Board of Directors

Dr. Ron Daniels

President

Veteran social and political activist Dr. Ron Daniels was an independent candidate for President of the United States in 1992. He served as Executive Director of the National Rainbow Coalition in 1987 and Southern Regional Coordinator and Deputy Campaign Manager for the Jesse Jackson for President Campaign in 1988. He holds a B.A. in History from Youngstown State University, an M.A. in Political Science from the Rockefeller School of Public Affairs in Albany, New York and a Doctor of Philosophy in Africana Studies from the Union Institute and University in Cincinnati. Dr. Daniels is a Distinguished Lecturer Emeritus at York College, City University of New York where he taught courses in Political Science.

From 1993-2005 Dr. Daniels served as first African American Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR). During his tenure CCR emerged as a major force fighting against police brutality and misconduct, church burnings, hate crimes, voter disenfranchisement, environmental racism and the threats to civil liberties posed by the government’s response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack.

In June of 1995, Dr. Daniels led an African American fact finding and support delegation/mission to Haiti. As a result of the visit, the Haiti Support Project (HSP) was created to mobilize ongoing political and material support for the struggle for democracy and development in Haiti. HSP has emerged as the leading African American organization working to build a constituency for Haiti in the U.S.

A prolific essayist and commentator, Dr. Daniels’ column Vantage Point appears in numerous Black and progressive newspapers and web sites nationwide. He also the host of a weekly issue-oriented public affairs talk show (Vantage Point Radio) on WBAI, 99.5 FM on the Pacifica Network in New York and until recently, he served as an occasional Guest Host for Make It Plain with Mark Thompson, SIRIUSXM Radio.

Dr. Daniels is Founder and President of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW), a progressive, African centered, action-oriented Resource Center dedicated to empowering people of African descent and marginalized communities. As the administrator for the National African American Reparations Commission (NAARC), IBW has emerged as a leading organization within the U.S. and global reparations movements. NAARC has devised a 10 Point Reparations Program and is a stanch support of HR-40, the Congressional Bill that would establish a National Commission to study reparations proposals for African Americans. Dr. Ron Daniels serves as the Convener of NAARC.

Rick Adams

Chairman

Richard “Rick” Adams is Assistant Vice President for the Frieda G. Shapira Center for Learning Through Service at the Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC). He has worked at CCAC since 1985. For 10 years he worked as a community organizer for Operation Better Block Inc.

He is currently president of Primary Care Health Services Inc. (PCHS) which operates 13 ambulatory care centers in Allegheny County. Rick is a Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW). He is Co-Convener of the Western Pennsylvania Black Political Assembly and serves as a board member of the African American Leadership Association (AALA), Urban Innovation 21, Homewood Renaissance and Urban Youth Action (UYA)

Through a life long commitment to community service he has served variously as a member of the Pittsburgh Human Relations Commission, an elected member of the Pittsburgh School Board, a radio talk show host for over 15 years and writes a periodic Cyber column entitled Just A Thought….

In 1988 Rick was the campaign manager for the Western Pennsylvania Jesse Jackson Campaign for President and served as state chair and a national Board member of the RainbowPUSH Coalition. He has run for public office several times including an independent campaign for the Pittsburgh City Council where he came in second with 31% of the vote in a November General election.

Rick is a lifelong resident of Pittsburgh’s east end. A graduate from the city’s Westinghouse High School, he received a B.A. from Bowdoin College with a double major in Government and Afro-American Studies and earned a Masters of Arts in Business Communications from Jones International University.

Richard Jones

Treasurer

Mary France Daniels

Secretary

Mary France-Daniels  attended York College of the City University of New York, graduating Cum Laude in 1980 with a BA in English.  She has served as an Adjunct Professor, taught Continuing Education and Remedial Classes and served as Director of various programs at York.  She also served as Director of the Homework Assistance Program at Langston Hughes Library and a Substitute Teacher at Intermediate School 227.  In 1988 she was chosen by Dr. Richard Green, New York City’s first African American Chancellor, to serve as Director of the Office of Parent Involvement, and also served on New York States’ Sub-Committee for Low Performing Schools.

Over the years Sister Daniels has worked with young people, taught Sunday School and Bible Study.  Deeply devoted to her Christian faith, Mary has served as Vice-Moderator of Corona Congregational Church and is currently a Deaconess and Adult Sunday School Teacher.

Mary takes great pride in being a political and social justice activist. In 1998, in an effort to create an alternative Party in New York State, she ran for Governor, collecting more than 20,000 signatures to qualify for the ballot and received 10,000 votes on Election Day.  Since 2001, she has worked with her husband/partner, Dr. Ron Daniels, to build Institute of the Black World 21^st Century (IBW), an organization dedicated to the upliftment of people of African descent and other oppressed people.  She currently serves as Secretary of the Board of IBW.

Don Rojas

Director of Communications

Don Rojas is the Director of Communications for the Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW) and also a member of its board of directors. Before joining IBW in 2013, Mr. Rojas served as Executive Director and CEO of Free Speech TV, a Denver-based, multiplatform, national media network.

Miscellaneous Accomplishments:

• Mr. Rojas possesses a unique combination of communications expertise and experiences spanning a long career in print, broadcast and Internet media as well as international diplomacy. Over the course of his career he has traveled and worked extensively in the USA, Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.
• He was the former press secretary to the late Prime Minister Maurice Bishop of Grenada from 1979-1983 and the first press secretary to any Caribbean head of state.
• He led the New York Amsterdam News as its executive editor in the early 1990s. The Amsterdam News is the largest and most influential African-American newspaper in the nation.
• He was the general manger of Pacifica Radio station WBAI in New York from 2002-2005 and led the station to record membership drives.
• He established a communications department for the NAACP (National HQ) in the early 1990s and became the first director of communications for the country’s oldest and largest civil rights organization.
• He was recently featured in a chapter in the book “The Black Digital Elite—African American Leaders of the Information Revolution” by John Barber. The book contains chapters of other black media pioneers such as Richard Parsons, CEO of Time-Warner, Robert L. Johnson, founder of BET and William Kennard, former chairman of the FCC.
• In 1999 he was named one of the ‘Silicon Alley Dozen’, a group of Internet CEOs pioneering new media developments in New York City.
• In 1996 Mr. Rojas launched and ran The Black World Today, a pioneering news and commentary site on the Web.
• In the mid 1990s he was contracted by the National Council of Churches (NCC) to co-ordinate a very successful media campaign to draw the nation’s and the world’s attention to a spate of hate-motivated arsons of dozens of African-American churches throughout the southern states of the USA.  The campaign resulted in scores of stories, commentaries and editorials in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and other leading newspapers and on all the major television networks. The media campaign also resulted in the NCC’s ability to raise millions of dollars from the public to assist in the rebuilding of the destroyed churches and led to the strengthening of federal and state laws against hate crimes.
• He has interviewed presidents and prime ministers of African, Caribbean and Latin American countries as well as civil and human rights leaders in the USA and around the world.
• He was the only African-American journalist to cover the first summit meeting between Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev in Geneva in 1986.
• Created the first Internet Radio Network (Black World Radio) targeting people of color with news, commentaries and musical entertainment.
• Taught courses and lectured on the history of journalism and on minorities in the media at Long Island University’s School of Journalism, the University of the West Indies and Charles University in Prague. Lectured on Caribbean and Central American politics at Columbia University in New York, McGill University in Canada, London University, the University of Manchester in England and the Sorbonne in France.
• He assisted the President of IBW, Dr. Ron Daniels, in organizing and then participated in a historic Symposium in Washington DC in October, 2013 on the subject of “Democracy & Development in Africa and the Caribbean.”
• Mr. Rojas has edited four books of history and critical commentary about Grenada.

Ronald E. Hampton

Washington, DC Representative
Blacks in Law Enforcement of America

Ronald E. Hampton is the Washington, DC Representative for Blacks in Law Enforcement of America. He is former Executive Director of the National Black Police Association and a retired twenty-three veteran of the DC Metropolitan Police Department. Additionally, he serves as a Law Enforcement Fellow at the University of the District of Columbia’s Institute for Public Safety and Justice.

Mr. Hampton is reputed for his outstanding work with the citizens of the Third Police District in Washington, D.C. in crime prevention and community participation and relations. Due to his extensive experience and knowledge in community relations and policing he has been afforded education and training opportunities locally, nationally, and internationally. Additionally, he was involved in designing and delivering community policing and problem solving training for residents in public housing, as well as overseeing a project dealing with intervention and crime prevention through alternative community sentencing. In 1996, Mr. Hampton led a People to People, Citizens’ Ambassador Program Law Enforcement Delegation of 23 to South African.

Over the years Mr. Hampton has worked with the U.S. Department of Justice, the American University’s Washington Semester School Criminal Justice Program and Amnesty International USA on a range of criminal justice and human rights issues. Also, he has serves as a consultant-educator to the Carter Center of Emory University Human Rights Program which has led to work in Ethiopia, Guyana, Britain, Canada, and the Bahamas.

Rev. Shirley Gravely-Currie

Board Member

Rev. Gravely-Currie is an associate minister at Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church in Southeast, Washington, DC. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Education, a Master of Business and Public Administration degree in Administrative Management, and a Master of Divinity degree from Howard University School of Divinity. An On-Call Chaplain at Washington Hospital Center, she is also experienced as an advocate for abused and neglected children, at-risk youth, adjudicated youth, victims of domestic violence, women’s issues, and cancer patients.

Greg Akili

Board Member

Akili has over 45-years of experience as a labor, community organizer and political leader. (Preferred to called Akili) Akili has dedicated his life to social and racial justice. He has three basic beliefs:

1. People will make a difference if you seek to get them involved.
2. The essence of democracy is inclusion and participation.
3. We live in the richest country in the world; we can have a just, fair, and equitable society.

Experience:

• Project Coordinator Corporate Accountability International & Los Angeles Black Workers  Center
• National Field Director Social Security Works Campaign
• Senior Manager of Field Training and Western Region Field Director  NAACP
• South Los Angeles Regional Field Director and Trainer, Obama for America campaign
• Senior Political/Community Organizer, SEIU Local 1000, state employee union
• Special Assistant to California Assembly Speakers, Antonio R. Villaraigosa, Herb Wesson and Assembly member Mervyn Dymally
• National Organizer Jessie Jackson President campaign
• Co-Founder, Vice President,  United Domestic Workers Union
• Organizer,  United Farm Workers Union
• Bachelor Degree, Political Science, City University Los Angeles

Kareem Aziz

Board Member

A member of the Board of the Institute of the Black World 21^st Century and convener of the Baltimore Justice Collaborative, Kareem Aziz is the Director of the Office of Institutional Research and Planning of Sojourner-Douglass College. He is an expert in community based institutional development having served in a variety of leadership roles both within the College and throughout the community.  He received his undergraduate education from Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio and holds a Master of Public Administration Degree from the University of Dayton (Ohio). He did doctoral studies in Educational Leadership at both Morgan State University (1981 – 1984) and more recently with the Union Institute and University in Cincinnati, Ohio (1999 – 2004) where he combined his interests in Educational Leadership with Applied Information Technology through a study of the barriers and benefits to the deployment of the virtual university at HBCUs.  Born and raised in Dayton, Ohio, he was nurtured through a loving community of family and institutions that collaborated in his upbringing and guided his development. Kareem has lived in Baltimore, Md. since 1980 when he first arrived to serve as the Executive Director of the Druid Hill Avenue Branch of the YMCA, reopening it after a five year period of dormancy.

For the past 33 years he has been personally and professionally committed to the mission of Sojourner-Douglass College where he has served in a variety of capacities, most focused around issues of institutional and community based research, planning and program development with particular attention to programs for our youth. In virtually his entire professional career Kareem Aziz has been involved in and dedicated to the development of African American community centered program initiatives: from the establishment of new and revived program centers in the YMCA in both Baltimore and Springfield, Ohio, to serving as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Baltimore Cable Access Corporation during the initial establishment of Public Access Cable Television services to the City of Baltimore.  He also served as the local coordinator for the hosting of two national “State of the Race” conferences held at Sojourner-Douglass College in 1994 and 1997.  He has recently served as the Chairman of the Thurgood Marshall District of the Baltimore Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, but now functions as the institutional representative and program leader for Afrocentric Boy Scout and Cub Scout units organized at the College. These units have been organized with the assistance of the Roots of Scouting, Inc. organization where Mr. Aziz serves as chairman of the Rites of Passage Program Committee. In this capacity he is leading the way for reviving urban scouting through the infusion of African American “rites of passage” concepts and educational practices into Boy Scout activities.

Kareem has been married to Vernetta “Nini” Aziz for now 30 years. He is a father to three wonderful young adults and a grandfather with 12 grandchildren and 1 great granddaughter who are the light of his life.

Zach Williams

Board Member

Zachery Williams is Associate Professor of African American History at the University of Akron, Ohio. In 2003, he received his Ph.D. in history from Bowling Green State University, with a focus on Americana and African American policy history and Africana Studies. He is the author of In Search of the TalentZachery Williams is Associate Professor of African American History at the University of Akron, Ohio. In 2003, he received his Ph.D. in history from Bowling Green State University, with a focus on Americana and African American policy history and Africana Studies. He is the author of In Search of the Talented Tenth: Howard University Public Intellectuals and the Dilemmas of Race, 1926-1970 (Columbia: U of Missouri Press, 2009) and the editor of Africana Cultures and Policy Studies: Scholarship and the Transformation of Public Policy (Contemporary Black History Series. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009).

Dr. Williams has also published articles in the Journal of Pan African Studies, Journal of Religious Thought, the Journal of American Studies of Turkey, and the Journal of African American Men. In the Spring of 2009, in a special issue of The Journal of American Studies of Turkey, focusing on African American Studies, he contributed an article entitled, Recovering the African American Past for the Purposes of the Policy Present: The History and Evolution of Africana Cultures and Policy Studies.” In 2012, Dr. Williams contributed the chapter, “Dreams From My Father: President Barack Obama and the Reconstruction of African American Men’s History and Studies—A Response to the Ford Foundation Report, Why We Can’t Wait,” to the book, African American Males and Education: Researching the Convergence of Race and Identity, published by Information Age Publishing.

In 2003, Dr. Williams co-founded the Africana Cultures and Policy Studies Institute, a policy think tank group dedicated to the study of African American Policy History and development of sustainable solutions to historic and contemporary problems impacting African Americans. Currently, Dr. Williams is the coordinator of the Institute of the Black World 21^st Century’s Research Consortium, a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated Committee on Racial Justice, a recent fellow with the Center for American Progress Research Consortium, and also an Associate Minister at Olivet Institutional Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio. Since arriving in 2003, he has been active in the Greater Cleveland/Akron community, participating in organizations such as the Institute for Restorative Justice and The Sound of the Genuine. He is married to Kesha Boyce Williams, and they are the proud parents of two daughters, Zion Olivet Williams, six, and Zipporah Raye Williams, three.

ed Tenth: Howard University Public Intellectuals and the Dilemmas of Race, 1926-1970 (Columbia: U of Missouri Press, 2009) and the editor of Africana Cultures and Policy Studies: Scholarship and the Transformation of Public Policy (Contemporary Black History Series. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009).

Dr. Williams has also published articles in the Journal of Pan African Studies, Journal of Religious Thought, the Journal of American Studies of Turkey, and the Journal of African American Men. In the Spring of 2009, in a special issue of The Journal of American Studies of Turkey, focusing on African American Studies, he contributed an article entitled, Recovering the African American Past for the Purposes of the Policy Present: The History and Evolution of Africana Cultures and Policy Studies.” In 2012, Dr. Williams contributed the chapter, “Dreams From My Father: President Barack Obama and the Reconstruction of African American Men’s History and Studies—A Response to the Ford Foundation Report, Why We Can’t Wait,” to the book, African American Males and Education: Researching the Convergence of Race and Identity, published by Information Age Publishing.

In 2003, Dr. Williams co-founded the Africana Cultures and Policy Studies Institute, a policy think tank group dedicated to the study of African American Policy History and development of sustainable solutions to historic and contemporary problems impacting African Americans. Currently, Dr. Williams is the coordinator of the Institute of the Black World 21^st Century’s Research Consortium, a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated Committee on Racial Justice, a recent fellow with the Center for American Progress Research Consortium, and also an Associate Minister at Olivet Institutional Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio. Since arriving in 2003, he has been active in the Greater Cleveland/Akron community, participating in organizations such as the Institute for Restorative Justice and The Sound of the Genuine. He is married to Kesha Boyce Williams, and they are the proud parents of two daughters, Zion Olivet Williams, six, and Zipporah Raye Williams, three.

Harris Floyd

Board Member

Harris Floyd is a Partner and Principal of Business Development for The HarMonSi Group. She is also a Corporate Engagement Professional specializing in Corporate Partnering and Sponsorship for The National Association of Homebuilders.

Harris is experienced in business development and business strategy, and specializes in marketing, sales, and developing corporate partnering opportunities. She has held several leadership positions including Director of Business Development for several private sector firms. Harris received her B. S. degree with a double major in marketing and business management from the University of Richmond; which she attended on full merit scholarship.

Since that time, she has worked in the corporate sector where she was instrumental in the growth of the oldest black owned architectural and engineering firm in the country, and advancing a black owned software development company to the prestigious “Washington Technology Fast 50”. In her current role, Harris works with national businesses and organizations to develop corporate engagement opportunities that have bottom line results.

Jacqui Patterson

Board Member

Jacqueline Patterson is the Director of the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program. Since 2007 Patterson has served as coordinator & co-founder of Women of Color United. Jacqui Patterson has worked as a researcher, program manager, coordinator, advocate and activist working on women‘s rights, violence against women, HIV&AIDS, racial justice, economic justice, and environmental and climate justice. Patterson served as a Senior Women’s Rights Policy Analyst for ActionAid where she integrated a women’s rights lens for the issues of food rights, macroeconomics, and climate change as well as the intersection of violence against women and HIV&AIDS.

Previously, she served as Assistant Vice-President of HIV/AIDS Programs for IMA World Health providing management and technical assistance to medical facilities and programs in 23 countries in Africa and the Caribbean. Patterson served as the Outreach Project Associate for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and Research Coordinator for Johns Hopkins University. She was also a U.S. Peace Corps Jamaica volunteer.  Patterson’s publications/Articles include: ”Jobs vs Health: An Unnecessary Dilemma”, “Climate Change is a Civil Rights Issue”, “Gulf Oil Drilling Disaster: Gendered Layers of Impact”, “Disasters, Climate Change Uproot Women of Color” and an upcoming book chapter, “Equity in Disasters: Civil and Human Rights Challenges in the Context of Emergency Events” in the book Building Community Resilience Post-Disaster.

Patterson holds a master’s degree in social work from the University of Maryland and a master’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University. She currently serves on the Gender Justice Working Group of the US Social Forum, the Advisory Committee for The Grandmothers’ Project, the Steering Committee of Interfaith Moral Action on Climate Change, as well as on the Board of Directors for the Institute of the Black World, Center for Story Based Strategies and the US Climate Action Network.

Ginger E. Underwood-Herring

Board Member

Ginger holds a Master’s degree in Professional Counseling and a Bachelor’s degree in Communications with a minor in professional writing, both from Carlow University. For the past 16 years, Ginger has worked at the Community College of Allegheny County, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, working primarily in Distance Learning, with the past 5 years serving as a Student Success Coach, working with students taking developmental courses, and also serving as the Program Manager for the state-funded ACT 101 program. She is a 2013 graduate of the college’s Leadership Development Institute. Ginger currently serves on the board of Brightwood Civic Group, a group that helps to rehabilitate neighborhood houses in her community, she is a member of the Pittsburgh Justice Collaborative and a member of the One Northside Parent Engagement Team. This community initiative, led by Buhl Foundation, will make a $50 million dollar commitment over 20 years. She’s committed to fighting for social justice issues pertaining to underrepresented populations and making communities better for all residents. Ginger is married to James Herring, and has two wonderful sons, Corey and Demetrius. She’s passionate about empowering others to achieve their dreams, and her philosophy about life is “To thine own self be true,” and the great Margaret Mead quote, “Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Kevin Baker

Board Member

Kevin Baker has been passionate about helping people all his life. He is an advocate for youth and communities of color, Kevin is enthusiastic about contributing to the success of all people and in particular, those of African ancestry. Kevin’s life journey has been devoted to bringing the best out of ourselves and each other.

Since 2010 Kevin is a skilled facilitator and trainer who has conducted workshops, spoken on panels and keynoted events with topic areas covering Cultural Responsiveness in all fields, and a particular focus on Education, Educational Leadership, Mental Health, Community Policing, Race and Social Justice and more. Kevin is a co-founder of Men of the Middle Passage—a Black men’s organization dedicated to healing the “Soul Wound” of men of African Ancestry and they have met weekly since 2011.

In addition to his Master’s in Education from Antioch University, Focused on Cultural Impacts on Education—the Achievement Gap and Educational Leadership. Kevin also holds a Master’s in Psychology, Focused on Trauma, Historical Trauma, Bias and Cultural Complexes from a Depth Psychological Perspective. His graduate studies allowed him to deepen his understanding of how, as a professional, he could help others understand the cross sections of psychology and education in all our lives. Kevin’s areas of expertise include Racial Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Cultural Diversity, Historical Trauma and Trans-generational Trauma, Unconscious Bias, Power, Privilege, the Impacts of Culture on Education, the Education Achievement Gap, and Leadership Development. His consulting work explores how culture is/has impacted the ability of an organization and its staff to provide the best services to students, clients, work partners, and communities. By examining policy, program development, professional and personal growth and development, through an equity and inclusion lens, Kevin’s work assists organizations to positively contribute to the communities they serve.

Kevin’s experiences growing up caused him to reject education and become an advocate for social justice. Ultimately, it was this consciousness that fueled his desire to return to graduate school, with the aspiration of understand the root causes and the cures for the achievement and opportunity gap and Systems Change.

Chester Marshall, MSW, LICSW, LCSW-C

Board Member

Chester Marshall is the Founder and CEO of the Institute for African Man Development Inc. He is also an adjunct professor at the Howard University School of Social Work in Washington DC. He began his work in 1981 in Chicago Illinois where he was part of the inaugural staff at lmani House, a shelter for neglected and abused boys.

Mr. Marshall has more than 33 years’ experience in providing social services, program development, and management in various settings including child welfare, therapeutic communities, and private practice. He has helped to develop successful social services programs targeting Men and Boys in the DC and Chicago areas including: mental health, rites of passage, therapeutic-based milieus and training curriculums.

Mr. Marshall has led the Institute since he founded it in 2002. He brings a wealth of executive management and board leadership expertise to the organization. Mr. Marshall was appointed and currently serves as a commissioner on D.C. Congresswomen, Eleanor Holmes Norton’s Congressional Commission on Black Men and Boys. He also serves on DC Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Commission on Fathers, Men and Boys.

He is certified in Clinical Hypnosis and Neuro-linguistic Programming and is a certified NTU psychotherapist. He also holds a certificate in Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy from the Albert Ellis School in New York and is a graduate of the National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW) Academy of African-Centered Social Work.

Known for his dynamism and ability to connect with and engage audiences, Mr. Marshall has presented at many conferences and public forums and is frequently invited as a keynote speaker. He has been a regular guest speaker on various television shows including Howard Television, Africa News Vision, CNN and the popular BET.

Mr. Marshall is the author of Black Man Heal: Volume I: A Resource Manual for the Healing and Uplifting of African Men and Boys and Black Man Heal Volume II: The Blueprint for Healing Disconnected African American Men and Boys. He is also the author of Lies by the Numbers: The Negative Imaging of African­ American Men and Boys through the Use and Misuse of Statistics and has written countless working papers, articles, and curriculums on the subject of developing African-American Men and Boys.

Amina Mayazi-Saunders

Board Member

Amina Mayazi-Saunders holds a Master of Social Work from Temple University with a focus on Social Administration. For the past 20 years she has advocated for children and families as a therapist. Amina is passionate about improving the condition of communities of color and helping to organize young people to speak up about issues that affect them. Spirituality has always been an important part of Amina’s life which lead her to serve as an usher and missionary at her church, but she is most proud of the work she does with the Young Peoples Department.

Amina is currently an adjunct in the School of Social Work at Temple University for the past 7 years. She is also an adjunct at Morgan State University where she teaches a Popular Youth Culture Course to masters level students that emphasizes how to work with the urban population using hip hop and rap therapy to connect with them and encourage the youth to express themselves. Amina is married to her best friend and husband of 18 years, Scott Saunders and has one beautiful daughter Akili.

Amina serves as a mentor in the Akoma Rites of Passage Mentoring Group for girls aged 6-17 years old from various underprivileged communities in Philadelphia. Amina is instrumental in helping the girls learn life skills, develop healthy relationships, build financial wealth, explore life outside of their neighborhoods and choose career paths.

Amina is committed to fighting for children in the foster care system in her role as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for the New Castle County Family Court in Delaware. In this role, Amina is tasked with making sure children who enter foster care are provided with all the necessities and they are being treated in a positive environment where they can thrive until they return home. Amina also makes sure that foster children who age out of the foster care system are connected to resources that can help them transition into adulthood.

Amina currently is the First Vice President for the Temple University School of Social Work Alumni Board where she participates in various community activities and represents Social Work at the University events. Amina was fortunate to join the Alliance of Black Social Workers as a student at Temple University. Amina has been an active member for over 21 years and is a part of the local conference committee. Amina is one of the co-conveners of the Philadelphia Regional Justice Collaborative where she works with other organizations to increase economic empowerment and reforming the criminal justice system. Amina is a board member for the Institute of the Black World and participates in the various Town Hall meetings and continues to help mobilize communities of color.