Jenna Bolyarde

For the last eight years, Jenna has worked in almost every component of the homelessness system. Beginning by filling the seat of a person with lived experience on the Continuum of Care Board of Napa County, she moved into a site coordinator position at a homeless respite, and has held a direct service position as the program manager of both the services and housing aspects of Napa’s homelessness system. Jenna does this work because she understands what it is like to attempt to navigate systems with no insight into how they work. She knows what it’s like to forget that you have value simply by being a human. She does this work so that it might impact others who are disenfranchised and overlooked to help them remember their worth. She does this work because even one life changed can have far reaching ripples which have the potential to change the world. Jenna graduated high school in 1999 and has researched and navigated many punitive systems in the US. She is currently working towards a BA in Sociology. A fun fact about Jenna is that she’s slightly obsessed with Mesopotamian history and will likely be an archeologist in her next life.