Main Number: (617) 524-3541

Lisa Owens, Executive Director
Ext. 307 lowens@clvu.org

Steve Meacham, Organizing Coordinator
Ext. 310 smeacham@clvu.org

Denise Matthews-Turner, Office/Human Resource Manager
Ext. 317 dmturner@clvu.org

Antonio Ennis, Community Organizer
Ext. 301 aennis@clvu.org

Andres Del Castillo, East Boston/North Side Lead Organizer
857-203-2393 andres@clvu.org

In Memoriam

James Brooks, Community Organizer

Board of Directors

Dawn Belkin Martinez has been an activist with City Life/Vida Urbana and in the Jamaica Plain community for over twenty years. She teaches at Boston University. She has been a Board member since 2005 and currently serves on the Board’s Personnel Committee.  

Laura Foner has been with City Life/Vida Urbana since 1975. She is a recently retired children’s librarian at the Connolly Branch of the Boston Public Library and is a member of the Personnel and the Board Development Committees.

Heather Gordon-Gayle has been a Jamaica Plain resident since 1984 and was a fund accountant in the financial industry for over thirty-five years. She became a member of CL/VU in 2009 while fighting her own housing issues. Heather became a vital and vocal leader of the movement. She is currently a member of the Bank Tenants Association Leadership Team, the Jobs and Labor Committee and the Donor Development Committee. 

Ricardo Henry is the CL/VU Board President. He has been a member of the Bank Tenant Association for five years and is active on the Bank Tenant Leadership Team.  He has worked with Mass Uniting as a field organizer on their “Fighting for A Fair Economy” campaign. He serves on the Executive, Finance, Membership and Jobs and Labor Committees.

Jim Jordan has lived in Dorchester for more than 50 years and retired in 2011 from Verizon after working 42 years as a Splice Service Technician, Staff Manager and Local Manager. Jim became an activist with City Life/Vida Urbana in December 2009 while fighting his own housing issues and now serves on the Annual Meeting Planning Committee, Executive Committee of the Bank Tenant Leadership Team and Bank Tenant Association. He has worked with Mass United assisting field organizers on their "Fighting for A Fair Economy" campaign. He also assists and serves on the Jobs and Labor Committee at CLVU.

Carolyn Lomax is the CL/VU Board Vice President. Carolyn has lived in Dorchester for more than 30 years and has been self employed as a cosmetologist for more than 20 years. She came to her first City Life/Vida Urbana meeting in October 2009 and became a member in March 2010. She is a member of the Executive, Finance and Membership Committees.

Debbie Lubarr has been active in social justice organizing for more than thirty years, including an early experience with the group that later became City Life/Vida Urbana.  A long-time resident of Egleston Square, she helped create opportunities for youth during a period of street violence.  She currently works as an adult education teacher. Debbie serves on the Finance, Board Development and Donor Development Committees.

Wil Renderos is an Executive Director, Audio Engineer and DJ for Audio Chemists, LLC, a company that looks to “convene, develop, and promote Greater Boston’s diverse young artists.” His roots in the movement for social justice come from his time at Centro Presente as a youth leadership development coordinator. He has studied at Boston and Wesleyan Universities and has a B.A. in Spanish and Latin American Studies.  Wil sits on the Board Development and the Marketing/Communications Committees.

Maura Russell is the CL/VU Treasurer.  Maura has been involved with City Life/Vida Urbana for many years and has served on the Board since 1999. She is a member of the finance committee and is an educational specialist with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education working with Career/Vocational Technical Schools. Maura sits on the Executive, Finance and Donor Development Committees.

Mike Wolfson is the Secretary of the Board and a long-term member of City Life/Vida Urbana. Mike also serves as a member of the Finance Committee. He works as an environmental chemist for the Harvard School of Public Health. Mike sits on the Executive and Finance Committees.

Edna Willrich has been an active member of the Tenant Organizing Committee for many years. In addition to her leadership within the network of tenant associations, Edna also does outreach and organizing in the community to make sure that low income elderly people know about and have access to food stamps and other basic needs. She has also started a non-profit organization to provide better voucher education for Section-8 tenants.