Our Identity

Supervisor Luis Chavez was elected to the Fresno County Board of Supervisors as the District 3 representative in November of 2024 and sworn into office in January 2025. Prior to his election to the Board of Supervisors he was a Fresno City Council Member for District 5, a Fresno Unified School District Board Member and Chief of Staff to former Fresno City Councilmember Sal Quintero in District 5. As a School Board Member and Chief of Staff to a Fresno City Councilmember, Luis has dedicated his life to the children and families of South Fresno.

Raised in Fresno and the Central Valley, the son of immigrant farm workers Luis graduated from Roosevelt High School, home of the Rough Riders. His education continued as he earned an AA Degree in Business Administration from Fresno City College leading him to earn both a Bachelors and Masters Degree in Public Administration from Fresno State University.

After college Luis looked to find work that would allow him to reinvest in our community. He has dedicated his career to helping children and youth as a mentor, community college educator, youth program leader, literacy volunteer and ultimately as a Fresno Unified School Board Member. Luis gained experience working in the classroom as a teacher in Fresno County Schools and at Fresno City College where he taught courses to help first generation college students succeed. He also served as Program Director for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central California, covering Kern, Kings, Fresno and Tulare counties, where he learned how investing in a child’s life can make a world of difference.

His twin daughters inspired Luis to seek election to the Fresno Unified School District Board, where as a Trustee he worked to reduce classroom size, boost graduation rates, and expand sports and after school programs that are so vital to the success of many of our kids. Luis fought for universal access for pre-kindergarten aged children and expansion of “Parent University”, a program that has trained over 12,00 parents to navigate the educational system and help students apply for college. His tenure at Fresno Unified culminated with him being elected Board President and leading the 4th largest school district in California, which encompasses 10,000 employees and a $1 Billion operations budget.

Knowing that we need to reinvest in our workforce and prepare our children for the jobs of tomorrow, Luis has supported vocational training programs so that graduates are trained for jobs in healthcare, business administration and auto mechanics to name a few. Luis has worked closely with law enforcement to reduce gang activity and to find ways to keep youth from trouble that would derail their futures.

Luis strives to be the voice of the people he represents and looks forward to providing service to the constituents of District 3 and the County of Fresno.

Susan L. Holt is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and lifelong resident of Fresno County. She currently serves as the Director of Behavioral Health and Public Guardian of Fresno County. In this role Susan leverages her diverse professional experiences to lead, strengthen, and advance the public behavioral health system in her community. With over 25 years in the behavioral health field, her clinical experience includes providing treatment in residential programs, schools, outpatient clinics, mobile crisis response, and inpatient psychiatric care settings. As her career progressed, Susan was inspired by the people whom she served to shift her focus toward system of care development and improvements, particularly for the most vulnerable populations; this ultimately led her into management of behavioral health. Her passion in behavioral health leadership is to cultivate strengths within teams and across sectors to create and enhance environments that promote well-being, resilience, and recovery.  Susan is a graduate of California State University, Fresno, where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Health Science and her Master of Science degree in Counseling.

Hugo Morales is the Executive Director of Radio Bilingüe, Inc. In 1976, Hugo and an all volunteer staff of farm workers, former farm workers, and artists founded Radio Bilingüe.  It began broadcasting July 4, 1980, over the entire San Joaquin Valley.

Radio Bilingüe is a national satellite community radio service with programming in Spanish, English and Mixteco (an indigenous Native American language in Mexico) that serves Latino radio audiences in the Northern Hemisphere. It serves over half a million listeners with its pioneering daily Spanish language national talk show, Línea Abierta, its independently produced news service, Noticiero Latino, and its rainbow of Spanish-language folk music.

Hugo is a Mixtec Indian from Oaxaca, Mexico. He was raised in Oaxaca and grew up in Sonoma County until he graduated in 1968 from Healdsburg High School. He then went on to graduate from Harvard College and Harvard Law School.

In 1994, he became the first resident of the San Joaquin Valley to be a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. In May 1999, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting honored Hugo with the Edward R. Murrow Award, public radio’s highest distinction. Hugo’s board memberships include the following: First 5 Fresno County Commission, The California Endowment, The San Francisco Foundation, The Rosenberg Foundation, The UC Merced Foundation, the California Postsecondary Education Commission, the Alliance for California Traditional Arts, Central California Legal Services, California Tomorrow, and the PG&E/Greenlining Partnership.

Originally born and raised in Bakersfield, California, Commissioner Sabrina Beavers moved to Fresno in 2001 to attend California State University, Fresno, where she received her Baccalaureate Degree (B.A.) in Health Science with an option in Community Health. She has had a career in Public Health since 2012 and is a Certified Health Education Specialist and Lactation Education Counselor.  Sabrina works actively in the Central Valley community advocating for and supporting birthing women and individuals on their pregnancy and parenting journey. She knows one of the most effective ways to ensure that children ages 0 to 5 thrive in their development starts before birth. As a voice for birth justice and maternal and infant health, she takes the time to educate and bring awareness to the health disparities that disproportionately affect our birthing women and individuals of color, especially those in the Black/African American and Native American communities. In 2019, as a first-time Mother, Sabrina gave birth prematurely to a baby girl. Now, as a Mother with lived experience, she helps families navigate the foreign experience of going home while leaving a newborn in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Her birthing story was featured nationally in July 2021 on National Public Radio and was animated into a short film now archived at the National Library of Congress and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture.

Kari Gilbert is the Director of the Fresno County Department of Child Support Services (FCDCSS).  She started her career in child support in Tulare County under the District Attorney’s office in 1993.  In 2004, she was hired by Fresno County Department of Child Support Services.  Kari was raised in a small community East of Exeter, California known as Lindcove.  She ventured out of the Central Valley for a few years living in Southern California and as many do, she returned back to the valley.  Kari finished her education with Fresno Pacific University graduating with a degree in Business and Organizational Development.  Kari is most passionate about supporting children emotionally, medically and financially and strongly promotes parental responsibility to enhance the well-being of children.

Dr. Marcia Sablan is a native of St. Louis, Missouri; she received her B.S. in Chemistry from St. Louis University and her M.D. from the University of Hawaii’s John A. Burns School of Medicine.  She completed her internship and residency in Family Practice at the University of Hawaii- Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Honolulu.

Dr. Sablan is Board Certified in Family Practice, and is an active member of the American Academy of Family Physicians, the California Academy of Family Physicians, and was named California Family Physician of the Year in 1992.  She is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the UCSF-Fresno Family Practice program as well as a Clinical Preceptor for the UC Davis Physician Assistant/Family Nurse Practitioner Program.

Dr. Sablan has served on numerous Boards of Directors including the American Red Cross of Fresno County, and has been on the City Council of Firebaugh since 1983.

Before medical school, she spent two years in El Salvador as a Peace Corps volunteer. She has been in private practice with her husband, Dr. Oscar Sablan, for 24 years in Firebaugh and has four grown children and six grandchildren.

Erika I. Martinez was appointed to the First 5 Fresno County Commission in 2025 and serves as a Coaching Specialist with Ampact, an AmeriCorps-affiliated nonprofit. She brings a lifelong passion for education, equity, and community, working every day to ensure children and families have the opportunities they need to thrive. Born in Fresno as the first U.S.-born member of her Mexican family, Erika grew up surrounded by her parents’ example of love, sacrifice, and determination that opened doors for their children.

The first in her family to graduate high school, Erika went on to earn her Master’s Degree in Education with an emphasis in Social Emotional Learning while beginning her career as an elementary school teacher in Fresno Unified School District. In the classroom, she partnered with students, families, and colleagues to create inclusive spaces, strengthen skills, and build the confidence every learner needs to succeed.

Today, Erika brings that same commitment to her work at Ampact, where she partners with community members, training them to become highly effective tutors who deliver research-based interventions, maintain program fidelity, and use data to create individualized learning plans. By collaborating with schools across California, she works to close opportunity and educational gaps and measures success through meaningful, lasting student growth.

Outside of work, Erika stays deeply connected to her community. She serves on the board of Fresno Leading Young Professionals, is a graduate of the Central Valley Latino Leadership Academy, and is currently participating in the Downtown Fresno Academy to further her local impact. She has also spent years advocating for women’s health, reinforcing her belief in the powerful link between education, wellness, and community