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 13 years. Prior to coming to the Anti-Poverty Network 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 13+ years, she has educated thousands of people on issues of poverty, leadership, and civic engagement.

Renee currently serves as Secretary/Treasurer on the Board of the Affordable Homes Group, Inc. in Burlington County and on the Board of Trustees for the NJ Coalition to End Homelessness (NJCEH). With her colleagues at NJCEH, Renee helped create Garden State Leaders, a leadership and advocacy institute for people with lived experience of poverty and homelessness. This year APN is partnering on the Garden State Leaders program. 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.  

Executive 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.

Board

Felicia Alston-Singleton, Trustee  

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.

Rev. Charles Boyer, Trustee

Rev. Charles F. Boyer is pastor of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Woodbury, NJ. He works with various organizations building faith based moral arguments against racial inequities, such as the New Jersey Campaign For Alternatives to Isolated Confinement, the Coalition of Religious Leaders in New Jersey, the Sentencing Project, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, the NAACP, New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, NJ Citizen Action, NJ Get Out the Vote, the United Methodist Board of Church and Society’s Faith in Action, and the National Juvenile Justice Network. He has represented the Social Action Commission of the AME Church in several capacities including, the United States Senate regarding solitary confinement, the House of Representatives for gun violence, and the Churches Uniting in Christ Conference regarding ecumenism and eradicating racism.  

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.

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.

Brandon McKoy, Trustee  

Brandon McKoy is a Policy Analyst at New Jersey Policy Perspective, working as a national fellow under the State Priorities Partnership’s and Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ state policy fellowship program. Previously, Brandon worked as a Program Associate at The Fund for New Jersey, and as an AmeriCorps Vista at HANDS, Inc., a community development corporation. Brandon has a BS in Social Psychology and MA in City & Regional Planning and Policy Development.

Susan Parker, Trustee  

Susan works as a peer advocate with Catholic Charities, Diocese of Trenton helping others rebuild their lives. She is also active with Garden State Leaders, a program designed to build advocacy and leadership skills among those who have direct experience with homelessness.

Darius Tullis, Trustee

Darius is the owner and principal of Tullis Consulting & Financial Services (TCFS) and Advanced Nonprofit Solutions LLC. As principal of TCFS he services small business clients across the country by providing cloud based bookkeeping and payroll services. He is Xero Certified Advisor, Xero Silver Partner and Quickbooks Online Pro Advisor. As principal of Advanced Nonprofit Solutions he provides nonprofit organizations with fundraising, strategic planning and organizational consulting services. Darius also serves in Christian ministry, volunteers through the Superior Court as a member of his local Juvenile Conference Committee and sits on the Cultural and Heritage Programs Advisory Board of the County of Union.