Lynn Ketch

Lynn has had a life-long passion for healthy communities. Raised by a father who was a pioneer in public health, she lived in first-nation communities in Alaska, New Mexico and North Carolina. She holds graduate certificates from Oregon Health Sciences University and Multnomah University, and a BS from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. In 2011 Lynn relocated to The Philippines with her family to become the Director of ICM’s seven medical clinics. In 2013 she returned to Rockwood and joined the board and staff of the Rockwood CDC.

Willie Chambers

Willie Chambers is a prominent leader in the african-american community of East Multnomah County. He leads several initiatives and networks that are all focused on rebuilding the food systems of our area. Mr. Chambers is the president of food company NOLA Nuggitz.

Vanessa Chambers

Vanessa is currently a Community Health Worker serving African American families. She operates a community program specifically for grandmothers called Grandma’s Hands. Vanessa greatly enjoys assisting families in having a healthy life. Mostly, “I like to see people enjoy a healthy lifestyle which includes experiencing and eating special healthy foods. Her favorite pastime is playing tennis.

Rhonda Combs

Rhonda is a Community Health Worker and Peer Support Worker.  She provides Covid-19 wraparound support services to community members. She is also a Family Advocate of all cultures and wants to help reconfigure social services to meet the needs of our community. Rhonda wants to promote and improve the well- being in all aspects of life to the less fortunate community of people of color through education, advocacy, and research of programs. She wants to better assist those in having a healthy outcome of life choices and health.  She enjoys her grandchildren, traveling, going to beaches, spending time with family and friends and helping others.

Rhonda is on the Wallace Medical Concern board and Multnomah County Budget Advisory Committee board.

Angelica Cortez

My name is Angelica. I am a Community Health Worker working with our Latino/Hispanic community here in Rockwood. I am proud to be a part of Rockwood CDC’s East County Community Health services where we are able to help others. I was born and raised in SE Portland, Oregon. My mother is from Yucatan, Mexico and my father is from Michoacan, Mexico. Family is a huge part of my life; I cherish every moment with all of them. ECCH

Melisa Crosby

Melisa Crosby has been teaching English as a Second Language to immigrant, refugee, and international students for over two decades. At last count, she has worked with students from over 65 countries, from a wide range of linguistic and cultural backgrounds. As the ESL instructor for the Rockwood English Language Institute (RELI), she strives to build a warm, connected community where adult students develop their English proficiency in basic literacy, communication, reading, writing, and computer skills. She is empowering adult students to participate more fully in work, community life and family literacy.

Sarah Downey

Sarah is a Community Health Worker working in East Multnomah County. She has assisted families and community members with locating resources in the area for a very long time. Sarah looks forward to continuing to work with families in the community.

Marc Gale

Marc comes from a background in banking, human resources, church administration, and he concluded his career as the manager of a national commercial insurance program. Once retired Marc began looking for some meaningful work that could use his 40 plus years of experience. Because of their 20-year friendship Brad and Lynn asked him to come and serve part-time at the Rockwood CDC in 2018.

Marc has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Idaho and a master’s in business administration from Portland State University. He was married to Diana in 1976 and they have a blended family with five children and twelve grandchildren. They have lived in Gresham all but six out of the last 30 years.

Hai Nguyen

Hai, along with his parents and siblings left Vietnam and came to the United States in 1991.  After receiving his Bachelor and MBA in Seattle, he moved back to the Portland Metro area.  His professional background is in Operations, Financial and Risk Management.  Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his wife and three children.

Brad Ketch

Brad was born and raised in East Portland, Brad has personally experienced the decline and rebirth of the Rockwood area.  He holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Business. For twenty-five years, Brad developed products and companies in the telecommunication hardware industry.  He has served as CEO and CFO of a publicly-traded company; and, has served as CEO of a $90 million manufacturer.

From 2007 until 2014 he chaired the board of My Father’s House.  My Father’s House, which is located in Rockwood, is the US’s largest shelter for homeless families (other than those that are funded by government).

In 2011, Brad relocated to The Philippines with his wife Lynn and youngest son to become CEO of International Care Ministries.  ICM taught 100,000 people per year to create micro-enterprises; ran 85 kindergartens; served 400,000 meals each month; gave scholarships to 6,000 students per year; ran six medical clinics which see 20,000 patients per year; and offered micro-credit to 3,000 borrowers.  In 2012 Brad and his family returned to Portland and founded the Community Development Corporation of Oregon, which currently does business as the Rockwood CDC.

Scott McCracken

Scott (born in Florida) went into training at International Teams in 1986 where he met the woman he would later marry (Vicki), and they prepared with a team to work with refugees in Austria (http://oasis.iteams.org). They married in 1988 and, after 3 years in Austria, moved to Greece to serve refugees there (www.helpinghands.gr). Five children and 23 years later they left Athens for Portland, where they help raise awareness and work toward the prevention of child sex trafficking.  At the Rockwood CDC, Scott is our public spokesman and coordinates the Shalom Rockwood group.

Patrik McDade

Patrik McDade works to help local and small-plot farmers find new customers, expand into the Sunrise Center Kitchen, or gain new business and language skills.  He is also the founder and program director for People-Places-Things, building language and culture bridges in our communities. He received a Teaching English as a Second Language certificate from PSU in 1996 and has taught in several countries, and estimates more than 1000 English classes in more than 300 locations, from public schools to universities to basements and living rooms. He has facilitated language skills development in immigrant and refugee communities since 1996. People-Places-Things was recognized with a Spirit of Portland award for Best Business in 2016 by the Portland City Council.

Carla McMahon

Carla is from Cali, Colombia. She has lived and worked in the Rockwood community since moving to the United States in 2000. Carla enjoys being part of the community and learning about the various cultures within Rockwood. It has driven her love of traveling and being able to experience firsthand the culture, people, food, traditions among many other extraordinary things each cultural community has to offer.

Anna

Anna has lived in East County for over 15 years but was born in Iran. She is fluent in Farsi and Assyrian languages. She enjoys being part of an extraordinary diverse community because it brings her joy every day. “I never knew how I can give back to a place that has given me so much, but I have found that now”.

Seng Ra

My name is Seng and I am from Kachin State, Burma. I work at Rockwood CDC as a Community Health Worker. I am serving the Rockwood, East County, and Portland Burmese communities.  I enjoy trying different spicy foods, cooking, traveling, and watching movies with my family.

Dr. Amos David Sahu

Dr. Amos David Sahu comes from a humble background in a town called Dehradun, India. Born to Christian evangelist parents, he was instilled with compassion for the underserved and grew up aspiring to be a Medical Doctor. After graduating high school life took him to Russia to pursue Medical School. Throughout medical school, Dr. Sahu was able to experience life and overcome many barriers like culture and language.

After graduating, he returned to India to work as a doctor. He had the opportunity to manage his father’s church & non-profit organization.

In 2018, he moved to the United States to pursue a medical residency.
He founded and is President of BIRDS (Blessing for Integrated Rural Development Society) in Portland, Oregon. His focus since his early days in medical school has been to serve the urban poor, people who are caught up in life and struggle to find time or resources to take care of themselves.

He aspired to bring meaningful change in educational access and meeting grassroots medical needs among local communities of color and immigrants through his profession as a doctor and the scope of work of BIRDS.

From the years of traveling and being an immigrant, while living in diverse communities all over the world, Dr.Sahu learned that communication, optimism, and pragmatism is the most effective form of care.

He speaks Russian, Ukrainian, Hindi, Marathi apart from English fluently and is actively learning Spanish.

His father, his role model, instilled a passion to look out for the ones who were in most need due to their situations in life and bring positive change to achieve holistic outcomes for society.

When not studying or taking care of patients, he loves to cook, read & research, volunteer, and play soccer.

Christine Sanders

Christine holds a Masters in Social Work degree and is a practicing Clinical Social Worker Associate working on her Clinical Therapist license. Living and working in the Rockwood Community for almost 20 years, has been extremely rewarding for her. Throughout various non-profit roles and positions in East County, she always intertwines her work to be inclusive of this community. Her commitment and dedication to serving others is a lifelong journey she embraces every day. During her personal time she enjoys playing with her dogs, spending time with close family and friends, and gardening.

Keanonie Seria

Charles Smith

Perry Terukara

Perry is from the beautiful island of Chuuk in the Western Pacific region.  He moved to Oregon from home and been residing in Portland Oregon for almost 10 years.  He considers himself as a proud Oregonian.  At the same time, he holds a steady connection to his roots.  He is a committed Pacific Islander Advocate for a long time here in Oregon.  He is a board member of COFA Alliance National Network, and a part time minister at a Chuuk Island church. He works at Rockwood CDC as a Community Health Worker, and the Pacific Island Outreach Coordinator. He served in the Army for 6 years.  He has work experience in banking, financial service, production, retail, and in the hospitality industry. On his free time, he usually stays home reading books, or taking walks in the park, or enjoying side seeing, or would be spending his time with his community members talking about Pacific Island culture, philosophy, religion, law and politics.

Eric Trinh

Eric is a first-generation college student who is the proud son of two selfless and loving parents from Saigon, Vietnam. His passion and commitment for racial equity have continued to be primarily influenced by the principles of community development and urban planning, which he can apply in his experience working for both the public and non-profit sectors. Eric holds a BA in Community Development, a Master’s Degree in Urban & Regional Planning, and a graduate certificate in Real Estate Development from Portland State University.

Eric believes that communities can be prosperous and livable if we provide them the support to engage in community economic development planning, which means celebrating different voices, opinions, and experiences.  Eric also believes that public policies serve the public; therefore, we must ensure the public is included in the decision-making tables. Ambitious, yet humbled by the invaluable experience working with BIPOC communities, Eric is excited to make himself a public servant and a change agent in his professional journey.

Rachel

I am Rachel, the Rockwood CDC’s part-time Bookkeeping Assistant. I have been working in medical accounting for seven years, with a specialty in payroll. I am happy I can provide financial support to the team while also helping the East Portland community. In my free time you can find me gardening and taking care of my cat Andrew!

Lung Wah

Lung Wah graduated from the medical university in Myanmar and work as a medical doctor for 2 years in several hospitals in Myanmar. He participated in many community health and development programs in his country. He moved to Portland in 2019 and currently attending the MBA program at George Fox University. He loves singing, song composing, and making music.