Riverside County Board of Supervisors Celebrates Women Of The Year

The Riverside County Board of Supervisors last week celebrated International Women’s Day by honoring the six women of the year.

“It’s not an easy decision to pick one person or two from a district when you figure we all have about 500,000 people in our districts, and half of them are women,” Supervisor Karen Spiegel said. “So it’s quite an honor for those that are receiving this today.”

District 1 

Melva L. Cooke was celebrated for her work as an educator and community leader. 

“This recognition is an acknowledgement of her extraordinary contributions to education and her unwavering commitment to community service,” Supervisor Jose Medina said. “Throughout her remarkable career, Melva has shown a deep dedication to student success, mentorship and lifelong learning.”

Cooke said she came to Riverside in 1957 as a teacher at Sherman Indian School. After a stint at Colton Unified School District, Cooke came back to Riverside County to work at Rubidoux High School where she was tasked with providing counseling and discipline. 

Beyond her work as an educator and mentor for at-risk youth at Juvenile Hall, Cooke has also dedicated her life to supporting her community. She was the co-founder of the Elites Social & Charity Club and has served on several community foundation boards, including the Janet Gorske Foundation.

“I’m truly honored to be here today and be recognized for the hard work I’ve tried to do over the years,” Cooke said. “I love children, I love working with people, and this is really an honor.”

District 2

While the Women of the Year Awards generally celebrate an individual from each of the five supervisorial districts, Spiegel said she could not break the tie between the two women selected from her district.

“I couldn’t figure out which one to do,” she said. “They are totally different, and they represent all of us.”

First up was Francesca Rife, who has spent nearly three decades fostering arts education and youth engagement as an educator in the Corona-Norco Unified School District (CNUSD).

She leads the annual schoolwide Art Walk event, teaches an afterschool photography club and collaborates with the Jurupa Community Services District to display student artwork at the Eastvale Community Center.

“I first really got to know her on some of her projects, with the Art Walk, when she did that over at Rosa Parks in Eastvale,” Spiegel said. “And it has just been a joy working with her.”

Rife is also a dedicated member of the Eastvale Kiwanis and has spearheaded a number of community initiatives such as the Today A Reader, Tomorrow A Leader program which has raised $8,000 for school libraries. She also serves as the CNUSD Festival for the Arts Elementary Coordinator, ensuring that student artwork from across Eastvale, Corona and Norco is celebrated.

“District 2 is filled with many amazing women, and I’m so honored to receive this recognition,” Rife said. “When I started teaching 27 years ago, it was to make an impact in my community…and giving back to the children in our community is so rewarding.”

The second was Dr. Cassandra Sanders-Holly, a leader in pediatric physical therapy who has dedicated her career to supporting families navigating neurodevelopmental disabilities.

Sanders-Holly, the founder of Leaps & Bounds Pediatric Therapy and Friends of Leaps & Bounds, has created a lifeline for families seeking specialized care for their children and has helped to advance the field of pediatric physical therapy through research, education and advocacy.

“She’s a leader, a force for good, a tireless advocate and someone who pours her heart into everything she does for children, families in our community,” Spiegel said.

She also serves as an adjunct faculty member at USC and is a published contributor to Pediatric Physical Therapy.

“I’m just a Norco girl, born and raised in Norco, and wanted to make my community a little bit better by doing what I love and had this little idea that the children of the Inland Empire who have disabilities are severely underserved,” Sanders-Holly said. “I myself was traveling to another county to work, and I thought we could do something right here in Norco, and we’re proud to serve over 1,500 families with disabilities every single week, and that is thanks to my staff of mainly women.”

District 3

Jessica Muñoz is the president and CEO of Voices for Children, a nonprofit organization that recruits, trains and supports Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteers as they support children in foster care in Riverside and San Diego counties.

Before leading Voices for Children, Muñoz was the executive vice president and director of the Riverside County program, a role she took following an accomplished career as an attorney in the juvenile dependency courts.

“I’m so proud to not only call Jessica a friend, I’m proud to have Jessica as a part of the thriving Third District community,” Supervisor Chuck Washington said.

Along with her professional work, Washington said Muñoz is also very active in the community, volunteering with 100 Women Who Care Temecula Valley and the Professional Women’s Roundtable. She was also recently selected to serve on the California Office of Emergency Services Children Justice Act Task Force.

“Thank you so much for this lovely honor and recognition,” Muñoz said. “As is quite evident by their surprising me today, our work at Voices for Children is truly a team effort, and so it has been a real honor and a privilege to be a little piece of this team over the last nine years.”

District 4

Reba Coulter is the founder of the Idyllwild Shuttle Service, a free transportation service for the area that has been making a difference in the lives of seniors and other residents in the mountain communities for the last decade.

“I remember when I first met you, you talked about exactly what I just mentioned was specifically for our seniors and the fact that they needed transportation,” Supervisor V. Manuel Perez said. “I know you’re going to continue to do great work.”

Along with her work on the Idyllwild Shuttle Service, Coulter is also a member of the Radio Club of Idyllwild, the Rotary Club of Idyllwild, Idy Elders and Others and the Idyllwild Garden Club. She also volunteers as a bookkeeper for the American Legion Post 800 and treasurer for the Art Alliance of Idyllwild, the Friends of San Jacinto Mountain County Parks, and Forest Folk, Inc.

“I love Idyllwild,” Coulter, who is originally from West Virginia, said. “I love living there, and I became involved with everything up there because it was my way of working into the community.”

Coulter also shared that the shuttle should be getting a new van in the next few months.

District 5

Capt. Sarah Mack has served in the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office for more than two decades and was the first woman to serve as the chief of police in Moreno Valley.

“When I first got to meet this individual, I knew right away, just from her smile, from her charisma, that she would do an amazing, amazing job in the City of Moreno Valley as the police chief,” Supervisor Yxstian Gutierrez said. “I can tell you that it’s not easy serving in a large city in any capacity.”

Along with her service with the sheriff’s office, Mack has also participated in a number of community programs that connect law enforcement with youth such as the sheriff’s department’s Trunk or Treat and Shop With A Cop.

“I grew up in Moreno Valley, and growing up in Moreno Valley, I never for a second thought that I would have an opportunity to return one day as the captain of the Moreno Valley Station, serving as their chief of police, and have an opportunity to truly be involved with the community that I grew up with and the community that my family still lives in,” Mack said. “It’s an amazing adventure. It’s an amazing journey.”