Active funding OPPORTUNITIES
Meeting Recording
LCCoC Lived Experience Advisory Board
Meet our Lived Experienced Advisory Board.
Our mission is to amplify the voices for individuals with lived experience of insecure housing; ensuring that their perspectives can guide necessary community change and shape the solutions that meet real needs.
Robert Sexton - LEAB Executive Committee Chair
Coming Soon!
Willow Nunez - Youth Chair
Willow Nunez is a resilient and compassionate young woman whose journey reflects extraordinary strength and perseverance. At just 22, she has overcome the profound challenges of homelessness and rejection, navigating life as an unaccompanied transgender youth. She is currently pursuing a nursing degree at Lake County Woodland Community College while also working as a clerk and tutor in the Student Success Center. Willow’s story is one of transformation—from despair to hope, from isolation to community. Willow strives to ensure that no one feels unloved or forgotten. Her voice is a beacon for homeless youth everywhere.
Tifffany Hall - Member
Tiffany Hall, a beacon of resilience and hope, serves on Lake County
COC’s Lived Experience Advisory Board. Her life, a
testament to the human spirit’s resilience, has been forged in the fires of
homelessness, abuse, and addiction. She has transformed trauma -
including childhood sexual abuse and a violent kidnapping - into strength
and healing through spiritual practices and recovery groups, as well as the
support and guidance of her entire healthcare team. A dedicated mother
and mental health advocate, Tiffany’s diverse background from
entrepreneurship to higher education fuels her compassionate community
service. She is dedicated to her recovery and is currently working a 12-step
program, and is on pace to complete 180 meetings in 90 days. Her story
inspires hope, and her journey demonstrates the transformative power of
perseverance and the enduring strength of the human spirit.
George McKissick
Coming Soon!
Past LEAB Members Success
Dustin Lawson - Chair
Former Executive Chair Member of Lake County Continuum of Care (LCCOC)
Dustin Lawson is more than a leader—he is a survivor, a changemaker, and a fierce
advocate for those who are too often unheard. As Executive Chair of the LCCOC and chair
member of Live Experience Advisory Board, Dustin brings wisdom born from lived
experience. He grew up navigating unstable housing, incarceration, and addiction, and
understands in his bones what it means to live without safety, support, or a place to
belong.
For Dustin, this work is deeply personal. He lost his brother on the streets of San
Francisco—an unbearable tragedy that became a turning point in his life. It taught him that
housing isn’t just about shelter—it’s about dignity, healing, and survival. He knows
firsthand that most families are only one or two missed paychecks away from becoming
homeless, and he’s committed to building a system that never forgets that truth.
Dustin is a college graduate with degrees in Human Services, Chemical
Dependency Counseling, and Social and Behavioral Sciences. He works as a Community
Health Worker and is the founder of Recovery Scholars, a student-led movement that
uplifts people in recovery and dismantles the stigma that so often holds them back.
Dustin served on the Lake County LEAB to be a voice for those still struggling in silence—
those in jail cells, in recovery, in shelters, or just trying to hold it all together. His heart
beats for real justice, recovery, and second chances. His focus areas include reentry
support, mental health access, substance use recovery and creating spaces where healing
and community can thrive.
With Dustin's success, he is no longer a LEAB member but continues to provide guidance to the current LEAB.
Congratulations Dustin!
Maria Petterle - Member
Maria is just freshly starting to begin what she believes is her soul's purpose in life. Most of her adult life she has battled addiction, housing instability, and homelessness. While in the midst of her addiction she realized she was being called to become an advocate for herself and others in shoes like hers. Now with the resources of the transitional housing project the Hope Center, she is looking to start a certificate training program to become a peer support specialist. Maria hopes to be an inspiration to other community members as well as having an impact on changing how addicts and the homeless are viewed and treated by law enforcement and the community. Most importantly Maria’s goal is to turn her negative life experiences into a blessing by enabling her to help others.
Miria has