Who We Are
Staff Expertise
Urban Strategies staff and consultants have experience as direct service providers and managers, administrators, board members, and even as founding members of grassroots faith-based and community-based organizations. Furthermore, this knowledge and experience has been almost exclusively focused on communities of color and organizations indigenous to communities in need. Urban Strategies’ cultural competency is a significant factor in impacting the effectiveness of organizations served.
Core Team
LISA TREVINO CUMMINS
President
Lisa founded Urban Strategies in 2003 to tool, connect, and resource faith and community-based organizations to serve children and families in need.
Lisa’s professional career began in Banking where she was a pioneer in community development efforts, providing leadership initially in San Antonio, with expanded responsibilities to include Texas, the Midwest, and eventually nationally. In 1998 she created Bank of America’s national initiative to work with faith-based organizations in the provision of financial services and products as well as in community development partnerships. In 2001, Lisa was asked to move to Washington, D.C. to launch the White House Faith and Community-Based Initiative. During her two-year tenure, Lisa led efforts to develop programs that welcomed and supported the work of faith-based organizations. Among the various federal agencies, she advocated for funding streams that targeted “new entrants” that had never previously received federal funding. Lisa was also an advocate for the $125 million Compassion Capital Fund that promoted organizational and program development support for small community-serving organizations.
Since leaving the White House, Lisa has been a catalyst of several initiatives that has resulted in almost $40 million of new programming focused in the Latino community, including the formation of multi-million dollar initiatives including Chicago’s Family Bridges, FuturoNow Healthy Marriage Initiative, and the Reclamando Nuestro Futuro adjudicated youth initiative. Lisa has also provided leadership in the formation of the Hispanic Healthy Marriage Initiative and the Brookings Institute Hispanic Family In Flux Forum. Lisa has also served as a plenary speaker for the White House’s regional conferences attended by thousands throughout the country.
Lisa earned her B.S. in Accounting from Trinity University San Antonio and MBA from University of Texas in San Antonio. She currently serves on the boards of the Christian Community Development Association and the Seed Company. Lisa and her husband and three children reside in the Washington, D.C. area.
JOHN LEWIS
Southern California Director
John is Urban Strategies’ Southern California Director, responsible for leading a number of collaborative efforts focused on serving communities in need.
As one original designers of the Urban Youth Workers Institute, John has been critical in the delivery of training and support to Urban Youth Workers throughout the country. With an annual national conference that attracts more than 1,800 John organized and helped develop regional conferences that trains over 3,000 youth workers in 23 urban cities annually. John’s 14 years of experience in urban youth development includes serving with KIDWORKS in central Santa Ana and as the Pastor of Student Ministry at Gateway Community Church.
John earned a B.A. in Business Administration from Biola University and a Masters in Christian Education from Talbot Theological Seminary. John and his sons reside in Alhambra, CA.
DEBBI SPECK
Director of Program Design and Technical Assistance
Ms. Speck serves as the Manager of Program Development, Training and Technical Assistance at Urban Strategies. Debbi has been instrumental in developing whole family initiatives with her passion to reach the most vulnerable in society. Working within multiple disciplines, Ms. Speck has designed initiatives that utilize education, mentoring, economic incentives, and family case management to help improve the future of children and youth at-risk.
Ms. Speck was instrumental in launching Urban Strategies’ Head Start TA Initiative that serves 24 rural and urban communities throughout the country. Debbi also launched and managed the California-based FuturoNow Project, a capacity building and service delivery initiative working with and through Latino grass-roots organizations providing marriage strengthening education through community-based organizations.
Prior to joining Urban Strategies, Debbi served as the Director of Education for Neighborhood Ministries in Phoenix, AZ. During her 10-year tenure, Debbi developed whole family programs that focused on the educational success of high-risk youth. Debbi’s work included the development of I CAN DO IT!, a 5th through 8th grade mentoring and educational enrichment program; Partners in Learning, a Kindergarten through 4th Grade mentoring, advocacy, and parental support program; and a Head Start partnership for 3 and 4 year olds that provided developmentally appropriate programming for children and training for their parents.
Debbi serves on the Arizona Governor’s Commission for Youth At Risk as well as is a national trainer on serving Hispanic youth and families. Debbi completed her B.A. in the Education of the Hearing Impaired from Texas Christian University and her Masters in Biblical Studies from Dallas Theological Seminary. Debbi and her husband Rich reside in Phoenix, AZ.
LORENA GONZALES, PhD
Director of National Hispanic Initiatives
Lorena provides leadership with Urban Strategies national efforts to promote initiatives that strengthen Hispanic families.
Prior to joining Urban Strategies, Lorena served as Vice President of Programs with AVANCE, a nationally acclaimed parent education program that serves families in eleven cities throughout Texas, New Mexico, and California. In that capacity, Lorena led efforts in developing, designing, implementing, and evaluating family, parent, and community leadership programs. Lorena is also recognized in cross-cultural group dynamics in the areas of communication, conflict management, and team/individual motivation.
Lorena served as Adjunct Faculty for the Our Lady of the Lake University as well as the University of Texas in San Antonio where she has taught courses in leadership, multicultural dynamics, and community.
Passionate about children and families, Lorena is a public speaker in a variety of venues including student, parent, and teacher conferences, research forums, and community events. A former talk show host for local programming, Lorena She also has served in numerous leadership roles including the National Hispanic Leadership Institute, the Community Education Leadership Program, Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, and the San Antonio Commission for Children and Families.
Lorena earned a PhD in Leadership Studies and a B.A. in Sociology/Psychology at Our Lady of the Lake, and completed the M.A. program in Bicultural Bilingual Studies from the University of Texas at San Antonio. She is also a graduate of Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government’s Executive Education Program. Lorena and her husband reside in San Antonio, Texas.
KELLY COWLES
Project Manager
Kelly serves as Project Manager for Urban Strategies, providing management leadership and guidance on projects throughout the nation. Prior to joining Urban Strategies, Kelly served as the Program Manager for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Compassion Capital Fund (CCF), a community based grant funding program aimed to increase the capacity of grassroots organizations. She provided leadership and direction to all aspects of the program and was the recipient of the 2005 ACF Leadership Award. From 2002 to 2003, Ms. Cowles worked for a management consulting company that specializes in the development of new social ventures. Ms. Cowles holds a Master