CU members are neighbors, parents, grandparents, teachers, activists - general rabble rousers - from across Baltimore and Maryland. They are committed to progressive change that improves the lives of low to moderate income people in their communities. Join today by filling out the form below!

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Meet Our Board

Our member-elected board is comprised of nine members, serving rotating terms.  About half the board is up for re-election each year in September.

VERNELL BRIDGES

Vice Chair

Vernell resides in East Baltimore. She has served as chaplain at Bernard E. Mason Sr. Apartments and supported the residents throughout the RAD privatization process. She now resides at Mary Harvin Senior Center is East Baltimore. She is passionate about youth and criminal justice reform as a mother of two formerly incarcerated sons. Two of her nephews were shot and killed by Baltimore police. She was elected to the Board in July 2015 and again by the membership in September 2018.

ROCHELL BARKSDALE

Co-Chair

​Rochell resides in McCulloh homes. She has been a Communities United (CU) parent leader since 2014, helping to lead our organizing in support of community schools.  She helped lauch CU’s first trauma support group and continues to lead of our McCulloh support group. She is also a committed volunteer at Historic Samuel Coleridge Elementary, where she runs the school’s food pantry. Rochell is also an elected member of community board of BCIITY (Baltimore City Inter-generational Initiative for Trauma & Youth). She was elected by the membership to the CU board in September 2018.

YAHYA SHABAZZ
Treasurer

Yahya is a lifelong political activist in Baltimore and beyond. He is, and has been for his entire adult life, self-employed. He was elected by the membership to the board in September 2018.

RONALD JACKSON

Ronald is a retired steelworker and father of nine children. He is a Baltimore native, and grew up in the same Upton neighborhood where he resides today. He served as a shop steward in his union for 13 years. He has also served as a representative on the Resident Council at McCulloh Homes. He has been active in Communities United for four years and was elected to the Board in December 2013 and again by the membership in September 2018.

Pernetha Taylor

CHRISTINE COOPER
​Secretary

Christine is a Baltimore native and mother and grandmother. She is passionate about uplifting children and families, particularly engaging parents in their children's education and expanding support for schools and after school programs. Quiet but an exceptional listener, she has been a CU member for almost two years. Christine believes in being a good role model for her children and her grandchildren and that fuels her activism with CU. She was elected to CU's board in December 2014 and by the membership in September 2018.

NABEEHAH AZEEZ

Nabeehah came to Communities United first as a lead organizer. After three years serving in that role, she left the position and returned in October 2019 as a board member. She continues to demonstrate her love and passion for the people in Communities United and Baltimore at large through both this work, and through her work with No Boundaries.

Pernetha Taylor who has worked with Communities United off and on. She is involved with the Center for Popular Democracy's COVID Families, where she works to bring the true personal impact of this disease to elected officials. She is also a voice for tenants and those facing eviction.

REV. "LOVI" TAYLOR-BOYD

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While still in her 20s, Pastor Lovi was a catalyst to unionizing Stella Maris Hospice workers – it cost her her job but they won a union! She was the youngest person to be ordained as an elder by the United Council for Christian Churches. She also broke both gender and race glass ceilings as a welder, until job injury forced her to leave the trade. She has organized her neighbors to find healthy food sources, working with the Metropolitan Green Program to organize trips to local farms to pick and bring home fresh vegetables. Pastor Lovi was a leader in CU's minimum-wage organizing. She is the mother of an incarcerated son. She was elected to the Board in December 2014 and again by the membership in September 2018.

ONYINYE ALHERI

Onyinye joined Communities United in November 2018. She lives in Upton and is hoping her work with here will help alleviate the Opioid overdose crisis, Baltimore's economic disinvestment and over-policing and address the lack of mental health supports in our communities.

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Pay your membership dues here to run for, serve on or vote for the Board of Directors!

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Meet the Staff

Jane Henderson
Executive Director

ShaQ Carbon
Organizing Director

​William Lessane III
Power Project Coordinator

Tia Downer
Parent and Schools Organizer

Steven Merrick
Youth Organizer
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Jessi Ahart
Digital Organizer & Grants Associate