Our Team
The Alameda County Transportation Commission’s Safe Routes to Schools Program partners with many organizations to deliver programs, education, and events that encourage students, parents, and school administrators to choose active (walking and rolling) or shared (carpooling and the use of transit) transportation options to school in order to increase our students’ health and well-being. The team works every day to fulfill our mission of ensuring healthy kids, safer streets, and strong communities in Alameda County. Meet the folks who make the Alameda County SR2S Program a great success and email us at [email protected].
Program Lead
Denise Turner (she/her), Safe Routes to School Lead Program Manager
Denise Turner oversees all aspects of the Alameda County Safe Routes to Schools (SR2S) Program. She brings over 20 years of experience to her role, having served as a program specialist for Alameda County, at City of Oakland’s Human Services Department, and in the non-profit sector.
Project Managers
Courtney Wood (she/her), School Safety Assessments Lead
Courtney Wood of Alta Planning + Design, an SR2S Program partner, leads our school safety assessment and evaluation efforts. Contact Courtney at [email protected] for more information or request a safety assessment for your school.
Ellie Gertler (she/her), Education and Outreach Lead
Ellie Gertler of Toole Design Group, a SR2S Program partner, leads all education and outreach efforts for the SR2S Program. She has supported communities throughout the United States to plan for active and multimodal transportation, and focuses on creating safe, accessible, and equitable communities.
Bradyn Nicholson (she/her), Education and Outreach Lead
Bradyn Nicholson of Toole Design Group, a SR2S Program partner, leads outreach and education initiatives for the SR2S Program to help create safe, accessible, and equitable active transportation options for all. With a background in public health, she is passionate about making it easier for children, youth, and families to walk, bike, and roll to and from school to enjoy healthier, more active lives.
Mia Candy (she/her), Education and Outreach Advisor
Mia Candy of Toole Design Group, a SR2S Program partner, supports all education and outreach efforts for the SR2S Program. She has supported communities throughout the United States to plan for active and multimodal transportation, community development, and youth-friendly neighborhoods.
Site Coordinators
SR2S partners with TransForm to deliver school site coordinator services to schools. Each participating school works with a site coordinator who provides a wealth of information about the program, activity ideas and resources.
Jennifer Holmes-Ledet (she/her), Engagement Strategic Advisor
Jennifer works primarily with elementary and middle schools from Pleasanton to Livermore as well as overseeing work with Oakland Unified School District schools.
Jennifer loves riding her bike and taking the bus, and wants to work to make active and shared transportation options accessible and fun for students. She has a background in health promotion and education and weaves both into her work with the Safe Routes to Schools team. In her spare time, you can catch Jennifer on a hike, cooking a pot of gumbo, eating delicious food, or playing with her daughter.
Jennifer lives in Elk Grove near Sacramento, but still considers Oakland a second home. She has loved working with Alameda County Safe Routes to Schools since 2013 and making positive changes in communities across Alameda County.
Contact Jennifer at [email protected].
Stephanie Jim (she/her), Site Coordinator Lead
Stephanie does site coordination for elementary and middle schools across Alameda County. Her work is focused on schools in Castro Valley, Fremont, and Hayward.
Stephanie is passionate about building healthier and more active communities. An expert in community health education, she lifts up the strengths of community members in her engagement efforts. Stephanie is particularly inspired by the voices of youth, whose fresh perspectives grow our communities and move us towards a better future.
Stephanie was raised primarily in the Central Valley, and has lived in the East Bay for over 15 years. She appreciates and is proud of the bike culture, beautiful weather, and connected streets of the East Bay, and looks forward to sharing her love of bikes with her growing family.
Contact Stephanie at [email protected].
Emilio Elenes (he/him), Site Coordinator
Emilio is an SR2S Site Coordinator. He works primarily with elementary and middle schools from San Leandro and San Lorenzo to Dublin and Newark. Emilio is a Bay Area native having lived between Oakland and San Leandro all his life. He is no stranger to the challenges families face getting from and to school. He previously worked as a paraprofessional supporting students in a classroom with individualized needs. Emilio has a passion for youth engagement and hopes to make a change in his community. In his spare time Emilio enjoys spending his time outside with friends, exploring the local parks in the Bay Area, and playing tennis.
Contact Emilio at [email protected].
Nia Thompson (she/her), Site Coordinator
Nia Thompson is a Safe Routes To Schools Site Coordinator working primarily with elementary and middle schools in Alameda, Albany, and Fremont. She first began learning about environmental justice while studying the intersections of race, class, and gender in SFSU’s Race and Resistance College and is excited to re-engage this topic while working alongside school communities!
Nia has held roles in a wide range of focus-areas, including peer-to-peer mental health, youth leadership development, and working on a national alliance of neurodiversity-affirming campus clubs. Nia is a Long Beach native and has called the Bay Area home for the last seven years. She enjoys consuming media – especially from the 90’s to 2010’s, being a student of disability justice, and engaging the local food economy.
Contact Nia at [email protected].
Adrian Cárdenas (he/him), Site Coordinator
Adrian Cárdenas is a SRTS Program Coordinator and he supports Alameda County SR2S schools in parts of Oakland, Emeryville and Livermore. He brings years of experience supporting students, parents, schools, and community partners. His past efforts included leading bike education classes for school communities and organizing large-scale walking and transit-to-school events that engaged thousands of students and families in San Francisco. As a bilingual Spanish speaker, Adrian focuses on lifting up marginalized voices and builds strong, trusted relationships with communities through a culturally responsive approach. He brings creativity, cultural awareness, and hands-on leadership to every project.
Adrian grew up in Mexico City and Cancún. He now calls Oakland home, where he enjoys biking with his wife, toddler, and his dog Freedia. He also spends his free time DJing and producing music.
Contact Adrian at [email protected].
Sheila is an SR2S Site Coordinator for K-8 schools in Berkeley and parts of Oakland. She was previously Clean Water Action CA’s first Environmental Justice organizer, where she worked on a greenway project that will connect Lake Chabot to the MLK Jr. shoreline in East Oakland.
Sheila was born and raised in Southern California’s San Gabriel Valley, where she lived near a freeway and witnessed the direct health effects our car-dependent society had on her community. She believes that change happens through community empowerment and works to ensure people are informed to make the best decisions for themselves, their neighborhoods, and the environment.
In their free time, Sheila consumes sci-fi and fantasy media, cuddles with their cat, bikes, and spends time with loved ones (preferably outdoors with some snacks).
Educators
Our team of educators work arduously to empower students to travel to school safely. Through a range of classes, activities, shows and hands-on training students learn behaviors for safe walking, biking, carpooling or taking transit to school.
Pat Hines (she/her), Pedestrian Safety Education Lead
Pat leads a team of pedestrian safety educators who travel the county teaching all grade level students safe pedestrian behaviors via pedestrian rodeos — a simulated street setting called Safe Moves City. SR2S partners with Safe Moves to deliver pedestrian safety education to Alameda County schools. Contact Pat at [email protected] or schedule your school’s pedestrian rodeo today.
San Saephan (he/him, they/them), Bicycle Safety Education Lead
San from SR2S partners with Cycles of Change to deliver bicycle safety education to schools in Alameda County. For more information, contact San at [email protected].
Tommy Bensko (he/him), Alameda County BikeMobile Lead
Tommy and his team of bike mechanics and educators travel in the Alameda County BikeMobile — a mobile bike repair shop — to repair bicycles and teach children basic bike mechanics free of charge. The BikeMobile visits schools and community events throughout the county. SR2S partners with Local Motion to deliver free bike repair services. Contact Tommy at [email protected] or request a visit from the BikeMobile today.
Jimmy Pascascio (he/him), Music Assembly Lead
Jimmy is a co-founder of Music Notes, which leads a custom walking – and biking-themed music-filled assembly for the Alameda County SR2S Program. Jimmy and his talented team teach walking and biking safety through song. Contact Jimmy at [email protected].
