Our Story

ALLICE is the acronym for Alliance for Community Empowerment, a nonprofit all-volunteer organization dedicated to promoting healthier relationships, homes and communities through education.

The organization was born in the winter of 2003 when Cherie Querol Moreno took a sabbatical from her journalism career to join CORA, a private nonprofit agency in San Mateo County serving domestic violence survivors and their loved ones. As community outreach coordinator,
she attended a rally on the steps of San Francisco City Hall seeking justice for San Francisco resident Claire Joyce Tempongko, a single mother killed by her ex-boyfriend in front of her two children despite her efforts to protect herself and her family through legal means.

While many attended the morning rally, only a handful Filipino Americans were present. To the journalist in Cherie, the absence of Filipinos spoke to the urgency of raising awareness about domestic violence—that it can happen to anyone, and in fact it had taken the life of a Filipina. To her inner activist, the experience fueled Cherie’s desire to organize and spread the word about resources to help heal abusive relationships.

WE BEGAN BUILDING CONNECTIONS

Cherie reached out to four people who share her ideals: Marketing expert-turned-pastry chef
Bettina Santos Yap, journalist Nerissa Fernandez, community activist Teresa Guingona Ferrer,
and Berkeley PD public safety dispatcher Yumi Querubin. Together they laid the foundation for
a team that would go out in the community to talk about domestic violence and where to get
help. Lawyer Amancio “Jojo” Liangco was the first male to come on board.
Bettina became founding president and remains a steadfast leader on the team as first
members moved on to focus on personal and professional matters. In their place, people of
diverse backgrounds have joined to fulfill the vision of a healthier and safer community built
from healthier and safer relationships through education events, all staged through shared
resources and open free to the public.
They called themselves Kumares and Kumpares, the Tagalog counterpart of “confidante” or
“ally,” which they set out to be to families everywhere who needed help.
Community leader Alice Bulos and florist Lina Susbilla were members of the San Mateo County
Commission on Status of Women when they joined the group in 2004. Paralegal and church
advocate Nellie Hizon stepped in to give perspective from the faith community. Gerontologist
Erlinda Galeon, county parenting educator Kristine Averilla, Jefferson Union High School
District trustee and lawyer Rachel Puno, San Francisco Library Commissioner Helen Marte,
psychologist Dr. Jei Africa and marriage and family therapist Jennifer Jimenez Wong followed in
their steps.