2013 E. Genesee St.
Syracuse, NY 13210
info(at)syracusecenter.org
(315) 701-1580

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Kanat Bolazar is a doctoral candidate in the Computer and Information Science program at Syracuse University. Kanat is from Turkey. A few years ago he was active in Syracuse Peace Council events and Syracuse Community Choir, and he has focused his activist work on social justice, equality, sustainability and the participatory decision making ideals suggested by Michael Albert of Z Magazine: "That each person should have a say in each decision that effects them, to the degree that the decision effects them." Kanat lives at the Bread and Roses Collective House. He likes dancing Salsa, and he has been teaching it in a casual setting at Syracuse University for a number of years.

Luz Encarnacion is a community activist who works to establish solid community presence through the development of networks and linkages with community partners and stakeholders. She is the Board President of Spanish Action League. She is also active in the following organizations: Parents for the Syracuse District Board, The Syracuse Women Commission where she serves as Board Chair, the Migrant Farm Workers Coalition, the CDAC, the Economic Development Board, PEACE Inc. Community Coalition, the, HIV Care Network, and the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) in Syracuse.

Marion Ervin is a retired executive of New Process where he worked for three decades. Marion is a member and treasurer of the Syracuse Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. He served on the Campfire Boys and Girls Children's Council of Central Board for years and is a past president of the board. He served on the board of directors for the Urban League of Onondaga County and the Syracuse Boys and Girls Club. Currently, he serves as Assistant Vice President for Community Resources on the United Way Board of Directors, Treasurer of the HOME. Inc Board, Treasurer of the Board of the White-Skipworth Corporation, member of the 314 Hudson Street Board of Directors, Member of the Executive Council of the Hiawatha Boys Scout Council for Scoutreach, Treasurer of Faith Hope community Center, Interim Membership and Nominations Chairperson of the 100 Black Men of Syracuse, Member of the Benjamin Banneker Democratic Club and Member of the Town of DeWitt Democratic Committee. He is the recipient of the UAW Outstanding Citizenship Award, the Syracuse Celebrators Outstanding Community Service Award, and the Post Standard Achievement Award. Marion is married to Linda Ervin, and they have two adult children and grandchildren. He is the Board Treasurer.

Rebecca Fuentes

Melody E. Holmes has been a community activist for many years, particularly in health issues (HIV/AIDS and infant mortality) and their impact on communities of color since 1983. Currently, Melody is the Director of Jail Ministry, where she focuses on inmate concerns and the fight for insuring human dignity in the Onondaga County Justice Center and the state of New York. She ran for public office in 2003 and continues to work on several campaigns, crossing party lines. She chooses to serve on boards whose focus is the welfare of the disenfranchised, and is a working member of several southside organizations and working groups.

Walter Putter is a lifelong political activist, and the new Chair of the Center Board. While attending Law School, Walter joined the National Lawyers Guild, the Black American Law Student Association, and the Women's Law Caucus. During his 10 years as a civil rights attorney, he was active as a Deputy Campaign Manager of a local Congressional campaign, a board member, and legal policy committee member of the local NYCLU, and a board member of Peace Action. He has also been a board member of the Davis-Putter Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarships to movement people for education that will either directly or indirectly further their movement activism, for more than 20 years. He makes his living running a residential property management company in the Syracuse area.

Shirley Novak has participated in social justice and El Salvador solidarity work since 1984, through Syracuse Covenant Sanctuary, an NGO that advocated for and protected undocumented Salvadoran refugees in the US. Since 1993, she has coordinated the Syracuse, NY-La Estancia Sister Community in rural El Salvador, leading annual delegations. Shirley is a charter member of the Doctors for Global Health Board, an all-volunteer, non-governmental organization focusing on health related and social justice work in the United States and in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Chiapas (Mexico), Peru and Uganda. She is a former teacher of immigrant adults learning English and an Early Childhood and Family Educator in a bilingual preschool program, Shirley currently works with developmentally delayed Latino preschoolers as a special education teacher in Syracuse, NY. A long-time member of Syracuse Peace Council, Shirley served several terms on the SPC Steering Committee. She is the Secretary of the Center Board.

Ann Tiffany, former board chair, has been part of the Center project from the get-go. Ann has been a local peace and justice activist since the early eighties. Although for six years she has actively opposed the Iraq War, her primary focus has been Latin America solidarity. The Sanctuary Movement, Witness for Peace, Peace Brigades International, School of the Americas Watch, and the Colombia Solidarity Network are the national or international groups that over the years she has poured her abundant energy into.
Locally, this retired community health nurse, has been a co-founder and sustainer of the SOA Abolitionists, the La Estancia (El Salvador) Sister Community, the Cajibio (Colombia) Sister Community and our umbrella organization, the CNY Caribbean/Latin America Coalition. She can tell you about her movement experience in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Haiti, Colombia and Venezuela. Ann is the mother of four and the grandmother of ten. She lives on Syracuse's near south side.

2013 E. Genesee St., Syracuse, NY 13210
(315) 701-1580
info(at)syracusecenter.org