More great news for the Pivotal team! Pattie Cortese is joining our Board of Directors. Pattie has lived in the Bay Area since 1969. She began her career with Catholic Charities in their Vocational Learning and Treatment Center, working with chronically mentally ill adults to gain skills and employment. Pattie has been active in youth mentoring programs since 1994 and is a founding member of the South Bay Mentoring Coalition, a group of nonprofit organizations working together to promote mentoring in Santa Clara County. She is also involved in a number of other volunteer communities across the Bay Area and currently serves as the Board Vice President of East Side Union High School District.  

“We are so fortunate and excited to welcome Pattie to the Pivotal Board of Directors,” said Matt Bell, Pivotal CEO. “I expect Pattie’s years of educational experience as an Eastside Union High School District Trustee, and her genuine passion for students navigating the foster care system, to bring tremendous value to Pivotal and the youth we serve.”

"I am excited to join the Pivotal team because I love young people, I worked in youth mentoring programs for nearly 25 years with "at risk" youth--those are youth who are willing to put themselves at risk by publicly declaring the future they are creating for themselves. I am forever inspired by the courage and resolve it takes to do that. Foster youth have always had an especially special place in my heart. As my husband Dave Cortese says, foster youth are the State's children, which means they are the children of all of us. I'm looking forward to working with you all to provide the support needed for these young people to blossom." 

We’re so excited to have Pattie’s experience, empathy, and support as part of Pivotal’s Board and look forward to everything she will bring to our organization!