New Orleans Neighborhoods Partnership Network

THE NPN STAFF:

P: 504-940-2207

Timolynn Sams, Executive Director

Nora McGunnigle, Operations Manager

Robin Barber, Community Liaison

THE NPN BOARD OF DIRECTORS:

Julius Lee, Real Timbers Property Owners Associaton
Julius Lee, a resident of Real Timbers in Algiers, is a retired member of the U.S. Air Force. Lee served six years in the Louisiana Army National Guard and 17 years in the U.S. Air Force. Lee is married with three daughters and one granddaughter. At the present moment, he serves as vice president of the New Orleans Rollin’ Rhinos Wheelchair Athletic Association (NORRWAA) and the founder/CEO of S.M.C.L. Foundation & Associates Inc. As a leader in the community, he is also vice chair on the Neighborhoods Partnership Network (NPN) and the Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) Bayou-Gulf States Chapter Board of Directors. Lee is also president of the Real Timbers Neighborhood Association (RTNA), as well as deacon and trustee of Greater New Saint Luke Baptist Church.

Victor Gordon, Pontilly Association
Victor Gordon is the president of the Pontilly Neighborhood Association (PNA) and serves as Vice President of the Gentilly Civic Improvement Association (GCIA). He is actively collaborating with the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (NORA) to find housing solutions that will allow the repopulation and revitalization of the community. Gordon has considerable work experience in New Orleans schools as assistant principal at Martin Behrman Elementary School, L.B. Landry and McDonogh #35 high schools. As a civic leader Gordon also serves on the Dryades YMCA and Total Community Action boards.

Sylvia McKenzie, Rosedale
For over 42 years, Sylvia McKenzie has been a resident of Rosedale Subdivision in New Orleans East. Presently, she serves as the vice president of her neighborhood group. As a citizen, McKenzie’s goal is to do positive things for her subdivision, as well as neighboring subdivisions, “believing that together we stand and divided we fall.” McKenzie’s professional work is in the area of residential and commercial cleaning.

Tilman Hardy, Pensiontown Neighborhood Association
Tilman Hardy is a resident of the Leonidas/Pensiontown neighborhood in Carrollton. As a member of the community Hardy is a member of several neighborhood and community organizations such as the Green Project and the Carrollton Area Network. He takes pride and initiative in revitalizing his community through collaboration. Hardy is trained in architectural design and real estate development in which he has used in both the public and private sector. He is passionate about finding solutions for people of all means and abilities.

Wendy Laker, Mid-City Neighborhood Organization
Wendy Laker is a resident of the Mid-City neighborhood. She is the chairwoman of the Mid-City Neighborhood Organization Board, as well as a member of the judicial system where she serves in the capacity of a court reporter.

Katherine Prevost, Bunny Friends Neighborhood Association
A 50 year resident of New Orleans, La, Katherine Prevost is the president of the Bunny Friend Neighborhood Association (BFNA), a 501© 3 non-profit organization focused on providing information resources to residents, assisting in rebuilding and helping residents with their unique recovery processes. Located in the Upper 9th Ward, BFNA has an ongoing beautification project and works diligently to improve recreational and educational opportunities for our youth. This association has partnered with other organizations to help rebuild our neighborhood, including: The Mennonites, Hands On, Catholic Charity, and Idea Village. Prevost is a Board Member of Neighborhoods Partnership Network (NPN).

Ben Diggins, Melia Subdivision
Benjamin Diggins is a resident of the Melia Subdivision in New Orleans East. A retired truck driver and owner operator of 38 years, his interests are in real estate where he is an active member of his community, the Neighborhoods Partnership Network (NPN) and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). Diggins is married and has three children. His wife, Cheryl Diggins, is President of the Melia Subdivision and is retired from AT&T.

Leslie Ellison, Tunisburg Square Civic Homeowners Improvement Association
Presently, Leslie Ann Ellison is the administrator of Gideon Christian Fellowship International and serves on the Tunisburg Square Homeowner’s Civic Association and Algiers Economic Development Foundation advisory boards. She is a member of the Kiwanis of Algiers Morning Edition and the Black Alliance for Educational Options. She also serves on the board of Milestone SABIS Academy of New Orleans, Parents Energizing Parents, Project Grad, and Neighborhoods Partnership Network. In addition, Ellison is strongly committed to ensuring that the interest of the Tunisburg Square is represented in the community. She has been a vocal leader on the issues of revitalization, well-maintained public infrastructure, economic development and public safety. Ellison believes strongly in community activism and has traveled both nationally and internationally to speak with government officials and community leaders about social transformation. Presently, she resides in New Orleans, La and has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Southern University at New Orleans.

Vaughn Fauria, Downtown Neighborhoods Improvement Association
Vaughn Fauria is the CEO of New Corp, a non-profit organization, which works with minority businesses and community nonprofits. She is a dynamic driver of small and minority business opportunities

Davida Finger, Carrollton Riverbend Association
In 2006, professor Davida Finger joined the Loyola Law School Clinic to work with the Katrina Clinic. She now teaches a course entitled “Law and Poverty” at the Community Justice Clinic. In collaboration with community organizations, Finger has worked extensively on disaster-related cases and policy matters to improve government accountability in rebuilding and on distribution of disaster funds. Prior to joining the faculty at Loyola, she practiced law in Seattle, Wash. focusing on consumer, land use, and human rights cases. During 2008 and 2009, Finger was a Wasserstein Fellow at Harvard Law School and an “Effective Leadership” fellow at Duke University’s Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy in its inaugural program for emerging Louisiana leaders. She is also a 2009 teaching fellow with the Neighborhoods Partnership Network’s first capacity college in New Orleans, La. designed to develop community members’ advocacy and organization skills. Seattle University Law School named her an inspiring alumna in 2007.

Sylvia Scineaux-Richard, ENONAC
Sylvia Scineaux-Richard has been president of Eastern New Orleans Neighborhood Advisory Commission (ENONAC) since 2008. Sylvia was also assistant arofessor, Medical Technology at Southern University at New Orleans, and retired in May 2009 after 30 years. In May 2009, Scineaux-Richard retired from the Southern University at New Orleans after 30 years as an assistant professor in medical technology. Scineaux-Richard has also worked as a real estate associate broker for 30 years and is a member of Neighborhood Partnership Network (NPN).

Angela Daliet, Parkview Neighborhood Association
Angela Daliet, Founder & Executive Director of Save Our Schools NOLA, is a member of Parkview Neighborhood Association and strongly believes that, as citizens, we share a responsible role in creating and maintaining healthy, safe, supportive communities to ensure the success of individuals as well as neighborhoods. She has significant experience in community organizing, information development, strategic planning, constituency building, and advocacy which has led her to become an established community leader for change. Angela has received a V to the 10th Leadership Award for her work to end physical, economic and environmental violence against women, been honored as a “Community Peacekeeper” to our City Council by Community Mediation Services of LA, and recognized as a 2009 CityBusiness Women of the Year Honoree for both her professional and community achievements.

Robert Sullivan, Central Carrollton Association
Robert Desmarais Sullivan is a Louisiana-French native of Lake Charles, Louisiana, raised with a great-grandmother who saw no need to learn English and so did not. As a result, French became the language of his heart and English that of his head. After his bachelor’s from Tulane in 1967, he was to be drafted and chose to teach instead, when his Army-officer father confessed he did not know why the US was in Vietnam. He taught French, German, Latin, math, and physics in several of the City’s schools over a 33-year career, earning MA’s en route in French from Tulane and in Education from UNO. On a honeymoon in Paris, he discovered the State had lied about the quality of his French as a tactic to suppress the language in Louisiana, and he returned with determination to restore pride to his people. At Audubon Elementary, he co-founded the first French-immersion school in New Orleans and remains active in immersion education. Since the Deluge, he has become active also in the City’s reconstruction.

Neighborhoods Partnership Network
4902 Canal St., Room 301
New Orleans, La 70119

504-940-2207

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