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Chair Lynette M. Brown-Sow is the Vice
President of Marketing and Government Relations at the Community
College of Philadelphia. In 1980, she founded L.M. Brown Management
Group, a certified minority/female-owned consulting firm that
provides professional services to corporations, non-profits, and
governmental entities. As an entrepreneur, Ms. Brown-Sow helped to
create Health Pass, one of the nation's first health insurance
organizations, in the mid-1980s. In 2008, Mayor Michael Nutter
appointed her to the Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment, which
she chaired from 2010-2013. In 1991, then-Mayor Edward Rendell
appointed Ms. Brown-Sow to the position of Deputy Mayor of
Administration to manage appointees to all boards, commissions, and
non-civil service positions.
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Vice-Chair Herbert Wetzel is the Executive
Director of Housing and Community Development for the Philadelphia
City Council. He is also a founding member of the board of
directors and former executive director of the Greater Germantown
Housing Development Corporation. Mr. Wetzel has a long history of
community development activities and during the past 20 years he
established a small business in the Germantown section of
Philadelphia to create neighborhood-based economic development and
also served as Director, Deputy Executive Director and, upon
appointment by former Mayor John Street, Executive Director of the
Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority.
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Leslie D. Callahan, PhD serves as pastor of
St. Paul's Baptist Church in North Philadelphia. She received her
Bachelor of Arts in Religion from Harvard/Radcliffe, her Master of
Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
and her PhD in Religion from Princeton University. Her research
interests include religious history in the United States,
particularly independent African American Christianity and
Pentecostal studies. |
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Rev. Bonnie Camarda has served as Director of
Partnerships for the Salvation Army of Eastern Pennsylvania and
Delaware since 1999, as a tireless advocate for the underserved.
Rev. Camarda co-chaired Mayor Nutter's Faith Leaders Advisory Task
Force for Community Safety with the goal of maximizing the
neighborhoods' spiritual assets, social capital and civic values.
She is a non-violent activist encouraging mutual trust and respect
through amnesty programs that provide musical instruments to
Philadelphia schools for weapons turned in to authorities. An avid
supporter of education, Rev. Camarda serves as Moderator for the
Faith and Community Partnerships of the School District of
Philadelphia. She is also the past president of the Hispanic Clergy
of Philadelphia, which she helped co-found. |
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Asia Coney is one of two
Resident Commissioners who were elected in April of 2014 by PHA
residents, pursuant to a process created under the Pennsylvania
Housing Authorities Law, Act 130. Commissioner Coney is the
President of PHA's Resident Advisory Board. A Philadelphia native,
her dedicated community activism over the last thirty-six years has
included: advocating for public and assisted housing safety,
greater resident input into PHA decision-making, and improvement of
existing public housing conditions; conducting local and national
workshops; ensuring compliance with federal and state directives
regarding the quality of resident life; and working closely with
PHA in its creation and implementation of resident programs.
She has served on numerous City Boards, including the Redevelopment
Authority and the Malt and Beverage Board, and was the Director of
Tenant Support Services, Inc., which terminated operations in 2012.
Her community activism has included the following marches: being
one of two Chairs for the 1997 historic Million Woman March; Chair
of the "Sistahs of the Million Woman March" in 2007; and serving as
a key organizer of the 1997 Grays Ferry March, to reduce violence
and race riots. |
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Julia Danzy has extensive administrative
experience in the area of Social Services, especially child
welfare. She has served as the City of Philadelphia's Director of
Social Services; Deputy Commissioner of Health; and Operations
Director for the Department of Human Services; as well as serving
as Deputy Secretary of the Office of Children, Youth and Families,
in the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare. Her work has
included oversight of the creation of a large urban area's
integrated data system for all its departments of Human Services,
Prisons, and Behavioral Health, which was responsible for the
city's homeless housing services, and has worked as a human
services consultant, with a focus on spanning area of
organizational design, integrated data systems, and program design.
She is known as a tireless advocate for children and families and a
proven leader in innovative use of human service systems.
Commissioner Danzy earned a B.A. at Howard University, an MSW at
Columbia University, and a Masters of Government Administration at
the University of Pennsylvania. She has published articles on child
welfare, made speaking appearances nationwide, served as the
President of Black Administrators in Child Welfare, and is an
Ex-Officio Board member of the Women's Opportunities Resource
Center. |
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Frederick S. Purnell, Sr. is the Deputy
Director for Housing and Community Development for the City of
Philadelphia. As the City's Deputy Director for Housing and
Community Development, he oversees, reviews, and implements housing
policy and strategy across the various housing and housing
support/community development agencies throughout the City. Before
joining the City, Mr. Purnell served as the Executive Director of
Wilmington Housing Authority for 16 years. He was also a key
executive and a long time employee within the Philadelphia Housing
Authority for several years. He has been instrumental in
several multimillion dollar mixed income and low income
developments, and is a recognized leader in community development
in this region. Mr. Purnell is a native of Philadelphia and a
graduate of Central High School and Pennsylvania State University.
He has received several certifications, commendations, and board
appointments relevant to housing and community development, and is
a proud life member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. He is
also a licensed realtor in the state of Delaware and resides in the
Overbrook section of Philadelphia. |
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Ethel Wise is one of two
Resident Commissioners who were elected in April of 2014 by PHA
residents, pursuant to a process created under the Pennsylvania
Housing Authorities Law, Act 130. Commissioner Wise is President of
the Wilson Park Family Resident Council, a native of Philadelphia
and has a personal history of involvement, community engagement and
commitment to bettering the lives of those in public housing for
over 40 years. As President of the PHA housing development at
Martin Luther King for approximately 32 years, Commissioner Wise
developed an effective job bank, a food bank and a town watch
program that was recognized as one of the best in the country, and,
in 1993, she received the Mayor's Community Service Award.
Commissioner Wise also created and managed PHA's Lobby Monitor
Program, which promoted resident safety and resident employment
with a well-defined career path. She has been a leader in providing
national and local training for Resident Councils on HUD
regulations and also has served as a Democratic Party
Committeewoman for the last 25 years. |
