Executive Director: Jesica Mays [email protected]
Jesica Mays earned both her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Masters of Social Work (Organization and Community Practice focus) from Michigan State University. She has experience working in international child welfare, homelessness, working with returning citizens, and supporting domestic and sexual violence surviviors.
Jesica’s first entrance to the world of homelessness and housing was supporting survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in a rural community. From there she began working to find housing and employment for returning citizens exiting jail or prison into the 2008 housing market. Jesica then transitioned over to the world of international child welfare, supporting programs that worked to economically strengthen families to prevent their children from going into orphanages. She came back to working in homelessness in her local community, serving as a Continuum of Care Coordinator for an Independent Jurisdiction CoC. Later, Jesica transitioned to a position as a Homeless Assistance Specialist managing State Emergency Solutions Grant funds across rural counties for the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA). When the opportunity arose in 2019, Jesica was able to return to a CoC role, becoming the Coordinator and later Executive Director of the Michigan Balance of State CoC (MIBOSCOC).
Jesica was glad to join MIBOSCOC and to be able to support agencies, improve systems, and work toward fulfilling the right of every person to have safe and stable housing in rural Michigan. She lives in Manistee County; growing Christmas trees, blueberries, and her family!
Jesica Mays earned both her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Masters of Social Work (Organization and Community Practice focus) from Michigan State University. She has experience working in international child welfare, homelessness, working with returning citizens, and supporting domestic and sexual violence surviviors.
Jesica’s first entrance to the world of homelessness and housing was supporting survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in a rural community. From there she began working to find housing and employment for returning citizens exiting jail or prison into the 2008 housing market. Jesica then transitioned over to the world of international child welfare, supporting programs that worked to economically strengthen families to prevent their children from going into orphanages. She came back to working in homelessness in her local community, serving as a Continuum of Care Coordinator for an Independent Jurisdiction CoC. Later, Jesica transitioned to a position as a Homeless Assistance Specialist managing State Emergency Solutions Grant funds across rural counties for the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA). When the opportunity arose in 2019, Jesica was able to return to a CoC role, becoming the Coordinator and later Executive Director of the Michigan Balance of State CoC (MIBOSCOC).
Jesica was glad to join MIBOSCOC and to be able to support agencies, improve systems, and work toward fulfilling the right of every person to have safe and stable housing in rural Michigan. She lives in Manistee County; growing Christmas trees, blueberries, and her family!
Youth Systems Coordinator: Pam Cornell Allen [email protected]
As the Youth Systems Coordinator, Pam works closely with the Youth Advisory Board to develop their internal capacity and helps to facilitate youth involvement and leadership across the Continuum of Care. She ensures that all needed systems and partners are at the table and collaborating for implementation of the Youth Homeless Demonstration Program Coordinated Community Plan and its related goals and provides staff support to the Youth Subcommittee.
Pam’s training is in social work. Her direct practice experience with children, youth and families has been in the areas of domestic violence, community mental health, juvenile justice and homelessness. She’s also served in managerial and leadership roles both within organizations and the community. Lastly, she’s created (in partnership with young people) and supported youth advisory groups and peer education programs in a variety of settings.
Pam lives in Plymouth with her husband, two teenage children and two dogs. She enjoys nature and the outdoors with her family.
She has always been drawn to community work and believes in the power of people coming together. Building safe and inclusive communities allows people to be their authentic selves, build relationships, learn from one another and to realize their full potential. This is especially true for young people who are often ignored or forgotten. The phrase “nothing about us without us” has always resonated with Pam and supporting youth to make it a reality has long been a passion of hers.
As the Youth Systems Coordinator, Pam works closely with the Youth Advisory Board to develop their internal capacity and helps to facilitate youth involvement and leadership across the Continuum of Care. She ensures that all needed systems and partners are at the table and collaborating for implementation of the Youth Homeless Demonstration Program Coordinated Community Plan and its related goals and provides staff support to the Youth Subcommittee.
Pam’s training is in social work. Her direct practice experience with children, youth and families has been in the areas of domestic violence, community mental health, juvenile justice and homelessness. She’s also served in managerial and leadership roles both within organizations and the community. Lastly, she’s created (in partnership with young people) and supported youth advisory groups and peer education programs in a variety of settings.
Pam lives in Plymouth with her husband, two teenage children and two dogs. She enjoys nature and the outdoors with her family.
She has always been drawn to community work and believes in the power of people coming together. Building safe and inclusive communities allows people to be their authentic selves, build relationships, learn from one another and to realize their full potential. This is especially true for young people who are often ignored or forgotten. The phrase “nothing about us without us” has always resonated with Pam and supporting youth to make it a reality has long been a passion of hers.
HMIS System Administration Liaison: Jayce Ashwill [email protected]
Jayce Ashwill works as the Balance of State HMIS Liaison, helping with statewide HMIS initiatives like the Performance and Outcomes Committee, HMIS Data Quality Reviews, BOS HMIS Support, and Project Scoring. He’s been working with social services and non-profits for over 18 years, and has worked as an HMIS System Administrator in the Greater Grand Traverse and Saginaw CoC’s.
He loves hiking, traveling, swimming, reading, watching the Columbus Crew, and spending time with his family. His wife and he have a little girl with Down Syndrome and they could not be more proud of the incredible little human she’s becoming.
Jayce believes everyone deserves a home. He believes the staff employed at agencies across Michigan in this field do tremendous work, and as an HMIS liaison he tries to make their jobs easier by making the HMIS parts of their work as simple as possible while still meeting all state and federal requirements. He also believes that ultimately we have a responsibility to be good stewards of the limited resources we have and using a systematic approach to data analysis helps us to make intelligent, data-informed decisions to improve our services. Jayce believes that we can produce a big movement statewide towards the goal of decreasing homelessness, by implementing consistent data-informed processes at local agencies.
Jayce Ashwill works as the Balance of State HMIS Liaison, helping with statewide HMIS initiatives like the Performance and Outcomes Committee, HMIS Data Quality Reviews, BOS HMIS Support, and Project Scoring. He’s been working with social services and non-profits for over 18 years, and has worked as an HMIS System Administrator in the Greater Grand Traverse and Saginaw CoC’s.
He loves hiking, traveling, swimming, reading, watching the Columbus Crew, and spending time with his family. His wife and he have a little girl with Down Syndrome and they could not be more proud of the incredible little human she’s becoming.
Jayce believes everyone deserves a home. He believes the staff employed at agencies across Michigan in this field do tremendous work, and as an HMIS liaison he tries to make their jobs easier by making the HMIS parts of their work as simple as possible while still meeting all state and federal requirements. He also believes that ultimately we have a responsibility to be good stewards of the limited resources we have and using a systematic approach to data analysis helps us to make intelligent, data-informed decisions to improve our services. Jayce believes that we can produce a big movement statewide towards the goal of decreasing homelessness, by implementing consistent data-informed processes at local agencies.
CoC Support Coordinator: Katrina Pelfrey [email protected]
Katrina came to the MI Balance of State in 2021 through her role as Allegan County Local Planning Body Coordinator; a position she held for 2 years. She now serves as Balance of State Support Coordinator and Secretary of the Balance of State. Her roles include administration and communication of the BOS subcommittees and providing support to the Executive Director and staff.
She has served on several local and state committees including the Allegan County Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP), Allegan County Housing Assessment, Michigan Regional Housing Plan, the Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness Communications team, and more.
Katrina holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the Ohio State University and worked as a home educator and administrative non-profit volunteer for 20 years. Joining the Balance of State team was a natural extension of her mission to provide support to teams in effectively reaching their goals while building affirming relationships.
Katrina, an Ohio native, has lived in Kalamazoo County for the past 18 years with a recent move to Ottawa County. She enjoys exploring the region and its beautiful natural resources with her husband of 29 years, her adult children and dog Bo.
Katrina came to the MI Balance of State in 2021 through her role as Allegan County Local Planning Body Coordinator; a position she held for 2 years. She now serves as Balance of State Support Coordinator and Secretary of the Balance of State. Her roles include administration and communication of the BOS subcommittees and providing support to the Executive Director and staff.
She has served on several local and state committees including the Allegan County Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP), Allegan County Housing Assessment, Michigan Regional Housing Plan, the Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness Communications team, and more.
Katrina holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the Ohio State University and worked as a home educator and administrative non-profit volunteer for 20 years. Joining the Balance of State team was a natural extension of her mission to provide support to teams in effectively reaching their goals while building affirming relationships.
Katrina, an Ohio native, has lived in Kalamazoo County for the past 18 years with a recent move to Ottawa County. She enjoys exploring the region and its beautiful natural resources with her husband of 29 years, her adult children and dog Bo.
Internal Communications: Fredy Portillo [email protected]
Fredy Portillo works as HMIS Agency Administrator/System Administrator for NMCAA in the Homeless Prevention department. They help communities from the MIBOSCOC and Grand Traverse area with different programs like ESG, HUD, and SSVF.
Fredy’s role in MIBOSCOC is Internal Communications Development and Implementation; basically communicating with the different Committees and agencies through emails, updating the training website and MIBOSCOC website.
A little more about Fredy is he enjoys going fishing with his kids, or by himself. He likes skiing, skating, mountain biking, soccer, basketball and more.
Fredy Portillo works as HMIS Agency Administrator/System Administrator for NMCAA in the Homeless Prevention department. They help communities from the MIBOSCOC and Grand Traverse area with different programs like ESG, HUD, and SSVF.
Fredy’s role in MIBOSCOC is Internal Communications Development and Implementation; basically communicating with the different Committees and agencies through emails, updating the training website and MIBOSCOC website.
A little more about Fredy is he enjoys going fishing with his kids, or by himself. He likes skiing, skating, mountain biking, soccer, basketball and more.
Special Projects: Tina Allen [email protected]
Tina came to Michigan Balance of State through her role as Coordinator of the 10 county Northwest Michigan Coalition to End Homelessness (now retired) and currently serves as Past Chair on the MIBOSCOC Executive Committee. She is a recipient of the CSH Carla Javits Award, NW Michigan Housing Leadership Award, NW Michigan Coalition to End Homelessness Community Impact Award, and Mary Lee Lord Collaborator of the Year Award. Additionally, she is adjunct faculty for Grand Valley State University teaching leadership and team building.
Through her business, Tina consults with nonprofits and local units of government to develop processes of inclusion and creation of voice so that the best possible outcomes may be achieved. Her contracted work with MIBOSCOC includes Youth Homelessness Demonstration Project Manager, LPB and Access Improvement, HMIS Coordinator, 211 Project Manager, and various other supportive roles.
Tina is a proud grandmother to 7 grandchildren which happily occupies much of her "free" time. She loves to stretch her abilities to community projects and, through property donated by her church, just completed a stint as volunteer project manager to develop 11 acres of property in Leelanau County for 14 units of affordable housing which is now under the ownership of Habitat for Humanity. She also volunteers as a grant writer and bookkeeper for a newly formed non-profit, Maraschino Music, which combines music with mental well-being.
Tina came to Michigan Balance of State through her role as Coordinator of the 10 county Northwest Michigan Coalition to End Homelessness (now retired) and currently serves as Past Chair on the MIBOSCOC Executive Committee. She is a recipient of the CSH Carla Javits Award, NW Michigan Housing Leadership Award, NW Michigan Coalition to End Homelessness Community Impact Award, and Mary Lee Lord Collaborator of the Year Award. Additionally, she is adjunct faculty for Grand Valley State University teaching leadership and team building.
Through her business, Tina consults with nonprofits and local units of government to develop processes of inclusion and creation of voice so that the best possible outcomes may be achieved. Her contracted work with MIBOSCOC includes Youth Homelessness Demonstration Project Manager, LPB and Access Improvement, HMIS Coordinator, 211 Project Manager, and various other supportive roles.
Tina is a proud grandmother to 7 grandchildren which happily occupies much of her "free" time. She loves to stretch her abilities to community projects and, through property donated by her church, just completed a stint as volunteer project manager to develop 11 acres of property in Leelanau County for 14 units of affordable housing which is now under the ownership of Habitat for Humanity. She also volunteers as a grant writer and bookkeeper for a newly formed non-profit, Maraschino Music, which combines music with mental well-being.