Current Board of Directors for SELF, Inc. :
|
Dr. Sylvester Outley,
Ph.D. |
Chairman of the Board |
|
Dr.
Thurman Booker |
Vice
Chairman of the Board |
|
Mr.
Elton Jolly |
Secretary
& Treasurer of the Board |
Message
from
the Board
As the first African American mayor of the City of Philadelphia, it
was my dream to help shape and nurture a multi-ethnic political
system that would serve the people and usher in a new era of politics
in Philadelphia. We made some major strides in that direction while I
was in office, but today my focus is to work from the outside to help
prepare a generation of African American males for the world around
them.
Many people have asked, Why the African American male? Why not
African American females? Actually, my real concern is the African
American family. I have watched the African American family become
weaker as a unit. I have watched women left alone to care for their
children. I have watched children grow up without the benefit of a
male role model. Responsible black men in our society seem to be
vanishing. Based on my experience and analysis, I believe it is
likely that seven out of ten African American males between the ages
of 17 and 44 will, over the next five years, either contract AIDS,
become addicted to drugs, become unemployed, be murdered in the
streets, become homeless, or go to prison.
I knew that if I was going to help the African American family, I had
to first help the African American male. That's why when I began to
hear about Dr. Outley and his humble way of assisting African
American males to change their lives, I knew I wanted to be involved
in his effort. When he asked me to join SELF's Board of Directors, I
accepted with honor, because its mission is about rebuilding lives
and families. In fact, "Rebuilding Lives-One-At-A-Time" was recently
adopted as a part of SELF's new logo and it is appropriate given the
statistics showing the number of lives that have been transformed
this year as a result of the efforts of the administration, staff and
the clients themselves. The impact has been immense – services to
more than 4,500 participants in the residential, outpatient and
outreach programs, more than 115,000 shelter nights and 35,000
transitional housing nights! That's a lot of lives saved from
addiction, crime and homelessness. It's obvious to me that Dr. Outley
and his staff have found the key to helping some Philadelphia's most
disadvantaged people regain hope and achieve self-sufficiency and
independence.
The challenge as the Board has been to preserve and nurture Dr. Outley's
philosophy and approach while developing a strong organization to
sustain it. They’ve come a long way in spite of the challenges faced
by many non-profits of diminished funding, greater competition,
increasingly complex client needs, the effects of welfare reform and
the "growing pains" of a growing agency. They've realized one
of Dr. Outley's dreams of bringing the "clean and sober" model into
the community by creating the Community Revitalization Program to
empower individuals, groups and organizations to turn adverse
situations into community strength. As a result of this development,
they have the capacity to achieve higher goals, as a faster pace and
for an ever-increasing number of participants "rebuilding their
lives."
W. Wilson Goode, Former Chairman of the Board
