Belle Haven Action was established in the spring of 2017 by Cecilia Taylor to advocate

​for the residents of the Belle Haven Neighborhood in the City of Menlo Park.

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Cecilia Taylor  - Executive Director and CEO. Ms Taylor was elected to the Menlo Park City Council in 2018. She is the first African-American from the Belle Haven neighborhood to serve on the Menlo Park City Council since 1986 and the first African-American woman to serve as mayor in 2020. She served over ten years on the Adhoc Advisory Board forSan Mateo County Housing Authority and is a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) volunteer. 

 

Ms. Taylor holds a BA in Mathematics from San Francisco State and a certificate in Early ChildhoodEducation. She currently is a board member on the following organizations: K-Star Productions, American Teachers Council, Inc., SMC Community Project and Job Train. 

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Ms. Taylor is the second generation to grow-up in the Belle Haven neighborhood. Her greatest passion is for her community to be recognized and valued at all levels of government.

 

Ms. Taylor was named Senate District 13 2021 Community Champion by Senator Josh Becker.

 

Julie Shanson - Strategic Partnerships Manager. Ms Shanson has been with Belle Haven Action since its founding. She began her career in fundraising at Stanford University and went on to hold customer-facing positions at software companies before opening a consulting practice focused on small business software services.

 

Ms. Shanson holds a BA in English from Cornell University.

 

Annielka Pérez - Digital Design and Communications Manager. Ms. Pérez began her advocacy work with Faith in Action in 2015 after meeting Ms. Taylor during CERT training.  She is a native Spanish speaker who has resided in the Belle Haven neighborhood for over 16 years. She began her career in graphic design at Hewlett Packard Credit Union. She has always been passionate about design and photography and has held both customer facing and design positions.

 

Ms. Pérez holds AA degrees in Business Administration and Graphic Design.