calvin chang, CHAIRPERSON
Calvin previously served as Director of Policy at EPIC where he authored the “Policy Platform Blueprint for Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in the United States,” and supervised the development and launch of “A Community of Contrasts: Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in the United States” and "A Community of Contrasts: Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in California." At Tongan Community Service Center, Calvin successfully led an anti-tobacco campaign that led to the passage of a comprehensive smoke-free outdoor area ordinance in Carson. Calvin earned a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego and a J.D. from Seton Hall Law School.
Audrey Kawaiopua Alo, PRESIDENT
Audrey Aofia'omalo'aufa'atasi, Laieikawaiopua Alo, MPA, 20+ years community volunteer, advocate, and educator. Hawai’i’s Daughters Guild of Southern California, 1st Vice-President; LE GaFa—Leadership and Education through Gagana Fa’a Samoa, President; Southern California Pacific Islander Covid-19 Response Team, Resources Lead; Lundquist Institute Community Engagement Research Participation (CERP), Community Member; UCLA Clinical & Translational Science Institute, Patient Advocate. Cultural Advisor to academia, corporations, entities and communities.
Heidi CHARGUALAF-Quenga, Vice President
Mrs. Quenga, the current Vice President for the Pacific Islander Health Partnership, is an Accounting Financial Advisor and holds a B.S. in Business Management. Her involvement and efforts to preserve Pacific Islander heritages stem from her tenured Directorship with the award-winning Kutturan Chamoru Foundation (KCF), a tuition-free 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of the Chamoru culture through song and dance from the Mariana Islands in Micronesia. Mrs. Quenga is the 1st Pacific Islander to receive the California Arts Council Artist-In-Residence from 2000 -2002. She continues her efforts to ensure inclusion of Pacific Islanders as a Cultural Advisor to countless community groups, projects and initiatives across the Continental US.
Charlene Kazner, SECRETARY
Charlene Kazner is a Native Hawaiian born in Wailuku, Maui, Hawai’i, raised in Honolulu, Hawai`i and now resides in Garden Grove, California. She is a board member of Pacific Islander Health Partnership (PIHP) and a Native Hawaiian Health Navigator and Educator for breast, cervical and colorectal cancer, diabetes, obesity and heart disease.
She has participated in health care workshops educating women in clinical breast awareness and breast health, diabetes, obesity and heart disease She has been a member of the Weaving an Islander Network for Cancer Awareness, Research and Training (WINCART) Advisory Group. WINCART promotes cancer education, research and training among Pacific Islanders, with the goal of reducing disparities in cancer incidence and mortality among Native Hawaiians, Samoans, Tongans, Marshallese and Chamorros.
She is currently the Native Hawaiian liaison for PIHPs outreach projects. Charlene is the Immediate Past President of `Āinahau O Kaleponi Hawaiian Civic Club, a national organization of over 65 clubs, whose mission is to practice and perpetuate the traditions, beliefs, language and arts of the indigenous people of Hawai’i and participate in civic engagement at the local, state and national levels. She has held leadership roles on several Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community festivals, public and private cultural arts presentations, Hawaiian language classes, and teaches Hawaiian history and culture at the Braille Institute for the Blind in Anaheim. Charlene spent over 25 years in the aerospace business with The Boeing Company. As a finance manager, she was responsible for the financial forecast of commercial aircraft, totaling over $3 billion annually. She led a team of financial analysts spread across the nation.
LEATAPO TUPUA SALANOA FESILI, TREASURER
Leatapo Tupua Salanoa Fesili, new board member to Pacific Islander Health Partnership, also serves on the board of LE GAFA--Leadership and Education through Gagana (language) and Fa’a Sāmoa (Samoan culture). Working as a California licensed Respiratory Care Practitioner for over twenty years, providing respiratory care interventions, pulmonary education, and support for those diagnosed with acute and chronic respiratory diseases. Degrees from Kanana Fou Theological Seminary, Claremont School of Theology (Master of Divinity), and Princeton Theological Seminary (Master of Theology). Experience as hospital chaplain (Clinical Pastoral Education) at the Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu, and assistant minister at the First Congregational Samoan Christian Church in Los Angeles.
Melenaite Fifita, board member
Ms. Fifita has served on the board of directors for PIHP since 2012. She is active as Co-chair for Pacific Islander Festival of Orange County, PIHP’s toys-for-tots drive, and the Aquarium of the Pacific’s annual Pacific Islander Festival & AOP sleep-over for Pacific Islander students. Ms. Fifita is the co-founder of Famili Pe Taha, a Tongan civic organization that hosts cultural linguistic classes, immigration & citizenship workshops, and mental health focus groups. In 2020, Ms. Fifita was the recipient of the APIA Scholars’ Coca Cola Scholarship. She graduated Magna Cum Laude Honors from The University of California, Irvine majoring in Sociology with an emphasis on Activism and Social Justice. Her minor focus of study was in Civic and Community Engagement. Ms. Fifita is currently a Staff Research Associate and Patient Navigator at UCI’s Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center within the Office of Community Outreach and Engagement. Her community-based projects promote cancer prevention and early detection among Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in Orange County.
Neritha KElani Silk, Board Member
Kelani is Founder & Director, Marshallese Youth of Orange County. Kelani is of Marshallese and Kiribati’s ancestry. She has worked with community-based organizations in Southern California for over a decade, mostly focused on assisting with higher education, cultural education and preservation, health advocacy and data collection. She represented the Marshallese community at both a local and federal capacity and her work in the past include: The National Council of Asian Pacific Americans Policy Summit to shape and integrate Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) community voices and priorities, Washington DC; NHPI National Convening meeting with policymakers, Washington DC; and at the Stakeholder’s Convening, Mainlanders for Education, Las Vegas, NV; Connecting with sister Island non-profits programs to not only better assist the students under MYOC but the varies underserved RMI communities both locally and nationwide. In addition, Kelani has taught weaving and dance workshops at the Pacific Island Ethnic Art Museum and has in the past been a board member of the Pacific Islanders Community Council, Jake Jobol Eo Club and continues to work at an international level as a liaison between the RMI private sectors managing various functions for visiting delegates. She was born in Chicago, Illinois, is the daughter of Deacon Jack and Neibaj Silk and brought up with a traditional Marshallese upbringing.