Assist Management Consulting, LLC

Staff and Associates

Yvette-Janine Pardo, President of Assist Management Consulting, LLC (Assist), has worked with nonprofit organizations in development, administration, grant writing, and operations since 1985. After 11 years of working with nonprofits, she founded Assist in 1996. She is a board member for the Women's City Club of Pasadena and a former board member of Blinn House Foundation. Her expertise is in health care management and administration and medical research writing (NIH grant writing). She has had the honor of working with the Culver City Adult School;  UN, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development; Los Angeles Free Clinic; Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, Division of Adolescent Medicine; Venice Family Clinic; California Family Health Council; Prototypes; United American Indian Involvement, Inc.; Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science; Westside Family Health Center; Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Riverside Chapter; and more. She is certified in nonprofit management by California State University, Los Angeles, and she teaches an NIH grant writing seminar series for Charles Drew University School of Medicine and Science. She has assisted investigators at CDU, UCLA, RAND, and Cal State University Dominguez Hills, and Jackson State University. Her undergraduate studies (sociology, with an emphasis on deviant behavior at the University of California, Los Angeles), her certification of nonprofit management, along with her hands-on experience in social service and healthcare management and administration, have allowed her to develop expertise in the following areas: 

• Organizational assessment of structure and operations
• Program development and planning
• Review, evaluation, and design of grant-funded programs
• NIH Grant writing
• Re-engineering and re-structuring
• Strategic planning and program evaluation planning
• Contract and grant management

Rodney D. Presley, MSW, LICSW, Vice President of Assist Management Consulting, LLC, has over 20 years experience in program development, strategic planning, grants management, and administration in nonprofit health care, mental health and social services settings in California, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. He has worked in various agencies and organizations including: Planned Parenthood Santa Monica, Los Angeles Free Clinic, Venice Family Clinic, Comprehensive Child Crisis Services (City & County of San Francisco), and USC School of Social Work. Rodney was a board member for Los Angeles Regional Family Planning Council and Reservoir Hill Mutual Homes Cooperative (in Baltimore). He was also a presenter for Sheppard Pratt Health Systems’ Speakers Bureau where he provided trainings for Baltimore County Department of Social Services. Rodney has a B.S. degree in Health Science from San Jose State University and a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Southern California, School of Social Work.  

Terri DiMarco has over 20 years experience in professional sales, strategic marketing and advertising communications. She has extensive experience working with clients to promote their products and services for business to business clients and non-profits. She has experience in sales and customer program development, agency management, sales management, strategic marketing plans, training, direct response advertising and project development and implementation. Terri has been the owner and sole proprietor of DiMarco Media Group, where she was a publisher's representative for European and Asian trade business publications. Terri also worked as Vice President Print Production and Media for a direct response agency where she planned, implemented, scheduled and monitored all direct mail production for major local and national non-profit organizations including The Salvation Army, Boy Scouts of America, Goodwill Industries, Habitat for Humanity and Volunteers of America. Terri has exceptional marketing development and product positioning skills, is an excellent proposal writer, communicator and speaker. She is a highly effective leader and business manager, team player and is able to manage multiple projects to meet common deadlines for Assist's clients..

Cornelia F. Dvorak has a bachelor of science in biological sciences and 25 years of experience as a chemist and microbiologist in analytical laboratories. Ms. Dvorak first developed her writing skills during her teenage years working for the family enterprise, an internationally distributed equine magazine. More recently, she has been involved in writing and editing operating procedure manuals and detailed analytical reports for clients. She has also assisted a laboratory in preparing for national accreditation, primarily through researching accreditation requirements and developing manuals for use by laboratory analysts.

Joe Lopez, Jr. , graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a degree in sociology. After working eight years in retail management, he became a member of the Assist family as a grant writer. He has 17 years of writing experience. His services include but are not limited to identifying appropriate grant funding sources that meet the programming needs of nonprofit or public organizations and writing, editing, proofreading, and submitting competitive federal, state, private, and corporate foundation grant proposals on behalf of Assist clients. Mr. Lopez sits on the board of trustees for First Baptist Church of Alhambra.

Jeremy Loudenback is an associate writer with Assist. He provides writing and editing services, including copy editing, grant development, and Web site development, among others. Previously, he worked as a community news reporter for a newspaper and as an assistant editor for publications at a nonprofit organization. He also contributes art and music criticism to local publications and Web sites.

Elvina M. Luistro, M.H.A. , has extensive management consulting experience that includes process reengineering, quality assessment, strategic planning, and project management. Several prestigious academic medical centers are among the healthcare providers from across the nation that comprise her list of prior clients. Before joining the Assist team, Ms. Luistro was a consultant with a large, nationally based management consulting firm. Ms Luistro has a master’s degree in health administration from the University of Washington, Seattle and a bachelor of arts in women’s studies and a bachelor of science in applied ecology from the University of California, Irvine.

Christiaan P. Manno, MSW, performs a wide variety of activities, though he is primarily focused on research and writing. He brings to the team an evidence-based approach to social work and expertise in program evaluation. Christiaan earned his master of social work from the University of Southern California, with a concentration in community organization, planning, and administration. During this time, he gained significant research experience from his involvement with several investigative teams. Noteworthy affiliations include involvements with the Partnerships For Families Initiative Evaluation (A First 5 LA program) and the health disparities-focused research of Tyan Parker-Dominguez. As an undergraduate, he served as principal investigator in a study entitled "Level of Encoding and False Memory Typicality" and worked as a research assistant on many other teams and also began his career in macro-level social work practice.

James E. Siegrist, J.D. , a graduate from University of California, Los Angeles and Hastings, is a California licensed attorney who assists in grant and copywriting, reviewing, and editing. James provides expertise in grants written for non-profit organizations with legal services. He also provides English/Spanish document translations for both non-profit and for-profit business communities.

Sarah Sadeghi has a Master of Arts in Organizational Behavior and Evaluation and has previously provided evaluation consulting services to non-profit organizations in the Inland Empire. She has assisted clients to develop program logic, strategically connecting every aspect of their program or intervention to the organization’s mission and goals. She also designs evaluation plans primarily for purposes of program improvement and outcomes assessments. As an Associate Evaluation Consultant with Assist Management Consulting,LLC, she utilizes her evaluation expertise in grant writing.

Sandra C. Wang, M.P.H., has a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology from University of California, Los Angeles and a Master of Public Health degree with an emphasis in Community Health Education from California State University, Northridge. Ms. Wang is currently a consultant for Assist Management Consulting, LLC, where she assists non-profit organizations and companies with implementation and maintaining grant funded programs. Ms. Wang has worked with Gentiva Rehab Without Walls, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles-Division of Adolescent Medicine, Los Angeles Free Clinic, National Neurological Research Bank, St. John’s Hospital and Health Center, and McBride Special Education School. Ms. Wang has worked as a health educator, advocator, program evaluator, customer satisfaction survey consultant, program coordinator, Data specialist, rehabilitation specialist, and managed an international human specimen bank./p>

Associates from other companies: 

The Hon. Drew Allbritten, Ed.D.
President and Chief Executive Officer
Transformation Strategy Consultants, LLC
202.386.8940 (Cell Phone)
323.300.5514 (Video Phone) 

Drew Allbritten, Ed.D. , has been a dynamic leader in education and government at the local, state, and national levels for more than 30 years. In education, he has served as a secondary and postsecondary teacher, counselor, administrator, and association executive. In government, he has served in elected and appointed positions at the state and federal levels, respectively. In addition to effectively managing associations, foundations, and political action committees at the state and national levels, Allbritten has been a committed community leader bringing a voice for and needed services to those less fortunate. Allbritten specializes in education and non-profit organizational change at the executive leadership and senior management level through branding and image enhancement, membership recruitment and retention, infrastructure and systems improvement, legal and financial compliance, strategic and action planning, tactical partnership development, public policy and advocacy, boardship and governance focus, staff training and professional development, and in product and services ROI value. As a respected and persuasive public policy expert, Allbritten has advised George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, G. H. W. Bush, and Reagan administration officials, as well as other national organization leaders on a wide variety of topics.  Drew Allbritten provided advocacy consulting services through Assist. We now refer advocacy and lobbying projects to Dr. Allbritten.

Jocelyn Baker
Founder
GhostWriters Anonymous
310.659.9927 (Phone)
310.861.5199 (Fax) 

Jocelyn Baker provides a wide range of copywriting and editing services for Assist and its clients. She is a former political reporter and marketing specialist whose areas of expertise include grant writing, publication development, content for brochures and marketing materials, business plan development, and Web site copy, to name a few. In addition, she has edited and ghostwritten several books and book chapters. Jocelyn spent two years heading the public relations department of a non-profit before directing operations for two technology-based companies. She is experienced in the oversight of day-to-day activities of both for-profit and nonprofit organizations, including policy development, hiring, human resources, team-building, outcomes evaluations, and staff motivation. Jocelyn used to work with Assist as one of the grant writers from 2000-2005. She still assists.

Belva Edwards
Principal
Abacus Financial Group, Inc
866.469.7535 (Toll Free)
866.469.7536 (Fax) 

Belva Edwards  is the Principal of Abacus Financial Group, a boutique business management company in Los Angeles, California.  For more than seven years, Abacus Financial has handled the day-to-day financial affairs for busy corporate executives, professional athletes and entertainers.  Abacus Financial provides quality service in the areas of accounting & bookkeeping, payroll services, tax preparation and nonprofit and business management. Belva worked with Assist since 2000 assisting our nonprofits. Instead of keeping accounting services in house, we now refer our clients to Abacus Financial Group.

Mission Statement

To provide unparalleled assistance to those who assist-nonprofit, public, and private sector entities-in organizational design and development, resulting in positive community outcomes.