CIL’s staff and board, most of whom have disabilities, are strongly committed to serving the community and to achieving CIL's mission. Each year, our multicultural staff provides services in various languages to thousands of people of diverse ethnicities and disabilities in the East Bay. CIL also provides information about and referrals to disability resources and products for tens of thousands of people worldwide.
Click here to download a Word document (27 KB) of our Board of Directors.
Here are just a few of the people who are making a difference at CIL:
Jan Garrett joined the CIL as Executive Director in October 1999 with a wealth of experiences in the issues that affect people with disabilities. As a person with disabilities herself, one of her primary reasons for wanting to become the Executive Director of CIL, is her real commitment to the community of people with disabilities. Jan sees independent living as a hugely important movement, which has changed immensely in 27 years and continues to change for the better. People with disabilities are no longer just poor people who need a hand out and who live behind the scenes. They are people who need and want to work, earn benefits and be fully productive and participate in society. Although she feels that people's perceptions and attitudes on disabilities still need to change, she is positive that change is coming. As CIL continues to advocate for people with disabilities, Jan works to move disability politics forward, making issues on disability heard, and ensuring disability leadership is at the forefront.
Before coming to CIL, Jan was the Director of the Alcohol, Drugs & Disability Project at Progressive Research & Training for Action (PRTA) in Oakland, where she provided training and technical assistance on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other disability civil rights laws. Prior to joining PRTA, Jan worked as a staff attorney for Disability Rights, Education & Defense Fund, Inc. (DREDF), where she litigated a number of disability civil rights cases and conducted several seminars on the ADA. For two semesters, Jan also taught a course on disability civil rights at San Francisco State.
Carol Hirsch-Butler has been on the Board of CIL for 12 years. In 2006 she became the Board president. Carol was the vice president of the board in 2004-2005 and served as the Board secretary for past three years. She chairs the Development committee and the Nominations and is on the personnel and now the building committee.
Carol has a medical disability of Graves's disease and diabetes. Carol works at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center and functions as the Site administrator for the Herrick Campus. She has direct responsibility over Mental Health service and Sub-acute and Skilled Nursing services at both campuses. Carol has an MBA from the University of Phoenix. Carol is active in the community and has completed the first Leadership Berkeley program. Carol services on the California Healthcare association board for Long-term care and the American College of Healthcare Executive's regional board.
Carol is interested in helping people with disabilities be able to find jobs in all aspects of the community. She wants to see people with disabilities function at their highest potential and wants to see CIL advocate for continued independence. Carol is concerned about the potential of a disaster like Katrina in the bay area and hope to work on assuring people with disabilities a process for good rescue systems if such a disaster occurs in the bay area.
Chryl Pittman, a part time Housing Counselor, joined CIL because she had heard so much about how this agency was in the forefront of the Independent Living Movement and wanted to be a part of the important work it was doing in the community. Prior to coming to the CIL, Chryl worked for the Women's Economic Agenda Project as a Community Activist, the Women's Drop In Center as a Client Advocate and the Oakland Independence Support Center as a Housing Coordinator.
Chryl states, "I have a wonderful support team. Everyone I work with at the Oakland CIL, especially Dave Davis and Janet Brown, is compassionate and goal oriented. Embraced from the moment I became a part of the team, I have never felt like a stranger."
Chryl's responsibilities include assisting her consumers in gaining permanent housing. Chryl does a lot of eviction avoidance, giving numerous interagency referrals as well as outside agencies. By addressing all "the other issues" that tend to come with homelessness, particularly for those consumers with mental health disabilities, she is successful in keeping her consumers in their housing long term. Chryl helps ensure this goal by "follow up and working closely with the various landlords."
Chryl states, "The ages of my consumers have become much younger, many of whom are foster children and emancipated youth." She works hard to address the special needs of these consumers and envisions a future where there is no longer such a travesty as homelessness. "I do not understand why there is homelessness. Housing is a basic human right, and my job is to put an end to as much homelessness as I possibly can."
The word is out, there is a new kid on the block and her name is Chryl Pittman. Expect great things from her in the future.