Louisville Office
Meet the Staff
at the
Melanie Piazza
Executive Director
Melanie has served in many roles for two centers for independent living (CILs). Her journey from part-time Employment Specialist to Executive Director has been challenging and rewarding. Like a majority of CIL staff, she has often used her own experiences and stories as a person with a disability to help motivate and empower others. In her free time she enjoys reading, traveling, hiking, camping and collecting freshwater oyster shells from the banks of the Little Barron River that surrounds her home.
Amanda Mobley
Assistant Director
Amanda has worked for the Center for Accessible Living for over 6 years in different capacities, starting out as a program coordinator and now as the Assistant Director. Working with CAL has been the highlight of her career and Independent Living for people with disabilities remains of the utmost importance to her. Amanda enjoys going to concerts and traveling when she has the time.
Michael Markiewicz
Chief Financial Officer
Michael has been with the Center for Accessible Living for over 28 years serving as the Chief Financial Officer. While he has worked in a variety of non profit and for profit organizations for over 45 years, his true love is for non profit work. Though challenging, non profit work often leads to progressive outcomes for consumers who receive the services and that makes a difference in Michael’s opinion. In his spare time, Michael loves hiking, walking the greatest dog in the world, Bodie, and loves reading a good book.
Erika DeSha
Executive Assistant
Erika has been at CAL for two years and brings 25 years of experience as an Office Manager. At the Center, Erika is responsible for handling clerical tasks and prioritizing correspondence to allow the executive team to focus on decision making and higher-level responsibilities. She provides support to the executive team and will manage mostly business-related tasks for the team such as creating reports, taking minutes, and other organizational tasks. Her work may involve working closely with the fiscal department to investigate and recouping outstanding bills. Thus, the skills required would be a vast understanding of the full Microsoft Office suite, be extremely fast at solving problems and have experience as an executive or administrative assistant in the past. Responsible for overseeing front desk training and oversight.
Lisa McKeown
Personal Care Attendant Program Assistant
Lisa has worked with the Center for 4 years, first as a volunteer at the front desk and eventually working as the program assistant. Lisa assists with many projects at the Center including the SOUL Louisville women’s group as well as disability sensory training for the local bus system. She currently serves on the Kentucky Assistant Technology Advisory Council (KATS Network) representing Independent Living Centers in Kentucky. Lisa say’s, “The best part about working for CAL is helping people and getting to see how it benefit’s them.”
Lauren Mountz
Housing Program Manger
Lauren oversees all matters and barriers connected to finding accessible and affordable housing in the Louisville area. She acts as a liaison between varies government agencies and community programs. When needed, she can provide a list of community resources for any housing accessibility related issue, is able to assist in applying for affordable housing in the form of an individual subsidy or subsidized housing, and advocates for consumers’ housing rights. She often participates in community outreach and engagement for all housing related topics.
Becky Hart
Lead Personal Care Attendant Program Coordinator
Becky has been with the Center since 2013. Initially as a program assistant and currently as Lead Program Coordinator. She serves as program coordinator for PCAP in Jefferson, Bullitt, Shelby, Henry, and Oldham counties, as well as overseeing the program coordinators in the Big Sandy, Cumberland Valley, and Pennyrile/Purchase regions. In her free time, Becky enjoys spending time with her grandchildren.
Twilla Parr, MS, OT
Independent Living Specialist
The Center for Accessible Living (CAL) is part of a National network of Centers for Independent Living. As an Independent Living and Employment Specialist, Twilla helps individuals achieve success in their personal and work lives. Together we determine how to bring about desired change. Occasionally the individual can be met their needs with information and referral to resources within the community. At other times a more in-depth approach is needed, and in this case an Independent Living Plan (ILP) is developed. The ILP outlines specific goals and the necessary steps or skills needed to reach their goal(s). I provide support and individualized skill training necessary for the goal(s) to be achieved. Regardless of the need, age or disability, CAL’s valuable services help individuals progress toward improved engagement and independence in the community.
Angela Davis
Ramp Program Coordinator
Angela has worked with the Center for 2 years. The ramp program provides ramps, handrails, and grab-bars free of charge to eligible individuals living in Jefferson County.
David Allgood
Director of Advocacy
I work to increase the opportunities for Kentuckians with disabilities to become more independent and create an inclusive environment for all of our citizens. We work on individual and systems advocacy where we strive to work with our local, state and federal elected officials to make all regions of our state accessible to everyone. This applies to public accommodations, employment, transportation, effective communications and any other areas that are of concern to our consumers. If individuals with disabilities feel that they have been discriminated against because of their disability we will work with them to try to resolve this matter and if we can’t do that directly we often refer these individuals to the local, state and federal agencies that focus on their areas of concern.
Elizabeth Curry
American Sign Language Scheduler
Elizabeth works in our sign language department and the sign language interpreter. She is Deaf. She graduated from Gallaudet University 2016 with Bachelors in Communication Studies and Business Administration. In her free time, she likes to sew or do Do-It Yourself projects around her house! She looks forward to working with and serving the beautiful community of Louisville and nearby cities.
Donna Mundy, MRE, CWIC
WIPA Program Director
Donna Mundy is the Work Incentives Planning and Assistance (WIPA) program director and also a benefits counselor for central to western Kentucky. She provides in depth benefits counseling services to her clients. She has been a CWIC for over 11 years and brings valuable expertise and experience! She enjoys researching unusual cases and helping her clients achieve success along the path of employment. Most services are provided virtually but in-person may be available as needed.
Evangeline Johnson, MSW, CPWIC
Office of Vocational Rehabilitation Kentucky Work Incentive Counselor
Evangeline covers the East and East Central OVR regions of Kentucky including the East Kentucky Blind district. Her office is located in the Lexington Bluegrass OVR office on Leestown Center Way. She provides in-depth benefits counseling services to her clients as well as financial empowerment strategies. She is a fierce advocate and brings her 12 years of expertise to the table with each client. She meets people in OVR offices or other public locations within her catchment area.
Alaina Moore, CPWIC
Office of Vocational Rehabilitation Kentucky Work Incentive Counselor
Alaina covers the West Central OVR regions of Kentucky including the West and Central Blind districts. She provides in depth benefits counseling services to her clients as well as financial empowerment strategies. She has been a CWIC for 3 years and always brings her enthusiasm to the table! She works hard for her clients. She develops a great working relationship with not only her client but all the team members to help achieve success. Her main office is located in the Kentucky Career Center/OVR office in Owensboro, KY and she also works remotely. She will meet with her clients at a local OVR office or other public spaces that are accessible and convenient for the consumer.
David Edwards, MAT, CWIC
Center for Accessible Living Certified Work Incentives Counselor
David is a CWIC with the Work Incentive Planning and Assistance (WIPA) program for central to western Kentucky. He provides in depth benefits counseling services to his clients. He has been a CWIC for nearly 11 years and though humble, has developed a large working knowledge of community resources as well as tips for assisting the consumer along the path to financial security. David provides most services virtually but he is able to travel to his regions when necessary.
Kim Steen, CWIC
Center for Accessible Living WIPA Program
Kim Steen is a CWIC with Indiana Works, our WIPA program across the river. She recently became fully certified and is a great addition to the WIPA team. She provides intensive benefits analysis and work incentives counseling to persons with a Social Security disability benefit who reside in central and southern Indiana and who are wanting to work. She is a great listener and has a natural ability to help explain to her clients how working may make perfect sense. She enjoys helping people.
Ashley Evans, Intake Specialist
Center for Accessible Living WIPA Program
Ashley Evans is the WIPA program Intake Specialist. She is likely the first person you will talk to when thinking about returning to work and finding out about Social Security work incentives and how the WIPA can help. She is an Air Force Veteran with over 5 years of customer account management. She is exceptionally organized, detail oriented and sincerely friendly and truly interested in people. She helps our WIPA clients understand where they are in the process and help them get started with intensive individualized services by helping them with gathering paperwork, getting releases signed and whatever else they may need.
Prentha Cochran
Bookkeeper
Prentha has been with the Center for over 35 years. She currently serves as the bookkeeper and assistant to the CFO.