Our Team
We bring different perspectives to the table, but we’re united by a love for purposeful work and loving our diverse community through organizing, advocacy, education, and street outreach.
NEOCH Office & Administration
Latanya “Toni” Burton-Mickey
Toni serves as NEOCH’s Office Manager and provides support for NEOCH’s advocacy and organizing work, specifically with the Homeless Congress and the Cleveland Street Chronicle. She is also responsible for incoming and outgoing donations. Toni began working at NEOCH in February 2018.
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Chris Knestrick
Chris Knestrick is the Executive Director of the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless. He has over 10 years of experience working in homelessness in Cleveland and he has also directed advocacy efforts in the international and local community. Chris is committed to community organizing, undoing oppression, and promoting nonviolence that centers the voices of those most impacted by public policy.
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Kathryn joined the NEOCH team in August 2023 as a Communications Coordinator and manages NEOCH’s social media platforms, e-newsletters, and print media to increase public awareness of NEOCH’s mission, advocacy work, and resources available in Northeast Ohio.
She/her they/themKathryn Boor
Anthony Bennett is the Development Director for the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless (NEOCH) and a proud Cleveland native. A lifelong supporter of the Cavs and Guardians, with unwavering hope for the Browns, Anthony brings his deep love for the city into everything he does.
He is passionate about uplifting neighbors in need and strengthening the community he calls home. With a background in performing arts, theater, and spoken word, Anthony carries the heart of an artist into his work, using creativity and compassion to build meaningful connections.
He/himAnthony Bennett
NEOCH Organizing & Advocacy
Josiah Quarles
Josiah Quarles is NEOCH’S Director of Organizing and Advocacy. Josiah has a background in grassroots organizing, public speaking, education, sport-based youth development, and multimedia arts. Social Justice and the liberation struggle have been at the heart of many of his professional and artistic endeavors. He views two-way education, community-based solutions, and decentralized power building as fundamentally essential to challenging the politics and policies that have codified the oppression and disenfranchisement of so many. Housing is foundational to creating community stability, safety and success, and he is happy to help lay that foundation.
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Torria Catrone
Housing Justice Community Organizer
Torria graduated in May 2024 from Denison University with degrees in Journalism and Political Science. Her passion is in advocacy that centers community storytelling and aims to influence policy in ways big and small. As a Housing Justice Community Organizer, Torria is learning what it means to build collective power that’s sustainable and centers long-marginalized voices. She is humbled to be walking alongside Clevelanders in the fight for housing equity.
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Mike Jones works at NEOCH as our Justice Housing Strategist in our Organizing and Advocacy team.
“I enjoy helping R.E.P.A.I.R. (Restoring Ethnic Pride Among Inner-City People), our broken communities, and always seek to serve and support people in underserved and impoverished communities, giving them real H.O.P.E. (Have Only Positive Expectations) through the 7 E’s (Breaking The Cycle Inc), the 4 F’s (Building Freedom Ohio) and NEOCH’s Core Values.”
He/himMike Jones
He/himCourtney Kerr
Courtney Kerr works at NEOCH in our Organizing and Advocacy Team.
He spends his time in the community helping those with eviction notices, advocating for changes in housing policies, and organizing tenants. He is a great conversationalist, a caring community member, and a strong advocate for housing equity for all.
NEOCH Street Outreach
Chelsea Horvath-Black
Chelsea Horvath Black is NEOCH’s Director of Street Outreach. Chelsea lives and works as an artist, mother, educator, and social worker. Each of these roles inform her work as a community oriented and socially engaged nonprofit leader, dedicated to highlighting the beauty and meaning that exists in vulnerable spaces, people, and relationships.
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Drew Martin
Drew Martin graduated from Purdue University with a major in Philosophy and a minor in Political Science. They first moved to Cleveland in 2020 shortly after graduating and they decided that they wanted to work in the nonprofit sector. Drew has a passion for working with others to combat systemic societal issues and better the lives of others. They believe that the greatest strength we have as a species is each other.
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Jonathan Harris, who commonly goes by “2 Braids” to those who know him, has deep roots in his hometown of Cleveland. Jonathan began his work to end homelessness by experiencing homelessness himself. After staying at 2100 and working with street outreach workers in our community, he got into a place of his own and became an Outreach Trainee with NEOCH in 2018. He is now a full-time Outreach Worker ending homelessness for veterans in our community.
He/himJonathan “2 braids” Harris
Dennis started working with the unhoused at the Bishop Cosgrove Center and as a staff member at The Metanoia Project, providing overnight hospitality to those who are unsheltered during the winter months. Dennis started as an Outreach Worker at the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless (NEOCH) in November of 2019.
He enjoys the work he does because he loves helping people and giving back to his community. At NEOCH, Dennis spends his time out in the community, meeting people experiencing homelessness where they are and matching them with the resources they need to get into housing. Dennis lives in Shaker Heights and is the proud father of a son, Puff, who lives in Washington D.C., and a daughter, Taylor, who lives in Cleveland.
He/himDennis Ashton
Jim joined NEOCH as a Street Outreach Worker in 2020. He has been involved in working and volunteering with a number of agencies and organizations serving those suffering from poverty and homelessness in Cleveland. During his long career of service to the community, Jim has worked at the Rose Mary Center, the West Side Community House, the West Side Catholic Center, and Care Alliance. A resident of the near West Side for the last 48 years, Jim has spent much of that time serving the community he calls home.
He/himJim Schlecht
Raised on Cleveland’s east side, Jean worked 24 years at Orange Blossom Press, a collective dedicated to printing for the progressive movement. As a member of the Community of St. Malachi for many years, she volunteered at the Back Door Ministry and was a cook for the Monday Night Meal. More recently, (the past 10-15 years), she has been involved at the Catholic Worker Storefront. Jean's path has led her to work at EDEN, the Metanoia Project, and recently NEOCH as a Street Outreach Worker. She still spends her weekends hanging out at the Storefront, and can be found there on Sunday afternoons assisting clients with housing.
She/herJean Kosmac
Khorianna is the HOPWA Manager and Outreach Specialist for the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program at NEOCH. She works closely with individuals with HIV/AIDS, experiencing homelessness and collaborates with the Nueva Luz Urban Resource Center and the Aids Taskforce of Greater Cleveland. Khorianna ensures clients’ housing needs are always met and as a proud Black woman with lived experience in homelessness, she brings an insightful perspective and knowledge to her clients and the systems she works in.
Khorianna is also a Public Opinion Leader (POL) for the LGBT Center of Greater Cleveland and an advocate for the Transgender community. With her extensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS, Monkeypox, and prevention, she goes out into the community to spread awareness, educate, and provide safe sex materials and community resources.
She/herKhorianna
Bronze (he/they) is looking forward to bringing their passion for advocating with and for our most marginalized neighbors to their role as the LGBTQ+ Youth Navigator at NEOCH (Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless). Bronze centers empathetic and equitable access to resources, education, culturally resonant care and connection, and joy. These core concerns are the foundation of their work within campaigns, collectives, organizations, and universities in both Chicago and Cleveland. Bronze is grateful to have dedicated a decade of mutual uplift to their communities, and over 5 years of service to LGBTQ+ youth and young adults specifically. They also value arts and culture, and believe strongly in the resiliency and power of the people as it shows up in archives, collective memory, storytelling, and creative works.
he/him they/themBronze
Patrick is coming to NEOCH from the harm reduction field where he provided syringe services. Continuing to work in the atypical public health field, Patrick is working with participants find stability through the Home for Every Neighbor program.
Patrick was brought to this work after graduating with a degree in political science where he focused on drug policy failures in relation to the drug overdose crisis. Following school, Patrick joined Americorp and was embedded in syringe service program in Pueblo, Co. Working with vulnerable communities directly, as well as his classroom work, radicalized Patrick to work to address the massive, multi-faceted public health crisis (houselessness, drug related fatalities, blood borne illness, gaps in mental health services) that is devastating our community locally and nationally.
He/himPatrick Bebie
Jeffrey Puchmajer serves as Street Outreach Specialist with NEOCH starting fall 2024 to assist with the City of Cleveland’s “Home for Every Neighbor” initiative. His goal in this role is to build rapport and assess the needs of community members experiencing homelessness. He acts as their first line of contact to connect unsheltered folks with opportunities and community resources.
Jeffrey’s career started after serving time in prison for a criminal history associated with drug addiction. While incarcerated at Grafton Correctional Institution, he found opportunity for growth through programming including Steppingstones Therapeutic Community and Edwins Leadership Institute. Using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and the “community is method” model, Jeffrey gained the tools that allowed him to reintegrate into society and gain independence.
he/him Jeffery Puchmajer
Mik Lumumba
Mikail Lumumba—known to many simply as Mik—is an Outreach Navigator for the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless (NEOCH). He began this chapter of his career at the end of summer 2025, working with the City of Cleveland’s Home for Every Neighbor initiative.
No stranger to homelessness, substance use disorder, or mental health challenges, Mik has transformed his personal journey of recovery and wellness into a passionate career of service. Drawing from his own experiences living on the streets and as a survivor of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, Mik brings a rare depth of understanding and empathy to his work. He knows firsthand the struggles faced by displaced citizens and is committed to helping others until they can help themselves, believing that one of the worst feelings is not knowing that help exists—or that someone truly cares.
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Evan O'Reilly
Evan joined NEOCH in the fall of 2025 as an LGBTQ+ Young Adult Navigator. He is driven by an unshakeable belief that every single person deserves dignity and security, and has been proud to live that belief through a career spent fighting against the unjust systems that harm so many of our neighbors.
Evan graduated from Drew University in 2015 with a B.A. in Psychology and a Theater minor. Since moving to Cleveland from his hometown of Atlanta, GA in 2017, he has been heavily involved in community organizing projects fighting for criminal legal reform and economic justice. Evan has served as a staff organizer with the Ohio Student Association, Northern Ohioans for Budget Legislation Equality, People’s Budget Cleveland, and the Cuyahoga County Jail Coalition, where he has also been a steering committee member since 2019. In the field of direct service work, Evan has held administrative positions at Cleveland Treatment Center and the Circle for Re-entry Ohio and volunteered for a couple of years as a hotline advocate with the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center.
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See yourself as part of our team? See what positions we may have open.
Our Board of Trustees
Anita Cook - President
Alyssa Figueroa– Vice President
Tiffany Allen-White – Treasurer
Leila Hojat – Secretary
Avidan Cover
Sarah Gelsomino
Mary Wilson
Kim Goodman
Denise Abboud
Suzanne Ferrara
Timothy Lewis
Calder Mellino
Sheila Burton
Irene Presper
Wyatt Bensken
Sandra Buckner
Christina Stehouwer
Bryan Wortmann
Jen Kocan – Board Emeritus