Executive Director                                         

Renee  Wolf Koubiadis 

Renee Wolf Koubiadis is a Licensed Social Worker in the State of New Jersey. Having grown up in poverty in Camden County, Renee is deeply committed to identifying and breaking down barriers that prevent many residents of our state from meeting their basic necessities for themselves and their families. Renee has been an advocate and community organizer helping disempowered populations use their voices towards social change throughout New Jersey for over 15 years. Prior to coming to the Anti-Poverty Network (APN) of NJ, Renee served as the Advocacy Coordinator of the National Association of Social Workers – NJ Chapter (NASW-NJ) and as Assistant State Campaign Director for the Citizens’ Campaign, a statewide non-partisan movement of hundreds of citizens dedicated to innovative government reform and promoting citizen leadership. In her various roles over the last 15 years, she has educated thousands of people on issues of poverty, leadership, and civic engagement.

 

Renee currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Media Mobilizing Project and the NJ Coalition to End Homelessness (NJCEH). With her colleagues at NJCEH, Renee helped create Garden State Leaders in 2015, a leadership and advocacy institute for people with lived experience of poverty and homelessness. APN began partnering on the Garden State Leaders program in 2016. For over 10 years Renee also co-chaired Poor Voices United, a grass-roots organization based in Atlantic City that united poor and homeless people across color lines and other artificial divides for social change.

 

Her degrees include an MSW from Temple University in Administration and Social Planning and a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Rutgers University.  While studying at Temple, Renee coordinated Pennsylvania House Select Committee hearings on issues of poverty while interning for State Representative Lawrence Curry.  She was interning with Kensington Welfare Rights Union in Philadelphia and NASW-PA at the same time.

 

As a member of NASW-NJ over the years, Renee has served on their board, co-chaired the Legislative and Social Action Committee, the Health Care Special Interest Group, the Peace & Social Justice Task Force, the Burlington County Unit, and also served on the National Delegate Assembly for three terms helping to shape national policy for the organization. 

 

Renee also served as co-chair for Governor Phil Murphy’s Transition Team Housing Committee.

Sara Lilja, President 

Sara is the Director of the Lutheran Episcopal Advocacy Ministry of New Jersey, a joint ministry of the New Jersey Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey, and the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, as a powerful public witness of faith through advocacy, representing nearly 80,000 people in 450 parishes in New Jersey. Sara holds a BA and Masters of Divinity, with 25 years of related experience.

Felicia Alston-Singleton, Board Vice- President  

Felicia is a tenant advocate for the residents of

the city of Newark and surrounding areas. She works with the Greater Newark HUD Tenants Coalition and STEPS (Solution To End Poverty Soon). She is also very involved in local advocacy in the City of Newark.

Board

Quincy Bloxom, Trustee

Quincy is currently the Director of Operations and Development of Solstice Counseling and Wellness; a holistic wellness substance abuse and mental health outpatient treatment facility. His professional role involves direct service delivery via mental health and substance abuse counseling. In addition to providing direct services to some of the most vulnerable in our society, he also creates policies to implement best practices to serve individuals navigating through addiction to substances and mental health disorders. Prior to becoming a social worker Mr. Bloxom served in the US Army. During his enlistment he achieved the rank of Staff Sergeant and received multiple awards and decorations associated with his service and deployment under Operation Iraqi Freedom.  After separating from the military he was noticed by Rutgers for his independent research on the correlations between urban education and addiction and eventually went on to serve as principle investigator at In-class Solutions; a D.C. based supplemental education platform. Quincy is also a graduate of the APN and NJ Coalition to End Homelessness’ Garden State Leaders program.

Johanna Calle, Trustee  

Johanna Calle is the Director at the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice (NJAIJ), a coalition of close to 40 organizations that work on advocacy campaigns including expansion of access to driver’s licenses and protecting families against deportation. Johanna’s professional experience includes working as a Leadership Gifts Coordinator at the American Civil Liberties Union and participating in the ACLU of Northern California’s MiACLU campaign, visiting various affiliates fighting for immigrants’ rights. Johanna currently serves as a Trustee on the Hackensack Board of Education. She graduated from The College of New Jersey with a double major in Sociology and Political Science, and a Masters in Criminal Justice from Rutgers University.

Arnold Cohen, Trustee  

Arnold is a Senior Policy Coordinator for the  Housing and Community Development Network of NJ, a nonprofit organization that has worked to improve the environment for the work of community development corporations (CDCs), and to strengthen their capacity to create housing and revitalize distressed neighborhoods throughout New Jersey. Arnold holds a BA in Sociology and 20 years of nonprofit and advocacy experience.

Rev. Eric Dobson, Trustee  

Eric is the Outreach Coordinator for Fair Share Housing Center. He is a community organizer, outreach specialist and social entrepreneur. Eric is the Co-Founder of Open Communities LLC (a racial integration consultant firm) that works to resolve simple and complex conflicts of race, ethnicity and socio- economics. He also founded a non-profit focused on youth development and education called Planting Seeds of Hope – and in 2008 was recruited to join the Organizing for America staff to serve as the Pennsylvania Black Clergy Outreach Director for the Obama Campaign. Eric is an Ordained Minister and holds a BA in Religion from Temple University.

Clara Gregory, Trustee 

Clara is retired from a long career with the New Jersey Department of Health, and is currently the Diocesan Jubilee Minister for the Jubilee Ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey, an initiative to engage congregations in the important work of empowering people to change their lives. She is also the Senior Warden for Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. Clara has a BA and Masters of Public Administration with 26 years of state government and non profit experience.

Cuqui works as a community activist. Her activism began in the late 1980s when she started volunteering for a youth program organized at the Puerto Rican Action Board [PRAB]. After spending two years as a full–time unpaid volunteer, she was hired by the Puerto Rican Action Board to help run the newly formed Hispanic Youth in Progress program. Cuqui also worked in other capacities for PRAB, notably with their HIV/AIDS prevention groups, for fifteen years. In 1999, She started working for the newly formed Hispanic Directors' Association of New Jersey, Inc.[HDANJ] as the Outreach Assistant for the Pro–Kids Campaign. The campaign was a strategic project to enroll 10,000 three and four year old children into preschools, which was successful in reaching their goal. Through her work with HDANJ, Cuqui also got deeply involved in prisoners' rights and as a result helped organize statewide round–tables to identify and address issues impacting the Latino community. Her community and civil rights activism has focused on improving the lives of children and addressing discrimination within her community. Cuqui currently serves as the Secretary to the Latino Action Network Steering Committee.