A native of Newark, whose family has lived in the City for more than 80 years, Mayor Baraka’s progressive approach to governing has won him accolades from grassroots organizations to the White House. Mayor Baraka has defied expectations since taking office in 2014.

The Hon. Suzan Johnson Cook (Ambassador Sujay) is a distinguished fellow at the Freedom Forum Institute’s Religious Freedom Center. Nominated by Secretary Hillary Clinton and appointed by President Barack Obama, she was the third U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, becoming the first woman, first African American and first faith leader to hold this post.

Rev. Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., entrepreneur, global business leader, educator, chemist, civil rights leader, NAACP Life Member, syndicated columnist, theologian, and author is currently the President and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA): The Black Press of America. Dr. Chavis serves on the Board of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO).

For over 50 years the Youth Development Foundation, Inc. has awarded over $2,500,000 in scholarships and prizes to young women from around the world through the Hal Jackson’s Talented Teens International (HJTTI) scholarship program.  For over 30 years she was known as Debi B on radio where her voice was heard every Sunday on 107.5 WBLS co-hosting the WBLS Sunday Classics beside her legendary broadcast husband, Hal Jackson.

The Rev. Dr. Johnny Ray Youngblood, senior pastor of the St. Paul Community Baptist Church and Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church, has fostered the growth of the congregations and the inception of community programs. He is recognized on the national political front because of his work with East Brooklyn Congregations (EBC), an affiliate of the Industrial Areas Foundation. He spearheaded the Nehemiah Housing Project, which constructs owner-occupied single family homes in three of the most devastated communities in Brooklyn. The Reverend Dr. Youngblood is the subject of the book, Upon This Rock: The Miracles of a Black Church, written by Samuel G. Freedman.

Ms. Nesbitt Good is the co-founder of “Friends,” an organization of Black Women committed to uplifting the Black Community, and the founder of Friends of the New Jersey Legacy Foundation, whose mission is to acknowledge the legacy of African Americans in New Jersey. Under the leadership of President Obama and Mr. Thabiti Boone, Ms. Nesbitt Good was the founder of the Union County New Jersey Fatherhood Initiative Foundation. She has hosted the largest Juneteenth Celebration in the State of New Jersey with relatives of Harriett Tubman, the Black Cowboys and Elected officials throughout the state along with Mr. Roland Martin.