Board of Directors
Ann Bragg
Board Member
Ann is a lifelong New York City resident who has been involved with CVH since 2005. Even before coming to CVH, however, Ann has been consistently active in her community. After finishing high school, she was involved with the NYC Public School District and the U.S. Postal Service, while also founding her block association and tenant association--all while raising five children. Since joining CVH, she has contributed to a number of campaigns and has become a valuable leader to be counted on to help plan and participate in outreach, direct action and planning meetings. A long-term East Harlem resident, she has helped spearhead CVH's Sustainable Communities Project in Harlem, wanting to make sure that Harlem remains affordable for low-income New Yorkers. For Ann, working with her fellow CVH members on issues that directly affect their lives and having the opportunity to speak out on social injustice has kept her coming back to CVH. Making a difference and being able to be part of the solution has been empowering to her, and she is eager to put her skills to futher use with the CVH board.
Keith Gamble
Board Member
Keith Gamble was born in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, but he has spend his entire life livign in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. He spent two years studying at the Kingsboro College. Keith has had previous experience working in politics as a volunteer for the Green Party. In 2004, a CVH organizer was doing outreach at a job center and met Ketih. Through this first meeting he was introduced to a new type of organizing for social change. He believes in the CVH model because of the membership involvement and leadership in the organization. He is interested in how CVH is a strategic organization, and that CVH first consults with the membership to strategically achieve its goals before moving forward. He feels that his participation in CVH has shown him that he is not powerless--that we can fight city hall and win, even if it is a small victory that takes time to achieve. Through his work with CVH, Keith has learned that everyone has the ability to make changes, and that people power is real.
Ketny Jean-Francois
Board Member
Ketny Jean-Francois was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti but she has lived in New York City for over 25 years. Ketny became a CVH member when she was in a Back to Work program. She found out about the organization while talking about wanting to form an organization with some of the other women in the program and one of the people she mentioned this to told her about CVH. She came into the office and liked how CVH teaches you how to take control over the decisions the power holders are making regarding low-income people and programs. She feels that her participation in CVH has made her feel empowered as well as teaching her about how the government works and how policies are made. During her time at CVH she has been the most excited about expanding the Transitional Job Program and changing the way services are delivered to low-income people. Ketny is an artist and a mother of one who graduated from New York City Technical College where she studied art and advertising design. She also attended Hunter College where she studied for her bachelors in studio art as well as Black and Puerto Rican studies. During her time at Hunter she was student Vice President. She has recently received her certificate as a medical assistant.
Walter Lipscomb
Board Member
Walter was born in Yonkers and has lived there for 50 years. He has worked in various fields, including driving taxis, trucks and school buses. For the past five years, he has been working in the construction field. He became involved with CVH in 2007 after meeting then-Yonkers Organizer Sarah Thomason at the Department of Social Services. Since then, he has taken part in several key efforts in Yonkers. He joined the CVH march on the Yonkers City Hall, and has met with City Council members to discuss creating more low-income housing in Yonkers, and also advocate for the hiring and training of low-income individuals for the new jobs that are being created by the Getty Square developments. Throughout his time with CVH, Walter has been motivated by helping to make a difference in the Yonkers political process, which he has grown to understand much more comprehensively as a result of his participation with CVH.
LORETTA MANNING
Board Member
Loretta Manning was born and raised in Queens, and lived in Maine and North Carolina before settling in the Hudson Valley in 1992 and making Newburgh her home in 2001. Loretta has six kids, who are her pride and joy, and usually can be found marching alongside her with CVH. Loretta has a certification in Building and Maintenance from LBJ Job Corps. She is currently getting her GED and plans to study business and community organizing in the future. In Newburgh, she is very active in her church and her kids’ activities. In her spare time, Loretta enjoys spending time with her kids, reading, performing spoken word poetry, and planning events with her company, WNL Entertainment. She is also passionate about ending youth violence. Loretta got involved with the CVH Newburgh Chapter in 2008, when an organizer knocked on her door. A month later, she was facilitating an accountability session with Newburgh City Officials, and has been an active leader ever since. Her proudest moment with CVH was leading the “Day in Our Shoes” Tour. Loretta credits CVH with changing her outlook on life, when she realized she “didn’t want to be one of the people talking about how nothing was going to change, I wanted to make the change.”
BRENDA MCPHAIL
Board Member
Brenda McPhail was born and raised in the City of Newburgh, and graduated from Newburgh Free Academy in 1983. She obtained an associates degree from Orange County Community College in Business Administration and is currently working on a degree in Elementary Education through Dutchess Community College. She worked as a supervisor at Price Chopper supermarket for over 20 years and is currently a Youth Pastor at her church. In her free time she likes to read, go to plays, go out to eat, and travel. What she enjoys most about being involved with CVH is going to different places and being a great chant leader. Before joining CVH she was not aware about what was going on in her community and with local politics, and being involved has shown her how to really make a change. In the future she hopes to run for Newburgh City Council, and possibly even become Mayor one day.
Valerie Pearson
Board Member
Born in Greenwich, Connecticut, Valerie has been living in Yonkers for over ten years. Her introduction to CVH began when an organizer knocked on her door and encouraged her to hold her elected officials accountable to the issues that affect her. Since then, she says that being a part of CVH has opened the opportunity for her to do what she says she has always wanted in reaching out to other members and working to create change in her community. Recently, Valerie was a leader in educating voters about the 2008 state senate election. She says the open environment and opportunities to learn about the policies and political processes that affect her daily life lets her know that she is making a real difference. This is further evidenced each time she walks into the CVH office and joins with members that she, herself, recruited.
Brooke Richie, Esq.
Board Member
Brooke Richie met CVH while she was a Skadden Fellow at the National Center for Law and Economic Justice, formerly the Welfare Law Center, in New York City where she focused on education access for welfare recipients. She received her undergraduate degree from Yale University, her J.D. from Harvard Law School, and her Masters in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government. Before attending law school she worked as a Field Organizer for the Children’s Defense Fund-NY, where she organized community-based advocacy strategies to facilitate greater access to children’s health insurance. Ms. Richie is active in numerous coalitions and advocacy efforts to increase individuals’ awareness of their legal rights, and to empower individuals and families to advocate for access to the opportunities to which they are entitled. She is a member of the Welfare Reform Network Steering Committee. She also serves on the Board of a SEED, NYC based non-profit that works with community based organizations and city and state agencies to build their internal capacity to fight poverty. Brooke is the Secretary of Social Welfare Law Committee of City Bar of NY. She currently is working to start her own non-profit, the Resilience Law Advocacy Project, to focus on the intersection of youth development and law. Brooke joined the CVH board in September 2006 and is now the co-Secretary.
Agnes Rivera
Board Member
Agnes Rivera was born in East Harlem, but spent her childhood in the South Bronx and Northern New Jersey. She has been a resident of the Wagner Public Housing Development in East Harlem for the past 18 years. She joined CVH in 2006 when a CVH organizer knocked on her door during the electoral project and asked her feelings were on the conditions in public housing. She has stayed engaged in the organization because she feels that CVH is a positive force because we organize the community to fight for our rights, provides political education, and trainings. As a result of her involvement with CVH She is more conscious of what is going on in her community and more in tune with some how the media works. She now feels that she is able to pick up a newspaper and read between the lines. Agnes’ favorite part of being involved with Community Voices Heard is helping to train people to be more active in their communities. She feels that this work helps to make a community grow and develop and it keeps people engaged both with the issues they are facing and with each other. She received a BA in Social Services from Rutgers University and then became a social worker for Head Start working with families with children with disciplinary problems. She stayed at Head Start for 10 years before becoming a coordinator for the Visiting Homemaker Services where she send registered nurses to peoples homes who were in need. She also worked for Henry Street Settlement as a Self Help Case Manager.
Janet Rivera
Board Member
Janet Rivera was born in Manhattan, NY. She has been in NYC most of her life but she spent a decade living in both New Jersey and Virginia. She returned to New York in 1996 and has lived here every since. She has participated in JTP in the parks department. Ms. Rivera joined CVH in 2001 when she was approached by an outreach worker at a welfare center. She came to a meeting and participated in a rally in Washington, DC where we spoke to congress people. The next memorable work she participated in was an accountability session with candidates for NYC offices. Janet says that the reason she has remained with CVH is the people and the work that we do, she values how we fight for our rights. She began her time at CVH working on Welfare and Transitional jobs but has begun working with the Public Housing Campaign as well. She joined the board in August 2006. She feels that being active at CVH has helped her to become more open and to speak out more not only at CVH but in all aspects of her life.
Anne Washington
Board Member
Anne Washington was born in Trinidad and has lived in New York City since 1970. She has been a resident of Grant Housing in Harlem since 1978. She joined CVH when an organizer knocked on her door and asked her about being a tenant of public housing. She worked for temp agencies for years doing computer work for banks. She attended Borough of Manhattan Community College and studied computer science. She worked at the Federal Reserve in the bank supervision department for almost 9 years. Anne likes CVH because she sees that we get things done. We pick up a project and we push and push, go directly to politician’s offices, have protests, and put the work and time in to be successful. She feels that the Valentines Day action in Albany to secure funding for public housing was one of the most inspiring actions she has participated in. It was the first time she had ever been involved in something like that and ever since every action she has taken part in has made her more excited and happy to be involved in making social changes and being a part of something bigger. Anne believes that being involved with CVH has changed her life in many positive ways. It has makes her feel that she is involved in something important that will make real differences of in her life and in her community.
Linda Williams
Board Member
Linda Williams was born in New York City in Jamaica Queens. She has lived in New York City her entire life and she says she plans on living here the rest of her life. She graduated from Mabel Dean Baron High School in 1971. The school is now called The School of the Future. She works for the Department of Education as a school aide. Linda was one of the earliest members of Community Voices Heard she joined in 1994 the first year we were an organization. She became a member when an organizer did a teach-in at her housing development in the Bronx. Linda says that she has been involved in CVH for so long because, “it [CVH] is a powerhouse place where members run the race for change.” She feels that her participation in CVH has made her life whole. It has given her the opportunity to be more connected to the neighborhood she grew up in and give something back. She likes all aspects of her work with CVH because they are all important to her and she has a self interest in all the issues.
Afua Atta-Mensah
Board Member
Pat Diaz
Board Member
Pat Diaz has lived in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. for 16 years, but is originally from the Bronx and has lived in all 5 boroughs of New York City. She came to her first meeting of the Poughkeepsie CVH chapter in January of 2008. Pat got involved because she liked how CVH wasn’t afraid to confront the real issues, be aggressive when necessary, and willing to stick it out no matter what. Having been homeless over 7 times in her life, she knows what it’s like to have your dignity taken away. She currently works part-time through a senior jobs program for a non-profit organization that works with low-income children and young parents. She has been involved with politics since she was a kid, and remembers her mom taking her to vote and teaching her the importance of voting and being involved. She then was active in fighting for minority students’ rights and against segregation while a student at Queens College. She has worked most of her life in food service, retail, factories, janitorial, and clerical fields, and has volunteered for countless causes. She is a deeply religious person, and that is what keeps her going through tough times. Pat believes strongly in the rights of all human beings, and considers herself a fighter who does not give up. In her free time she enjoys crafts, writing poetry and stories, and music. Pat enjoys doing outreach for CVH. Through CVH Pat feels she can do everything she’s always wanted to do and she thinks of CVH as her family.