At Rooted, our dedicated team is committed to making housing more affordable for educators and strengthening the communities they serve. Meet the people driving our mission forward.

Our Team

Kyra Mungia (she/ella) is a civic leader, systems builder, and social impact strategist focused on turning bold ideas into durable, community-rooted solutions. Her work sits at the intersection of education, housing, and economic mobility, with a focus on advancing equity, strengthening public-private collaboration, and building infrastructure that allows communities — particularly those historically underserved — to thrive. Her approach combines visionary thinking with operational rigor, mobilizing cross-sector partners, and translating complex challenges into actionable, high-impact initiatives.
As CEO of the Oakland Fund for Public Innovation, Kyra leads the organization’s strategy, partnerships, and execution across a portfolio of initiatives designed to improve quality of life for Oakland residents. Under her leadership, the Oakland Fund serves as a trusted intermediary between philanthropy, government, and community, advancing solutions in housing, neighborhood vitality, economic opportunity, and civic systems. She is currently leading a first-in-the-country capital campaign to acquire and preserve housing for educators, positioning nonprofit ownership as a scalable model for addressing housing affordability, educator retention, and community stability.
Prior to becoming CEO, Kyra co-founded and led Rooted (formerly TRiO Plus), an educator-housing initiative created to address teacher recruitment and retention by tackling housing affordability. Rooted has supported hundreds of educators in securing stable housing and has emerged as a national model linking housing stability with student and community outcomes. Earlier in her career, Kyra served as Deputy Director of Education in the Oakland Mayor’s Office, where she helped launch initiatives expanding digital equity through #OaklandUndivided, co-wrote legislation generating $30 million annually to support Oakland youth from preschool through college, and helped mobilize millions in relief funding during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kyra began her career as an Oakland public school teacher, an experience that continues to shape her leadership and deep commitment to students, families, and educators. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from Brown University, a Master of Arts in Urban Education from Loyola Marymount University, and an Executive Master of Business Administration from Quantic School of Business and Technology. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and Roddenberry Fellow, she always gives 100% — except when donating blood.
Kyra lives in Oakland with her partner and their dog Noodle. Outside of work, she enjoys long walks around Lake Merritt, exploring Bay Area trails, traveling, and mastering crossword puzzles over a good cup of tea.

Kyra Mungia

Lydia Yamaguchi (she/they) is a community-centered program leader dedicated to cultivating wellbeing, connection, and thriving communities in Oakland and beyond. Her work focuses on supporting educators in accessing stable housing, financial wellness, and the resources needed to sustain themselves and those they serve. Grounded in deep relationships and a belief in community resilience, Lydia brings a thoughtful, people-first approach to program design and implementation.
At the Oakland Fund, Lydia serves as Program Manager for Rooted, where she leads educator engagement and support, ensuring educators can successfully access housing and wraparound services. She works closely with educators, partners, and internal teams to translate Rooted’s mission into tangible, day-to-day impact, strengthening stability and wellbeing for those at the heart of Oakland’s schools.
Lydia brings over a decade of experience working alongside educators and students to build conditions for health and success. She began her career teaching garden-based nutrition and science education in Oakland, working with learners from transitional kindergarten through adult education and helping connect health, food, and environment. She later spent seven years with Oakland Unified School District coordinating health and wellness initiatives, managing projects spanning staff wellness, food systems, environmental health, gardens, and youth leadership. Through this work, she built lasting relationships across OUSD and the broader community.
Raised in Long Beach attending public schools and surrounded by educators in her family and community, Lydia developed an early respect for the role of teachers and the ingenuity with which communities — particularly communities of color — navigate complex systems.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from Brown University and is a certified Project Management Professional. Outside of work, Lydia enjoys growing, preparing, and sharing food, exploring California’s natural beauty, and finding joy in everyday community connection.

Lydia Yamaguchi

Jack Woodruff (he/him) is a social entrepreneur with a fifteen-year track record in education, housing, and finance. His work spans program design, policy change, real estate acquisition, and asset management – all in service of the education professionals who uphold our communities.
At the Oakland Fund, Jack leads Rooted’s Affordable Housing Marketplace and related partnerships, aligning housing providers and educators to create shared value. He directs Rooted’s housing acquisition campaign to advance the Oakland Fund’s goal of becoming the nation’s first educator-focused affordable housing developer. He also helped draft and pass AB 1021, California legislation enabling workforce housing on school-district surplus land, unlocking new development opportunities for educators.
Jack began his career with three years in Peace Corps Ecuador, finishing as a trainer. He then served as Executive Director of Aspire Education, a 20-employee Oakland nonprofit focused on tutoring and early literacy, where he tripled organizational revenue over three years and expanded summer programming to deepen mission impact. He later worked in asset management and compliance at the real estate fintechs Unison and Landed. Landed focuses on down-payment assistance for educators buying homes.
Jack holds an MBA and an Interdisciplinary Certificate in Real Estate from UC Berkeley, and a BA in History from Bard College. He lives in his hometown of Oakland, and outside of work serves as Board Chair for Aspire Education, enjoys the outdoors, and works to overcome his fear of singing in public.

Jack Woodruff

Nat Mendoza

Nat Mendoza´s (she/her) versatile experience in Customer Service, Database Management, Appointment Scheduling, and Back-office for over 3+ years in addition to her degree in Modern Languages gives her an advantage in handling the constant information flow of the properties, concessions, updating the system with property changes, and more.
She brings a dynamic skill set and commitment to excellence, ensuring seamless operations, and always ready to embrace continuous changes and growth.

With more than 8 years in customer success roles, Dayana Rojas (she/her) has been developing & implementing standardized operating procedures (SOP), as well as keeping International Information Security Standard controls to safeguard private information. She is leading the Customer Success area to provide a world-class service to OUSD employees.

Dayana Rojas

Rosana (she/her) is a versatile professional with a blend of experience in journalism, financial management, and customer service spanning over 6 years. With strong problem-solving and service skills, she ensures success in effectively communicating and cultivating strong relationships within the OUSD community.
Her multidisciplinary background contributes to providing high-quality assistance to educators.

Rosana Alandete

Rooted is a program of The Oakland Fund

The Oakland Fund, a 501(c)(3) organization, is the organizational home of the Rooted program. We are grateful to be the sole in-house program of The Oakland Fund, and to have the power of The Oakland Fund board, leadership, and staff to help realize the mission and vision of Rooted.

Tayonna Ewin

Tayonna Ewin (she/her) weaves together strategy, systems, and storytelling to help move community-centered work forward in sustainable ways. At The Oakland Fund, she serves as Operations Coordinator, strengthening organizational systems, supporting leadership and board governance, and aligning cross-functional initiatives. Her work reinforces nonprofit infrastructure and supports partnerships across government, community, and philanthropy so community-rooted efforts can grow and sustain impact.
Tayonna began at the organization as a Special Projects Intern supporting media, communications, and partnership engagement before growing into her current organization-wide operations role. She is motivated by building clear, practical systems that help mission-driven teams work effectively and consistently.
Her background spans government, education, research, and nonprofit environments. In local government, she supported data-informed decision-making and equitable resource allocation as a Business Intelligence Analyst with the City of San José Parks, Recreation, and Neighborhood Services Department. She has supported college-level learning for Title I high school students through Stanford Digital Education and the National Education Equity Lab; contributed archival research to The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Volume VIII; supported qualitative research with the Stanford Sociology Department; and worked in philanthropy and community violence prevention with the Women’s Foundation of California and Gideon’s Army.
Tayonna holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honors in African and African American Studies from Stanford University and was a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow, Sand Hill Philanthropy Fellow, and recipient of the Kennell Jackson, Jr. Research Award.
Originally from Nashville, Tennessee, Tayonna brings a perspective shaped by the South that recognizes both the parallels and the distinct character of Oakland. Her work is grounded in an understanding of how community resilience, culture, and broader systems shape opportunity and access. She now lives in San Jose with her partner. Outside of work, Tayonna enjoys reading, tending to her plants, learning new skills, and exploring the Bay Area.

Joy George

Joy (she/her), born and raised in the Bronx as the daughter of Nigerian diaspora, has found herself at the intersections of healing justice, restorative praxis, and social change in her work and activism. She graduated from Swarthmore College with a BA in Political Science and Black Studies in 2020.
Joy has had the opportunity to work with incredible teams planting and watering the seeds of restorative culture and restorative economics: Sustainable Economies Law Center, Restore Oakland Inc., Restorative Justice Institute of Maine, YES!, Ecology Shifts and Mindbridge Center.
Joy is now working towards a JD at UC Davis School of Law as a MLK Public Interest Scholar. She comes to the law after five years as a restorative justice facilitator and healing justice campaigner. In these roles, she hosted numerous community healing circles, designed conflict resolution and community safety processes, and mobilized hundreds of community members to advocate for county budgets that prioritized behavioral health care and decarceration.
Her focus now is bringing a healing-centered lens to the law through impact litigation and policy advocacy.

Mariam Wakili

Mariam Wakili (she/her), Senior Director of Fundraising and Operations, is a movement organizer and entrepreneurial impact strategist with a track record of building durable philanthropic strategies, strengthening organizational infrastructure, and advancing regenerative public–private partnerships. Her work centers on aligning philanthropic investment with measurable outcomes that improve prosperity, safety, and quality of life for Oakland residents—particularly in communities that have been historically underinvested.
At The Oakland Fund, Mariam leads strategic fundraising, partnership development, and operational planning, positioning the organization as a trusted intermediary between philanthropy, government, and community-based partners. She plays a key role in expanding institutional support and stewarding capital in ways that reflect both public accountability and community priorities.
Before joining The Oakland Fund, Mariam served as the Director of Philanthropic Partnerships at PolicyLink, an Oakland based national racial equity institution focusing on advancing a nation where all can thrive through policy advocacy and strategic partnerships. At PolicyLink, she scaled and diversified philanthropic revenue, built operating and fiscal sponsorship infrastructure, and secured six and seven figure investments to scale evidence-based policy initiatives at the state and national level during a period of rapid growth for the organization.
Previously, Mariam was the first National Development Officer at GRID Alternatives, the nation’s largest nonprofit solar installer and a leading organization on low-income solar policy. She led national fundraising across single-family, multifamily, tribal, and community solar programs, built the organization’s foundation portfolio from the ground up, and served in a leadership role on the organization’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee.
Mariam holds a Master of Public Administration from Portland State University and a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition from San Diego State University. She lives in Oakland with her young son, and her approach to stewardship is shaped by both professional experience and a deep commitment to place, community partnership, and long-term systems change. Outside of work, you can find her hiking the Oakland hills or at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Marin County.

Co-Founder

Chan U Lee was the co-founder of TRiO Plus, along with Kyra Mungia. As President & CEO of Devine and Gong, Inc., Chan U Lee is actively involved in affordable housing finance and development, including notable projects such as the multi-phase Hunters View Public Housing revitalization, the development of the award-winning Holly Park, High Point, and Rainier Vista HOPE VI communities. Chan U has also been instrumental in gathering support for Rooted among property owners and managers. Over a multi-decade career, Chan U has worked with tax exempt bond and tax credit regulations, financial structuring of mixed income and public housing projects, and was instrumental in the $50 million effort to preserve Kukui Gardens, the largest affordable housing project in the state of Hawaii.

Rooted Advisory Board

Buck Bagot | Housing Advocate

Dan Leibsohn | Executive Director, Community Development Finance

David Silver | Director of Workforce, California Volunteers Fund

Dwayne Marsh | President & CEO, Northern California Grantmakers

Gloria Bruce | Program Director, Housing Security & Public-Private Partnerships, Crankstart Foundation

Gustavo Ontiveros | OUSD Teacher

John Kevlin | Partner, Reuben, Junius & Rose, LLP

Juma Crawford | CEO of Oakland Fund for Public Innovation

Kevin Kelley | Founder & Executive Director, Oakland Lacrosse Club

Lindsay Barenz | President, Oakland Roots

Noni Ramos | CEO, Housing Trust Silicon Valley

Patrice Berry | Chief Impact Officer, Ending Poverty In California

Phong La | Alameda County Assessor

Sarah Glasband | OUSD Talent and Co-Founder of the Teacher Residency Program

Zac Unger | President, International Association of Firefighters, Local 55

Zaia Vera | OUSD Co-Founder of the Teacher Residency Program

Rooted Technical Advisory Council

Jorge Lerma | Latino Education Network

Cynthia Adams | Oakland NAACP

Patricia Wells | Oakland Housing Authority

Geriel Delgado | OUSD Teacher

Gustavo Ontiveros | OUSD Teacher

Jeremy Jennings | OUSD Teacher

Halle Youngblood | OUSD Teacher

Melanie Turner | OUSD Teacher

Jerome Gourdine | OUSD Office of Equity

Raquel Jimenez | OUSD Office of Equity

Sarah Glasband | OUSD Talent Office

Darin Ranelletti | Housing Policy Director Office of Mayor Schaaf