THE PANGAEA PROJECT

About Us: Staff

"The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.-- Samuel Johnson"

Board of Directors

Deb Delman, Board President, Founding Director
The Pangaea Project, Executive Director
Deb Delman holds both a deep love and sincere concern for this fascinating and compelling world. It is this combination that has inspired her to explore, work, study and volunteer in more than 40 countries in this amazing world, in the capacity of student, professional photographer, volunteer, and social activist. For more than a decade, she has nurtured and developed a model with which to inspire a direct global connection for youth, resulting in the creation of The Pangaea Project. She is driven by the simple and unwavering conviction that the time has come for underserved youth to discover that this is their world too.

Previous to co-founding The Pangaea Project with Stephanie, Deb worked and volunteered as an environmental and health educator in the public schools of Boulder, a camp counselor for emotionally disturbed youth, a coffee barista, a Job Coach for teenage refugees, a documentary photographer on an AIDS project in sub-Sahara Africa, a volunteer with the Tibetan refugee community, and a teachers aid for the developmentally disabled and blind. For fun she loves to hike in beautiful forests and mountains with her dog Moonie, dance to live music, and spend time with her inspiring and wonderful friends and family.

STEPHANIE TOLK, Board Secretary and Treasurer, Founding Director
AFS Intercultural Programs, Regional Field Coordinator
When she was 15-years-old, Stephanie Tolk, living in a small Connecticut town, surprised her family by announcing that she wanted to spend a summer abroad with AFS Intercultural Programs. Her travels up to that point included beachside destinations that all resembled one another, but it was the weekends in nearby New York City that offered her a glimpse into the complex, fascinating cultures beyond her neighborhood. That summer, she lived as an exchange student in Greece, and it was that experience that initially inspired a lifetime of travel to over 30 countries, which has included a year abroad with AFS in the Netherlands, participation in Semester at Sea while studying at the University of Michigan, and service in the Peace Corps in Mali, West Africa.

Stephanie values immensely the ways in which international travel awakens, awes, and enlightens those fortunate enough to go abroad, and she believes that all people should have access to participation in overseas programs. After returning from a metamorphic two years in West Africa, Stephanie knew that her future held two concrete components: she would work towards social change, and she would in some way share this remarkable world with others. While coalescing this knowledge into something concrete, Stephanie earned her Masters of Social Work and volunteered at various agencies in Portland to become a deeper part of the community. Her vision of The Pangaea Project is the natural progeny and the perfect symbiosis of her innate sense of social justice and her respect for all people on the planet.

ERIC SCOTT, Program Development Director YouthBuilders, Teacher/ International Service-learning Guide A global nomad by happenstance and choice, Eric Scott grew up internationally - spending seven years in Thailand, two in Egypt, and eight in Washington D.C. He graduated from Vassar College in 1992 with a B.A. in Africana Studies. In 2000 he finished coursework for an M.A. in Intercultural Service, Leadership and Management from the School for International Training. From 1992 to 1996 Eric worked with the Institute for International Cooperation and Development in Africa and South America. He led and worked with teams of North American volunteers on 6 month to one-year programs in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, South Africa, and Brazil. In 1996 Eric moved to Portland, Oregon to pursue his interest in rock climbing and to learn the trade of carpentry. With Portland as his base Eric climbed cliffs and built houses in Oregon. In 2001 Eric took a position with Portland YouthBuilders, an amazing alternative high school for low-income young adults, where he continues to work today. He presently teaches writing, math, leadership consciousness, and job readiness training. Since moving to Portland Eric has continued his travels. Among other journeys, he embarked on a four month backpacking expedition through Asia, spent six months in Costa Rica working as a guide for sea kayak and jungle expeditions, and took a research trip to West Africa which led to the development of an international service learning program for low income American youth to Ghana. In 2003 Eric worked with the Experiment for International Living and led a team of high school students for a six-week cultural immersion and service-learning program in Thailand. With this background, it was only natural that Eric ended up working with The Pangaea Project. He is a passionate advocate for the power of international travel and service learning and its tremendous potential for educational growth and personal development.
LILY NOCHES, Interculturalist and Event Planner Intercultural Communications Institute, Intercultural Relations Specialist/ Graduate Student Lily Noches has joined The Pangaea Project as a volunteer due to her professional and personal commitment and dedication to providing services and opportunities to underserved youth and their families. She was born in Colombia and raised in Venezuela. At the age of twelve she was transplanted to Miami with her family. They migrated to the USA in search of a better life and opportunities. Upon graduating from high school, she joined a non-profit development organization as a volunteer and traveled to Mozambique, Africa where she taught health and hygiene, basic math and Portuguese in a rural elementary school. This experience marked the beginning of her work towards global awareness and social change. She returned to the USA and earned a degree in Anthropology and a minor in Black Studies from Portland State University. Over the past ten years Lily Noches has worked in the social service/non-profit sectors where her primary focus has been training, education and providing access to information to underserved youth and their families. Her experiences range from teaching, training, translating and advocating for diverse underprivileged populations here in the United States to living, traveling, conducting independent research, studying and working in South America, Central America, Africa, Europe and Asia. In addition to this experience, Lily Noches has coordinated and managed various educational programs and grants. She is also a native Spanish speaker and proficient in the Portuguese language. She possesses excellent intercultural as well as multicultural communication skills, which are key to successfully interact with and to provide services to the diverse members of our community. Currently, Lily Noches is working towards her Masters in Intercultural Relations through the Intercultural Communications Institute. She is also on her artistic path and hopes to continue to use her talent to inspire and bring joy to her community.
KIMBERLY WRIGHT, Volunteer Coordinator Advocate for Underserved Youth, International Volunteer After earning her degrees in Social Work and Psychology, Kimberley worked several years for numerous Portland based social services programs serving homeless and runaway youth. It was from that experience that Kimberley first learned of the amazing resilience, strength and potential that our youth possess. From Portland, Kimberley traveled to Nepal to volunteer with an Environmental and Cultural Preservation NGO where she was very fortunate to work with impassioned preservationists who instilled in her a deep appreciation for different cultures. It was also on that trip while sitting on an almost inconceivably overcrowded Indian train that Kimberley realized the invaluable importance and necessity of personally interacting, sharing and learning from people of all walks of life. These feelings led her to spend the next several years studying Yoga and Ayurveda in India punctuated by travels around East Asia and Europe. Throughout this time interacting with multiple cultures, Kimberley absorbed values and perspectives that she hadnít previously considered which, above all things, taught her lessons about her own culture and herself. Kimberley believes that if everyone has the chance to experience and learn from this amazing world through travel, weíll have the ability to see life through each otherís eyes, which will necessarily result in a bright and hopeful future. Kimberley continues to work and learn from young people and spends her free time walking with her partner and Siberian husky in remote mountain areas or on long stretches of wilderness beach.
NICHOL SIMPSON MONTFORT, Development Development Director, Portland State University, Graduate School of Social Work Since rallying her sixth grade class to adopt a young boy in Cambodia, Nichol has been involved in raising funds and awareness for Human Services agencies. She grew up watching her mother create and run an emergency-relief agency serving Maryland and Pennsylvania. Inspired by her parents, she coordinated events in her school and community to raise funds for local families in need. After receiving degrees in Communications and Journalism, she began working with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, serving as a Development and Event Director in Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Portland. In San Francisco, Nichol made her home in the Tenderloin, a neighborhood enchanted with diverse cultures and rich history, but marred with severe poverty, addiction and homelessness. It is there she discovered Continuum, an agency working with under-served people with HIV/AIDS. While working as a professional development officer, she began volunteering at Continuum and other grass roots organizations providing direct services to those in her community. ěLiving in the Tenderloin introduced me to true poverty and the desperation it can cause. It afforded me the opportunity to be part of a passionate group of individuals who refused to sit silently and allow the Cityís neediest populations to be ignored. It is that desire, to make a difference for people in her community and to be part of a dedicated and devoted group of volunteers, that drove her to The Pangaea Project. Since moving to Portland in 2001, Nichol has volunteered with the Childrenís Relief Nursery, the American Diabetes Association, Leukemia Lymphoma Society, The Carl School and Schoolhouse Supplies. She now works in the Graduate School of Social Work at Portland State University as a Development Director and spends her free time with her husband and two wonderful children.
JODIE EMMETT, Policy and Logistics Cross-Cultural Solutions-Director of Program Coordination Originally from an apple farm in South Eastern Michigan, Jodie Emmett attended the University of Colorado where she earned a BA in Environmental Studies with a focus on International Development. Throughout her college years she discovered a deep passion for travel and took every opportunity she could to see the world. Since her first trip to Tanzania in 1994, she has traveled to over 25 countries as a student, conference participant, organizational representative, volunteer and a tourist. Her experience as a volunteer in the Indian Himalayas teaching art and dance to middle school children led to a job offer with Cross-Cultural Solutions (CCS) in New Rochelle, NY. Throughout the four years spent there she went from Program Coordinator of the India and Peru programs to Director of Program Coordination for a rapidly growing organization. As a member of the executive team, she was part of an organizational review process which set the organization up to continue its path of success for years to come. However, during her time at CCS she noticed how international volunteer organizations hadnít found ways to successfully integrate low-income individuals into the vision of empowering people across the cultural and economic divide. In finding The Pangaea Project, Jodie found a way to make the dream of international service and understanding accessible to those who would otherwise miss out on such an opportunity. Jodie moved to Portland in 2005 to further her experience in Ecological and Cob Construction techniques. Within the past year she has taken a leading role in building benches, earthen ovens and more in Oregon and Mexico through the Cob Cottage Company. Her current vision is to work toward economical, earth friendly techniques so that building a home is accessible to anyone, regardless of their income or education.
Advisory Board ERNEST BLOCH, II, Advisor PacifiCorp Foundation, Executive Director Emeritus Philanthropy Counsel, Executive Director Ernie Bloch brings more than two decades of experience in philanthropy and board governance to his work in advising corporations, foundations, individuals, families and not for profit organizations on strategic philanthropy, organizational networking and coalition-building and governance issues. Bloch's experience includes designing, implementing and directing corporate charitable giving and employee community involvement at NERCO, a PacifiCorp mining subsidiary. Bloch was instrumental in founding the PacifiCorp Foundation for Learning, and became its first Executive Director in 1989. The Foundation distributed grants over a six-state region that reached $3.0 million per year. He oversaw the growth of the foundationís permanent endowment to more than $40 million. Upon retirement in 2002, Bloch became Executive Director emeritus of the Foundation, and ex-officio Board member. He then founded Ernest Bloch, II, LLC, Philanthropy Counsel. The firm provides philanthropic advisory, strategic planning and governance consulting services to individuals, families, corporations, foundations and not for profit organizations. Blochís objective is to provide client donor a strategy for linking their values to lasting, measurable community benefit. Bloch has a special interest in assisting donors and organizational clients in organizing programmatic partnerships that allow them to leverage their resources to more successfully achieve common charitable goals. Bloch also assists organizational clients in designing and implementing fundraising and board development plans that will allow them to achieve their program mission and meet the publicís heightened expectations of non profit accountability. Bloch serves as a neutral facilitator of board discussions for organizational clients when governance conflicts or other difficult issues arise. Bloch continues to serve as a board member or advisor to a variety of not for-profit and charitable organizations including PacifiCorp Foundation For Learning (Board of Directors, Evaluation Committee and Advisor), Jubitz Family Foundation (Board Advisor)Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC) (Board of Directors and Executive Committee), Providence Medical Center Foundation (Board of Directors), Multnomah Education Service District, (Chair. Resource Development Committee) and World Affairs Council of Oregon (Board of Advisors).
Laura Guimond, Advisor Mercy Corps, Director of External Relations LAURA GUIMOND is Director of External Relations for Mercy Corps, an international, non-profit humanitarian agency that works to alleviate suffering, poverty, and oppression by helping people build secure, productive, and just communities. Mercy Corps works in more than 35 countries and has headquarters offices in the US, Scotland and Hong Kong. Based in Mercy Corps’ US headquarters in Portland, Oregon, Laura manages relations with a variety of constituents, including colleague agencies, community groups, donors and public officials. She has led Mercy Corps's involvement in ONE: The Campaign to Make Poverty History (www.one.org) and serves on its operating committee. Before joining Mercy Corps, Laura served as the Director of Development at the World Affairs Council of Oregon. She lived for many years in Washington, DC, where she worked with a variety of nonprofit organizations, including the Advocacy Institute, the Citizens Democracy Corps, and the Eurasia Foundation. Laura received her MA in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and her BA in Political Science and Latin American Studies from Douglass College at Rutgers University. She has studied abroad in Brazil, Spain and Italy. Laura serves on the Advisory Board of the World Affairs Council of Oregon, and is an active member of the City Club of Portland and Northwest VEG. Her articles and photographs have appeared in national social justice, animal welfare and vegetarian publications such as Satya, Herbivore, Alley Cat Action and VegNews.