Confronting COVID-19 in Our Communities: Perspectives from Around the Region

Confronting COVID-19 in Our Communities is an online panel of the 30th RPA Assembly.

Sol Marie Alfonso-Jones has been with Long Island Community Foundation (LICF) since 2009. As senior program officer, she oversees the Foundation’s competitive grantmaking program, which distributes approximately $2.5 million annually, and oversees many of its strategic initiatives. Prior to LICF, she worked at Sustainable Long Island where she directed the organization’s community revitalization and brownfield redevelopment programs. Before working on Long Island, Sol Marie spent 17 years working in New York City: 12 years overseeing academic enrichment and college preparation programs at Sponsors for Educational Opportunity and five years as a community liaison in Governor Mario Cuomo’s Office of Hispanic Affairs. She is an advisory committee member of Engage New York, a group of local, regional, and national foundations that align and leverage resources, develop and implement intersectional approaches to community challenges, and connect with advocates and community organizers who are addressing the needs of the most marginalized communities throughout New York State. Additionally, she is a co-chair of the Funders Census Initiative, a group of funders nationwide helping to mobilize philanthropic engagement towards a fair and accurate 2020 census. She also is a member of the Energeia Partnership’s class of 2011, a leadership academy dedicated to identifying and addressing complex and multi-dimensional issues challenging the Long Island region. Sol Marie has served on the Health Foundation Community Advisory Committee and as an advisory member of the Regional Planning Association’s fourth regional plan.

As the President and CEO of the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey, Staci Berger directs this statewide association of over 150 community-based development organizations, created in 1989 to enhance the efforts of these groups to create affordable housing and revitalize their communities, and to improve the climate for community development in New Jersey. Before becoming the President and CEO, Staci served as the Director of Advocacy & Policy. In this role she was responsible for leading the community development policy staff team, including working with the Policy Coordinator and field organizers, to broaden and mobilize support for the Network’s public policy agenda.

Prior to joining the Network, Staci worked for nine years with New Jersey Citizen Action where she went from being an organizer to the Political and Legislative Director. As the Political and Legislative Director, she devised and implemented political, legislative, and electoral strategy for the state’s largest non-profit, non-partisan independent watchdog coalition. She received her Masters in Public Affairs and Politics from Rutgers University in 2004. Staci has served as an associate trainer for the Midwest Academy, a leading national training institute for the progressive movement, and worked as a labor organizer with the AFL-CIO Organizing Institute and the Health Professionals and Allied Employees/AFT/AFL-CIO.

Staci has achieved numerous professional milestones and honors. She received the 2017 Edward J. Bloustein School of Public Policy Career Achievement Award, and the 2017 Golden Rose Award for Advocacy from The Rose House. Staci serves on the Economic and Community Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and is a member of the Housing Advisory Council for the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York. In 2016, she was honored by the New Jersey General Assembly during Women’s History Month as a Change Maker and was the inaugural recipient of the Center for Non-Profits’ Emerging Leader Award in 2013. A member of the NJ Citizen Action Board of Directors, Staci was honored in 2014 with its Community Service Award. Representing the Network on Community Reinvestment Act Advisory Boards for both PNC Bank and Valley National Bank, and on TD Bank’s Leadership Council, Staci assists these institutions in meeting their community investment objectives. She has made multiple appearances on national media outlets, including MSNBC, NPR, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, and is a recognized expert on housing and community development issues sought by national, regional and local press.

Michelle de la Uz is the Executive Director of Fifth Avenue Committee inc. (FAC) and has over 25 years of experience in public and community service. Michelle oversees the organization’s mission and comprehensive programs serving more than 5,500 low- and moderate-income people; a budget of more than $7 million and several non-housing affiliate corporations with annual budgets of over $6 million, real estate assets over $100 million, and a housing development pipeline of over 1,700 units, representing more than $800 million in total development costs. Under her leadership, FAC became aNeighborWorks America member.

Prior to FAC, Michelle was Program Director for the Center for Urban Community Services in Washington Heights and Harlem and was Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez’ first Director of Constituent Services and directed her South Brooklyn District Office. She was active in advancing transportation, environmental justice, immigration reform, and employment policy initiatives. Michelle is the first in her working-class immigrant family to graduate from college, is a product of bi-lingual education, a former trustee of Connecticut College, and recipient of the Ford Foundation’s Leadership for a Changing World award.

Michelle serves on the National Board of Directors of the Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC), the New York Housing Conference, and the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development, among many others. Additionally, since 2012 Michelle was appointed to serve on the New York City Planning Commission. Michelle is an alumna of Connecticut College, Columbia University and of Harvard Kennedy School’s Executive Education Program. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and daughter.

Juanita T. James is President & CEO of Fairfield County’s Community Foundation. Formerly, she was Pitney Bowes’ Chief Marketing & Communications Officer and a member of the Chairman’s Council and enjoyed a 20-year career with Time Warner and Bertelsmann, holding several senior executive positions, including President & CEO of Time-Life Libraries.

Ms. James is a Director for Asbury Automotive Group; a Director for First County Bank; Audit Committee chair for Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, a Director of CFLEADS and former Director of Connecticut Council for Philanthropy and the Rouse Company. Juanita was named a Savoy Magazine ​“Power 300 - Most Influential Black Corporate Directors” in 2015, and a ​“2018 Most Influential Corporate Director” from Women Inc.

Presently, Ms. James is Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees at Lesley University, a Trustee Emerita of Princeton University and a former Trustee of UCONN. Some of the honors bestowed upon her include: League of Women Voters ​“Outstanding Woman in Philanthropy Award”; Connecticut Center of Philanthropy ​“Martha Newman Award”; American Cancer Society ​“Women Leading the Way to Wellness”; Girl Scouts of CT ​“Woman of Merit”; Moffly Media ​“Light a Fire”; NAACP ​“100 Most Influential Blacks in CT” and ​“Stamford Citizen of the Year”.

Ms. James earned a master’s degree in Business Policy from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University. She also holds Honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from Mitchell College and Fairfield University, and an Honorary Associate Degree in Humane Letters from Housatonic Community College.

Mindy Thompson Fullilove, MD, is a professor of urban policy and health at The New School. Prior to joining The New School in 2016, she worked for 26 years as a research psychiatrist at New York State Psychiatric Institute and was a professor of clinical psychiatry and public health at Columbia University. She has conducted research on AIDS and other epidemics of poor communities, with a special interest in the relationship between the collapse of communities and decline in health.