Advisory Committee — The Elias Foundation

The Fellowship Program has been designed by an Advisory Committee, whose role is to evaluate the Fellowship program on an ongoing basis. The Advisory Committee combines the wisdom of multi-racial, cross-generational, multi-issue, seasoned leaders. All members are engaged in movement building and have deep experience in the Hudson Valley.

Advisory Committee members help determine grant guidelines, share them with their networks, refine application procedures and annually assist in the selection of awardees. In some cases, Advisory Committee members will act as advisors for Fellows.

Featured

Alison Lake

Executive Director, Westchester Children’s Association

Allison became Westchester Children’s Association (WCA) Executive Director in July 2018. She joined WCA in 1998 as the Program Coordinator for the Children’s Health Initiative. In 2008, she was promoted to Deputy Director, responsible for WCA’s programmatic initiatives, leading WCA’s advocacy partnerships and community mobilization efforts.

Allison received her BA from Amherst College and an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business.

She brings over 25 years of experience in non-profit and community work both in the US and West Africa, as a Peace Corps Volunteer. After working in banking for three years, she returned to her passion of community development. She has held management positions at the National Civic League and Associated Black Charities. Ms. Lake has worked in youth development with the City Volunteer Corps program in New York City and the YWCA of White Plains & Central Westchester.

Allison is a homegrown Westchesterite, lives in Greenburgh with her husband and has two young adult children.

LaMont Badru

Executive Director, Community Governance & Development Council (CGDC)

LaMont is a professional community organizer, community economic development strategist, and a lifelong South Yonkers resident.

In 2006, LaMont launched a youth program out of the recreation room of his building - teaching history and community responsibility to high-risk youth from his neighborhood. As a student at Lehman College, Lamont was the founder and president of the Black Student Union and a Student Senator.

He led the initiative to create Lehman’s new minor in Urban Community Development - the first student-initiated academic program at Lehman college in over 30 years. The minor was designed to give students, regardless of their major, the tools necessary to use their career skills towards the development of their neighborhoods.

Lamont went on to become an organizer for Picture The Homeless (a housing policy organization in the Bronx) before deciding to dedicate his energy and passion for community development to his native community, South Yonkers.

Lutonya Russell Humes

Executive Director, The Boys and Girls Club of New Rochelle

Lutonya Russell Humes began her career at the Children's Village, a residential treatment facility for adolescent boys in Westchester County. She spent the next ten years working in the foster care systems of New York City and Bexar County, Texas. Hoping to impact families and children before they entered the system, she began her community-based work with the Westchester Community Opportunity Program (WestCOP) at the Ossining Community Action Program overseeing a nationally recognized pregnancy prevention program. While at WestCOP, Ms. Russell Humes was recruited to serve on the Westchester County Youth Bureau’s Advancing Youth Development (AYD) Training Team, where she has provided professional development to hundreds of youth development professionals across Westchester County. In her most recent position, Ms. Russell Humes served as Managing Director of Education and College Access at Phipps Neighborhoods, where she was responsible for youth development and education programs in the South Bronx.

Ms. Russell Humes has successfully managed programs throughout Westchester County from Peekskill to Yonkers, including the largest 21st Century Community Learning Center in the County at the White Plains Youth Bureau. She is most proud of providing quality programs that allow young people and their families to access services that might not otherwise be available to them. “All children need to know that their community sees greatness in them. The Boys and Girls Club organization has personified that spirit,” stated Ms. Russell Humes. “The Boys and Girls Club of New Rochelle has been a pillar of the community providing young people with a safe, nurturing space that encourages greatness. I am excited about continuing that legacy and deepening that work.”

Ms.Russell Humes received her undergraduate degree in sociology from Mississippi Valley State University, and holds a Masters of Public Administration from Pace University. She is currently an adjunct professor at Mercy College.

Myra Hidalgo Salazar

Development Director, United We Dream

Originally from Naranjo, Alajuela, Costa Rica, Mayra came to the United States when she was six months old. Her journey through high school and college as an undocumented immigrant laid the groundwork for her commitment to social justice. In 2010, at age 17, she served as a project manager for the Trail of Dreams, a walk for immigrant justice from Miami to the nation’s capital. She coordinated actions and arranged legal representation for four demonstrators walking through the southeastern United States.

A former board member and community organizer for the Florida Immigrant Coalition, Mayra led efforts on the We Are Florida! and ¡No Somos Rubios! campaigns and traveled to Alabama to organize against anti-immigrant legislation. In 2016, she served as the Interim Executive Director of the Hudson Valley Community Coalition, a grassroots group organizing for immigrant rights in the Lower Hudson Valley of New York. Most recently, she served as the Hudson Valley Director for North Star Fund, where she launched their Hudson Valley grantmaking program and mobilized over 1.5 million dollars in resources to grassroots organizations in the region.

Mayra has served on both the United We Dream and United We Dream Action Board of Directors for 10 years combined. She has recently transitioned from her role as Board President for United We Dream Action, and joined United We Dream’s staff as Development Director.

Nada Khader

Executive Director, WESPAC Foundation

Nada has served as the Executive Director of WESPAC Foundation since May 2001. WESPAC was recently recognized by the City of White Plains as a leading force in Westchester County for peace and justice work for over four decades.

Nada has been a student of Prout, the Progressive Utilization Theory for almost thirty years. Prout is a vision of a just and peaceful world with an economy that works for all people and is based on local self-reliance, cooperation, guaranteeing all people the minimum necessities of life and ending poverty.