Who We Are

Gymmetta joined Treehouse in 2020, bringing wide-ranging experience from connecting residents with suitable community services to providing crisis intervention, as well as assisting residents so that they were able to overcome obstacles that life throws their way. Prior to joining the Treehouse team, Gymmetta worked in Beacon Communities Engagement Department providing resources and services to a community of 500 and mentoring staff at throughout western Massachusetts.

Before starting here career with Beacon Communities, she was the Youth Service Coordinator at MassHire Springfield (formerly Futureworks Career Center) for 9 years where she worked with youth in the community, partnered with schools, local employers and workforce investment boards to create resources and training. Gymmetta finds time to stay involved in areas in which she is passionate. She recently completed her tenure as Vice President of the Massachusetts Association of Resident Services Coordinators, and volunteers as a Committee Member of the Massachusetts Network of Foster Care Alumni.

Judy Cockerton is not your average social entrepreneur. She is a nationally recognized visionary committed to Re-Envisioning Foster Care in America. This award winning educator and businesswoman established the Treehouse Foundation in 2002 to help move children out of foster care into permanent, loving families and communities so that they are never at risk of “aging out" of foster care alone.

Cockerton is known for her collaborative social change approach to inspiring widespread investment in foster care innovation. Her bold vision - Every Child Rooted in Family and Community - has inspired thousands of Americans of all ages and backgrounds to work in partnership to ensure improved outcomes for all children and youth in foster care.

Priya joined Treehouse in 2022 as the People Operations Manager and is passionate about building teams and organizations that empower social change. Priya manages Treehouse’s human resource operations, racial equity, and scaling organizational culture. She transitioned the team to our new payroll system.

Priya brings 11 years of experience in trauma-informed DEIB diversity equity inclusion and belonging, organizational development and consulting, and people-centered management. Priya served as a certified Advocate at Safe Passage mentoring staff and overseeing survivor families' journeys from the domestic violence emergency shelter to safe housing. Priya led the movement for survivors rights as President of CERC at UMass Amherst where she studied Public Health and Gender Studies and instituted a university-wide Survivors Bill of Rights Title IX policy.

Priya is a recipient of the Direct Service Award from the Hampshire County Council of Social Agencies, Chapter of the Year Award from the US Students Association, and is a TEDx speaker.

Kerry joined Treehouse in 2005, during the construction of the first Intergenerational Treehouse Community in Easthampton. She has been key to building the Treehouse Foundation from a grassroots movement to a nationally recognized and award-winning organization. Kerry welcomed the opportunity to promote collaborative change “outside the foster care box.” She continues to facilitate the Re-envisioning Foster Care in America Movement and Intergenerational Treehouse Community with creative programming, partnerships and leadership.

Homstead received her EdD from the University of Massachusetts and her BA from Smith College, previously served as a Research Project Coordinator for Casey Family Resource Centers in the Northeast. She brings over 30 years experience in community-based work with at risk populations to the Treehouse Foundation.

Julie joined the Treehouse team in 2018 as the Director of Strategic Partnerships and Development. She brings to Treehouse many years of social justice programming, organizing, organizational development fundraising and grantmaking. Julie is also a researcher, writer and consultant in leadership, and presents on gender issues in politics, nonprofits and businesses, and veterinary medicine to international audiences.

She was the founding director of a leadership program called the Leadership Institute for Political and Public Impact at the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts, a philanthropic foundation, where she was also the interim CEO. She also served as senior foundation officer at the Peace Development. Julie has been a U.S. State Department Fellow, grantee of the Foundation for Motivated Women, and U.S. Peace Corps volunteer. As a research consultant at Cornell, she co-authored a book with Cornell University Dean Emeritus Dr. Donald Smith on women’s leadership in veterinary medicine, "Leaders of the Pack, Women and the Future of Veterinary Medicine" (Purdue University Press). Julie is currently working on a book about servant leadership across professions and lifestyles. She holds an MEd in organizational development.

Tracey joined Treehouse Foundation as the Community Facilitator in 2020, after following its growth and progression since its inception. She is motivated by communities comprised of people who take care of each other and is thrilled to bring her skills, heart and passion to the unique community at Treehouse. She is very familiar with the Foster Care system, having adopted both of her sons through DCF and being connected to a variety of support systems for parents and families involved with the Department.

Tracey started her career as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Federated States of Micronesia, and then moved to the Valley and directed Youth Leadership Development programs in Ware and Easthampton for over a decade. After several years at the Franklin Hampshire Career Center (now MassHire) supporting people who were looking for jobs, she became the Program Director at the Amherst Survival Center. In that position she was responsible for, among many other things, creating a sense of community and developing programs that met the emerging needs and wants of the hundreds of people who came there each week.

Tracey has a B.A. from Oberlin College and has been awarded Woman of Distinction by the Amherst League of Women Voters, Direct Service Award from the Hampshire County Council of Social Agencies, and Esteemed Service Award from the Human Service Forum.

Yael serves as the Treehouse Volunteer Coordinator and in this capacity, she helps assess the needs of community members and then matches them with others in the community who can step in to help. Her Treehouse activities also include planning community events, preparing the TH newsletter, working to engage and see to the well-being of our older adults, conducting the Voices for Children semi-monthly tours of TH, processing donations made to TH and maintaining the Donor Perfect data base and other administrative tasks.

Yael has been a certified Compassionate Listening facilitator since 2003. She has brought this practice to the Treehouse Community where she has worked since 2014. She serves as a volunteer Alternative to Violence facilitator at the Osborn Correctional Facility for men in Sommers, CT. She a contributing author to World Vision’s upcoming book entitled, “Interfaith Peace-building: Challenges for Practitioners.”

Holly Rueger joined the Treehouse team as the HEROES@GCC Site Coordinator in November 2021 and is new the HEROES Youth Leadership Director. Holly graduated from Sweet Briar College with a double major in psychology and Spanish literature and a minor in dance. After interning in college with the International Rescue Committee, assisting newly arrived refugees, she moved to Guatemala as a Youth-in-Development Peace Corps Volunteer.

During her two and a half years in Guatemala, she worked with rural, indigenous youth on life skills, arts education, reproductive health, and leadership. She returned to the United States just before the pandemic began and had been working as a bilingual family and child advocate at a domestic violence emergency shelter before beginning this new season of her life with the Treehouse Foundation. Her previous professional experience with the foster care system led her to Treehouse's innovative team and approach to Re-Envisioning Foster Care in America.