Our Board
The EOPS Association executive board is comprised of volunteers who concurrently are employed by EOPS in one of the 114 statewide EOPS programs. In addition to meeting four times per year, our association leadership actively contributes to local & state policy and furthers the mission of EOPS.
Meet The Executive Board
Danita Scott
President 2020-2022
San Joaquin Delta College
Dean of Student Support Services
(209) 954-5151, ext. 2669
Danita began her 29 year tenure in the California Community College system as a classified staff member. She has served EOPS nearly 21 years—17 of them as an educational administrator, managing EOPS/CARE and DSPS programs.
Omar Orihuela
Past President
Omar serves as the Director of EOPS & Special Populations at Southwestern College. He oversees various programs including EOPS, CARE, CalWORKs, Fresh Success, Guardian Scholars Program and Adelante Estudiante (for undocumented students). Omar’s journey into higher education began through the community college system. As an immigrant from Mexico, unaware of the higher education system in the United States, he found a place within the community college environment that offered him the opportunity to thrive. This is the reason why he is extremely committed to moving the philosophy and mission of EOPS forward. He considers EOPS to be the premiere program among the opportunities provided in community colleges.
Cecilia Alvarado
President - Elect
Cecilia Alvarado is a California resident. Her professional experience includes 20 years in the California Community Colleges system as well as 5 years high school and 3 years at CSUF. Cecilia is a proud mother to two daughters and blessed to have raised one foster daughter. Her parents are immigrants from Mexico, she is fluent in English and Spanish and her upbringing stems from a humble home. In regards to her EOPS history. She is a former CSUF EOP, Rio Hondo College EOPS and Welfare recipient and she wears those titles with pride. Her EOPS career started as part time EOPS faculty coordinator for Santa Ana College in 2003. After Santa Ana College she left to work as the Fullerton College EOPS/CARE Manager. While at Fullerton College EOPS she served many EOPS roles. For EOPS region 8, she originated, and managed the non-profit status and later held the position of treasurer and president. She also held the position of Region 8 State representative. In 2010 she transitioned to Region 9 as the Riverside District EOPS Director/ Dean and later to EOPS Director/ Vice President. Ten years later she made the decision to come home to Orange County and applied to an EOPS Director job in Orange County, currently the Orange Coast College EOPS Director.
> Her work philosophy is “What’s in the best interest of the student.”
Libby Cook
Vice President
Libby began her 20+ years in education at the high school level as an English teacher and then a counselor before moving on to community college. She has been Folsom Lake College’s EOPS.CARE.NextUp Coordinator since 2016.
Yesenia Balcazar
Treasurer
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Rejoice Chavira
Secretary
Rejoice has served EOPS for 28 years. She began her tenure in the California Community College System as an EOPS Student Services Specialist and eventually became an EOPS Director.
"Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other"
John F. Kennedy
Our Regional Reps
Statewide, the 114 EOPS programs are divided into 10 regions. Each regional representative is voted in by their peers and serves a 2-year term.
Kintay Johnson
Region I
A former EOPS student blessed to be a Director of the greatest guided pathway programs in the nation. An advocate and ally, who believes in putting students first.
Arthur Jenkins III
Region II
Bio pending
Wanda Bynum
Region III
Wanda began working in EOPS as a Student Aide in 1979, by 1980 a new Classified position as an EOPS Advisor was created. Currently she is the CARE Coordinator and takes care of EOPS intake at Santa Rosa Junior College and loves the connection she has with the students. She has been a part of the EOPS Program for 38 years.
April Henderson, Ed.M.
Region IV
As a returning adult student, April was inspired by the education she received from caring faculty and counselors at DeAnza and Foothill colleges. Determining this kind of care would have made all the difference with her first attempt at college, she decided that she wanted to be that difference for others. Now proudly celebrating almost 20 years of service with EOPS/CARE.
Imelda Simos-Valdez
Region V
Bakersfield College
Executive Director of Categorical Programs (EOPS, CARE, NextUp-CAFYES, CalWORKs, AB540-USP, FKCE, Cal-SOAP, SEAP, Guided Pathways, DSPS Programs)
imelda.valdez@bakersfieldcollege.edu
Imelda Simos-Valdez was born in the Philippines and immigrated to United States in 1983, the eighth of eleven siblings from a low-income, migrant farmworker family. After graduating from Delano High School, Imelda attended the California State University, Los Angeles where she worked for 14 years in various positions, including the Administrative Director for the Edmund G. “Pat” Brown Institute of Public Affairs’ Gang Violence Bridging Project. In 2004, she served as the Director for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) under Enrollment Management at the California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB). She also served as the Director of the Center for Student Access and Success, providing guidance to programs such as the Southern San Joaquin Valley Cal-SOAP Consortium, College Assistance Migrant Program, Roadrunner Parents Association, Early Assessment Program/RIAP/ERWC, Migrant Book Assistance Program, Migrant Summer Programs for elementary students, and a Migrant Summer Residential Program for middle school students. She worked at CSUB from 2004 – 2016.
On November 2016, Imelda began working at Bakersfield College as the Director for multiple programs under the Student Affairs Division, including the Southern San Joaquin Valley Cal-SOAP Consortium, Extended Opportunities Programs and Services (EOPS), Cooperative Agencies Resources for Education (CARE), California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs), Cooperating Agencies Foster Youth Educational Support (CAFYES also known as NextUp), Foster and Kinship Care Education (FKCE), AB 540-Undocumented Student Programs, Student Equity and Achievement Program (SEAP), Guided Pathways, and Disabled Students Programs and Services (DSPS). In 2021, Imelda became the Executive Director of Categorical Programs at BC.
Cesar Flores
Region VI
Since 1997, Cesar’s professional roles with both the UC and the California Community College system grew to include outreach, recruitment, yield, and program development, coordination and program implementation.
As a product of the EOPS program himself (while attending Santa Barbara City College), this has fueled his passion for serving students who have not always had access to higher education and viewed it as unattainable. Helping students with limited resources realize their full potential and create an avenue for educational, social and economic mobility brings him great fulfillment and pride.
Cesar started serving as EOPS/CARE Coordinator in 2011 at Moorpark College and transitioned to Oxnard College in 2014 currently serving the same role there.
Angeles Abraham
Region VII
Bio pending
Julie Marquez, Ed.D.
Region VIII
Bio pending
Joanne Hinojosa
Region IX
Joanne has worked with the EOPS/CARE Program for a total of 20 years. She started as a Recruitment Technician at Coastline College, followed by 16 years at Citrus College in two different positions, and is now the EOPS Director at San Bernardino Valley College. Joanne strongly believes in the power and importance of this program because she was once on the receiving end of EOPS and CARE services as a single-parent and first-generation college student. She gives full credit to the counselors, staff and peers of EOPS and CARE for encouraging her to go as far as she has in her educational journey. Joanne has an AA in social/behavioral sciences from Citrus College, a BA in sociology from Chico State University, and a master's degree in social work from Azusa Pacific University.
Leticia Diaz
Region X
Leticia serves as the Director of EOPS at San Diego Mesa College. She has developed a passion and desire to increase awareness of the importance of higher education and student support programs and services. Leticia is strongly moved by the power of the community college system and is interested in the overall student access and achievement of higher educational degrees. She earned her Associate degree from Southwestern College (SWC); Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and obtained her Master of Arts degree in Higher Education from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Currently, Leticia is pursuing a joint Doctor of Educational Leadership degree at California State University, San Marcos and at the University of California, San Diego.