Newark LGBTQ Community Center

Denise Hinds

 Denise Hinds is the Chief Program Officer for Youth and Family Wellbeing at Good Shepherd Services, where she oversees the agency’s foster care programs, child welfare, and juvenile justice residential programs, supportive housing and other programs for young adults.

In 38 years at Good Shepherd Services, Denise has developed many innovative youth development-driven programs. Most notably, in 2002, she played a significant role in the development and implementation of the Chelsea Foyer, the agency’s first supportive housing program for young adults experiencing homelessness and...

Beatrice Simpkins

 Beatrice Dolores Simpkins is an alum of Rutgers University-Newark. 

In 2016, Ms. Simpkins became a Rutgers University 250 Fellow – receiving a medal at the “A Day of Revolutionary Thinking”, the culminating event of Rutgers’ 250Th birthday celebration.

She serves as the pro-bono Executive Director of the Newark LGBTQ Community Center and is the Chief Program Officer for The Partnership for the Homeless, located in New York City. In 2021, Ms. Simpkins received the Equality Leadership Award from Garden State Equality and the LGBTQ-Police Community Partnership Award...

Deion Session

 Deion Amar “Dee Amar” Session. I rep Newark for life. Rutgers University: Newark. Unapologetically Black & Queer. Live your truth!

Albert Mrozik

Albert J. Mrozik Jr. (“Bert”) is a proud member of the LGBTQ community, who has been instrumental in the fight for LGBTQ rights in New York and New Jersey. A graduate of Columbia College, he received his law degree from the University of Denver. While there, he was mentored by Dean Robert Yegge, who was openly gay. During Bert’s education, he promised Dean Yegge that he would never compromise his identity as a proud gay man in his legal practice. He has kept his promise over the three decades he practiced as a lawyer in New Jersey’s Asbury Park and Newark. Throughout his life, Bert actively...

Steven Malick

 Steven Malick serves as the secretary of the Board of Directors for the Newark LGBTQ Community Center. He previously volunteered with the Newark LGBTQ Concerns Advisory Commission and helped to organize the first ever town hall debate on issues relevant to the LGBTQ community. Steve is a resident of the City of Newark and has worked or lived in and around Newark for nearly a decade. Steve’s professional background includes eight years in education as a former middle school math teacher and as a coach of new teachers. Steven currently works as research analyst for a public policy research firm...

Anita Dickens

 Anita Dickens was born and raised in  Newark, NJ 1972. She graduated from West Side High School and went on to receive an Associate’s in Science from Essex County College, a BA in Science from New Jersey City University and a Masters in Public Affairs and Administration from Rutgers-Newark. 
In addition to her many accomplishments Anita volunteered her services in the community and elected as a Board member of a local LGBT organization.  

Anita Dickens is the founder and Owner of ANĒ formally known as A Girl&Guy Thing that started in 2013. CoOwner of a Fashion and Home...

Janyce Jackson Jones

 Reverend Janyce Jackson Jones, a prominent and respected leader in the community retired after 21 years of dedicated service to her church and to social justice in the city of Newark.
 
Janyce L. Jackson Jones served as Co-Pastor of Unity Fellowship Church located in Newark, NJ.  UFC Newark, is a member of the non-denominational Unity Fellowship Church Movement, a Social Justice Ministry that seeks to minister to all people, regardless of race, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, or ethnicity.
 
Prior to Co-Pastoring at UFC Newark, Reverend Jackson served...

Burley Tuggle

 Burley Tuggle completed her Masters in Urban Policy Analysis and Management in 1997 and officially began her professional career.  She has nearly 20 years of experience in the fields of Public Policy and Financial Management.  Over this period, Ms. Tuggle has held research, lobbying and fiscal management positions in private, government and not-for-profit organizations.  In her former position as a Budget Analyst with the New York City Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Ms. Tuggle worked on the team in charge of planning and monitoring the $1 billion expense budget for the New York City...

Alicia Heath-Toby

 C. Alicia Heath-Toby resides in Newark, NJ with her wife, Saundra ‘Honei’. She is the current board president of the Newark LGBTQ Community Center Board of Directors. In 1984 she received her Bachelor of Arts from the College of the Holy Cross. After leaving college, she was given the opportunity to work with a team of black doctors and community activists on addressing the HIV and AIDS crisis for Black Americans; this organization became known as the Black Leadership Commission on AIDS. In 1997, she joined Liberation In Truth Unity Fellowship Church (LITUFC) in Newark, NJ; a local church of...

Jerri Mitchell-Lee

 Reverend Jerri Mitchell-Lee is a native of Brooklyn, New York. As the daughter of a Career Army Officer she has lived all across the United States and has been a long time resident of New Jersey. Reverend Lee has a passion for serving and continues to do so as a health educator, mental health counselor, and workshop trainer within and outside of Unity Fellowship Church Movement. She received her education at Sterling College, University of Kansas, Rutgers, University of Medicine and Dentistry, Newark, N.J., Howard School of Theology (Sat. Program) and Newark School of Theology. Reverend Lee...

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