Our team includes educators, artists, architects, contractors, construction workers, urban farmers, program developers, community organizers, city and state representatives, business owners, media professionals, fundraisers, school administrators, and local residents. As our projects move forward, we are ecstatic to include as many people as possible in our community-based, holistic organizing efforts.
Our Team
Nataka S. Crayton, Community Organizer
Nataka S. Crayton, is completing her Masters in Community Economic Development at Southern NH University and is currently working as a bookkeeper. With more than 15 years of experience in the non-profit sector, Nataka S. Crayton has worked in human services and child development administration and management. She worked as a consultant developing administrative and financial procedures. In that consulting capacity, Ms. Crayton assisted in the opening of two new child development programs.
In 1995, Ms. Crayton, founded a non-profit organization, providing information and referrals, youth programs, and a food program which continues to serve more than 300 individuals and families in the Greater Boston area. A lifetime advocate for the underserved, Ms. Crayton raised more than $50,000 in private funding to provide emergency support services for individuals and families. As a community activist, she has and continues to be a catalyst for a number of projects including Humanitarian day in Boston serving almost 1000 homeless and needy, providing winter clothing and health screening. Ms. Crayton served as the lead on several community improvement projects including the Fredrick Douglas Peace Garden which currently hosts several cultural events. In 1996, Ms. Crayton was nominated for her stewardship by the Urban Ecology Institute to receive the REI Stewardship award for environmental leadership and community engagement. Ms. Crayton is currently the president of the United Neighbors of Lower Roxbury.
Bonita Walker, Community Organizer
Bonita Walker began changing lives at the age of 10, as a facilitator with the International Black Youth Summit. Now at the age of 24, she has filled her life with community outreach on a global scale. Bonita’s purpose is to inspire and activate others to be agents of positive change for themselves and the world. She has traveled the globe speaking on issues from self-esteem to learning with dyslexia. She started her first non-profit when she was 14 and has participated in writing curriculums for over 30 national and regional youth programs, communities, college organizations and public school departments. Bonita has worked extensively with Landmark Education, Youth Achievers International and the International Black Youth Summit.
Bonita Graduated from Howard University Cum Laude with a degree in Radio, TV and Film and is currently pursuing a Master’
s degree in International Communication from Macquarie University. Bonita is currently working in a middle school in Boston teaching Media Arts. Bonita is a true freedom fighter; if it’s not through community activism she is creating media that challenges that status quo. From her award winning films about Rape to coordinating youth to put on weekly talk shows on PBS she is committed to using media to influence positive change. Bonita describes working with A Village at Work as a dream come true because it allows her to incorporate her two passions of Art and community development.
Khari Moran: Arts and Health Coordinator
He was born and raised in the Piano Factory, a Boston artists’ community. With a mother who is a jazz vocalist, African dancer, and ballet teacher it was almost inevitable that Khari would fall in love with the pioneering elements of hip-hop like: beat-boxing, rhyming and singing.
In 2002, Khari co founded ENVIZION ARTISTS, an arts, wellness and educational organization. When the visual art and poetry of Mama Rut (Ruth Henry) joined forces with the Martial arts, street knowledge and music of Khari Moran, Envizions, a powerful transformation occurred, making way for highly successful programs that create positive outlets for youth and meaningful and enjoyable moments for our adult audiences and participants . Khari has hosted numerous multi-generational events and youth arts workshops including:
- Art With out Walls; a workshop series and multi-media exhibition to support homeless youth services.
- Rhythmic Reflections; a conscious Hip-Hop/spoken word workshop series for youth.
- City Swords; our Martial Arts program specifically designed for urban youth aimed to instill trust and mutual respect.
Erica Pernell, Community Organizer/Educator
Erica Pernell is a resident of Lower Roxbury and has been working in the field of education equality in various capacities since 2003. She has been an administrator, tutor, advisor, teacher, intern, and counselor in 4 different urban districts in Massachusetts and Connecticut. She is currently an administrator for a college preparatory program for low-income, first-generation college-bound high school students and teaches night classes in Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Justice, and Physics to adult veterans in an effort to ready them for college enrollment. She is impassioned by organzing programming and community/youth/volunteer events for A Village At Work. Erica has a Bachelor’s of Science in Secondary Science Education and a Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Development from the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut. Erica truly believes that education is the practice of freedom and is dedicated to bringing issues of injustice to light through open discussions, engaging service, and practicing critical pedagogy.
ANNA GRICHTING- Architect and Community Organizer
Dr. Anna Grichting holds a diploma in Architecture and a Doctor of Design in Urban Planning and Design. Her academic experience includes teaching Urban Theory and Urban Design studios as well as acting as a Design Critic in Architecture, Landscape and Urban Design Studios. Her work focuses on projects that associate landscape and urban planning with human reconciliation, addressing the questions of physical and social sustainability as well as those of past traumas and their future memories. Grichting’s research has an interdisciplinary outlook, spanning the disciplines of art, architecture, urbanism, landscape and environmental peace building.. She has lectured at Harvard University, and given papers and presentations at international conferences on ecological planning and peace building worldwide (Canada, Switzerland, Korea, Palestine, USA, Berlin).
Her professional experience includes; designs for public spaces and memorials commemorating Frederick Douglass in Lower Roxbury; design and project management for a Light and Music Festival for the Mayor’s Office in Geneva Switzerland; concepts for illuminations and sound architectures in the History of Science Museum Geneva; design and project management of an ecological house in Arzier, Switzerland; designs for an air traffic control center and an extension for Geneva Airport, Switzerland.
Competition designs include; Saltair Creek. A Laboratory of Urban Ecology. Salt Lake City, Utah; Expo ‘02. Ideas Competition in the network of cities around the Three Lake Regions in Switzerland; Cross-Border Planning; Urban Design Competition for the transboundary axis between Annemasse and Geneva; School of Tourism and Computer Science, Sierre, Switzerland; A Landscape Competition for the 200 year celebration of the Botanical Garden, Geneva; Mixed-Use Urban Design. The brownfield site of the Gas and Water works, Geneva; Berlin Wettbewerb. Architectural Competition for the Parliament of Reunified Germany; Reclaiming the Railway Rift. Design for an architectural platform covering the railway tracks in St. Jean, Geneva.
Lisa Gomes received her Bachelor of Design Studies in Design Computing from the Boston Architectural College (BAC) in 2007, where she also won a Commends Award for having an outstanding undergraduate thesis project. Currently, Ms. Gomes is working towards her Master of Architecture (M. Arch.) degree at the BAC.
She has made significant design contributions to the Fredrick Douglass Peace Park project as a part of the 2008 designBUILD studio, specifically designing the Frederick Douglass memory concrete mural for the stage area of the park. During this time, Ms. Gomes also taught an undergraduate course in Design Computing Research at the BAC.
In 2007, Lisa Gomes volunteered for the BAC-MIT Solar Decathlon team and worked on the Solar7 project, a solar home for the U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored architectural competition. She has also been an active member of the Urban Artists Initiative, of the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, which focuses on the business aspects of being an artist as well as the revitalization of communities through the arts. Professionally, she has worked in the fields of architecture, graphic and web design, and business strategy consulting.
Charity Tubalado, Researcher at Cornell University
Charity holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Florida in French and Political Science, where she was a Valedictorian and Anderson Scholar with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. She received her Masters in Public Administration from Cornell University’s Institute for Public Affairs (CIPA). Charity’s work in non-profit unfolded with the creation of the Prudencio A. Tubalado, Sr. Scholarship Foundation (PATS), established by her family in honor of her late grandfather. The PATS Foundation’s mission is to provide scholarships to low-income students in the Philippines seeking higher education. Charity currently serves as the Chairperson for the PATS Scholarship Selection Committee, as well as, assistant portfolio manager for the Foundation’s endowment. She has been working in non-profit development in Boston since the summer of 2008. Along with development work, Charity also has experience in campaign finance.
TRIN-MA Construction Company, Inc.
As a part of the development team TRIN-MA can serve as the construction contractor, site manager and primary contact for the Proposed Community Center Development. TRIN-MA was founded in March 1990 by Azid Mohammed, who also founded (and continues to own and operate) Alpha Electrical and Supply Company in 1988.
The focus of TRIN-MA through its principal Azid Mohammed is to provide project development and construction services for residential, commercial, faith based, retail and mixed-use projects sponsored by either the public or private sector. Given its operational flexibility, broad specialization and commitment to building inner-city communities, the range of project costs varies from less than $50,000 to $300 million completed independently and/or in joint ventures.
TRIN-MA has gained a reputation for executing timely projects, being reliable and delivering high quality final constructed products. The organization’s strong capability and commitment to working in the public sector has been reflected in its work with agencies such as the City of Boston Department of Neighborhood Development, Boston Redevelopment Authority, and other local Not for Profits and neighborhood Community Development Corporations. TRIN-MA has an extensive portfolio that demonstrates it ability to scope, manage, execute and deliver small, medium-sized and large scale projects.
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