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Opportunity through Inclusivity

We center on the perspectives of people with disabilities to speed up development of affordable, inclusive community housing—opening new doors to more opportunities for everyone.

“The Kelsey’s leadership includes entrepreneurs of the caliber of those I have backed in the venture world. This drives their impressive progress and lasting impact. As a donor, I appreciate that my dollars are multiplied through The Kelsey’s unique leveraging of public, private, and philanthropic support to create even more good in our communities.”

John O'Farrell, Donor

Our Co-founder

What started with Kelsey, an advocate for access and community, has become a movement towards an inclusive housing future led together by people with and without disabilities.

Kelsey, Koos, Sunshine Girl – she is the reason our organization exists. Her story and life motivated countless others to share their own stories as part of a movement to build more affordable homes and more inclusive communities for all people.

Kelsey lived her life boldly and bravely.  She enjoyed the simple things in life – good food, loud music, sunshine, and quiet time with a book. When feeling adventurous, she loved riding roller coasters, fast boats, and skiing. She always tried to make people laugh with fake burps, headlock hugs, and a sarcastic sense of humor. Kelsey communicated through modified American Sign Language (ASL) and her favorite sign was “more.” She never hesitated to ask for more or remind people more was possible.

Kelsey taught so many about the importance of inclusion and access, from schools to hospitals to communities to housers. These are lessons we are grateful to carry forward in the mission we advance in her name at The Kelsey.

More About Kelsey
More About Kelsey

Our Team

We are a committed team of people with and without disabilities that combine our expertise and lived experiences to advance impact in communities.

Together with our growing community of partners, we focus on establishing a scalable model for disability-inclusive, affordable housing across the U.S. and leading advocacy that makes those communities possible.

Staff

White queer person smiling in their manual wheelchair with short brown hair, round glasses, earrings, and a blazer.

Allie Cannington

Managing Director
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A dark-skinned Black woman with long, dark brown box braids is softly smiling in front of a white background. She is wearing a black, cloth headband, small gold hoop earrings, and a long sleeve black shirt.

Anna Kizito

Manager, Communications
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Ari is a white non-binary person with shoulder-length brown hair. They are sitting in front of a brick wall and smiling. They are wearing green overalls with a cream-colored turtleneck underneath, orange and blue hoop earrings, and a silver necklace with a butterfly pendant.

Ari Katz

Senior Manager, Fundraising & Operations
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A dark-skinned woman with long, dark, curly hair wearing an orange sweater against a plain background

Brittney Harris

Manager, Housing Development
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A white middle aged woman with brown hair is smiling and seated in front of a brick wall with her hands in her pockets.

Caroline Bas

Chief Housing Officer
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Image Description: The image shows a young man with short black hair wearing a dark suit and a white dress shirt with a white striped tie. He is standing indoors in a well-lit space with large windows in the background, which allows natural light to fill the area. The man is smiling confidently at the camera. The setting is a modern building with a clean, professional environment.

David Chen

Analyst
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Doug is a light skinned man with red hair. He is wearing a dark blue pullover sweater with an orange shirt under it. He is also wearing dark-colored glasses. He is pictured against a multi-colored background.

Doug Micetich

Inclusion Concierge
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Fatimah Aure, a dark-skinned woman with dark hair wearing a shirt with a decorative neckline is pictured.

Fatimah Aure

Senior Manager, Networks
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Headshot of a hispanic man with glasses in a gray suit with a black/gray tie smiling in front of a texas mountain laurel tree.

Gilbert Yanez

Senior Manager, Finance
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A light-skinned Native woman with long black hair, black glasses, and a burgundy shirt smiles in front of a brick background

Hunter Herrera-McFarland

Manager, Policy
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A medium brown skin tone Chicana woman, with shoulder length dark brown hair, is smiling at the camera. She is wearing a white lace blouse and is standing against a gray background.

Irina Meza

Chief People Officer
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Isaac, a black young man, wearing a navy sweater and eye glasses in an urban background

Isaac Haney-Owens

Assistant, Operations
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Headshot of a lightly tan skinned Filipino man with long black curly hair wearing a blue dress shirt smiling at the camera.

Jason Nery

Senior Manager, Resident Services
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Katie is a white woman with long straight brown hair. Katie is standing in front of a black wall, smiling, wearing a black and gray striped shirt.

Katie McAuley

Manager, Housing Development
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Kiley McCleary, a light skinned woman with curly brown hair, is pictured in front of The Kelsey Ayer Station.

Kiley McCleary

Inclusion Concierge
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Headshot of a white, long-haired, red headed female in a navy half-sleeved sweater smiling next to a wall in Portland, OR.

Kyle Seem

Manager, Collective Impact
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Louisa, a white woman with dark hair in a ponytail is smiling and standing in front of a red brick wall. She is wearing a black button-up shirt and gold earrings.

Louisa Bukiet

Manager, Housing Development
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Image Description: A white woman smiling at the camera with long, wavy, brown hair. She is wearing a green button-down shirt with brown and red flowers on it and gold hoop earrings. A blurred street is visible in the background

Micaela Connery

Co-founder and CEO
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Molly, a white woman with blonde hair, is sitting in front of a brick wall. She is wearing glasses and a white and blue striped sweater.

Molly Wiesman

Coordinator, Operations & Communications
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A pale skinned woman facing forward and smiling, wearing a Muslim head covering called a hijab that is brightly colored. She wears a pink long sleeve shirt and stands in front of a stone wall with a green hedge partially covering the wall in the bottom two-thirds of the image.

Rahimeh Ramezany

Inclusion Concierge
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Tom is a white man in a gray pullover with The Kelse logo on it against plain backdrop

Thomas (Tom) Hospod

Manager, Housing Development
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Organizational Values

Disability-Forward
We bring our lived experiences as disabled people and allies to everything we do. We seek to create spaces where disability is a valued part of human identity and communities. We center access, practice interdependence, and value diversity.
Intentional
We are thoughtful, curious, and deliberate. We deeply understand the systems impacting our work and willingly learn new strategies needed to advance our mission.
Joyful
We value joy even as we undertake serious work and challenges. We create space for ourselves and our partners to experience community, fun, purpose, and happiness.
Radically Inclusive
We are welcoming, care-centered, and accepting. We practice hospitality and foster belonging for all people in our community and networks, across their many identities and ideas.
Groundbreaking
We pave new ways to understand and approach the work we do, unconstrained by status quo and stigma. We transparently and willingly share our knowledge with others to make more impact possible and open new opportunities.

Board of Directors

Arpitha is a dark-skinned Indian woman. She is wearing a black shirt and a pink sarf.

Arpitha Shetty

Walmart International
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Capri is a light-skinned woman with curly dark brown hair. She is wearing glasses, a flowered dress and a green cardigan.

Capri Roth

Executive Vice President of Real Estate Development
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Image Description: Against a blurred background with greenery, Dom, a light-skinned man in a black shirt, is pictured smiling.

Dom Kelly

Co-Chair / New Disabled South
Jennifer Angarita, a light skinned person with auburn hair, is pictured. She is wearing a blue shirt with a white pattern on it.

Jennifer Angarita

Funders for Housing and Opportunity
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A photo of Justin Tsang, an Asian person with short dark hair smiling wearing a blue button up shirt in front of a background with trees and buildings.

Justin Tsang

Los Angeles Metro
A photo of Keah Brown. A black woman with shoulder length hair wearing glasses and blue sweater sitting on a bench.

Keah Brown

Author and Journalist
Lindsay Johnson, a light skinned person with long brown hair is pictured against blurred greenery wearing a black outfit. She is smiling.

Lindsay Johnson

GSK
A young asian woman with long, dark hair wearing a necklace and a light purple shirt. She is outdoors. A building is pictured in the background behind her,

Shaina Li

Sidewalk Labs
Steve, a light skinned man, is pictured against a gray background wearing a light colored shirt and red tie. He is smiling.

Steve Wade

Treasurer / CPA, Retired
Swathi Bonda, a dark-skinned person with long dark hair wearing a navy outfit is pictured,

Swathi Bonda

Co-Chair / Lendlease Properties
Will Goodman, a light skinned man with short brown hair and a beard, is pictured wearing a black sweater with a blue, button down shirt on underneath.

Will Goodman

Strada Investment Group
Erik Doyle is a light skinned man wearing a gray suitcoat, a light blue shirt and a striped tie. Eris is light skinned and is wearing dark colored glasses.

Erik Doyle

Chair Emeritus

Advisors

White woman smiling at camera with light long brown hair

Caitlyn Fox

CZI
Chan U Lee, a woman of East Asian descent, is pictured. She has long dark hair, and is wearing a blue sweater with a white shirt underneath it.

Chan U Lee

Devine & Gong
Chris Beda is pictured. He is a light-skinned man with short hair. His arms are crossed. He is wearing a white and blue button down shirt.

Chris Beda

Wabash Partners
Erick Mikiten, a white man with glasses, wearing a blue sweater, a blue shirt underneath, and gray dress pants is pictured sitting on a chair at his desk. His wheelchair is pictured in the background,

Erick Mikiten

Mikiten Architecture
Jessica is a white lady with reddish brown, long curly hair, staring at the camera with a black t-shirt.

Jessica Carosello

Salesforce
Johnn O'Farrell, a light-skinned man wearing a dark suitcoat and a light-colored dress shirt is pictured against a dark background

John O’Farrell

Andreessen Horowitz
Rob Wagner, a light skinned man with sandy colored hair is pictured. His is wearing a blue button-down shirt.

Rob Wagner

Sares Regis Group

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