Mayor-elect Cherelle Parker has named several Northwest area community leaders to serve on a transition team that will help the first woman elected to the city’s top post shape her historic administration.

In a press conference, Parker said the team will play an integral role in helping her fulfill a campaign pledge to make Philadelphia a cleaner, safer city, and added that its work will help instill hope that has been missing among residents for some time. She also said that she assembled a diverse transition team to send a message about her mission to see diverse representation in city government.

“This process is to set the foundation for how we want to bring hope back to our city, and we want to begin that today,” she said. “The lift of the transition is going to be heavy.”

Northwest Philadelphia area community leaders serving on the steering committee include Chantay Love, of EMIR Healing Center in Germantown, former City Councilmember Derek Green, of Mt. Airy, and the Rev. Dr. Alyn Waller, of Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church.

Sharmain Matlock-Turner, of Mt. Airy, CEO of the Urban Affairs Coalition, has been appointed co-chair of the Commerce & Economic Development subcommittee. Philip Dawson, of the Mt. Airy CDC, Courtney O’Neill, of the Chestnut Hill Business District, and Michelle Feldman, of the East Falls Development Corporation, are among those serving as members of that subcommittee.

Springside Chestnut Hill Academy Head of School Delvin Dinkins is part of a 60-member subcommittee focusing on education issues. Helen Eaton, executive director of the Settlement Music School, which has a branch in Germantown, and Dana J. Weeks, head of school at Germantown Friends School, also are among those on the education subcommittee.

William Valerio, director and CEO of Woodmere Art Museum in Chestnut Hill, and David Simms of Eatible Delights Catering in Cedarbrook, are among those serving on the Arts & Culture subcommittee.

The nearly 70-member Housing, Planning & Development subcommittee includes Ken Weinstein, of Philly Office Retail. Renee Chenault-Fattah has been appointed vice chair of the Public Safety subcommittee.

J. Barry Davis, of the Roxborough Manayunk Conservancy, is serving on the Environment & Sustainability subcommittee. Eryn Santamoor, of Chestnut Hill, has been named to the City Administrative Services subcommittee. Santamoor, who recently lost a race for a City Council at-large seat, served as a former chief of staff to Councilmember At-Large Allan Domb, who also ran for mayor. Santamoor was a deputy managing director during the administration of former Mayor Michael Nutter.
WHYY contributed to this report.