Our Founder
FRANCIS PHIRI
President & Founder |
Francis Phiri was born and raised in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia in Africa. At the age of 12, he became ill with malaria and it caused his hearing to slowly deteriorate, becoming Deaf at age 18.
After his parents died he lived with an aunt who also died when he was in 10th grade, leaving him homeless. He went to the Association of Sign Language Interpreters of Zambia (ASLIZ) to do volunteer work and that is where h met Madam Maria Milila of the International Labor Organization who supported him in high school. It was there he met Frank Lester, an American teacher who is also deaf and was in Africa working as a Peace Corps volunteer. Francis graduated high school in Zambia in November 2008, and in August 2009, Lester made good on his promise to bring Francis to the United states on a student visa. Francis studied at Rochester Institute of Technology then returned to Ohlone College to complete his degree in Deaf Studies and Liberal Arts. He is excited to continue his studies in Education at San Francisco State University. Francis has taught at a private San Francisco international language school, ABC Languages, presents as a motivational speaker for community organizations, workshops, and charter school conferences. He is an organizer for the monthly Deaf Night Out and ASL Meet-up in San Francisco. Francis' goal is to inspire others to follow their dreams and be successful, with patience, flexibility and motivation. He now shares his passion by teaching others the value of education, the importance of communication, and the power of human connections. The support Francis received during his childhood in Zambia has motivated him to create this non-profit organization, Give Back to the Community in Zambia (GBCZ). |
Board of Advisors
Committed to the Deaf Community!
Dana Rhinerson
Vice President/ Treasurer Dana Rhinerson is a Special Education Educator in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Dana has passion for Deaf Education and completed her Credential for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Teaching at Cal State Northridge in 2020. She is an advocate for the use of Bilingual Bimodal education for Deaf students. She has traveled extensively in South America and was a volunteer teacher at a Deaf school in Bolivia. |
Janna Rudolph
Secretary Janna Rudolph is a Deaf Ed Itinerant teacher in Oakland, Ca. She completed her Master's Degree of Science in Deaf Education at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn., where she was born and raised. Her passion is teaching literacy skills for students with all types of hearing loss and students identified as DeafBlind. She also advocates for students with hearing loss of color from diverse backgrounds and languages used in their household. She also uses adults in the Deaf community to help support her students to see how successful they, too, can be in this world. She also serves on the California DeafBlind Advisory Committee as a D/HH teacher representative. She is well versed in American Sign Language and Tactile Sign Language as a way to build language skills for her diverse caseload of students with hearing loss. |
Allen W. Neece III
Board Member Allen W. Neece III currently works as a Deaf education specialist at Peace Corps where he advises how to increase the placement of Deaf/disabled applicants and provides technical advice to posts on disability-related programming. He is a four-year Returned Peace Corps Volunteer. All of his assignments pertained to deaf-related issues, ranging from education reforms to capacity building for Deaf associations. Prior to joining the Peace Corps, he was a high school teacher in Los Angeles. |
Justin Bench
Board Member Photographer and Video editor Justin Bench is the founder of the Upside Reports and an activist for social justice and environmental sustainability. He began his career working for economic inclusion with low income communities, which inspired him to use his camera to raise the level of consciousness on global issues. You can find Justin producing Upside Reports world-wide, creating media for conscious businesses, as well as teaching AcroYoga at the Athletic Playground in Emeryville, CA. |
Martin Keller
Board Member Dr. Martin P. Keller, Jr. is a seasoned educator and administrator in which he has been involved in a wide array of roles in the field of Deaf Education for more than 20 years, including 2 years as a school superintendent. He is clearly passionate about improving the education of Deaf children worldwide and was involved in an educational project with Deaf children in Jamaica. Martin is a product of both residential and mainstreamed programs and is from an all-Deaf family of 10. In his spare time, he enjoys hiking, traveling, kayaking, Crossfitting, and being involved in various community service projects. |
Board Advisors
We've got a top notch team!
Obed Mambwe
Director of Interpreter & interpreter Obed Mambwe is sign language interpreter in Zambia. he working over ten years and coordinating and training interpreters for seven years. Obed is currently a senior television interpreter at Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) where he interprets and supervises interpreters. a volunteer Coordinator and interpreter trainer at the Association of Sign Language Interpreters of Zambia (ASLIZ). He had a second-year diploma student in Journalism and Public Relations at Zambia Institute of Mass Communication (ZAMCOM), with a goal of becoming a disability journalist, especially for deaf people. |
Bernie Rhinerson
Board Advisor Bernie Rhinerson is a public education advocate who currently serves as an elected Board Trustee for the San Diego Community College District which serves more that 100,000 students in San Diego, CA. His career includes service as Chief of Staff for the San Diego Unified School District and more than 30 years as a marketing communications professional. Bernie also volunteers with other community organizations focused on the educational needs of children living in poverty. |
Rachel Meyer
Board Advisor Rachel Meyer is the co-founder and co-owner of ABC Languages, foreign language schools located in San Francisco and New York City, with satellite operations in Silicon Valley, Westchester (NY) and New Jersey. She has developed language programs for top companies and institutions, including Columbia University, ABC News, Sony, and Genentech. She is passionate about supporting innovative ways to promote language learning for adults, children and institutions. |