Our Staff
Core Staff
Paul L. Watson, Jr., MSHS
President/CEO
Formerly Executive Director of the Training and Research Institute for Residential Youth Centers in New Haven, CT; San Diego Youth and Community Services; and Watson and Associates International. Paul began his career as a youth organizer at the age of 17. He has a Master's degree from Springfield College. He began a consultant organization in 1998 and specialized in Community Development, Youth Development, Child Welfare, and Organizational Development. He successfully completed International projects in Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan), The Netherlands, Brazil, Jamaica, and Egypt. He is a national trainer in Youth Development and a member of the Community Youth Development Design Team. He was trained as an ICA Participatory Facilitator. Paul has also served as faculty at Springfield College, New School of Architecture and Design, San Diego City College, and UC San Diego. Paul has won numerous awards and has published both books and articles.
Bill Oswald
Associate Executive Director for Research and Evaluation
Bill received his Ph.D. from the University of Rhode Island in 1988 where he studied Community Psychology. While his work has varied over the years, it has remained focused on fighting the structural causes of poverty by working side-by-side with people in poverty to support them in bringing their voice into the public dialogue. This work has ranged from direct, grassroots community organizing to running a regional training center for Community Organizers to serving as Dean/faculty at Springfield College, School of Human Services that focused on providing access to postsecondary education to communities that have historically been denied that access. Bill’s more recent work includes conducting Participatory Action/Civically Engaged Research and providing support to immigrant/refugee communities and their organizations. Bill’s responsibilities at the Global ARC include overseeing and managing projects related to Community Youth Development, Environmental Justice, and Research and Evaluation.
Marina Ibarra
Community Engagement Coordinator
Marina has been with the Global ARC since 2015, starting as a volunteer at Ocean View Growing Grounds. Later she started working as the Community Outreach Coordinator at the OVGG, promoting health and connecting community members to the Global Food Justice Movement through the urban garden and giving them the opportunity to connect with professors, researchers, students, community knowledge, and residents. Marina has also helped with teaching UCSD students interested in community organizing, taking them to do field work canvasing the community, creating surveys, and more. Additionally, Marina works as an advocate for residents, students, and parents, informing them about the opportunities that the San Diego Unified School District has for our children in school and giving advice to parents on advocating for their children's education. As a member of the Global ARC who is fluent in both English and Spanish, Marina helps with translation on projects with San Diego’s hispanic populations. For 15 years Marina has been a member of a non-profit organization Latinos y Latinas En Acción, and currently serves on their board of directors, promoting the immigrant vote, filling out immigration forms, providing citizenship classes, and more.
Melissa Meza
Administrative Manager
Melissa Meza was born and raised in Poway, California, and earned her Bachelor’s degree in Communication with a minor in Spanish Literature from the University of California, San Diego. She currently serves as the Administrative Manager for the Global ARC and brings over thirteen years of experience in administrative roles within various nonprofit organizations.
Throughout her career, Melissa has developed and implemented systems that enhance both organizational efficiency and staff support. She brings her knowledge in human resources and office management, consistently helping teams operate smoothly and effectively. A firm believer in empowering those who deliver direct services to the community, Melissa is dedicated to helping staff reach their professional goals.
Melissa previously served on the committee for the Meeting of the Minds Behavioral Health Conference and Resource Fair, where she successfully led the event for six years. As the daughter of Mexican immigrants, she is deeply committed to advocating for underserved and often overlooked communities.
Kristopher Garcia Raudales
Research Associate
Kristopher started at the Global Action Resource Center as a student intern assisting the YEJA program with research, participating in a PSRO event and working at the Ocean View Growing Grounds. After graduating from UC San Diego in 2022 with a Bachelor’s in Urban Studies and Planning, he became an official member of the Global ARC as the Research Associate. He now serves the organization by providing research under environmental justice issues and funding opportunities, along with supervising our team of university interns and managing the organization’s social media platforms. He values the idea of serving others and hopes to be of service to the community of San Diego in improving equity and quality of life for all community members. Kristopher enjoys photography and is fluent in English and Spanish.
Ocean View Growing Grounds
Thi Vo
Environmental Justice Learning Hub Manager
Thi is a UC Berkeley Alumna originally from San Diego, Thi is currently our Environmental Justice Learning hub Manager. Her focus is on OVGG’s crop production, soil health management, and does research on environmentally sustainable urban agriculture methodology. She was also a fellow in the Multinational Exchange for Sustainable Agriculture’s (MESA) Applied Agroecology Program and received her certificate in applied agroecology in 2022. Thi sees San Diego as a rising community in the conversation on food systems with Black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) voices leading the way and is truly excited to see communities coming together to support that movement.
Lily McCann
Agriculture Specialist / Administrative Assistant
Lily is a UCSD alum with a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology with a focus in Climate Change and Human Solutions. With an interest in cooking and a passion for sustainable agriculture, Lily is excited to be involved in food production from planting the seeds in the soil, to improving access to healthy, sustainably produced, and culturally relevant foods. Her focus is on food production and seed saving, with a special interest in supporting local ecology, native plants and pollinators. Lily sees food sovereignty as a vital aspect of environmental justice, and believes in the power of transforming our food system to strengthen our relationship to the planet and one another.
Young Environmental Justice Advocates Academy
Catherine Parker
YEJAA Program Manager
Catherine is a UCSD alum with a bachelor's in Anthropology of Climate Change and Human Solutions, and a minor in Human Rights and Migration. With a professional background in fine art and film, Catherine is interested in the ways in which creative arts serve as a medium to bridge the gap between climate science, its related intersectional social issues, and people's lived experiences. Catherine started working with the Global ARC as a fellow of the College Corps program and assisted the previous Academy director, Raphael Lagoc, before transitioning into the role of Program Manager. What excites Catherine most about leading the Academy is the chance to provide support and mentorship for San Diego's upcoming generation of Climate advocates.
Research Associates
Men Nguyen
Research Associate (Vietnamese Weaver)
Men has received a B.A. in English language teaching, an M.A in English linguistics from the Vietnam National University, and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction majoring in second language acquisition – ESL from the Texas Tech University. She has 14 years of experience working as an ESL lecturer and interpreter in Vietnam and 7 years of experience working as a research assistant at Texas Tech University. She loves working for the Vietnamese community development and has a great passion for work related to education, research, communication, and interpretation. Today, under her own business: B Learning LLC, cooperates with the Global Action Research Center as a community weaver to assist with community engagement to increase COVID-19 vaccination and participation in preventive care such as flu vaccines, mammograms, diabetes screenings, and blood pressure management.
Alisar Balish
Research Associate (Arabic Weaver)
Alisar Balish is a recent alum graduate of San Diego State University, where she earned her B.S. degree in business management. She is currently pursuing a community health worker certificate to further support her passion for public health and social impact. Alisar has contributed to research and community-based projects aimed at addressing barriers to healthcare access, including cancer screenings and vaccinations. With a strong background in collaborative work and community engagement, she brings both strategic insight and a deep commitment to equity in health services.
Interns and Fellows
Lorraine Lucas Scott
Fellow
Hi everyone :). My name is Lorraine and I’m currently a 3rd year student. I am majoring in Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences with a minor in Environmental Systems at UCSD. I love being outside and I enjoy backpacking, surfing and started rock climbing recently. In joining the Global ARC, the mission sparked my interest in learning more about nature based climate solutions. I’ve always been passionate about climate and environmental justice and saw this as a perfect opportunity to not only gain experience but to be able to help in any capacity I can to support the mission of building social capital through this experience. My goal at this point in time is to gain the necessary skills to build my capacity for what environmental justice means and what be proactive in what I can possibly do to contribute on a local level.