Ethiopian Community Center for social and Behavioral Health services

No one knows the transforming power of education better than Professor Adugnaw Worku. Worku’s life began in Northwest Ethiopia, where his peasant farmer parents taught him an agrarian life. The bright, curious young farmer would have followed in his illiterate parents’ footsteps if not for a freak eye accident that sent him to Debretabor in search of medical care. While there, he observed children and youth attending school. At age 15 and a half, Worku became determined to learn and did.

He graduated from eighth grade at age 22 and high school at the age of 26. He received his bachelor’s degree age 30 from Avondale College in Australia, two masters degrees in history and education from Andrews University in Michigan, and his third masters in library science from the University of Southern California. In 1993, he became a full professor at Pacific Union College in Northern California. In 2009 he received an honorary doctorate in human letters from Southwestern Adventist University.

Professor Adugnaw Worku has been giving back to generations of students and to his community. He is an educator, a talented musician, poet, and author. Most importantly, he did not forget about his village in Ethiopia. The Worku Jember High School and the vocational training school he established in Ethiopia now educate hundreds of boys and girls, giving them the same transformational gift of education he received long ago. In addition, Professor Worku has been digging community water wells, installing modern flour mills, and training women and girls on basic health and hygiene, including making reusable feminine pads from local materials.

Teferi Tsegaye is the National Program Leader for Water resources (Water Availability & Watershed Management), part of Natural Resources and Sustainable Agricultural Systems in the Office of National Programs, United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service (USDA ARS), Beltsville, MD. He leads research at approximately 29 ARS laboratories throughout the US on topics related to: 1) effective water management in agriculture; 2) erosion, sedimentation, and water quality protection; 3) improving conservation effectiveness; and 4) improving watershed management and ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes. Additional responsibilities include managing and leading the ARS’ Long-term Agroecosystems Research (LTAR) and the Conservation Effects Assessment network projects. Before coming to ARS, Dr. Tsegaye was an Associate Vice President of Land Grant Programs, Dean of the College of Agriculture, Food Science and Sustainable Systems, and Professor at Kentucky State University. Dr. Tsegaye received BSc and MSc degrees from Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma in 1984 and 1986, respectively. He then received a Ph.D. degree from University of Maryland at College Park, Maryland, in 1994. Dr. Tsegaye is an expert in Soil Physics, Environmental Science and Water Resources Management. Among his many accomplishments, he has been the driving force in establishing new environmental monitoring networks, such as the Alabama Mesonet (ALMNet), a key tool for monitoring and predicting numerous parameters to study the impact of land use/cover change on climate change and water quality monitoring at the watershed scale. Through collaborative projects, Dr. Tsegaye was able to support students in their professional development, mentoring over 24 (MSc and PhD) graduate students in addition to many other undergraduate students, an effort to meet the national’s challenge in finding manpower in the fields of agriculture, science, and technology. Dr. Tsegaye has been appointed and served on several committees on a local, regional, national, and international level including the Member of the Advisory Committee to the US EPA Administrator, US EPA Farm, Ranch, Rural, Communities: Chair for the USDA Southern Regional Water Program, and Program Leader for the Southern Region Watershed Assessment and Modeling focus area for the USDA NIFA Water Program. Dr. Tsegaye is a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Soil Science Society of America (SSSA), Food System Leadership Institute (FSLI), Millennium Leadership Institute (MLI), and African Scientific Institute (ASI). In 2022, Dr. Tsegaye Completed the Senior Executives Association Leadership Training (American University, Key Executive Leadership Program, School of Public Affairs); the Senior Executives Association Leadership Training, Yale School of Management, and Leaders as Conveners (www.GilburgLeadership.com). Tsegaye joined USDA ARS, Office of National Programs, Natural Resources and Sustainable Agricultural Systems (NRSAS) in 2016.

Mr. Mezegebu Zemene Zerihun, CIPM, ACSW, MSW, EdPM is founder and CEO of KALHER HUB, founder and CEO of Ethiopian Community Center for Social and Behavioral Health Services (ECCBHCS). He is currently working as s behavioral health clinician at Alameda County in CA, USA. He is also working as a country representative for Global Academy of Finance and Management (GAFM) in Ethiopia, member and fellow of American Academy of project Management (AAPM), International student recruiter for California State University Dominguez hills (CSUDH). Before coming to US, Mezegebu Zemene Zerihun was assistant dean of community work & life center of the Addis Ababa University, Teacher Development Project manager (TDP) and administrator of the College of education and Dental health school of the Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. He was also program coordinator for Love in action Ethiopia-USAID Trans ACTION program.

Mr. Mezegebu Zemene Zerihun received MSW, BA and AA degree from the Addis Ababa University in 2007, 2003 and 1989 respectively.

Email: mezgebuz@yahoo.com
Tel: 510 706 8616

Petros Abera is the founder and CEO of Africa Heritage Center and Arada Gebeya located in Oakland, CA.

Yoseph Bogale is a Senior Software Developer and Team Lead with several years of experience in software development. He holds a Computer Science degree from University of Kentucky, has several certifications that include AWS Cloud Practitioner and Cloud Solution Architect.
Yoseph is employed by Churchill Downs Technologies and responsible guiding and leading a team of software developers to deliver highly available and fault tolerant software for key segment of the company. Currently Yoseph's two main focus of software includes architecting cloud-based software systems and building and maintaing iOS apps. His attention to details, deep knowledge of software development cycle and his ability to work well with others allowed him to continue grow his career as top software developer in his company.