Who We Are

Managing Director | COYN
Executive Director | L.A. Opportunity Youth Collaborative

Lauri Collier is the Managing Director of the California Opportunity Youth Network (COYN) and the LA Opportunity Youth Collaborative (OYC). Lauri is dedicated results-oriented leader, skilled problem solver, and holds expertise in the unique challenges of opportunity youth—including youth who experience foster care, juvenile justice, and homelessness.  Over the past decade, she works as a cross-sector collaborator known to facilitate change within large scale systems. A visionary—who thinks strategically—while leading complex initiatives and works across multiple system partners to achieve collective goals. 

Previously, as division-chief of housing and operations at St. Anne’s, she worked in collaboration with DCFS Youth Development Services to bring the Transitional Housing Plus (THP+) funding stream into Los Angeles County in partnership with DCFS and licensed one of the first Transitional Housing Plus Foster Care (THP+FC) housing programs in Los Angeles County. She also served as the director of the Los Angeles Transition Age Youth Collaborative, which developed an evidence-based, trauma informed, work-force development curriculum in collaboration with Columbia University School of Social Work’s Workplace Center. She expanded the reach of work readiness curriculum by and partnering with over 15 community-based organizations, and the curriculum is currently being embedded

Policy Director | COYN
Managing Partner, Governmental Relations | Social Change Partners

Sean Hughes has more than two decades of experience working on a broad range of public policy issues with a particular focus on children, youth, and families. As a Congressional staffer, he helped write and pass the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-351), which established the federal extended foster care and subsidized guardianship programs. Following his decade on Capitol Hill, Sean served for several years as Director of Congressional Affairs for the Child Welfare League of America before transitioning to consulting.

Sean possesses significant expertise in county, state, and federal policy and government affairs, including the legislative, budgeting, and regulatory processes as well as the Congressional appropriations process. He has extensive experience developing and executing policy and funding agendas and campaigns, both within government and as an advocate. 

Through his Congressional service and continued federal policy engagement, client work in several states, and ongoing participation in the Aspen Institute Opportunity Youth Forum as well as the American Bar Association Commission on Youth at Risk, Sean maintains a robust network of experts and partners throughout the country.

COYN Backbone | New Ways to Work
President & CEO | New Ways to Work

With an unwavering commitment to advocating for vulnerable populations, Robert Sainz serves as the President and Executive Director of New Ways to Work, a nonprofit focusing on advocacy and technical assistance to improve workforce and education programs and systems. Serving young adults who often live in the shadows, the agency has an intense focus on those from foster, probation, and homeless systems. Having recently concluded a 30-year public sector career in the City and County of Los Angeles, Robert previously served as Assistant General Manager for the City of Los Angeles Economic Development Department where he managed over $70 million annually in public agency grant funds, resulting in programs and services for thousands of Angelenos.

Thanks to a clear vision for how to reengage young people, Robert established the City of Los Angeles YouthSource System, Los Angeles Performance Partnership Pilot (LAP3) and is a founding member of LA:RISE – an innovative model serving homeless and re-entry populations. He also established HIRE LA, one of the nation’s largest public-private youth employment initiatives that combined the visibility of corporate America with solutions designed by policy experts. As part of his extensive tenure with the second largest city in the nation, Robert also served as the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Youth Opportunity Movement and worked as the Assistant and Interim Executive Director of the City of Los Angeles Commission for Children, Youth and Their Families.

Assistant Director of Operations | COYN
Assistant Director of Operations | L.A. Opportunity Youth Collaborative

Melisa Urbina (she/her/ella) is a nonprofit leader with over a decade of experience advancing opportunities for systems-impacted young people and communities of color. Her work centers on uplifting youth voice, partnering with historically marginalized communities, and creating environments where young people can thrive and lead.

Melisa currently serves as the Assistant Director of Operations for the California Opportunity Youth Network (COYN) & the Los Angeles Opportunity Youth Collaborative (OYC), where she helps lead operational strategy, cross-sector partnerships, and related statewide initiatives. In this role, she oversees program operations, grant coordination, communications strategy, and large-scale convenings that bring together public agencies, community organizations, educators, and employers to improve education and workforce outcomes for Opportunity Youth. She is passionate about ensuring that young people with lived expertise are meaningfully engaged in shaping policies, programs, and systems that impact their lives.

She began her nonprofit career at Orange County Human Relations, where she implemented the BRIDGES Safe and Respectful Schools Program across multiple school sites, supporting young people in building safer and more inclusive school communities. Originally from the San Diego/Tijuana border region, Melisa brings both personal perspective and professional dedication to her work advancing equity and opportunity for young people.

She holds a B.A. and M.A. in Spanish Literature and Linguistics from California State University, Fullerton.

Senior Consultant | New Ways to Work

Steve Trippe has led New Ways in all of its youth initiatives and programs, as well as its consulting, training and technical assistance efforts from the mid 1980’s until 2021. He also served as New Ways’ principal author and editor of initiative guides, frameworks, toolkits and process tools. 

Steve is an accomplished facilitator, trainer, presenter, partnership developer and program designer. He is a seasoned veteran in youthwork, beginning his career as a direct service provider in San Francisco in 1975. He has had extensive direct service experience with the CYO of the Bay Area, the San Francisco Art Commission, and as a music teacher in the public schools.

Senior Consultant | New Ways to Work

Gregory D. Burks Sr., Ph.D. brings more than twenty-five years of diversified executive experience, specializing in Nonprofit, Community and Governmental operations. He previously held the position of Director of Workforce Development – Adult Operations for the City of Los Angeles. He was responsible for the City’s workforce development system adult operations that consist of seventeen (17) centers with the enrollment of 8,000 individuals and 200 full-time staff with an annual operating budget of $45M. He’ll apply his experience in the development and implementation of new programs and processes to continue the growth of  New Way to Work  program operation.

Project Associate | COYN

Project Director | Social Change Partners

Ashley De Alba has nearly a decade of experience working on complex long and short-term research projects and specializes in project and data management. Ashley worked at the University of California, Davis where she helped implement and manage all aspects of grant-funded research projects focused on the implications of stressful family context, child and parent stress physiology, and predictors of mental health problems during adolescents using brain, behavior, and social contexts. Ashley also worked in non-profits where she managed main research publications and contributed secondary data from California’s public data sources. 

Ashley has both professional and first-hand experiences with child welfare issues, services, policies, research, and data. Additionally, she has been a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) and a youth advocate at the California Department of Social Services. Ashley is passionate about improving child well-being. Ashley holds a B.S. in Human Development and a Minor in Sociology from the University of California, Davis. She graduated with highest honors and was awarded the prestigious Charles E. Hess Community Service Award for her dedication and commitment to serving her community.