Community Organizing Program Citizen Advisory Board

The King County Community Organizing Program Citizen Advisory Board is a volunteer board that advises on the programming, policy, and direction of the Community Organizing Program. The board's authority is established through the State Department of Commerce and RCW 43.270.

The board has up to 12 citizen members. The RCW requires that the members represent areas concerned about substance abuse and violence prevention such as education, law enforcement, local government, treatment, and parents.

Meeting Details

The Advisory Board meets the 3rd Tuesday of the month, from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.  The meeting location will be at:

SOAR
801 23rd Avenue S
Seattle, WA 98144

Recruitment

For information about becoming a board member, please contact Sharon Toquinto at sharon.toquinto@kingcounty.gov.

Advisory Board Members

Barbara Luniuck-Rakita, has worked for Friends of Youth for the past twelve years in prevention, working with youth directly, as well as supervising school based programs.  She has a Master’s Degree in Educational Counseling.   Previous experience includes teaching, as well as working at Echo Glen Children’s Center.  At Friends of Youth, she has coordinated evidence-based parenting programs for elementary, middle school and high school parents.  In her community outreach work she is a board member of the Issaquah Community Network.   She also meets with the Valley Providers Network to share resources and increase communication in the Snoqualmie Valley.  She is a member of the Snoqualmie Valley Community Network as well, and helps to facilitate meetings,  in this capacity she has helped to bring together different community sectors working to provide more positive experiences for youth in their neighborhood. 

Inga Manskopf, works for the Adolescent Substance Abuse Program at Seattle Children’s Hospital.  As the coordinator of Prevention WINS in NE Seattle, she acts as a community organizer providing support for individuals and organizations working together to prevent youth substance abuse.  Prior to joining Seattle Children’s, Inga worked for Seattle Public Schools at Eckstein Middle School.   A former board member of the Washington Association for Substance Abuse and Violence Prevention, she has a special interest in best practices public policy focusing on substance abuse prevention.  In collaboration with other community members, she has made presentations at state and national conferences about building partnerships; the role of community-based prevention in a comprehensive youth substance abuse program; and using theories of change to guide community prevention strategies.

Constance Perenyi, Co-Chair.  Constance is representing community organizations in North King County. Constance serves as Executive Director of Friends of Third Place Commons, a small but effective organization that presents over 800 events each year in the Commons and at the Lake Forest Park Farmers Market. Friends of Third Place Commons collaborates with a variety of organizations and agencies to cultivate and nurture vital community partnerships that serve people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds.

Helena Stephens, representing local government and youth services. Helena has been the Family, Youth and Teen Services Manager for the City of Bellevue for the past 16 years. Helena has also worked on youth development, community building and juvenile justice initiatives. She works with numerous non-profit organizations that focus on advancing the issues of youth, low-income communities, and communities of color. She continues to work tirelessly to look for opportunities to reduce the impact of poverty, drug, alcohol and violence affecting the families of King County.

Kimberly Walker, representing youth services and the faith community. Kimberly began as a youth leader in one of our youth leadership programs. She is a Washington State University graduate with a B.A. in Communications and is currently a second year graduate student at the University of Washington School of Social Work. She has served youth in Maple Valley as a Youth Coordinator. She also works with the youth and marketing & communications department at Greater Mt. Moriah M.B. Church. She is a passionate advocate for safe supportive communities.

Liz Wilhelm, Co-Chair.  Liz is the Youth Suicide Prevention Program (YSPP) Program Director for From Classroom to Community: A Team Approach to Youth Suicide Prevention Project; and a substance abuse prevention specialist instructor for Seattle Central Community College. She received a Masters of Science in Community Wellness and Prevention at National-Louis University in Evanton, Illinois. After coming to Seattle, she developed the Washington State prevention curriculum to train and teach leaders in the prevention field. After managing the Alcohol /Drug Clearinghouse for over five years, she became the funding and policy analyst for Committee for Children. Liz served as the Project Coordinator and Director of the Kitsap County Drug Free Communities grant. In her volunteer time, she serves as a founding member on the Prevention Specialist Certification Board of Washington, as a board member of the Washington Association for Substance Abuse and Violence Prevention (WASAVP), a statewide prevention advocacy organization, and as the co-chair of the King County Community Organizing Program Advisory Board.