Our Team
Meet the Community Action Alliance Leadership Team
Our Founder: Billie J. Simmons
Billie J. Simmons, the founder and President of Community Action Alliance is a veteran community servant and organizer. She has developed and run programs through the Agnes Memorial Church for over 30 years, including the Agnes Memorial Preschool, Women and Children Transitional Housing and the Agnes Memorial Food Program. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Dramatics and Speech and a minor in Secondary Education from Fisk University in Nashville, TN. She is also an Early Childhood credential holder.
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Billie was born and raised in Oakland, the eldest daughter of her family grew up listening to her father, Toby Gene Levingston and his brothers plan community events to improve the quality of life of Oakland residents. It is this heritage that is the impetus for her stalwart work to develop senior housing on the site that the Agnes Memorial Church partially occupies. This is a long-term project that is underway and when completed will strengthen the community and serve as a beacon of light and compassion for our most vulnerable.
In addition to her love for the community she is also actively pursuing her passion as an actor and singer. She is in pre-production for the film adaptation of her father’s memoir Soul on Bikes, chronicling his life and creation of the motorcycle club East Bay Dragons, and was nominated for Actress of the Year for her work in the film Color of Autumn at the 2024 Austin Revolution Film Festival.
Secretary: Nicole I. Giles
Nicole is the youngest member of the Northern California Grantmakers (NCG) team and started her work with NCG as a Project Consultant in May of 2019, providing support for Philanthropy California’s budding initiative, Better California. She brings with her several years of experience working in the philanthropic field, supporting projects at East Bay Community Foundation and Philanthropic Ventures Foundation, paired with an educational background in both business economics and social policy.
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She describes her life as being characterized by an understanding of how institutions in America work harmoniously to uphold their inequitable foundations. She became acutely aware at a young age of the paradigm of oppression that blocks equitable access to resources and opportunities for marginalized populations. This fueled her determination to join, create, and uplift spaces that affect change for the most vulnerable communities that fall victim to this paradigm.
Nicole continues to support the team through her focus on collaboration and coordination and her desire to be conducive to NCG’s innovative and impactful work. She deeply recognizes the responsibility philanthropy has to tackle the root causes of the problems it aims to solve, do more than simply address its past, and go far beyond charitable giving.
As an avid lover of literature, food, and music you can find her buried in a Baldwin classic, exploring a new ramen spot, or somewhere vibing to the hip-hop classics she grew up on.
Chief Financial Officer: Debrah R. Giles
Debrah Giles is a philanthropic and non-profit management professional who serves as a Senior Program Director for the East Bay Community Foundation in Oakland, CA. She specializes in supporting initiatives within EBCF that foster education, youth development, and arts and culture. In her role, she leads the foundation’s program strategy and grantmaking focused on arts and culture for social and racial justice, serves as the Senior Program Officer for the Clorox Company Foundation’s Responsive Grantmaking Program, and continues to lead the work that focuses on boys & men of color.
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Before joining the East Bay Community Foundation, for nearly 15 years, Debrah worked for Sun Microsystems in their Global Community Development Group (Foundation).
At Sun Microsystems, she managed all aspects of their national and regional grant-making programs and developed strategies to improve their grant-making procedures. During her tenure, she also developed and guided major funding programs, including their international disaster relief program, multi-year educational grants, and global gift matching programs.
Debrah received her bachelor’s degree in Business Management from St. Mary’s College. She is a native of Oakland.
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