Inland Regional Center’s New Deaf and Hard of Hearing Cultural Specialist

Dr. CJ Cook, DBABlog, Employees

Estimated Reading Time: < 1 Minute

Inland Regional Center (IRC) is excited to introduce our very first Deaf and Hard of Hearing Cultural Specialist, Estefania Pena!

Estefania comes to IRC with experience in case management, providing parent education and mentorship about deaf issues, and vocational program coordination in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (D/HH) Community including the Intellectually and Developmentally Disabled (I/DD) Community.

Estefania will support the expansion of deaf service resources, provide training and expertise to regional center staff, and coordinate with the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) on statewide efforts. Estefania will enhance information dissemination to stakeholders, families, vendors, IRC’s Executive team, and staff through analyzing Purchase of Service data alongside Lilliana Garnica, IRC Cultural Specialist.

If you would like to connect with Estefania, please email [email protected]


We also invite you to visit our Service Access and Equity (SAE) page at www.inlandrc.org/SAE. In time, Estefania will be contributing content to this page as she cultivates support groups and makes needed connections in the community.

Posted by:

Dr. CJ Cook, DBA

As Program Administrator, CJ is responsible for the proactive oversight of various units within IRC, including Community Management, Service Access and Equity, and Training and Development. CJ's oversight extends to Language Access and Cultural Competency (LACC), Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), equity in the Purchase of Service (POS), and the National Core Indicator (NCI) project. Furthermore, CJ is tasked with managing the IRC's Performance Contract with DDS and overseeing Emergency Services.

Share this Post