Our staff
Joyce Millard Hoie
Executive Director
As Executive Director since 2000, Joyce directs the activities of a comprehensive parent center in its mission to improve the lives of children with disabilities by providing families with information, training, advocacy, parent support, and leadership development. Joyce is committed to promoting effective partnerships with our state and community agencies, professionals, volunteers, donors, corporate sponsors, and many others who help Raising Special Kids support families. Joyce came up through the ranks as a parent volunteer when the organization was first known as Pilot Parents, and served one term on its Board of Directors. After living in Virginia for four years, she moved back to Arizona to become Executive Director.
Joyce currently serves on several boards and state commissions including First Things First, Arizona’s statewide initiative for early childhood health and education. Recent board appointments include the Organization of Nonprofit Executives, Arizona’s Autism Coalition, and the national board of Parent to Parent USA. Before joining Raising Special Kids, she earned a graduate degree in public administration and started her career in higher education administration. Joyce is married and the mother of four children, including one son with autism
Peggy Storrs
Director of Operations
Peggy has been on the front lines helping parents of children since 1979 when she and her husband, Don (now a Board member), were in our second graduating class of Volunteer Parents. Since she joined the staff more than 22 years ago, Peggy was for many years the virtual "voice" of our organization as the first point of contact for thousands of callers. She has introduced many parents and professionals to our programs and continues to serve as Director of Operations and Information Systems Manager. She and Don are parents of a young adult who has Cerebral Palsy.
Kim Yamamoto
Coordinator of Education and Training
Kim provides information and consultation to families of children who need special education or Section 504 support. With more than nine years of experience advocating for families, she specializes in problem-solving by identifying the critical issues and then providing options that lead to an effective solution.
Kim is a member of COPAA (Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates) and she participates in leading national conferences on special education, section 504, positive behavior support, IEP facilitation, conflict resolution and negotiation. Her passion to share information with parents and professionals alike has provided her the opportunity to speak across the U.S. in conferences, at universities and on panels, providing information on parent-professional collaboration and effective strategies when developing an IEP or 504 plans. At the heart of her efforts is her son, diagnosed with Autism, the catalyst that assisted her in creating change.
Wendy Benz
Project Coordinator Family Health and Information Center
Wendy has been the Family Health Information Coordinator at Raising Special Kids since 2004. She develops health care workshops, publications and other information to assist families of children with disabilities and special health needs access health care services.
She also works with state agencies, providers and community partners to enhance the health care resources available for children and families. Before becoming a mom, Wendy worked with various trade and professional associations. She majored in international relations in college and has an M.B.A. in marketing. In her free time, she enjoys rowing, running and traveling with her family.
Wendy is married and the mom of two children. She became a family advocate after her daughter was born two months prematurely and spent six weeks in the newborn intensive care unit. Her daughter, now age 14, has ataxic cerebral palsy and has a cochlear implant because of a severe hearing loss.
Kristina Blackledge
Kristina provides training for parents and professionals in Special Education. She is working specifically with a federal project aimed at increasing the number of Special Education teachers and Speech Therapists to work in our schools. Kristina holds a Masters degree in Marriage and Family Therapy and has worked as a Disability Specialist for Early Head Start (children ages 0-3) and as an Education Specialist for Head Start (children ages 3-5). She is the mother of five children including her 11 year old son who is diagnosed with Juvenile Bipolar Disorder and Asperger’s Syndrome.
Kathleen Collins
Family Support Specialist
Tyler Curry
Executive Assistant
Vickie French
Family Support Specialist
Vickie and her husband, Steve, have 4 children. Their oldest son was in the newborn intensive care the first month of his life because of pneumonia of undetermined cause which resulted in chronic asthma. Their youngest son has had 2 heart surgeries; the first at one week old to save his life and another at 6 months old. He was later diagnosed with autism at the age of 2.
Vickie first became involved with Raising Special Kids in 1997 because she contacted them to request information about autism. She later became a parent to parent contact in 1998 and joined the board of directors in 2002. Vickie is excited to become involved in Raising Special Kids now as an employee to help other parents in the same ways she has been helped.
Vickie is an active volunteer in the disability community and won the Arizona Disability Expo’s 2008 Brandy Liston Disability Advocacy Award.
Vickie has an Associate Arts degree from Mesa Community College and has attended Arizona State University. Vickie is a volunteer for Joni and Friends International Disability Ministry on their Disability Ministry Conference planning team that teaches churches how to include and minister to individuals and families who are affected by disability. She also volunteers in the faith community speaking at churches and conferences telling her family’s story and the importance of including people who have disabilities in their church families. Vickie and her husband Steve regularly speak at Golden Gate Theological Seminary to future pastors and church leaders telling them their story and emphasizing the need for churches to have an Intentional Disability Ministry, explaining that people with disabilities are a valuable part of their congregation and have something to contribute.
Dolores Herrera- Habla Espanol
Family Support Specialist
Dolores has been advocating for Spanish speaking families for six years. She has been a member of the Developmental Disabilities Advisory Council (DDAC) for four years and a member of the Arizona Spina Bifida Associations Board of Directors for two years. She has served on The Division of Developmental Disabilities' Support Coordinator Core Training Parent Panel and is a past-president of Grupo de Apoyo Ninos Especiales (GANE).
Dolores began working with Raising Special Kids as a volunteer and is the mother of 4 children including a son who has Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus.
Marissa Huth
Communications Coordinator and Newsletter Editor
Marissa implements communications to public audiences from Raising Special Kids through vehicles including the newsletter, group emails, website, the annual Report to the Community and other publications. She has worked in communications, photography and marketing for over 20 years, including 6 years at a nonprofit, before teaming with Raising Special Kids in 2004. She is passionate about "getting the word out" to families and believes firmly in the power of a well-informed parent. Marissa is the parent of two children with unique needs, one is diagnosed with autism.
Lydia Martinez - Habla Espanol
Administrative Assistant
Lydia is your first contact when calling Raising Special Kids. She processes the referrals to ensure your request is met in a timely manner. Lydia is our newest member and brings over 30 years of administrative experience to Raising Special Kids. Her primary goal is to ensure that her customer’s needs are met. While this arena is new to her, she is "in awe" of the families that call in daily and the service Raising Special Kids provides to the community. Lydia is dedicated to the mission of helping families, and she continually strives to meet and exceed the needs of our clients.
Jane Nguyen
Family Support Specialist
Jane is mother of two, a wife, and twin sister to a Special Olympian. Jane's experience includes parenting a daughter with Cerebral Palsy and Distonia, and 30 years teaching in special education and elementary education. Jane has been honored with various awards including “Pride of Peoria” — a Peoria District peer-teacher award, “Who’s Who with America Educators”, nominee for Disney’s Teacher award, nominee for Ambassador of Excellence, Cambridge’s Who’s Who Registry of Executives and Professionals, and National Philanthropic Chair for Alpha Sigma Alpha. She holds a bachelor degree from Indiana State University and is a previous board member and northwest Phoenix coordinator for Special Olympics.
Jill Pearns
Family Support Specialist in Education and Training
Jill provides training in Special Education and problem-solving support to parents and professionals. She has participated in improving educational programs for children and youth with disabilities across Arizona for more than 19 years. As a parent of three teenage boys, including one with Down syndrome, Jill has a deep appreciation of the different ways children learn.
Her background includes the following:
• A team member that designed located and raised funds for a new site that provided early intervention and therapy services for infants and toddlers with special needs.
• Raising Special Kids parent-to-parent support volunteer to parents of children with Down syndrome.
• Raising Special Kids Board member for three years.
• Served as a committee member for a Support Cadre that developed and promoted diversified learning in middle school.
• Committee member for the hiring of Assistant Superintendents, Principals and Teachers.
• Developed a recreational basketball team which "buddied" children with special needs with typical children.
• Paved the path for inclusion in a Phoenix area school district.
• Established parent support groups for children with disabilities in multiple school districts.
• Was a driving force in systematic change in a high school special education program.
Twila Pochoema
Hopi Tribal Liaison
Twila is the mother of four. Her youngest daughter, Teresse has Cerebral Palsy. After learning of her daughter’s diagnosis and finding that there are few services available on the reservation she became a dedicated advocate for Native people with special needs.
After graduating from the Pilot Parents of Southern Arizona’s program in 2004 she has worked for Raising Special Kids as the Tribal Liaison for the Hopi Tribe. Within the
tribal community, Twila serves as a community resource for families and professionals. She provides information, training, and community-based support for families of children with special needs.
Twila also has involvement with other programs. She is the Parent Community Development Leader with The Hopi Turtle Nation Partnership, which is a Community Development Action Team under the Office for Children with Special Health Care Needs. She sits on the board for the Native American Disability Law Center. She is also on the Advisory Board for the Hopi Office of Special Needs, and is involved with the Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities, Self Advocacy Coalition of Arizona. Twila also participates in the Department of Economic Security-Breakthrough Series Collaborative, and the Arizona Department of Health, Integrated Service Grant-Parent Action Council.
Twila’s passion is to empower families by teaching them to advocate for themselves. So that Native American families can bring much-needed services and change to our reservations.
Jodi Shah
Coordinator of Administrative Operations
Jodi is responsible for tracking financial transactions and maintaining the donor database. She has worked in the fields of accounting and development for five years and is currently in the process of obtaining an associate’s degree in accounting. Jodi has four children including an eight-year-old boy with autism and two children who have chronic illness.
Heather Snider
Financial Analyst
Heather has been helping with the finances at Raising Special Kids since 2005 and has stayed with us as a telecommuter through several out-of-state moves. She manages Monthly Financial Statements, audit preparation & special projects. Heather holds a 4-year degree in Accounting from Binghamton University and has worked in the industry from 1994 to the present.
Bertha Yazzie
Navajo Tribal Liaison
Robert Snyder
Parent Training and Information Center Project Staff
Pilot Parents of Southern Arizona (southern Arizona)
Robert covers the 9 southern counties of Arizona by providing information, consultation, and workshops to the families with special needs children. Robert has been with Pilot Parents since moving to Arizona 7 years ago.
Robert began his career in special ed with the inception of PL 94-142, now know as IDEA. Robert has been a classroom teacher, principal, supervisor of Sp Ed programs, regional consultant for two of Ohio’s regional special ed centers, as well as visiting instructor at 2 universities.
Robert’s passion has always been for the children and their families, seeing that the students are provided an appropriate education.