Our Leaders
Executive Director
Mona Reide, Ed.D
Dr Mona Reide is an experienced health and social science research professional with a Doctor of Education (EdD) from Wayne State University with a focus on Social and Behavioral Science and a M.A. from the University of Michigan in Administration and Counseling.. She is also the first female Bishop with a Diocese in Sierra Leone West Africa in one of the oldest pentecostal organizations in the USA.
Dr Reide has provided administrative and direct services for limited resource families, and has served as a faculty member and administrator at Wayne State, Bowie State and Michigan State Universities in addition to being attached to the University of Ghana, West Africa. She has also served as a Health Research Director in the Wayne State University School of Medicine. Her doctoral research examined the association between cultural beliefs and health practices in Ghana West Africa. Dr. Reide has collaborated with Heads of State and governmental ministries in several countries.
Dr. Reide served as Research Director and as a faculty member at Bowie State in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Human Services where she developed the first credited international study abroad curriculum. Reide has taught Social Science Research Methodology and Statistics, Social Science and Child and Family Studies subjects, trained 2,000 Humanitarian workers, led international research and social justice initiatives, and convened Global Forums. Since 2000, Dr. Reide has led health and social science graduate and undergraduate students from several universities, professionals and humanitarian workers to Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia West Africa ; the Dominican Republic; Republics of Bahamas, Haiti, Barbados, India, Cuba and several other countries for research, field study and humanitarian outreaches.
Expert
Felix Kwame Yeboah, Ph.D
Dr Felix Kwame Yeboah holds a Masters and Ph.D. in Environmental Policy and International Development, with specializations in Environment and Resource Economics from Michigan State University, USA and a Bachelor’s in Natural Resource Management from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana, West Africa. He was also a John M. Gunn Exchange Scholar at Washington and Lee University, Virginia.
Dr. Yeboah, is the lead author of the 2018 Global Food Security Report and presented the report at the Global Food Security Symposium in Washington D.C. on March 22, 2018. He is an Assistant Professor of International Development and a member of the Food Security Group at Michigan State University. In this role, he conducts agricultural and food policy research and advises various development-related initiatives in Africa. He has expertise in multiple areas of social policy including agricultural and food system transformation, natural resource management, and youth livelihood issues in Africa. For the past decade, he has provided critical analysis to inform a range of social policies both in the US and in Africa. Dr Yeboah’s research informed The MasterCard Foundation’s strategies promoting youth employment in Africa’s agri-food system; the State of Michigan’s effort to reduce non- point source pollution in the Great Lakes; and strategic change initiatives advancing solid waste recycling and energy conservation at Michigan State University. His research was also featured in the 2016 Africa’s Agriculture Status Report, a flagship report of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. In 2012, he was recognized as a Milton H. Steinmueller scholar of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and a George and Nancy Axinn fellow of International Development.
Expert
Kim Brown, ACSW
E. Kimberly Brown, ACSW, CAADC is a therapist and managing member of Zoe Counseling and Consulting, PLLC. With over 20 years of professional experience, Mrs. Brown is a member of several local and nation boards that strengthen limited resource families in the United States and abroad. Kimberly Brown is an ordained minister and pastor.
Assistant Director
Maisha Yeboah, M.A.
Maisha Yeboah, M.A., Maisha Yeboah has a MPA from the Department of Public Affairs & Administration at Western Michigan University with a concentration in the Non-Profit Sector and International Development. She has also obtained a B.A. from Eastern Michigan University in Sports Medicine. Ms. Yeboah has 11 years’ experience as the Outreach Director for International Humanitarian Services; as well as 20 years of experience in the human service field. Ms. Yeboah has designed training for children and their families, refugees and immigrant populations, cross cultural audiences and developed business plans, budgets and grant proposals for international projects for 18 years.
Special Experts
Dr. Anthony Buckles, MD
Dr. Anthony Buckles, MD graduated from University of Alabama School of Medicine in 1999 and has practiced medicine for 22 years. He is accredited by the American Board of Family Medicine. Dr. Anthony Buckles, MD is a family medicine specialist in Blue Island, IL and an emergency medicine physician in Tinley Park, Illinois and the Natchez Regional Medical Center. He has served as the lead physician for several medical mission outreaches in rural communities in Ghana, West Africa, Barbados West Indies, the Dominican Republic, and South Africa.
Dr Charles Corley, Ph.D.
Charles J. Corley is an Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University. Research writings and publications and training workshops focus upon juvenile justice processing, program evaluation, organizational leadership training, familial processes, substance abuse, the black family, equity, justice and inclusion initiatives as well as adult corrections. Publications have focused upon disproportionate representation of minority juveniles in Michigan's Juvenile Justice System and recommendations for revamping Michigan's child foster care system.
Charles Corley is a former president of the Midwest Criminal Justice Association, former president of the Board of Directors for the Michigan Conference United Church of Christ, current board member of the Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice and has served as a program committee member numerous times for the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.
Dr. Isaac Addai, PhD
Dr Addai is a professor at Lansing Community College, in Social Science and Humanities. His area of specialty is Demography and Sociology. His research included examining factors influencing how people appraise their own health in Sub-Sahara Africa. In the context of increasing burden of care due to high incidence of chronic diseases, poverty and social transformation. Additional research has focused on explore associations among interpersonal (thick and thin) and institutional (legislative, executive, and judicial) trust and material hardship outcomes in Ghana. Research models have also included relevant socioeconomic and cultural factors.