Our Staff & Board

Staff

Eudelia Contreras

Director of Community Impact

Brooke Carlsen

Childcare Coalition Coordinator

Kristi Galarza

Lead Housing Facilitator

Hannah Guilford

Youth and Family Health Lead Facilitator

Mara Gwin

Food Access Lead Facilitator

Amy Hall

Events and Office Coordinator

Cruz Ramirez

Community Organizer

Luisa Porras

Communication and Evaluation Coordinator

Carlye Sayler

Director of Emergent Strategy

Noah Sosin

Executive Director

Director of Community Impact

Eudelia Contreras

Eudelia Contreras is the Director of Community Impact for Lake County Build a Generation. In this role, she organizes residents in Lake County’s manufactured housing communities to build health and health equity. She also helps residents advocate and exercise their rights within these communities. She also works to lift Lake County’s health equity issues to statewide policy advocacy groups, develop connections with these groups, and support relevant legislation through testimony, story banking, etc., in order to advance Lake County’s ability to advocate for health equity at a statewide level. Most recently, Eudelia was enormously instrumental in helping the members of Cooperativa Nueva Union purchase their mobile home park for $1.6M. This was a monumental undertaking that had to be accomplished on a tight time frame. Eudelia’s ability to bring community members together—even across culture, background, age, gender, and language—is remarkable, and has been a key to her success at Lake County Build a Generation.

Eudelia has lived in Lake County for nearly 30 years. She attended Lake County schools and has worked at several county agencies, including Lake County Human Services and Lake County School District. She currently serves as the president of the Lake County School District Board of Education. Eudelia feels that her experience working, living and learning in Lake County is a huge asset as she not only works for the needs of Lake County’s diverse community but also lives within the communities she organizes in. Eudelia’s family includes three daughters, Kayleen, Isabelle, and Sophia, and a Bluenose Pitbull (Benji).

To contact Eudelia, email eudelia@lcbag.org.

Childcare Coalition Coordinator

Brooke Carlsen

Brooke Carlsen, born and raised in Littleton Colorado and had the amazing opportunity to move to the mountains 7 years ago with her boyfriend and their two furry animal daughters Odalie and Amara. She has a BA degree in Anthropology with a minor in Environmental Studies as well as an Associates in Early Childhood Education. She has worked with young humans in many different capacities throughout her life from paraprofessional work, to teaching and youth development programming. She has a passion for social emotional learning, people and community. With that, she is so thankful to be a part of the Build A Generation Team. When she is not working, you can find her walking any of the incredible Leadville trails with her dog Oddie, singing and dancing to all kinds of music and eating her body weight in cheese.

To contact Brooke, email brooke@lcbag.org

Lead Housing Facilitator

Kristi Galarza

Kristi Galarza is the Housing Manager for Lake County Build a Generation. She facilitates the Housing Coalition Meeting, as well as various other projects related to housing.

Originally from Southern Indiana, Kristi has been in Leadville for over 10 years. She meet her husband (Joel) in Leadville, and has two children who remind her constantly of all the good there is in this world. Kristi has a bachelors degree in Business Administration from Colorado Mountain College.

To contact Kristi, email kristi@lcbag.org.

Youth and Family Health Lead Facilitator

Hannah Guilford

Hannah is the Youth and Family Health Lead Facilitator at Lake County Build A Generation. She facilitates the county’s childcare coalition addressing our community’s acute lack of childcare options for families. She also supports the county’s Youth Coalition, working with passionate youth activists to create systems change so young people can thrive. She believes the youth of Lake County are a source of strength, and that belief guides her work with Build a Generation.

Hannah is a Midwesterner who is proud to call Colorado her home for many years to come. You can find her hiking, baking scones, reading about Jane Goodall, sending snail mail, and obsessively trying to identify every wildflower she sees.

To contact Hannah, email hannah@lcbag.org.

Food Access Lead Facilitator

Mara Gwin

Mara is the Food Access Facilitator at Lake County Build a Generation. She facilitates the Lake County Food Access Coalition, a group of community members and organizations that are working together to build a community where every Lake County community member is able to access the food and food resources they are entitled to.

Mara grew up in Berthoud, Colorado, joining Lake County Build a Generation as an AmeriCorps VISTA in 2019. Mara, her partner, and their two dogs have found a home in Leadville since then. She is grateful to be part of such a supportive community and to pursue her passion for food access at Lake County Build a Generation.

To contact Mara, email mara@lcbag.org.

Events and Office Coordinator

Amy Hall

Amy is a native Coloradan. She spent her teen years growing up in Minturn Colorado and has been in Leadville for the last ten years. Amy has two sons who attend Lake County High School. In her free time Amy enjoys hiking, traveling and spending time with family and friends.

To contact Amy, email amy@lcbag.org.

Community Organizer

Cruz Ramirez

Cruz Ramirez is our Community Organizer where she is responsible for supporting the on-the-ground community-led initiatives of the organization. She helps to build capacity with residents of manufactured housing in Lake County. Cruz has built relationships through her time living, working, and attending schools in Lake County and most recently has been a part of the Lake County Food Access Coalition.

Cruz has lived in Leadville since 2001, she graduated from Lake County High School and is now raising a family with her husband and three children. She loves to spend time with her family and is excited to be part of Lake County Build a Generation’s initiatives and learn more about local policy to better serve the residents of manufactured home communities and support the community connector projects.

Communication and Evaluation Coordinator

Luisa Porras

Luisa was born in Bogotá, Colombia and moved to the United States two years ago. She attended law school in her home country, but her passion for writing led her to live and study creative writing in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. She loves reading, art, and literature. She is passionate about traveling and is a part of our Lake County community along with her husband, Mark. When she’s not working you can find her learning to snowboard in the winter or hitting the trails in the summer, when she is not reading on the couch at her house.

To contact Luisa, email luisa@lcbag.org

Director of Emergent Strategy

Carlye Sayler

Carlye is the Director of Emergent Strategy for Lake County Build a Generation. She works to strengthen the financial future of our organization through relationship building, grantseeking, and fundraising. Carlye is committed to supporting the health and wellbeing of Lake County residents and is proud to contribute to the mission of LCBAG.

Carlye grew up in Colorado and has a deep appreciation for beautiful, unique places like Leadville. When she moved here in 2020, she felt right at home thanks to the incredibly supportive community and the access to the outdoors. She loves mountain biking, salsa dancing, and playing her banjo.

Executive Director

Noah Sosin

Noah loves being able to coach and support our coalition facilitators while also adding capacity to organization- or community-wide projects. He has Masters degrees in Public Health and Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Colorado, Denver. He is constantly inspired by the collaboration and dedication in Lake County to ensure a healthier, happier, and more equitable future for all of the County’s residents–especially the populations most in need. When he is not working, Noah loves to ride bikes, go on hikes, read science fiction, play board games, and travel the world with his partner, Stephanie Cole and their son, Zev.

LCBAG Team

Thanks to our LCABAG team, our work is possible. We are grateful to each one for their hard work and for being a part of our BAG family.

Board

Vanessa De Lira

Board Vice President

Barrett Donovan

Board Secretary

Dana Greene

Board Member

Bob Homiak

Board President

Donna Lee

Board Treasurer

Board Vice President

Vanessa De Lira

Vanessa De Lira has a 10 year old son named Eden and a husband named Jorge. She has lived in Leadville since 2001 and graduated from Lake County High School in 2009. While in high school, she joined many clubs, including Full Circle, Leadership Crew, SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions), and Future Business Leaders of America. These experiences taught her so much about barriers and resources in Leadville and gave her a passion for helping her community. Vanessa loves everything Leadville has to offer, including nature, people, food, culture, diversity–but most of all, she loves how peaceful it makes her feel to live in a small historic town. Vanessa’s favorite hobby is hiking because being outdoors is super therapeutic for her.

Before joining the Lake County Food Access Coalition as a community connector, Vanessa was working at the laundromat in town. Many locals would go there and talk to her about their struggles with food. Listening to community members’ barriers to food access made her even more passionate about helping to remove those barriers and ensuring all community members have equal access to healthy and affordable food. After hearing about the Lake County Food Access Coalition and Health and Happiness community connector projects, Vanessa decided to join both of them. Both projects gave Vanessa the opportunity to play a bigger role in our community and have led to other professional opportunities–including her new job as a part-time library aide at Colorado Mountain College. This new role is a great fit for her love of reading, for her passion for helping both students and community members navigate community resources, and for her dream of getting more education.

Vanessa brings her a confidence and passion for making changes in our community–developed during her previous work with Lake County Build a Generation–to her work on the Board of Directors. She wants everyone in Lake County to feel welcome and to understand that so many projects have gotten off the ground because of community input. She is really proud and honored to be part of many teams at Lake County Build a Generation because she knows that together, we can make a difference and impact people’s lives.

Board Secretary

Barrett Donovan

Barrett Donovan moved to Leadville in the fall of 2016 to work as a science teaching apprentice for the High Mountain Institute (HMI), a local non-profit semester school. Now, she works full-time at HMI as the Director of Communication and Engagement and as a wilderness instructor. Prior to working full-time at HMI, Barrett worked in the Lake County School District as an afterschool program leader for Project Dream, and as a substitute teacher. Barrett is originally from Louisville, KY and first came to Leadville as an HMI student in 2011. She then went on to study environmental science and environmental education at Colorado College (CC) in Colorado Springs. She graduated from CC in 2016.

You can usually find Barrett walking her dog Lajla, skiing on the Lake County golf course, baking cookies, or looking at cool plants! She is very grateful for the opportunity to serve on the LCBAG board and for the opportunity to support Lake County as it continues to grow as a healthier and happier place to live.

Board Member

Dana Greene

Dana and her husband Ethan moved to Leadville in 2009 from the Front Range seeking a return to the mountain living they enjoyed decades earlier. Dana works as a family physician in rural hospitals around Colorado. In her work, Dana observes firsthand how the conditions under which people live, learn, work, and play impact their health and affect all aspects of their lives. Dana is excited to serve on the Lake County Build a Generation Board of Directors and supports the organization’s vision of achieving health equity.

Dana and Ethan have two children that grew up in Leadville. As a family they enjoy skiing, hiking, and investigating the natural world. Dana previously served on the board of a local charter school and is currently a member of the Leadville City Council.

Board President

Bob Homiak

Bob Homiak and his wife Susan purchased a home in Leadville in 2013, and have been splitting their time between Leadville and Denver ever since. Bob retired from the U.S. Department of Justice in 2010, after practicing environmental law for 25 years, representing EPA and various federal land management agencies in enforcing the nation’s environmental laws. Prior to his employment at DOJ, Bob worked for EPA in Washington DC for eight years where he focused on enforcement matters under the Clean Air Act.

Bob has actively volunteered in a variety of community-based organizations over the years, including two terms as Chair of the Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. and as a reading tutor at Park Hill Elementary School, both in Denver. On Saturdays during the school year Bob judges at high school speech and debate tournaments at various high schools along the Front Range. He looks forward to using his skills to help LCBAG function efficiently in its transition to an independent non-profit entity and achieve its various goals in Lake County.

Bob and Susan enjoy skiing, hiking, snowshoeing and gardening both in Leadville and Denver. They have a son, Michael, who is studying for a Master’s degree at MGIMO University in Moscow, Russia.

Board Treasurer

Donna Lee

Donna and her husband Andrew moved to Colorado in 2012 to enjoy the natural beauty of the mountains, but chose to live in Leadville in 2019 after discovering the warmth and diversity of its residents. When COVID-19 hit, Donna learned about Lake County Build a Generation while volunteering to deliver food boxes to families. She has also learned more about Lake County by participating in the Health and Happiness initiative. Donna values an organization dedicated to meeting community needs and is excited to support LCBAG as a board member.

In her professional life, Donna worked for the US Department of State for many years. In her final four years she represented the United States as a climate change negotiator in discussions that eventually led to the Paris Agreement. Since leaving the Department, she has been a consultant supporting developing countries, donor governments, companies and non-profit organizations working to mitigate global warming by protecting and expanding forests—earth’s natural climate regulator. Her passion is to leave the planet a better place for future generations.

Our Staff & Board

Staff

Eudelia Contreras

Brooke Carlsen

Kristi Galarza

Hannah Guilford

Mara Gwin

Amy Hall

Cruz Ramirez

Luisa Porras

Carlye Sayler

Noah Sosin

LCBAG Team

Board

Vanessa De Lira

Barrett Donovan

Dana Greene

Bob Homiak

Donna Lee

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