Aging and Disability Symposium: Bringing Community Living Home

Nanette Relave serves as the Senior Director of the National Information and Referral Support Center administered by NASUAD. The I&R Support Center provides training, technical assistance, and information resources to build capacity and promote continuing development of aging and disability information and referral services nationwide. In this capacity, Ms. Relave provides technical assistance to aging and disability information and referral/assistance (I&R/A) agencies, provides I&R basic and AIRS certification training to I&R specialists, develops training materials to improve the quality of I&R/A services, supports agencies’ efforts to develop I&R/A systems at the community and state levels, and coordinates workshops, intensives, and other events at NASUAD and partner conferences.  Ms. Relave holds a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree from the Catholic University of America, and a Bachelor of Arts in Government from Georgetown University.

Sherri Clark is a Senior Aging Services Program Specialist within the Office of Supportive and Caregiver Services of the Administration on Aging, an agency of the U.S. Administration for Community Living (ACL). Ms. Clark manages a diverse portfolio of project focused on housing, engaging older adults, volunteerism, and consumer information & assistance. Ms. Clark has held several positions within AoA/ACL in the past 30 years. Prior to ACL, Ms. Clark worked 10 years with the Social Security Administration. A native of Washington, DC, she holds a Master of Social Work degree from Howard University.

Sara Tribe Clark is the Director of the Eldercare Locator within USAging. In this role, Sara oversees the operation of the Eldercare Locator Call Center, ensuring the responsive connection of people to community resources. Sara has nearly 20 years of experience in aging and disability services. Before joining USAging, she helped build the District of Columbia’s Aging and Disability Resource Center; was Director of the National Information and Referral Support Center at the ADvancing States; and spent 8+ years working within the aging and disability networks in Massachusetts. Sara’s time outside of work is spent on the other end of the age spectrum with a 3-year-old son and a 1-year-old daughter.

Danielle Garcia is a Senior Policy Advisor to the DAS in the Office of Public Housing and Voucher Programs (OPHVP), US Department of Housing and Urban Development.  Danielle has almost 17 years of experience managing high-profile local, state, and federal housing programs.  Danielle joined HUD in 2013 and previously served in the Office of Multifamily Housing (MFH) and the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO).  Danielle has led a culture change to improve affordable housing policy and compliance, and she has had various leadership positions working on several high-profile civil rights matters; resolving complex occupancy issues; helping with new policy initiatives for the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), Section 811 Project Rental Assistance (PRA) Program, and most recently HUD’s new Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) Program.  In her free time, you can catch her running marathons around the country and cheering for the San Antonio Spurs.

As Program Manager/Developer, Agency on Aging Area 4 (AAA4), Anson Houghton, BS Gerontology, supervises a team of Person-Centered Counselors and ADRC Navigators that respond to I & A inquiries from a 7-county region spanning from Sacramento to the Nevada border. He has experience in independent living where he was the program director for 15 years of the Center for Independent Living (CIL) serving Sacramento and Yolo counties in California’s Central Valley. At the CIL, he successfully managed 2 HUD grants that provided permanent housing to persons living homeless and persons with chronic disabilities who also use Personal Assistance Services (PAS). His work currently centers around obtaining designation status for the soon to be 5 AAA4 Aging and Disability Resource Connections (ADRC)  projects and around providing training opportunities to his TEAM that include AIRS certification, Community Transitions Intervention (CTI) , Boston University’s Options Counseling certificate program, ACL sponsored SAGE LBTQ training for serving older adults, and motivational Interviewing.

Lindsay Baran is the Policy Director at the National Council on Independent Living, where she leads the development and implementation of NCIL’s policy and advocacy work. In this role, Lindsay works on a range of issues relevant to people with disabilities and older adults, and she works closely with other national disability, aging, and civil and human rights organizations. Before her time at NCIL, Lindsay worked for several disability organizations in the Chicago area, and she has worked in disability rights for nearly two decades.

Tricia Serlin is the Information and Referral Program Coordinator at Ability360 in Phoenix, AZ  She was at ABIL (before they changed the name to Ability360)  in the 80”s.    

Tricia has been in Human Services for over 40 years working for non-profits, the State of Arizona and the City of Scottsdale.  She has worked with people with disabilities, older adults and youth.   Tricia graduated from Arizona State University with a bachelor’s degree in Education and the from University of Arizona with her Masters in Rehabilitation Counseling.

She enjoys reading, travel and walking with Gracie her yellow lab.

Molly French joined USAging as the Director of the Housing and Services Resource Center in 2021. The initiative cultivates partnerships between the Aging and Disability Networks and the housing sector to enhance affordable, accessible housing and access to community services for older adults and people living with disabilities. Across her career, Molly has 20 years of experience in improving the health and well-being of older adults and populations that have been underserved. In her prior roles at the Alzheimer’s Association and a national consulting practice, Molly elevated attention to the social determinants of health, including housing issues, through communications, program development and policy analyses. Her Master of Science in Community and Regional Planning is from The University of Texas at Austin, and she earned a Bachelor of Arts from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.