New head at Petaluma nonprofit Mentor Me

Robert Florez doesn’t mind talking about his troubled childhood, or his run-ins with the law as a young man that struggled to be heard.

When he was a freshman at a high school in Grass Valley, living in Nevada City after years of causing a ruckus in his hometown of Watsonville, he stole a car with some friends and lit a small fire on school grounds. The local school board was ready to expel them, but the superintendent stuck his neck out and went against the board, granting him one final chance, he said.

Three years later at graduation, as Florez arrogantly shook the superintendent’s hand onstage, telling him that he “made it,” the district leader calmly replied, “I always knew you would.”

Florez, 49, credits that relationship as a driving force on his nearly 25-year journey to the Petaluma nonprofit Mentor Me. He stepped in this month as the new executive director of the organization, which provides one-on-one mentorship and specialized advocacy services for at-risk adolescents.

“Over time I was able to articulate two basic premises in the work I do with youth,” Florez said Tuesday during a meet-and-greet at the Cavanagh Recreation Center. “No. 1 is everyone wants to feel valued, and No. 2, that if somebody doesn’t feel their story is heard, they’ll act it out – and I was acting out.”

Florez takes the reins with a background in mental health, restorative services and gang prevention programming throughout Sonoma, Napa and Marin counties.

Since 1995, Florez has worked at numerous organizations including Petaluma’s Family Life Center and Petaluma Peoples Services Center, and has created or managed programs with Project T.U.F.F., LifeWorks, and YouThrive.

From 2004-08, he was contracted to lead anger management programs at juvenile halls in Sonoma and Marin counties.

Most recently, from 2015-18, Florez served as executive director of Sonoma ACT, Project PRIDE, Therapetutic Behavior Services, FASST and YouThrive.

Since Florez was hired, he said there’s been some questions about what someone with his background can provide. His goal is to solidify the program while eventually expanding its reach throughout Sonoma and Marin counties.

“Petaluma has developed a stronghold with mentoring, and a great system,” he said. “Having worked in Santa Rosa for so long - and Marin - I don’t see it present there. Even though they’re saturated with programs, they don’t have the depth of passion and caring, and the relationship that’s needed.”

Florez, who lives in Cotati with his wife Akeesa and raised his two children, Logan, 20, and Miranda, 17, in Petaluma, has a master’s degree in psychology from Sonoma State University, with a focus on youth development. He is currently completing a doctorate in clinical psychology at Meridian University, studying the individual effects of internalized oppression and trauma on youth, Florez said.

He teaches psychology at Santa Rosa Junior College and previously taught classes for prospective foster and adoptive parents.

In addition to expanding services and establishing a greater foothold in the region, Florez wants to diversify the board and Mentor Me staff with younger voices, especially former mentees that are ready to return the favor.

“This is genuine care that I see, and it’s not something you set an appointment to,” Florez said of the current staff and volunteers. “It’s being present for the youth in our community.”

Florez follows Deborah Dalton, who served as ED for over six years and has worked at Mentor Me since 2006. Dalton said she will be shifting her focus to the program side as she enrolls in postgraduate school to get licensed as a clinical psychologist and provide better care for clients with more complex issues.

Dalton steered the nonprofit into a fee-for-service and data-driven model that helped expand Mentor Me’s reach into area schools, while deepening partnerships with law enforcement agencies. Some of the most notable ventures were advocacy and intervention programs that assist probationers and some of the most vulnerable youth in the community.

Dalton described Florez’s arrival as a relief after hitting a wall with her skill set. His experience with growing organizations and using data to dictate new ventures is an added bonus to what he can provide as living proof of what relationships can do for young men and women in need.

“He’s the perfect fit,” Dalton said. “Bob embodies our clients, and that matters. I’m so happy to step aside to have him shoot us to the moon. I don’t want us to get so big we don’t know who we are anymore, and I’ll be the gatekeeper for that.”

(Contact News Editor Yousef Baig at yousef.baig@arguscourier.com or 776-8461, and on Twitter @YousefBaig.)