The Women’s Shelter Program of San Luis Obispo County announces the appointment of Kirsten Rambo as executive director. In this role she will oversee the general administration and management of the agency, including fundraising, business operations, community relations and supporting the agency’s growth and operations by seeking funding from private donations, planned giving, and community and government grants.
With 20 years of experience in the field of intimate partner violence and sexual assault, Dr. Rambo began her work with the Women’s Resource Center to End Domestic Violence in Dekalb County, Georgia, providing legal, legislative and crisis advocacy.She continued her work at the Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence, first as legal projects coordinator and then as director of programs and public policy.
She then spent five years as executive director of the Georgia Commission on Family Violence – a statewide agency dedicated to addressing family violence in Georgia through research, policy, education and coordination of local, community-based efforts. While there, she successfully led two statewide legislative campaigns to prevent the elimination of Georgia’s only state agency dedicated to addressing Intimate Partner Violence.
Most recently, Dr. Rambo served on the Sexual Violence and Intimate Partner Violence Team in the Division of Violence Prevention at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, GA, where she led the CDC’s national initiative for the primary prevention of intimate partner violence. She has worked on issues of gender and violence from legal, policy, and public health perspectives, including a gender integration project and a study of violence against children and young women in Malawi.
She holds a Ph.D. in Women’s Studies from Emory University and a Master’s degree in English from the University of Georgia. She is a published author and serves on the board of several organizations, including Men Stopping Violence.
“It is an honor and a privilege to join the dedicated group of staff, board members, and volunteers that make up the Women’s Shelter Program,” Dr. Rambo said. “WSP has long provided vital services to this community, and we will be building on that strong history to move the organization forward in the days ahead.”
“Kirsten is an accomplished advocate for social justice and a thoughtful strategic leader,” said Robin Mitchell Hee, Women’s Shelter Program board president. “Her vast experience and perspective on issues of violence prevention will promote our mission as we continue to build a community that helps survivors heal. We are thrilled to have her leadership and vision for the Women’s Shelter Program.”
For 37 years, the Women’s Shelter Program has been committed to recognizing and responding to the community’s need for comprehensive multicultural domestic violence services, with an understanding that domestic violence and child abuse impact primary victims, family members, society and future generations. With this in mind, Women’s Shelter Program upholds their goal to stop the cycle of violence through providing crisis intervention, emergency shelter, transitional housing, advocacy, treatment, prevention and education.