Leadership Team

David Bonaccorsi

I am a lifelong Fremont resident, past board member and board Vice-President for a Fremont-based nonprofit, Abode Services (which is dedicated to ending homelessness), with 12 years of combined experience on the Fremont City Council and Fremont Planning Commission. Together with other community and emerging leaders, I helped organize grass roots support for the Fremont Housing Navigation Center (HNC) over stiff and increasing opposition (or at least increasingly vocal opposition!). Known originally as the Friends of the HNC, our movement and community engagement has now grown to embrace a larger mission of supporting those experiencing homelessness to include all of our marginalized neighbors, among them our residents seeking inclusionary affordable housing. I have been on the Fremont For Everyone Leadership team since its inception and was more recently honored by being formally elected by our dedicated all-volunteer members to continue in this role. And I’m privileged to work with my talented colleagues on the Fremont For Everyone Leadership Team.

Lisa Danz

Lisa Danz has lived in Fremont since 2018 and in the Bay Area most of her life.  She got involved with housing and homelessness in Fremont during the Housing Navigation Center effort in 2019, moved to speak up after becoming increasingly uncomfortable listening to some residents spreading fear of our unhoused neighbors.  She has served on the Fremont for Everyone leadership team since early 2021.

Outside of housing work, Lisa spends a lot of her focus on climate solutions and is an active volunteer with Citizens' Climate Lobby.  In addition to the obvious human rights benefits of abundant affordable housing, she sees housing as a climate solution that can reduce vehicle miles traveled if jobs and housing are balanced and people can afford to live near work.

Marie Hughes

I have lived in Fremont for over 25 years and raised my two children here. Most of that time, we lived in the Parkmont area but recently we moved to Niles. During that time I have seen developers throw up small numbers of expensive housing on small patches of land instead of building affordable housing that serves our community. As a result, our children can’t afford to live here and many people are being pushed into homelessness.

I became involved with Fremont for Everyone during the Housing Navigation Center controversy. I believe strongly that we can solve the problem of homelessness in Fremont both by providing services and housing to those already unhoused and by building more housing so that more people have a place to live and prevent homelessness.

I am now the Communications Director for Fremont for Everyone. Please contact me if you want to help!

Annie Koruga

Hi, my name is Annie! I’ve lived here in Fremont for more than a decade, and I’ve been with Fremont For Everyone since the beginning. Back in 2019, I was the tabling lead for our campaign to win the Housing Navigation Center. I turned people out, made plans, saw the need for this organizing work, and saw the power of us turning out to win. Since then, I’ve had many other organizing experiences: organizing electorally and around issues, for many different things from anti-homophobia to safe parking.

My organizing experience is very, varied which means that I’ve practiced a diversity of tactics and have a unique skill set. I know how to mobilize people, how to strategize, how to build coalitions, how to coordinate, and how to build consensus.

My three priorities are:

ONE: re-engaging people who have previously been involved, to build our base and our power. We learned that when we fight, we win, but we need a lot of people to fight. We need to re-engage our contacts on our contact list and in our Facebook Group.

TWO: we need to get new people involved, through building out our social media presence and exciting people by running campaigns. Usually new people engage when there’s a reason to, like when a campaign is going on.

THREE: I want to apply the lessons we’ve learned from previous campaigns to wage and win future ones. We’ve learned how to win, now we need to do it again. I want to, in time, run campaigns for things like more navigation centers, more safe parking, more affordable housing, and increased funding for unhoused support services. I also want to fight for things that prevent people from becoming unhoused in the first place like higher wages and reasonable rents whenever possible. Finally, I want to directly engage with community members through mutual aid, community education, and organizing tenants. Re-engage, engage, and campaign with me!

Katherine Rubie

The most significant and life-changing impact homelessness had on me was when it finally happened to me. My spouse and I had been hanging by a thread for years prior to our ultimate loss of housing. We were in denial, thinking “if we could just get through this month, then we would be fine.” We burned through every resource we had until there were no other resources left to us.

In January 2019, we finally came to the point we were no longer able to pay our rent. We called every local agency, organization, and charity to get help with our rent. No one could help us. We learned a great deal about "the system" we live under: it is mired in red tape, lacks programs to prevent homelessness, and we were told repeatedly to "call back when you're homeless." We became homeless in June 2019 and remained homeless for 6 months. 

Our experience was filled with trauma, frustration and demoralizing days spent talking to all those agencies, organizations, and charities mentioned earlier, with still more "no, we cannot help you" answers. I learned a lot about our system through my experiences prior to and during my stint as a homeless person. Ultimately, the largest hindrance to progress on this issue is the lack of understanding of the homeless, their stories, and how they got to the place they are. We must educate people to make progress and implement change for the homeless.

My awareness of a palpable hatred and bias against the homeless occurred when I was a member of Nextdoor, and the Fremont Homeless Navigation Center reached a frenzied reaction - and even threats of violence - against the homeless. I was homeless at the time and needed to add my story to the conversations to counter the myths and stereotypes these folks believed and promoted. 

I decided to speak at a Fremont City Council Meeting in favor of the HNC, and in that environment of belligerent people, I was afraid. Presenting a different face to homeless folks when I stood up to speak helped move people and their opinions. Educating the public is key to gaining more support and reducing resistance. 

While homeless, I realized my purpose in life is to end homelessness. I have learned so much through my experience about the barriers, the politics, the social attitudes, and much more. I’m fortunate to be in a unique position because I am also educated, articulate, and persuasive in the spoken and written word. I have several ideas around ending homelessness through a multi-pronged approach, while minimizing additional costs to taxpayers. I am very excited about gaining traction on these ideas and implementing them as soon as possible.

Hayes Shair

I am a homeowner and parent of two children living in the Sundale neighborhood, as well as a practicing architect with land development experience. I started my career in the design of multi-family affordable housing projects, working alongside community-based / affordable development groups (e.g. TNDC, Mercy Housing, Eden) in San Francisco, which sparked a passion to find equitable housing solutions for all. I bring a practical, professional knowledge of current planning practices, building design, CEQA, land-use law, and State Housing Legislation.

As a two-year FFE leadership member, I've been involved in hosting Feeding Events, managing the newsletter, logo design, event planning, serving as liaison to the Human Services Division, building coalitions with housing-aligned groups, membership management and retention, By-laws drafting, and providing a technical support role for Zoom webinars / events. My priorities will be to: 1) find ways to grow the organization and maximize impact on our community given the constraints of a pandemic recovery 2) to continue to advocate for Safe Parking until we have a City-wide program in place (among other unhoused solutions). 3) Lobby at the State-Level for housing production bills and increased funding packages.

Vinita Verma

Basic trait of humanity is empathy and compassion. The day we lose them, we lose the title of being human. We need to be able to open our arms for those who need it the most. It is a privilege to live in Fremont and even a greater privilege when you do not have to think about where your next meal will come from or where you will sleep. Fremont's strength is diversity. Let's keep it diverse and welcoming

Paul Webster

Renegade became a part of my life through my household experiences that my mother nurtured. While growing up, she brought unhoused individuals into our home to either assist them with becoming financially stable or mentally coherent. My mom herself came from a background of drug abuse and throughout her own life she transmuted that energy into something better and wanted to assist others with this same process. Mainly because she knew the pain that would arise from these types of lifestyles. This inspired me to do the same and continue to make an impact in local communities nearby for the betterment of this environment. So I brought the idea to a club at Ohlone college called “Ohlone Sustainability Club” and they taught me more about curating a sustainable platform so it could continue to strive.

Sometime down the road I got involved with Fremont for Everyone while advocating for the HNC while raising our voices for the importance of housing for our unhoused community members. I saw a group of individuals that had a likewise mind, who wanted to also help make a impact in Fremont.

How I see myself impacting Renegade/ Fremont For Everyone is through utilizing what OSC taught me about, which is developing a system where all the three E’s (Ethnics, Environment, Economics) are sustained. This can be done through acknowledging the issues which exist and creating a healthier space then what was brought to us. I see things that aren't harmonizing with the rhythm of the universe and know through love, patience, and dedication these things can become more balanced!

My passions are centered around cleaning, showing emotional support to people, and most importantly creativity. I'm an artist at heart and I like to express realms that I see within. I've been drawing since a young age and have a very colorful past so the palette has many variants that'll brighten my future.