Our Team
Jocelyn Miner
Co-director, Public Health Programs Specialist
Jocelyn Miner comes to PHOENIX with broad experience in the public health and social justice realms. She recently became PHOENIX’s interim executive director following Karen Meurer’s retirement. Jocelyn grew up in the high desert of southern California, where she had a close-knit community but experienced periods of food and housing insecurity and domestic violence. It was this experience that led her down the public health pathway from a young age, inspiring her to find work that allowed her to help others with similar lived experiences. Her varied work history includes time spent as a community garden manager, personal support worker, program manager, and volunteer for local organizations that aim to improve housing and food security. Jocelyn completed her bachelor’s degree in social science with a minor in Community Health in the spring of 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. She completed her master’s degree in public health in June of 2023, and is drawn to PHOENIX because the work aligns with her values of health equity and community-led social justice. Jocelyn is passionate about dismantling systems of oppression by working to support those most impacted by the prison industrial complex. Her work with PHOENIX prioritizes trauma-informed relationship-building through an understanding that we all come to the table as the experts in our own lives. Jocelyn centers harm-reduction and anti-racism in her daily life and brings this praxis into her work with PHOENIX.
Glen Marshall
Certified Recovery Mentor
Glen is a certified Peer Support Specialist who joined PHOENIX in January 2024.
Glen started drinking alcohol when he was 13 years old, and began using meth in his 20s, leading to 40 years of struggles with addiction and 32 years of incarceration. There were times when he was able to get clean and experience periods of success. But those were usually followed by a return to use. Then, he found a turning point when he began a 12-step program and started attending church, allowing himself the opportunity to work through the challenges and obstacles that had continued to lead him back to drugs.
Now, Glen is able to work from having experienced the challenges an addict has to navigate, and with care and compassion, dedicates himself to helping others bridging the gap between life in prison and addiction to the life they want. He orients his work around "carrying [his] clients until they can carry themselves", understanding that the smallest things can be difficult and overwhelming and that sometimes just having someone walk besides them can give them the strength to not give up.
Glen has deep partnerships across all involved in supporting those transitioning from prison, from Central City Concern, Hooper Detox Stabilization Center, Recovery Works NW, Hope Center and Pathfinders to find housing, employment and substance use disorder treatment services; to judges and parole officers to help resolve issues before they lead to negative outcomes. His biggest joy is seeing clients succeed however that looks for someone, whether its becoming a certified peer mentor themselves, working to obtain a contractor's license, or reconnecting with family.
Karen Meurer
Co-director, Executive Director Emeritus, Board Member
Karen has been the Executive Director of PHOENIX since 2009 until retiring on October 31, 2024. She is assisting Jocelyn Miner, who is serving as interim executive director. Karen served on the PHOENIX board for three years prior to joining the staff.
Before moving to Oregon in 2006, she was a church relations associate at Bread for the World in Washington, DC; a director of Christian Education/Children’s and Family Minister at three United Methodist Churches in Maryland; and the Executive Director of Chesapeake Habitat for Humanity in Baltimore. She was also a campaign organizer at Partnership for Safety and Justice in Portland.
She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Indiana State University; a Master of Divinity from Southern Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky; and a Master of Liberal Arts from Johns Hopkins University. She received training in community organizing from the Industrial Areas Foundation in 2005 and has served as a trainer for local MACG Leadership Institutes.