Clearwater Office
Ann Marie Winter, Program Administrator
awinter@gcjfs.org
Ann Marie Winter is the Administrator for Refugee Services. She oversees the Florida Center for Survivors of Torture, the Refugee Youth and Family Programs and the National Partnership for Community Training programs. Prior to joining Gulf Coast Jewish Family Services, Ann Marie worked overseas for 14 years, most recently as the Regional Director for a US Government subcontracted program assisting 20,000 refugees resettle to the United States annually. She was based in Nairobi, Kenya and was responsible for operations in 26 countries and 165 staff. Prior to that, Ann Marie was the Resettlement Manager working under a subcontract with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees based in Geneva. Her work included recruiting experts in the field of resettlement, facilitating training seminars around the world and presenting on resettlement and related issues to international conferences. Other long term assignments have included the Country Director in Libreville, Gabon, a Program Manager in Istanbul, Turkey and a Human Rights Trainer in both Bosnia and Croatia during the Bosnian conflict. She is fluent in Croatian and French.
Alyssa Childs-McBride, Case Coordinator
amcbride@gcjfs.org
Alyssa is responsible for screening, conducting intakes, and researching the cases of potential clients. Alyssa also takes on the role of maintaining data and conducting the Immigrant Education classes for the Tampa Bay community. She is also a part of the RYFP team where her job duties include coordinating events, screening potential clients, and promoting enrollment and community outreach. She has a B. A. in International Studies and Political Science from the University of South Florida.
Randa Shamseddine, Interpreter Specialist
rshamseddine@gcjfs.org
Randa serves as the agency's primary point of contact for foreign language interpreting and translating services. She is responsible for interviewing, recruiting, traininga and evaluating interpreters. Randa has previous experience in coordinating meetings and training events, performing training for new hires in account payables/recivables and payroll. She is also an experienced Arabic Interpreting. Randa is currently a candidate for an A. A. degree at St. Petersburg College.
Behxhet Canhasi, Program Specialist (Catholic Charities)
bcanhasi@ccdosp.org
Larisa Zaks, Program Specialist (Lutheran Services)
larisazaks@hotmail.com
Larisa is responsible for... She has 11 years of experience in social work in immigrant and resettlement agencies, over eight years with the FCST. Larisa has a combined Bachelor and Master Degrees in English and French Languages and Literature from Latvian European University. She graduated from 2-year Paralegal Courses& Computer Courses. She also completed the Train-the-Trainer Interpreter Training program with Florida International University McNeil technologies in Medical/ Social Services/ Legal/ Law Enforcement fields and is a Certified Court Interpreter.
Matt Fahey, Intern
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Miami Office
Abigail Alexander, Director of Research and Training
alexander@gcjfs.org
Abigail oversees the day-to-day operations of the FCST's direct service program in Miami and the Miami-based national training program. She also directs the department's research efforts and chairs the agency's Research Review Committee. Previously, Abigail worked as an evaluation coordinator for a domestic violence research center. She has conducted field research in India, Nepal and Tibet among Tibetian refugees looking at the impact of displacement and recreation of culture and in Belize related to the impact of natural disasters. Abigail received her B. A. in Anthropology from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY. She then received dual masters through the University of South Florida's Global Health program in Applied Anthropology (M. A.)and Global Public Health (M.PH).
Mitsouko Chatelain, Case Coordinator
mchatelain@gcjfs.org
Mitsouko is responsible for conducting assessments with clients and families, determining client needs and developing relationships with the community. She works closely with the Director and Program Specialists. Mitsouko has a B. A. in Psychology with a minor in Criminology from FIU. She has also started her M. S.W. at FIU.
James Boyle, Program Specialist (Church World Service)
jboyle@churchworldservice.org
James is a contracted employee with Church World Service who performs intensive case management for survivors of torture. He is responsible for assisting clients to adapt to a new life in America by linking them to available services in their new communities in hopes of achieving self-sufficiency. James is an immigrant and asylee himself and knows first hand about the challenges of begriming a new life far away from his home country. Having experienced the process himself, James possesses valuable knowledge about the system which gives him a unique perspective in his work. James has a B. A. in Journalism from the University of Lima, Peru and has worked in the field of social communications for the last 30 years. He still collaborates to a Mexico based internet publication part-time.
James Jean, Program Specialist (Jewish Community Service)
jjean@gcjfs.org
James is a contracted employee with Jewish Community Services who performs intensive case management for survivors of torture. He is responsible for assisting clients to adapt to a new life in America by linking them to available services in their new communities in hopes of achieving self-sufficiency. James previously enforced Child Support causes for the Miami-Dade County state attorney's office. James graduated with a B. S. in Criminal Justice from Florida International University and went on to receive a Master's degree in Social Work from Barry University.
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