Leadership

We are excited to continue to grow our list of staff, board members, and provider agencies in the coming months as we work collaboratively to make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring in Wake County.

Board of Directors

Lisa Perkins

Board President

Lisa Perkins is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and has a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Pittsburgh. She has worked for Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Raleigh for 11 years in the following roles: as the Regional Director for Fayetteville and Durham, as Assistant Director, and now has been serving as Executive Director since October 2017.

Rick Miller-Haraway

Chair

Katey Fithian

Vice-Chair

Michael Dawson

Treasurer

Daniel Altenau

Secretary

Program Staff

Kathy Johnson

Executive Director

For over 20 years, Kathy Johnson has worked to advocate on behalf of people who are marginalized and often misunderstood. She had a distinguished career at InterAct in Raleigh, where she served in multiple roles, including two stints as the Interim Executive Director, Associate Executive Director for Resource Development, and Associate Executive Director for Programs and Services. Most recently, she served as Executive Director for Pendleton Place in Greenville, SC. In
her experience at both InterAct and Pendleton Place, Kathy was involved with building and maintaining multi-service, multi-agency collaborative partnerships which will be critical to the success of Oak City Cares.

Tosheria Brown

Director of Programs and Services

Tosheria Brown has been the Program Coordinator at the Oak City Outreach Center since its opening in 2014. She has an undergraduate degree in Business Management and is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Social Work. In her time with the Oak City Outreach Center, Tosheria’s compassionate and loving spirit, coupled with her dedication to working directly with our friends experiencing homelessness has positively impacted the development of services.

Lauri Klein Para

Development and Communications Coordinator

Lauri has spent the last 20 years working in a variety of nonprofit settings. She began her career advocating on behalf of underserved children and families as the Executive Director of the North Carolina Association for the Education of Young Children (NCaeyc). After taking some time off to raise her son, Lauri returned to the nonprofit sector to address the needs of those experiencing food insecurity and homelessness. Lauri is thrilled to be part of Oak City Cares and their work to end homelessness in Wake County.

Laura Martin

Volunteer Coordinator / Administrative Assistant

Laura Martin has spent the last decade learning and leading in the Triangle area non-profit sector. She most recently served as the Executive Director of Dress for Success Triangle, seeking to broaden the economic opportunities available to women seeking careers. Prior to joining DFST, Laura spent 8 years at Raleigh-based, StepUp Ministry. Laura has a strong commitment to local workforce development efforts and specifically to better economic access and opportunity for all

Our Partners

Our Provider Partners

These organizations are part of the ever-growing list of those collaborating to provide medical assistance, behavioral health care, veterans’ services, outreach, employment services, coordination of care and support to Oak City Cares guests.