Debbie’s passion for travel and service began when she was a teenager and traveled to Tijuana, Mexico with a group from her high school.  The trip opened her eyes to a different way of life and inspired her to work with struggling populations from then on. 

Over the past 10 years, Debbie has worked with juvenile offenders, newly immigrated families, children of incarcerated parents, and students at-risk of dropping out of school.  She was a dropout prevention counselor in Los Angeles for three years and currently works as a school counselor and Marriage and Family Therapist Intern for schools in East Palo Alto and Oakland, CA.

While working with kids in Los Angeles, Debbie realized that some of her students had never even seen the ocean.  Others didn’t know that there are some areas in the world where kids their age live without running water, or can’t go to school because they have to work so their family can eat.  Others dreamed of traveling the world, but couldn’t even leave their neighborhood for fear of crossing into enemy gang territory.  

The students in LA inspired Debbie to come up with the idea of Beyond the Block and her students in Northern California keep her inspired!

As founder and CEO, Debbie works with the Creative Director to produce, direct, edit, and write all of our documentaries and educational materials.  She travels to schools to make interactive presentations about global awareness.  She also works with the Board of Directors on fundraising, marketing, program development, and everything else. :-)

Debbie graduated from the University of San Diego with a BA in Sociology and then got her Masters in School-Based Family Counseling at Cal State Los Angeles. 

You can link to Debbie’s resume here.  To contact Debbie, you can send her an e-mail at:

beyondtheblock@gmail.com.