COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT FUND (CEF) - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- CH Advocate Representative / Secretary
Job Titles:
- Director, Mental Health / Southern Regional
Job Titles:
- DU CEF Member Representative / Owner
Job Titles:
- Treasurer / Assistant Director of Economic Development
Job Titles:
- CH CEF Member Representative
Grace is an intern at the UNC School of Social Work. She works part-time engaging with Members, staff, and Advocates as staff support, and assists in facilitating education for CEF Advocates. She also engages with research focused on more equitable access to services and aims to center the voices of members in this work. She loves moments when people in the CEF community put their heads together to solve a problem. Grace received their undergraduate degree in Psychology from Lewis & Clark College. They are passionate about social justice, mental health and wellbeing, and hearing people's stories. They love live music, dancing, camping, and connecting with their community (especially when there's food involved!).
Grace Mok joined CEF as a summer intern through Duke Engage. Years later, Grace has completed over 120 CEF Member meetings, shaped Advocate training curriculum, and served as Special Projects Coordinator. Grace shared, "CEF has given me a different vision of how organizations can run and change for the better. Shared leadership and whole personhood are not ideas that all organizations strive for. I hope I can work for an organization as passionate and caring as CEF has been." Further, Grace explained the ways in which CEF will stay with her as she moves away from Duke and Durham. "Some of the gifts are very concrete - a mug that a Member made himself that I put my silverware in now in my room. Some of the gifts are ephemeral - stories, advice, smiles. I am thinking about "coaching" as a lifestyle tool and I am thinking about community. I am so glad I have been able to build as many relationships as I have and had the opportunity to touch as many lives as I have, to learn with and from folks about so much."
Gianna Giordano joined CEF during her first semester at Duke, and has since completed over 90 CEF Member meetings and served as Employment Services Coordinator on the student leadership team. Throughout her career at Duke and as an Advocate at CEF, Gianna applied what she was learning in the classroom to her work at CEF, and vice versa! "I have a huge appreciation for the way CEF recognizes that it is traumatic to constantly have to interact with a system that was designed to ensure that you lose. At Duke, I've spent a lot of time studying the child welfare system and other social policy issues, and I have observed that this trauma-informed mindset is missing from many discussions about human service delivery systems. When dealing with complex problems involving societal structures, many people look right past this. They see unfair policies and widespread injustice, but they do not recognize that the affected populations experience cumulative trauma that permeates every aspect of their daily lives. From my experiences at CEF, I've learned that there is not only a need for structural change but to be with people, support them, and help them recover," Gianna explained. In her personal life, Gianna shared that, "CEF has encouraged me to value genuine friendships and relationship-driven service work, but it has also taught me to pay close attention to power structures that perpetuate injustice and push against them in creative ways. CEF Members have inspired me by their resilience, tenacity, and selflessness, and CEF staff and advocates have inspired me by their hard work, passion, and constant willingness to learn. The bonds and friendships I have formed with Members and other Advocates these past four years will motivate me to challenge structural injustices for the rest of my life."
"CEF has been the longest-standing commitment I have had at Duke. I will never forget the Activities Fair on the East Campus Quad, where I saw Liz at a club booth and went to chat with her. I signed up for CEF that day and enrolled in the House Course for the fall semester of my freshman year," shared graduating senior Hayes McManemin. Since then, Hayes has completed over 65 meetings with CEF Members, worked at CEF's on-site office hours at the Families Moving Forward shelter, and served as Communications Coordinator on the student leadership team. Hayes shared, "In my opinion, CEF played an integral role in helping me decide what career trajectory I wanted to pursue. Now, I am sure I want to work in a non-profit setting where I can interact with those for whom I am advocating, and have a chance to build meaningful relationships with those same people. I have learned so, SO much about empathy and have gained so much perspective about the ridiculously privileged position I am in. This organization provided me a different way to engage with the Durham community and learn about this city outside of the Duke bubble. I love CEF very much and am going to be very sad at my last office hours!"
Job Titles:
- She / Her / Office & Community Organizer Full - Time
Heeya is the Office and Community Organizer at CEF's Durham office where she welcomes Members and Advocates into the office. She is in charge of making sure the office runs smoothly as well as coordinating community advocacy efforts outside of individual meetings. Her goals are to create more opportunities for Members to know each other and work together in shaping their community. Heeya recently graduated from Duke University and has lived in the Triangle since she was 6 years old, so she sees her work as a labor of love for her hometown. When she's not at CEF, Heeya enjoys cooking, traveling, and spending time in nature. Her greatest strengths are her optimism and creativity, and she is always looking for new ways to serve her community more effectively.
Job Titles:
- Member Services Coordinator
- Member Services Coordinator Full - Time
Imanie is the Member Services Coordinator in CEF's Chapel Hill office, stewarding all Orange Community Hub partnerships, resources, and service systems implemented to best serve CEF Members. In her 24 years of living, Imanie has sustained an immense amount of passion as it pertains to community curation. During her time at Delaware State University, she assumed many student leadership roles, and also became the founder of the service initiative, "#EveryBodyEats". She has spent time as a case manager, providing direct support services to community members in Durham, NC. Imanie believes that the emancipation of one's community begins with the sovereignty of one's self. Thus this became the impetus for her passion, which would later translate to her purpose; She is here to serve others. Imanie knew that the first step of overcoming hardship was to obtain a growth mindset. Therefore, it was then that she vowed to seek refuge in her education, experiences, and exposure forever, for she knew that it was her greatest chance of justice to her people. In her free time, Imanie enjoys spending time with her partner and loved ones, cuddles with her fur babies, good music, and even better food!
Jada is the Advocate Program Coordinator for CEF's Durham office where she is in charge of recruiting, training, and managing Advocates. Additionally, she facilitates two Advocate leadership teams, provides in-office support to Advocates and Members, and serves as the co-lead of her office. She aims to create a place of learning, growth, and joy for all who enter our space. Jada recently graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill where she studied public policy and political science. She was once an Advocate and summer intern in CEF's Chapel Hill office. Her combined experiences of working with Members and her academic study of systems of oppression have driven her commitment to social justice work. In her free time, Jada enjoys cooking, reading, music, and being creative.
Job Titles:
- Senior Business Development Officer / Center for Community Self - Help
Job Titles:
- Co - Chair / Program Manager
Job Titles:
- Banking Center Manager, AVP
Job Titles:
- Member Services Coordinator Full - Time
Leah coordinates Member Services in our Durham office. She is passionate about working collectively to support the resiliency of her community and believes wholeheartedly that ALL people are creative, resourceful, and whole. In her free time, Leah enjoys being in nature with her given and chosen family (especially her dog, Sandy), participating in dance parties, being creative, riding motorcycles, and reading books that remind her that the world is full of possibility.
Romeo, Romeo! Ms. Laverne adores her Romeo
She showers him daily with belly rubs and bacon bits. "If you rub his belly, he'll go to sleep," Ms. Laverne intimates. And Romeo has stuck with Ms. Laverne through thick and thin, including the years when they were sleeping in her car, and in and out of hotels or friends' homes. "Romeo would let me sleep, and when I woke up, he'd sleep. We would both watch out for each other."
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Economic Development / Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce
Scott Harmon is an architect and urban developer with Center Studio Architecture in Durham NC.
Job Titles:
- DU Advocate Representative / Secretary
Job Titles:
- He / Him / Advocate Program Coordinator Full - Time
Tyler supports the Advocate program in our Chapel Hill office where he oversees recruitment, training, and ongoing support for our volunteer Advocates. He also provides training and assistance for various Chapel Hill student leadership teams, such as the Advocate Training Team, the Outreach Team, and our Member-Advocate Coordination (MAC) Team. Tyler works closely with these teams to best support Members and Advocates in their work together and ensure our Advocates receive top-quality training and deliver top-quality support. His favorite part of the job has been learning from the wisdom of Members who are willing to share their stories with him. He's thankful to be a part of this incredibly creative, resourceful, and kind community of Members, Staff, and Advocates. In his free time, he likes to walk in nature, spend time with loved ones, cook, dissect the music theory behind pop songs, and watch (maybe too much) YouTube.
Job Titles:
- She / Her / Office and Community Organizer Full - Time
Yvette is the captain of the ship in the Chapel Hill office, leading the front of the house including reception, welcoming, and administration. Yvette also leads community advocacy efforts in Chapel Hill and is the creator and director of the CEF Advocacy Choir! Yvette is the first face many Members and Advocates see when they enter the office, and effectively ensures that everyone who walks through the door is cared for and leaves happy (and keeps CEF's Office Agreements!).