COMMUNITY COLLEGE OF PHILADELPHIA TO BESTOW LEADERSHIP AWARDS ON COMMUNITY AND BUSINESS LEADERS

PHILADELPHIA, May 4, 2009 — Community College of Philadelphia’s three Regional Centers will give distinguished leadership awards to 18 community, political, student, education, faith and business luminaries at 8 a.m. on May 5, 6 and 7, respectively. The awards will be given to individuals who have demonstrated achievement and outstanding commitment to the College and their community.

The Northeast Regional Center will hold its award ceremony at 8 a.m., Tuesday, May 5, at 12901 Townsend Road.

The Northwest Regional Center will hold its award ceremony at 8 a.m., Wednesday, May 6, at 1300 West Godfrey Avenue.

The West Regional Center will hold its ceremony at 8 a.m., Thursday, May 7, at 4725 Chestnut Street.

The following is a list of this year’s awardees for each of the Regional Centers:

Northeast Regional Center

• Business – Dorothy Mullen, a sales manager at the Ramada Northeast Philadelphia, for many years has been an active volunteer for many community and business organizations. She has been a board member of the Frankford Northeast Rotary Club and a board member for the Chambers of Commerce in Greater Northeast Philadelphia and Lower Bucks County. For the past 13 years, she has been chair of the Philadelphia Fire Department’s Fire Prevention Annual Dinner Dance and a member of the executive committee of the Fire Prevention’s Citizens Committee.


• Education – Anthony Chun, Ph.D., is president and CEO of CORA Services Inc., a private, educational, community based, nonprofit agency offering professional human services to children, youth and their families. Founded in 1971, CORA today serves children and families in more than 100 public and private schools, recreation centers and community centers in Greater Philadelphia. A licensed psychologist, he has served on the Mayor’s Children & Family Cabinet Advisory Commission and as chair of the Mayor’s Drug and Alcohol Abuse Executive Commission.


• Community Service – Dianne Welsh-Retzbach is executive vice president of The Friends of Poquessing Watershed of Philadelphia and Bucks counties. She previously served as the group’s president for 10 years. She has served on Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park Advisory Council for more than a decade and has served on Community College of Philadelphia’s Northeast Regional Center Advisory Committee since its inception approximately 14 years ago.


• Faith-Based – Sister Mildred Chesnavage serves the dual roles of principal and director of Religious Education for Our Lady of Calvary School. She began her ministry teaching at Our Lady of Calvary from 1963 until 1969. She was then transferred to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Elementary School in Scranton, PA, where she taught eighth grade for three years. She then spent seven years at St. Hubert’s High School for Girls. She returned to Our Lady of Calvary as director of Religious Education in 1979 and in 1987 also became principal.


• Elected Official – The Honorable State Rep. John P. Sabatina Jr., 174th Legislative District, is a lifelong resident of Rhawnhurst. He serves as a vice chairman of the Philadelphia Delegation, a group of lawmakers from the Philadelphia area who work together on issues important to the residents of the region. His legislative priorities are crime prevention, combating blight and promoting urban renewal through economic, cultural and neighborhood development.


• Youth – Shelly Lam is a very active senior at Northeast High School. She participates in the Future Business Leaders of America program, is secretary of the school’s chapter of Best Buddies and is a member of the school’s Space and Research Center Robotics Team. She also volunteers at the Northeast Regional Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia. Her solid grades and hard work earned her admittance to the Pennsylvania State University and she has received a prestigious Brook J. Lenfest Scholarship.

Northwest Regional Center

• Business – Ken Weinstein is a real estate developer and president of Tevah Housing, Inc. and Weinstein Properties LLC. He also is a partner in Brinton Housing Partners, LP; Germantown Development Associates LLC; Philadelphia Development Associates LLC; and 401 Dekalb Associates LLC, which have renovated more than 150 vacant and deteriorated commercial and residential units in the Philadelphia area. In addition, he owns the Trolley Car Diner, Deli and Ice Cream Shoppe, and he founded the Cresheim Cottage Café. Weinstein also is organizer and director of Valley Green Bank. He also co-founded and serves as chair of the Mt. Airy Business Improvement District.


• Education – Donna Frisby-Greenwood, director of College and Career Awareness for the School District of Philadelphia, is working to create a “college-going” culture in the city’s public schools. She administers many college awareness and preparation activities, including financial aid education and dual enrollment information programs. She was named executive director of Inner-City Games Philadelphia (now After-School All-Stars) by then Inner-City Games Foundation National Chair Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of Calif., after he heard her speak on urban youth leadership development at The World Affairs Council’s 50th Anniversary.


• Community Service – Walter Marlin has chaired the advisory committee for the Charles Finley Recreation Center since 1986 and has been a member of the committee since the late 1970s. As a volunteer, Marlin is involved in almost every facet of the center’s programs and activities for youth and adults. Whether it is overseeing refrigerator repairs, bringing together hopeful young athletes and college athletic directors or arranging for the sidewalks to be plowed after a heavy snow, Marlin is an integral part of the center.


• Faith-Based – Rabbi George Stern is executive director of the Neighborhood Interfaith Movement (NIM), an alliance of 60 congregations and faith institutions in Northwest Philadelphia, including Friends meetings and Christian, Jewish, Unitarian, and Muslim congregations involved in interfaith, interracial and human services work in Philadelphia. NIM’s programs include professional training for child care providers, leadership and community service workshops for teens and home hazardous waste removal workshops. He also served as a consultant with Synagogue 2000, an interdenominational initiative working to transform synagogues into true spiritual homes for Jews.


• Elected Official – The Honorable State Rep. Jewell Williams, 197th Legislative District, has dedicated more than 30 years to working on behalf of district residents. During the 1970s, Williams spearheaded the petitioning of the City of Philadelphia for more affordable housing for the poor. He also founded and led the Susquehanna Neighborhood Advisory Council (SNAC), which created a town watch program, the North Philadelphia Community Care Coalition and various advocacy programs for youth and senior citizens. In Harrisburg, Williams serves as Deputy Whip of the House Democratic Caucus.


• Youth – Yezenia Gonzalez, a senior at Edison High School, has worked hard to face academic challenges, emerging from her junior and senior years with a solid academic record of As and Bs. She works part-time in a neighborhood pizzeria and has been involved in the Philadelphia Futures Sponsor-a-Scholar program. She plans to pursue a career in the criminal justice system, advocating for troubled youth.

West Regional Center

• Business – Mark Edwards is executive director of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation in Philadelphia. LISC provides financial and technical support to community development corporations. It is one of the largest non-profit, philanthropic and financial investment community development intermediaries in the nation. The Philadelphia LISC is responsible for $42 million in investments that leveraged more than $600 million in the Philadelphia market. Edwards also serves on the boards of the Pennsylvania Housing Alliance, the Ivy Legacy Foundation, the Philadelphia Association of CDCs and the PNC Bank Community Advisory Board.


• Community – Dorothy "Pat" Simmons is executive director of Children’s Service, Inc., among the oldest historic, African-American, child welfare agencies in the country, celebrating more than 115 years of service. Her more than 30-year career includes work with children in their homes, family foster care, kinship, supervised independent living, adoption, prevention and behavioral services. As head of CSI, her goal is to maximize the strength of the family by delivering services and resources that promote self-discipline, initiative and independence.


• Education – Kathy L. Sykes is executive director of Mental Retardation Services for the City of Philadelphia. She has held a variety of positions in her 30 years with MRS. During that time, she has had a unique opportunity to lead and participate in the development of an ever-evolving community service system, which now supports people who move from institutions into the community and people who move from workshops to employment in the community. She is a member of the American Association on Intellectual and Development Disabilities.


• Faith-Based – Dr. Victoria Yancey, special representative for the School District of Philadelphia, provides immediate, in-person response to crisis experienced by district students and families. Her work is carried out in hospitals, homes of students, faith institutions and in area funeral homes. Described as the “guardian angel of hope” in news stories, Yancey is a therapist mediator, a pastoral crisis interventionist and an instructor for the University of Phoenix and Walden University. She volunteers with the American Red Cross and Good Shepherd Mediation. She also founded and served as chairperson of Safe Night Philadelphia—a response to address the violence and the issue of youth safety in the city—for four years.


• Elected Official – The Honorable State Rep. Vanessa Lowery Brown, 190th Legislative District. Before her election to the State House last November, Rep. Brown worked as a community organizer for the West Philadelphia Coalition. Prior to taking that position in 2006, Rep. Brown volunteered her services to the Coalition, organizing such activities as the annual holiday dinner and assisting with other initiatives. Rep. Brown remains a tireless community volunteer and currently sits on the boards of the Community Council for Mental Health and Mental Retardation; the East Africa Recourse and Study Center; and Philadelphia Weed and Seed. She is a national speaker for the Center for Community Change, a Judge of Elections, a Democratic committeewoman for Philadelphia’s 44th Ward and a block captain for the Philadelphia More Beautiful Committee.


• Youth – Theodore Christopher Muse is a senior in Bartram High School’s Educational Options (formerly called Twilight Schools) program, which provides students who have dropped out of high school with a chance to obtain their diploma during the evening hours. Muse works at a Walgreens drug store, plays the snare drum for the Eastwick Commandoes Drill Team and is a member of the Church of God bowling league. He plans to attend Community College of Philadelphia.