National Advisory Board
Cherie Dimmerling
With a history of advocating for the underserved and a successful career as an entrepreneur and C-Suite executive, Cherie Dimmerling brings a disciplined business-like approach to delivering results for Sacramentans facing housing challenges.
While working on her undergraduate degree in Psychology, Cherie administered Psychometric tests for Cell Block placement and Parole/Community Release at Indian River: a Facility for juvenile males who have been adjudicated by Ohio’s county courts. Cherie later worked with female inmates at Northeast Pre-Release Center to assist in the transition process pending release. As a Social Worker for The Harvest Home- a Christian Emergency Shelter- Cherie worked with women and children facing homelessness and wrote their first grant proposal to successfully expand financial support for critical services.
Cherie held several positions with G.E. which she credits with instilling a life-long focus on clear-eyed analysis and accountability, and has served as a Bank VP and Finance Company CEO. A visible leader, Cherie has regularly appeared as a subject matter expert on radio and TV, addressing housing and financing matters.
Troubled by housing inequities in Northeast Ohio, Cherie partnered with a nationally renowned civil rights attorney at the Fair Housing Council of Northeast Ohio. The Council worked with regional Municipalities to update housing ordinances to comply with the Fair Housing Assistance Program requirements. Tapping federal funds from FHAP grants, the program delivers millions of dollars of support to improve housing equity in Northeast Ohio.
Cherie served as the Women’s Vote Project’s Executive Director and Vice Chair of the National Civil Rights Summit. Cherie co-produced and appeared in a Telly-Award-winning documentary with civil rights icon Julian Bond. The experience gave her fresh insight and passion for social justice issues and solidified her belief that thoughtful policy can triumph over seemingly insurmountable challenges.
In Sacramento, Cherie was drawn to helping the homeless. As she learned their stories, she realized Sacramento was falling short in a critical component of addressing homelessness: keeping people in their homes. Cherie believes in a wide range of modalities, including tapping available federal resources, forming lasting partnerships with the business community and municipalities, and enhancing regional efforts to improve outcomes and reduce redundancies.
Cherie can be reached at cherie@fairhousingsacramento.org.
Ronald Javor
Ronald Javor is a retired Sacramento attorney with over forty years with the California Department of Housing and Community Development including as General Counsel.
In addition to specializing in housing finance and building codes, Ron actively participated in the drafting, lobbying for, and implementation of various state laws and local ordinances adding and enforcing tenant and resident protection. These included critical additions to California’s retaliatory eviction protection (including arguing a case in the California Supreme Court on its scope), laws and standards for Universal Design and other accessibility requirements in California housing, and many rights and physical improvement standards for mobile home park homeowners.
Ron has served on several boards and commissions including two terms as a mayoral appointee to the Sacramento Human Rights/Fair Housing Commission, the Sacramento Housing Alliance, Mutual California (affordable housing construction and preservation), First Home Communities (housing opportunities for homeless persons), and various other local housing rights and homelessness organizations, and has received numerous local, state and national awards for his volunteer and professional service.
He has coauthored legal books and articles on California landlord-tenant law and affordable housing development issues. His website is ronaldjavorbooks.com.
Eva Revesz
Eva Revesz inherited a passion for justice and a strong objection to discrimination of any kind from her family of Holocaust survivors. As an only child of immigrants, she was aware at an early age of the disparity between people based on income, race, ethnicity, and gender. Eva was determined to find a profession that allowed her to advocate for the underserved and oppressed and fight for social justice.
Eva graduated from McGill University, Montreal, Canada with a B.A. in Abnormal Psychology. While pursuing her undergraduate degree, she was a part-time research assistant testing low-income children’s reading ability. After graduation, she worked as an Assistant Program Coordinator and Research Assistant (with the Supervisory Psychologist) evaluating whether Sensory Integration Therapy had positive benefits for children diagnosed with Autism at a children’s school in Montreal.
With her interest in family systems, Eva resumed her studies at McGill and received her BSW in Social Work. She was subsequently offered a position at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal with a multi-disciplinary team of Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Occupational Therapists, and Social Workers working with acute young adult psychiatric patients and families. She co-led psychoeducational groups with team members for families of newly diagnosed individuals with schizophrenia, coping skills groups for young adults, and performed general case management and follow-up duties. The stigma of mental illness was an impediment to successful functioning and re-integration for individuals post-discharge, and many clients ended up homeless and isolated. She was energized to set up a community-based program with our program’s occupational therapist where clients could work part-time with peer support.
Eva pursued a Master of Social Work degree from McGill University and worked with the Children’s Aid Society in Ottawa Canada due to her love of working with children. She worked as an adoption social worker doing home studies with prospective parents, matching children with available homes, and working to transition foster children into permanent homes. She was acutely aware of the harm that indefinite foster care can cause children. Tragically she saw children aging out of foster care with very little support and often ending up homeless.
In 1994 Eva and her family moved to Sacramento where she received her Clinical Licensing (LCSW) at Jewish Family Services. An opportunity arose to work for the newly formed Sacramento Child Advocates under the leadership of Referee Carol Chrisman. This non-profit was formed in reaction to the high number of child deaths in foster care in Sacramento. The agency provided advocacy through all levels for children in the dependency system utilizing social workers and attorneys to provide a voice for abused and neglected children in the foster care system. This system was overburdened by large caseloads, lack of supervision of high-risk cases, and inadequate oversight of foster care placements. She served as a member of The Child Death Review Committee providing a report with analysis and recommendations to the Board of Supervisors and assessing whether the VOC (victim of Crimes) funds for therapy for children were used appropriately.
Eva began teaching Social Work courses for the CSUS Department of Social Work related to child welfare, where she taught until 2013.
After leaving CSUS, Eva managed a busy primary care practice where her case management and advocacy skills were invaluable. She advocated for patients, helped patients connect to supportive and rehabilitation services, and managed a staff of 5 medical assistants.
After retirement, Eva turned her energy toward helping prevent homelessness and supporting unhoused individuals in our Sacramento community.
Please welcome Eva Revesz!
Carly Hessel
Carly has been working with those less fortunate since she was 12 years old when she volunteered at an assisted living medical facility for the terminally ill or incapacitated in Cincinnati, Ohio.
While in college at California State, she continued volunteering her time with men experiencing homelessness in Salinas, California. The program was a collaboration between the college and local organizations that provided men safe sleeping quarters at religious and/or community centers.
Carly began working for the State of California in a first responder role as a public safety dispatcher and dispatch supervisor answering 911 calls and handling emergency radio traffic channels. She later transitioned to analyst positions where she worked with confidential data sets, performed statewide contract and project management, and briefly worked as a victims’ advocate.
Carly is especially passionate about increasing protections for domestic violence survivors and educating profressional partners on abuse cycles. As a survivor of domestic violence, she has seen firsthand the devastation this cycle brings to families and the community. She is especially moved by survivors attempting to escape from abusive environments that end up homeless with no resources and considers herself fortunate to be able to give back. She is humbled and honored to have the opportunity to further support the local community through service in the Board. Carly holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from California State University, Sacramento, and considers herself a lifelong learner.