Poncho Guevara is the Executive Director of Sacred Heart Community Service, one of the leading grassroots antipoverty organizations in Silicon Valley. A native of Santa Clara County, Guevara’s professional career has been geared toward the advancement of low-income families –from providing direct services and community organizing, to serving in executive management roles in nonprofit housing and human service organizations. ...more

Carol R. Dixon of San Jose, California is widely respected and revered as a Human Resources professional. She is currently Senior Director of Global Human Resources for Overland Storage, a hi-tech company located in San Jose. She is also an adjunct professor at Golden Gate University where she teaches Human Resources Information Systems. Carol is a graduate of San Jose State University and has received an HR Executive Leadership Certification from CLC. ...more

In the spring of 2011 Social Action course, four students (Marisela Castro, Leila McCabe, Heather Paulson, and Saul Gonzalez) joined together and started a campaign to increase the minimum wage in Silicon Valley. Marisela Castro brought the idea to the class because she could no longer stand the injustice she was witnessing at the after school program where she was working. Kids were sneaking food into their backpacks because the parents were making just $8 an hour, which wasn’t enough to ensure food at home. ...more

Reverend Siosifa Hingano also known as "Sifa" was born in Tonga to a family of seven children. He has five sisters and one brother. Sifa is the baby of the family. He attended elementary and high schools in Tonga. In 1975 Sifa entered the Methodist Theological College in Tonga and in 1978 he went on to New Zealand to continue his education at New Zealand Bible College. In November 1978 he married Mele and the following year was accepted as the first Tongan to the ministry at the New Zealand Methodist Church. They started their ministry in 1983 at Hamilton. In 1986 they moved to the South Island of New Zealand to a place called Oamaru. ...more