Home | About Us | Contact Us | Links

Donna R. Bauer
Donna Bauer is a founding member of Voices for Children, and has served as Executive Director of Director’s Mentoring Project.

Bauer also serves on the Commission for Children and Families; the University of the Incarnate Word Teacher Education Advisory Board as Vice Chair; and San Antonio Association for the Education of Young Children as Vice President. She is a Recipient of the American Institute for Public Service, Jefferson Award. University of the Incarnate Word awards the Community Champion Award in her name each year at the Playwork Institute of the Americas, Play and Literacy Symposium

Ralph C. Bender, Architect Emeritus FAIA, AICP
For the past 47 years Ralph Bender has had a diverse career in San Antonio. He has served as director of planning for the City of San Antonio, director of planning and design for Ray Ellison Industries, and director of planning and design for the Morton/Lee Companies. He has been a teacher at Trinity University, a public speaker, and a private urban planning consultant. He has been the president of Bender Associates, a professional architectural and urban planning firm. He has long been an early-childhood advocate. Recently retired from his practice of architecture, he was one of the founding members of Voices for Children. He was a cofounder of the Alamo Community College District and LULAC Parent/Child Scholarship Trust program. He was one of the founders of the San Antonio Sports Foundation, serving as its first chair, and is now chairman emeritus. Currently he is the president of USA Pentathlon, the national governing body of the Olympic sport of pentathlon.

Coach George Block
Coach Block has served as Director of Aquatics for the Northside School District since 1977 and Assistant Director of Athletics since 1993. In that time, he has developed the Northside Aquatic Center into an internationally recognized center for athlete development.

Coach Block has developed 6 different Olympians in three different sports, 50 UIL State Gold Medalists, over 250 All-Americans, Olympic Trials qualifiers and numerous National and Junior Champions.

Coach Block has received the Phillips 66 Performance Award and been named the Coca-Cola Texas Coach of Honor. In 1997, the United States Water Fitness Association named the Northside Aquatics Center the Top School District/Community Facility in the nation and Coach Block its Top Aquatics Director. In 2000, Coach Block was awarded the Silver Award of Excellence from the American Swimming Coaches’ Association.

Coach Block was one of the founders of the San Antonio Sports Foundation, and of Voices for Children of San Antonio, of which he is currently chairman of the board.

Roger Caballero
Roger Caballero has served since 1986 as Executive Director of Positive Beginnings, Inc., an organization that uses a holistic approach toward early childhood development programs and related social services for low-income families.

He developed Early Childhood Development Teacher Training and Jobs Program for low-income individuals. The program was recognized as “The Best of Texas” in 1992 by the Corporate Child Development Fund.

The program was the first program that provides childcare services to low-income families to achieve National Accreditation through the National Academy of Early Childhood Programs.
Caballero helped successfully transition the Center from a contract agency to a per unit private contract agency. The organizations’ budget has grown from $297,000 in 1986 to over 1.5 million since 2000.

Caballero also serves on the Board of Directors for Edgewood Community Development, and the Non-Profit Resource Center of Texas Board of Directors.

He has been affiliated with the Alamo Area Council of Governments Regional Health and Human Services Advisory Committee, Edgewood Independent School District Board of Trustees, Secretary, Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services Child Care Advisory Committee, Mainstreet Alliance of San Antonio, Southtown, Board of Directors.

Susan Caster

Anthony Edwards

Kenneth J. Fiedler Jr.
Mr. Fiedler is a licensed engineer. He retired from City Public Service utility company in San Antonio, TX with 35 years of gas and electric utility experience. He has 21 years experience in mid-to-upper management and has had extensive business management training through advanced professional training programs. He has over nine years of vice president level management experience in operations, construction, and maintenance of both transmission and distribution activities and generation activities, and experience with customer service and marketing activities; and over twelve years of financial asset management experience.

He is a member of the Board of the North San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and has served as chairman. He is the past president of the Board of the Rural Fire Prevention District No. 2, Comal County, Texas, a charter member, and charter president of the Bulverde Lions Club and a former alderman for Bulverde, TX.

Pat Frost
Mr. Frost is president and director of Frost Bank in San Antonio, TX. He has been with Frost Bank since 1984 when he began as a credit analyst. He also worked as a loan officer before he became Assistant Vice President in 1986.

He serves on the board of the San Antonio Rotary Club and the Free Trade Alliance. He is a board member for the Cancer Therapy and Research Center, the Ecumenical Center for Religion and Health, the Alamo Bowl Association, Golf San Antonio, the United Way of San Antonio, and numerous other organizations.

Christopher Martinez
Chris Martinez was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. After graduating from Central Catholic HS, he pursued his BBA at St. Mary’s University. Mr. Martinez is working in the family business, Central Electric Ent. & Co. He currently is Vice President of the company handling the daily operations. Presently, Chris is part of several boards and organizations, including: Central Catholic Alumni Board, Coastal Conservation Association, Independent Electrical Contractor’s Association Board of Director’s, St. Mary’s University Alumni Board, Fiesta Oyster Bake Committee, Terraces @ The Reserves Home Owner’s Association, City of San Antonio Zoning Commission and South Texas Business Fund Board.

Leilah Powell
Leilah Powell is the Government Relations Manager for Bexar County, Texas, and is responsible for coordinating Bexar County policies and programs with local, state and federal governments and serving as liaison with elected officials. Prior to joining the County, she was with the City of San Antonio for five years, serving as a Neighborhood Developer Manager and then as Assistant to the Mayor. Her professional background also includes experience with affordable housing lending and community development finance in non-profit and for-profit settings.

She is a member of the Advisory Council of the School of Architecture at the University of Texas and has served on the boards of the Alamo Area Mutual Housing Association, the Mahncke Park Neighborhood Association, and the San Antonio Section of the Texas Chapter of the American Planning Association, among others.

Marian Sokol, Ph.D. M.P.H.
Marian Sokol is currently President of First Candle/SIDS Alliance, a national not-for-profit organization with a mission of promoting infant health and survival from the prenatal period through two years of age. Sokol was Executive Director of Any Baby Can from its inception in 1982 until 2003. Any Baby Can is a model support center for critically and chronically ill and disabled children. During the past 20 years the program has provided case management and assistance to more than 18,000 families, many in crisis situations.

Any Baby Can has been nationally recognized for innovative efforts that include the ABC Baby Helpline, Crisis Fund for Infants, and intergenerational Family Friends. Any Baby Can created the Texas Respite Resource Network, Children's Transplant Association of Texas, the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Support Group of San Antonio, and the Tiny Trax program for very low birth weight babies.

Sokol also founded and has served as Chair of the Texas Network for Medically Fragile and Chronically Ill Children and is recognized throughout the state for child advocacy initiatives, including co-founding Voices for Children of San Antonio.

She has taught at UTSA and San Antonio College, and has served on numerous local, state and national Boards addressing health care needs of children. Included among these is a decade of service to Methodist Women's and Children's Hospital in San Antonio, with three years as Board Chair. In 1995, Dr. Sokol was designated by Secretary Donna Shalala as Commissioner on the National Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines. She served as Commission Chairperson in 1997 and in 1998 was appointed as a member of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee for a four-year term. She is also serving presently as the Governor’s appointee to the Texas Office for Prevention of Disabilities, and as Chair of the Board of the national SIDS Alliance.

Sokol is the recipient of many awards, including citations from City Council and the Texas Pediatric Society. Her leadership has also been recognized by induction into the San Antonio Women's Hall of Fame, participation in Leadership Texas, selection for a 1987 Imaginer Award from the Mind Science Foundation, the Excellence 90 Health Care Professional Award from the Women's Coalition, appointment as Vice Chair of the Governor's Commission for Women, 1991-93, the 1996 Prudential HealthCare's Salute to San Antonio's Good Health Award, and San Antonio Community of Churches Award in 2001.

On April 2, 1992, Any Baby Can under the leadership of Marian Sokol was named by President Bush as the 735th Point of Light. The non-profit agency presently has offices in San Antonio, Austin, and Kerrville, Texas.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth R. Thompson
Ken Thompson retired as Executive Director of the Greater San Antonio Community of Churches in 2006, a position in which he has served since 1992. He received the Master of Divinity and Doctor of Theology degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and completed Post Doctoral studies at the Institute of Far Eastern Languages, Yale University. After serving as a pastor in Texas and Oklahoma for nine years, he taught Christian Ethics and Theology at the Korea Baptist Seminary. He served for thirty years as an Air Force Chaplain. Presently, he serves on the San Antonio Crime Prevention Commission; the Board of Directors of the American Red Cross; the Greater San Antonio Interfaith Disaster Relief Alliance and the boards of Christian Assistance Ministries, Woman at the Well House and Voices for Children of San Antonio.

Lisa Uribe-Kozlovsky
Lisa Uribe has eight years experience in the classroom as a fulltime teacher. To continue using her experiences to assist child development programs with their quality enhancement, she began facilitating workshops. She continued as a consultant until she returned to San Antonio where she became Program Director for a non-profit organization, which provided children’s services. During her term, three programs for young children where developed to meet the needs of specific populations, school-age parents, children withdrawn from their family home and differently abled children. This remained her focus until 1999 when she returned to consulting. Since then, the majority of Uribe’s projects focus on organizational development of non-profit agencies within the South Texas area, such as program development, strategic planning, and board retreats.

Dawn C. White
I often say that my passion for children was not something I chose but something that chose me-I was born loving children. I was the kind of child always hanging out at the church nursery volunteering my services to care for the babies when I was probably only 5 or 6 myself. I spent my teen years babysitting and working at summer camps but never really knew this would be a career or that I would have the opportunity to work with, for and on behalf of children. My first professional experience occurred one summer when I took a summer job at a child care center. I loved it but at the same time was shocked at the poor care, lack of structure and lack of teacher skill. I was hooked and really driven to make a change. I have had the privilege of teaching, directing child care programs, and working on programs that advocate for change and improvement in the field of Early Childhood Education. This has lead me to understand the need for social services that support the child, the family and the community. I had the privilege of working with SMART START, Family Service Association, was awarded the SAAEYC Community Leadership award, Chaired the Board of TACCRRA (Texas Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies), awarded a Fellowship with Children’s Defense Fund, and continue to serve on the Voices for Children of San Antonio Board. Currently I am the Director of Leadership and Corporate Giving for Goodwill Industries, advocating for individuals with disabilities and barriers to employment. Often, many of these adults struggling with employment issues in adulthood could have been helped in early childhood and would not need so many intervention services. My professional work today continues to make me a passionate advocate for early childhood as a key to the future success of individuals, families and our community.

Diego J. Pena
Diego J. Pena is a labor attorney for AT&T Services, Inc.  A local magazine, Scene in San Antonio, recognized Mr. Pena as one of "San Antonio's Best Lawyers" in the labor and employment field. After graduating from John Marshall High School in San Antonio, he attended and graduated from the University of Notre Dame and the University of Texas School of Law.  He also has an M.A. in history from the University of Texas at San Antonio.  Governor George W. Bush appointed Mr. Pena to serve on the Texas Judicial Council in 1995 and 1997.  He has also served on the board of directors for the San Antonio Bar Association, the Child Guidance Center, and the Guadalupe Home.  He has also served on the 2004 and 2007 Northside Independent School District Bond Committees.  He is a sustaining life fellow of the San Antonio and Texas Bar Foundations.  He currently serves as a District Deputy for the Texas State Council of the Knights of Columbus.  He and his wife Pia have three children.  They attend St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church in Boerne, Texas.

City Budget Hearing Update

Well-over twenty child advocates attended the City Council Budget Hearing on September 3^rd.  Many spoke and many others stood in their support.  Our message was clear:  invest in young children for the greatest return; and the professional development of our early childhood teachers is the best way to ensure a smart start!

The high point of the evening was a presentation to council members of decorated flower pots that carried information about the number of children, child care centers and child care teachers in their district!  Children from centers in each district presented the gifts!  We snapped a few photos, follow link to catch those kids’ smiles!