She reported on outcomes to substantiate initiative goals, which served to establish the newly founded Point of Engagement process of Social Work, a critical paradigm shift in the approach to addressing child safety concerns, both at the government and direct services level.  For one year she also provided regular trainings in Point of Engagement practice and philosophy to all levels of DCFS administration and staff at Cal State University Long Beach and University of Southern California (USC) School of Social Work through the Inter-University Consortium Program. Prior to working with abused children, Roshe worked as a Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT) registered intern for 3 years with a focus on family and individual counseling.  She worked for one year as the on-site child therapist at Lincoln Middle School in Santa Monica and for three years with chemically dependent clients of all ages and socio-economic backgrounds at NewStart Counseling Center in Santa Monica.  The integration of these experiences, the awareness of social injustices, and the knowledge of the effects of psycho-social factors on vulnerable individuals, has trained Roshe as an expert in addressing adult and children's needs with effective interventions.  With a BA in Philosophy from USC and an MA in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University, she also attended Whittier College School of Law and is midway through completion of a JD degree.

Barbara Hill has over 20 year's experience focusing on services to families and the chronically homeless. Currently, as the director of neighborhood services and service-enriched housing programs, Ms. Hill has oversight of neighborhood-based services coordination and supervises service coordination for nine affordable housing developments. Formerly, Ms. Hill served as the director of Beyond Shelter's "Housing First" and service-enriched housing programs for nearly nine years. She also supervised a variety of housing-related programs, including Los Angeles countywide rental assistance programs. For the past eight years, Ms. Hill also has served as a member of Beyond Shelter's technical assistance team as a presenter. Prior to Beyond Shelter, Ms. Hill served as the casework supervisor for the Travelers Aid Society of Los Angeles, where her responsibilities included supervision of case planning, training of staff, interns and volunteers, and the management and operation of a broad range of social services for clients. Ms. Hill holds a bachelor of science degree in social work from the University of Detroit.

Audrey M. Holmes brings 33 years of expertise in the fields of Education and Employment Training. Most recently she was Vice President/Chief Operating Officer for the UAW-Labor Employment Training Corporation. Her operational responsibilities included the development and oversight of numerous initiatives designed to enhance the training, retraining and job placement activities of programs funded by the City of Los Angeles-Workforce Investment Board, County of Los Angeles-Workforce Investment Board, City of Long Beach-Workforce Investment Board, County of Riverside-Workforce Investment Board, and most recently Orange County-Workforce Investment Board. Her background and experience bring extensive knowledge of federal, state and local Workforce Development funding streams, job placement, training and leveraging opportunities. Additionally, while the operational leader for UAW-LETC, she presided over a successful, "prisoner re-entry program" in the State of New Jersey, funded by the New Jersey Department of Labor, utilizing the "On-the-Job Training" model to assist recently released individuals in becoming gainfully employed. During her 13-year tenure with UAW-LETC, Audrey also held the positions of Program Specialist, Program Manager, and Director of Southern California Operations. Previously she was a Program Manager for LA County Community Development Commission, Program Manager for LA County Office of Education, Sr. Employment Training Specialist for the City of Compton, Exit World of Work Instructor for Los Angeles Job Corp and Elementary School Teacher with Los Angeles Unified School District. She has a Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Southern California and a Masters of Public Administration from California State University-Long Beach.