HISTORY

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"I choose to identify with the underprivileged. I choose to identify with the poor. I choose to give my life for the hungry. I choose to live for and with those who find themselves seeing life as a long and desolate corridor with no exit signs. This is the way I'm going. If it means suffering a little bit, I'm going that way. If it means sacrificing, I'm going that way. If it means dying for them, I'm going that way. Because I heard the voice saying: do something for others." 


- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

2010

Vallejo Together (VT) was founded as a volunteer-led and volunteer-driven effort in 2010 by the late Maria Guevara. VT began as a grassroots movement of committed residents and service providers who were concerned about the healthy development of children, youth, families and seniors, and our "unhoused friends."   VT was able to serve with love for over 10 years by coming together and working in collaboration with volunteers throughout the city and county in the areas of business, culture, education, faith, government, and safety.  Countless health and social programs still remain today because of Maria's vision.   Maria’s love exploded, as displayed in her fingerprint all over the city. Her vision encouraged a variety of programs that laid the foundation for our current work. Click here to learn more about Maria.

2019

VT became a non-profit organization in 2019 under the leadership of its first Executive Director Francie McInerney MacMillan and a faithful dedicated group of volunteers committed to carrying out the VT vision.


Francie resides in Benicia and is a retired school teacher and high school administrator (35 years). She spent 20-plus years at St. Patrick St. Vincent High School in Vallejo. Francie partnered with Vallejo Together in 2014 while still teaching and heading the Campus Ministry Department. In October 2019, Vallejo Together became a nonprofit. At that time, she served as the Executive Director from 2019 to 2021. Francie currently volunteers to coordinate Meals/Delivery with local Catholic Churches and VT’s Mobile Basic Needs Coalition.

2021 - Present

In July 2021, Former Executive Director, Francie McInerney MacMillan, and the then Board of Directors eagerly welcomed Dionne Carter as her successor. The decision was attributed to Dionne's warm and genuine manner, her knowledge and experience of "the ins and outs of dealing with our homeless brothers and sisters" (McInerney MacMillan), and furthermore, her understanding of how imperative it would be for Vallejo Together to focus on developing “infrastructure, goals and objectives".


Dionne brings with her the expertise to take on the assigned task to “manage... the programs Vallejo Together operates on the streets of Vallejo. She will establish structures and procedures necessary for the sustainability of Vallejo Together.” (McInerney MacMillan) (Source: Times-Herald Article, Freedman, 2021)

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