Our Team

Jonah Chaffee RN, MSN

Jonah has worked with youth and in health education in various capacities for over 15 years. He holds a Masters Degree in Nursing with a focus in community health. His experience specifically with youth includes pediatric health assessment, health education with children and teens, teen STI counseling, summer camp management and environmental education. He has been the program manager, curriculum developer and a teacher for the Coming of Age Program since its inception in 2005 with the Coastal Health Alliance, which has served in four public schools in West Marin County. Jonah believes that the development of effective communication skills and the understanding of responsible decision-making starts early in life, both at home and in the schools. He considers learning a lifelong process and has enrolled in numerous youth education and teacher trainings and programs. He is currently working on his doctorate in psychology.

Ronnie Ford

Ronnie Ford has worked in supporting positive youth development for over thirty years – drawing life experiences from individual and group mentorship, coaching, and counseling. Ronnie has reached youth in the Bay Area on many levels and maintains that kids are magical and powerful. Ronnie coordinated and held several positions in his twenty years at Full Circle in West Marin; a diversionary program designed for youth at risk. Ronnie has assisted in child case reviews and has run workshops presenting approaches towards behavior management and self-awareness for teachers and counselors working with youth. Ronnie shares learned skills that support healthy decision-making, accountability and problem solving in his work with teens.

Ashley Ross

Ashley Ross is an educator, and authored "Cycles of Life: A Journal for Women." She has educated thousands of women and girls on holistic, reproductive health, and focuses on integrating hormonal awareness with the female experience. She has been facilitating girls' groups in Lagunitas Middle School's Emotional Literacy Program since its inception 3 years ago. Ashley has presented workshops at the Girls for a Change Annual Summit on Body Appreciation. She is a Hakomi graduate (Body-Centered Counseling) and is currently assisting in their comprehensive training. She is a Holistic Reproductive Health Trainee, and the mother of high school triplets, two daughters and a son.

Cory Vangelder

Cory has been teaching K-8 in private and public schools for twenty years, including Saint Marks, Redwood Day School, Laugunitas School, Bolinas School and Point Reyes Elementary. She is a Certified Re-Evaluation Counseling instructor and has been facilitating groups for over ten years. Cory received three Marin Community Foundation Grants, two for founding and facilitating the San Geronimo Valley Diversity Group (including a Teen Mixed Heritage Support Group), as well as an individual artist's grant for her Dance and Flight program for youth in public schools. The key to her successful, life-changing work is the quality of loving attention and respect she brings to those with whom she works. Cory has a bachelors in Art Education from Humboldt State University. She currently lives in Woodacre with her husband and two teenagers.