1. Joy Huertas becomes communications manager at the the Office of Transportation, Infrastructure and Sustainability.

Joy Huertas, who has served as the marketing communications manager at Esperanza Inc. since 2018, will become the communications manager for the Mayor’s Vision Zero initiative, as part of the Office of Transportation, Infrastructure and Sustainability.

In her new position, Huertas will be responsible for managing communications for the City’s efforts to eliminate traffic fatalities and increase safe and equitable mobility for all Philadelphians.

Huertas joined Esperanza in 2016, as a media and marketing associate. Prior to that she worked as the marketing project coordinator at Liberty University, and as a public information officer and communications intern at the Office of the Assistant Secretary General of the Organization of American States in Washington D.C.

Huertas holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Liberty University, and has served on the board of directors of the Delaware County Literacy Council and on the young professional advisory board of the Greater Philadelphia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

2. TechGirlz names teen advisory board members for 2019-2020 term

Top row, l to r: Dhivya Arasappan, Lilia Becker, Shamsa Belgrave, Julia Chan, Lindsay Davis; bottom row, l to r: Trevor Gardner, Riya Lakhani, Lucy Minchoff, Nicole Xiang, Lauren Phillips.

TechGirlz recently named the new and returning members of its 2019-2020 teen advisory board. The board is made up of high school-aged TechGirlz program participants that serve as advisors and mentors for the program at-large. The board members will design new TechShopz workshops and raise awareness of the need to increase the number of tech programs serving young girls.

They will also help review applications and choose speakers for the inaugural TechGirlz Girls-in-Tech Summit which will take place April 25 in Philadelphia. TechGirlz Philadelphia Outreach Manager Danica Pascavage will serve as advisor to the Northern Teen Advisory Board, whose members include:

• Dhivya Arasappan, Berwyn, Pennsylvania
• Lilia Becker, Villanova, Pennsylvania
• Shamsa Belgrave, West Chester, Pennsylvania
• Julia Chan, Cherry Hill, New Jersey
• Lindsey Davis, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
• Trevor Gardner, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Riya Lakhani, Yardley, Pennsylvania
• Lucy Minchoff, West Chester, Pennsylvania
• Nicole Xiang, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
• Lauren Phillips, Mount Laurel, New Jersey

3. PICC appoints a civic engagement intern, and two new youth board members.

Sarah Noonan Ngwane.

Sarah Noonan Ngwane is Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition‘s new civic engagement intern. Ngwane is an student at Delaware County Community College pursuing a degree in social work. In high school, she spent two years working with Organizing for America; during the summer of 2019 she worked as a volunteer with humanitarian aid groups in the borderlands of Arizona and Mexico.

According to the PICC newsletter, she is passionate about social justice and is currently working with a local church to create a camp for trans and non-binary youth.

In addition to the news about Ngwame, PICC announced it has appointed two new youth members to its board of directors:

• Gladys Balbuena-Galena is a senior in Norristown Area High School, and is involved in Unidad in her school and Adelante with ACLAMO Family Centers.
• Daisy Romero Chavarria is a DACA beneficiary and currently resides in Norristown. She has been a mentor/volunteer at the Centro Cultural de Arte, Trabajo y Educación (CCATE) for more than 5 years. Romero Chavarria first became involved with PICC in 2017 when she organized with other undocumented students to declare the University of Pennsylvania a sanctuary campus.