Meet the Board and Professional Volunteers
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Robin LeoGrande, Former President/Cofounder, Director
Robin is founder and President of Community for Permanent Supported Housing (CPSH), a 501(c)(3) organization that seeks to find affordable, safe housing for those living with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in the Northeast Texas area. Her tireless work has raised awareness for the lack of housing for those with disabilities.
Kimberly Rogers, Chair of the Governing Committee, Director & Tarrant County Liaison
Kimberly is a DFW disability housing advocate and a parent to a teen who will need safe, income based and enriching housing. She has been a volunteer and Board member with CPSH since 2012 and comes to us with eleven years of nonprofit management experience.
City of Residence: Colleyville, TX
Expertise: Kimberly is a DFW special needs parent, co-founder of GCISD Parents Supporting Parents, served on GCISD Special Ed Parent Advisory Council since 2011, serves on the Tarrant County IDD Council and ADRC ( Aging & Disability Resource Center), and worked for Big Brothers Big Sisters 1994-2005 as a Case Manager, Program Director, and Human Resource Director.
Why CPSH?: As a parent of a teen with disabilities I recognize the need for DFW special needs housing, most specifically DFW IDD housing in a safe, affordable neighborhood. If I am not part of helping to create more housing options my son will be limited when he is an adult. He deserves to have a DFW supportive housing program as an adult so that he can live as independently as possible.
Jill Burt, Director or Finance
As a parent of two sons with disabilities, Jill has a passion supporting the disability community. When her boys were younger, she served on the Board for The Autism Society of Collin County. Now that her boys are older, she has a desire to help educate parents on preparing their kids for independence. She and her husband, Ross, own a Companion Care home for young men. Her goal is to find a great workable model and share her experiences as the homeowner with others so that more people can find safe and income based housing in the area.
Expertise: Jill is currently a member of the Leadership Richardson Class of 23 and a member of the leadership team for The Barnabas Journey. Jill has an Accounting degree from Texas Tech, and works as an Accountant for various clients/companies and nonprofits.
Irene Niemotka, CPSH Co-founder & Vice President Emeritus
Irene is a retired Director of Business Operations for a national youth organization and volunteered for over 25 years with Special Olympics and as an Officer of South Collin County ARC. She is the parent of an individual that has intellectual disabilities.
City of Residence: Plano, Texas
Expertise: Accounting and nonprofit management.
Why CPSH?: I co-founded CPSH to provide choices for the young adults ready for independent living. I wanted to do something locally in the DFW area to help people with disabilities.
Jacky Sylvie, Director of Community Outreach
Jacky is a native Texan with over 15 years supporting nonprofits and advocating for empowering people with disabilities. With a degree in Social Work and a background in Supported Employment she is connecting the community with resources and trainings on the path to independence and income based housing. She loves experiencing the great outdoors with her husband, two amazing kids, and three crazy cats.
Professional Volunteers
Lucy Gafford, Director, UTN Workplace Inclusion & Sustainable Employment
Lucy worked for several years as the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (DARS) Transition Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor (TVRC) for Plano ISD. She worked for several years as Texas Workforce Services Denton, Tx Field Office Manager.
Jocelyn Chafouleas, Volunteer Development
Jocelyn brings expertise in grants administration to CPSH. Her Board focus is securing financial support through grants and fund-raising strategies to ensure the sustainability of programs and initiatives.
Manuel Rodriguez, Web Developer
Manny redesigned the CPSH website with the purpose to include multiple languages and increase inbound marketing of the organization. He communicated weekly by conference call with Robin LeoGrande, the project manager and founder of CPSH. He planned and implemented site navigation using a workplan template.
Brenda Catlett, Art and Publication
Since her son’s autism diagnosis at age 3, Brenda has researched and engaged available medical, educational, therapeutic and social resources to help him reach his maximum potential for independence and happiness. Through this process she has grown and learned much about compassion, perceptual differences and unconditional love.
DLynn Killham, Kelly Pickens, and Desiree Beard, Lake Dallas ISD
DLynn Killham (Transition Specialist), Kelly Pickens (LDISD Board of Trustees), and Desiree Beard (Lake Dallas Middle School Library Media Teacher) have teamed up to create resources for families of students of special needs.
Helena Johnson, Motion Graphic Design
Taylor Jackson, Marketing Content Manager
Smeeth Talasila, Web Developer
Smeeth is a high school student in Plano, Texas who is a web developer for CPSH, handling the front and backend aspects.
Kathy Kelchner, Expert on Autism
Kathy Kelchner is a Autism Program Itinerant Teacher with the Dallas ISD, a consultant and an author.