For Immediate Release Contacts:
Tuesday, November 28, 2006 John Rago
City Communications Director
302.420.7928 (cell)
jrago@ci.wilmington.de.us
Executive Director and Board of New HOPE Commission Announced
New Non-Profit Commission To Continue Community-Wide Effort to Implement the
Remaining Recommendations of the Original HOPE Commission
Wilmington Mayor James M. Baker, working in concert with a Steering Committee of the original Wilmington HOPE Commission, today accepted the Steering Committee’s recommendation of an Executive Director and newly-constituted Board of Directors that will lead a new permanent and independent entity known as the Wilmington HOPE Commission.
Mayor Baker created the original HOPE Commission in May of 2005 to formulate solutions to serious societal ills that affect public safety and the prosperity of Wilmington as a whole. The Mayor accepted the group’s recommendations earlier this year. The Executive Director and successor Wilmington HOPE Commission is now charged with advocating for and implementing the recommendations of the original Commission.
In establishing the Wilmington HOPE Commission, Mayor Baker concluded that the root causes of crime and violence could only be addressed effectively through a combination of law enforcement and substantive solutions to the community and social issues that cause criminal and violent behavior. One of the original nine recommendations of the HOPE Commission was to name a new Commission and Executive Director to carry on the work needed to change attitudes, actions, behaviors and beliefs among citizens.
During the past few months, the Mayor’s Office and the Steering Committee of the original Commission drafted the incorporation papers for the new independent HOPE Commission and developed a job description for the Executive Director of the new non-profit entity. The new Commission is empowered to seek additional funding and to look beyond the original recommendations if and when necessary in order to implement a comprehensive plan.
The Executive Director of the new non-profit HOPE Commission, Inc. is 51-year old Provey Powell, Jr., who served as one of the three co-chairs of the original HOPE Commission. Powell is the owner of Powell’s Insurance Agency affiliated with the Allstate Insurance Company and is President of the Stop the Violence Coalition and a member of the Coalition to Build a Safer Community. He is an active member of the youth mentoring program at Ezion Mt. Carmel Church and at the Ferris School for incarcerated youth. Powell is currently a candidate for the ordained ministry in the United Methodist Church. Powell will be paid $100,000 annually in the new position.
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