Rev. Addie Banks
Chief executive officer
Rev. Addie Sanders Banks, MA, MPA, SD, is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Groundswell Group, who began her advocacy work as a 5th grader in her segregated elementary school in Mobile, Alabama, where she challenged her teacher on the practice of corporal punishment. By circulating an essay and petition to her classmates, she successfully on-boarded the entire class against the teacher’s practice of corporal punishment. As a result, corporal punishment became a thing of the past in this classroom. Ever since, she has taken delight in engaging people in making positive change.
Today, Reverend Banks makes her home in the Bronx, New York, and her voice of advocacy is at the forefront of a movement to reframe the term “peace building.” She sees it as a term to encompass local community-building practices that include advocacy, healing, health and wellness, economic development, nonviolent training, conflict resolution, and mediation—all to advance the creation of healthy culture.
Chevon Rucker
CHIEF OPERATING OFFCER
Born, raised and educated in The Bronx, Chevon is passionate about providing choices and resources to communities to support them in establishing a healthy culture. Chevon is committed to achieving landmark results in education, health, and social justice. She is a mother of two daughters, an educator, consultant, facilitator, and coach. For over twenty years Chevon worked with at-risk youth and families implementing strategic innovations, developing leaders and a framework to improve educational outcomes for students and families in distressed communities. Through her passion for working with people, Chevon brings an incisive perspective about communities, families and capacity building.
She was previously a Crisis Intervention Specialist at the Harlem Children's Zone Inc. in NYC, a New York City Department of Education Special Education Teacher for over 10 years, and a Director of School Culture and Climate. Chevon holds a B.S. in Behavioral Science, as well as a Master’s Degree in General and Special Education from Mercy College.
Philip Lynn
director
Philip Lynn has over thirty years of experience working as a personal and business development coach, helping Fortune 100 Companies, and the people who lead them, improve their performance and achieve breakthrough results.
As Founder and Director of Small Group Ministries, at The Riverside Church, in NYC, he helped build a stronger sense of community and a deeper level of spiritual awareness and vitality, as he led the congregation along the road toward the fulfilment of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s dream of the Beloved Community.
Phil is the founder and Executive Director of The Network for Human Understanding, a not for profit organization whose purpose is to create a faith-based, interfaith movement for the spiritual, social, and political renewal of America, by building closely knit, caring, compassionate, inclusive, and empowered communities.
The Network is currently partnering with The Groundswell Group and the Bronx Lebanon Hospital and Healthcare Delivery System, to develop a faith-based, community-wide, holistic health and wellness educational and support network, to address the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs of residents of the South and Central Bronx. The program is designed to improve the health and quality of life of individuals, families and communities.
Board of Directors
• Abishai Brooks
• Regina Aileen Glover
• Monica Lindsay
• Taleigh Smith
• Lionel Stewart