In addition to a growing community of volunteers and financial supporters, Pomona Hope is led by a Governing Board of Directors and Executive Director. Our staff members give of their time, energy, and expertise to completing important organizational responsibilities.
STAFF
Jeff Johannsen
Executive Director
Jeff Johannsen joined the Pomona Hope staff as Youth Coordinator in 2012. Before joining the team at Pomona Hope, he spent six years on staff at KidWorks, an After-School Program located in central Santa Ana. In addition, he served on the Pomona Hope board from 2010 to 2012. He lives with his wife and two children in the city of Pomona. Jeff holds a B.A. in Management Engineering from Claremont McKenna College, and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Irvine.
Jessica Garcia
Program Director
Jess Garcia has been a part of After-School with Pomona Hope for 16 years now. She started our program as a Kindergartener and has been dedicated to our program ever since. As a high school student, Jess Garcia received numerous Scholarships and awards for her outstanding leadership abilities, including the Jonah’s Light Superheroism Award in 2019. When she was a Senior in High School she was our first ASB President, during this time she organized community events to bring our Pomona Hope families together including our first-ever community Thanksgiving Dinner. She has lived in Pomona her entire life and plans to stay in the area, with the hope that she can serve the community and help create a change that can make it easier for students to receive the academic support they need. Jess Garcia has prior experience working closely with our students as well as other students in the community, she was previously an after-school tutor working for PUSD. She believes that the only way to do great work is to love what you do. Jess is sure that her love for our community and passion will help Pomona Hope continue to bloom.
Miriam De La Torre
Outreach Director
Miriam first came to Pomona Hope in 2014, where she served as a volunteer until eventually interning as Summer Programs Coordinator in 2017. While originally from Los Angeles, she moved to Pomona for college and has been a part of the Pomona Hope family ever since. Miriam graduated with a B.S. in Business Administration and a minor in Economics from Cal Poly Pomona. Afterwards, she went on to work in the insurance industry, then in the legal field, before feeling a call to return and serve the community.
Mark McReynolds
Garden Coordinator
Mark McReynolds started volunteering with Pomona Hope in the Fall of 2021, teaching environmental education workshops in the Center St. Garden with kids. Mark’s love of people and God’s creation comes from many years of ministry in camps, missionary work and university teaching, and environmental education work. An ordained Mennonite pastor with an environmental portfolio, his formal education includes a BS in Recreation Resource Management (Natural Resources), a Master of Divinity (Christian Education), and a Ph.D. (Environmental Studies). Current projects include writing an environmental science textbook, plastic pollution research, and participation in a few ministry or environmentally-related boards. Mark taught Botany several years at a university, has gardened most of his adult life, and is happy to bring those skills, and others, to Pomona Hope in the Center St. Garden.
Shantee McKellar
Bookkeeper
A native Pomonian, Shantee is passionate about Pomona and its youth. She has been a volunteer for Pomona Hope and was the office manager of First Presbyterian Church for over ten years. Shantee works alongside her husband, John, for Just Us 4 Youth; a mentoring program for at-risk youth on school sites throughout Pomona and in Apple Valley. Shantee and John have three daughters, Cambria, Grace, and Hadassah (plus many more “daughters” and “sons” with the youth ministry in which they served, where she is known as “Big Momma”). Shantee loves to scrapbook and papercraft. She became our bookkeeper in February of 2016 and continues to be a vital part of our work. Shantee’s gifts of hospitality and laughter are known by all who come in contact with her.