Board of Directors
Dr. Shakita Brooks Jones
Dr. Shakita Brooks Jones is president-elect of Alabama Arise’s board and represents the Central Alabama Alliance Resource and Advocacy Center (CAARAC). Shakita is a Montgomery native with a B.S. in social work from Troy State University and a master’s degree and doctorate in social work from the University of Alabama. Her scholarly work includes the creation of the Poli-Gram: Policies of Opportunity, a visual and narrative tool that maps the intergenerational effects of public policy on education, economic mobility and social well-being. She also holds a master’s degree in public administration and a nonprofit management certification from Auburn University Montgomery.
Shakita is the founder and executive director of CAARAC, where she spearheads several programs to address prevention, education and health equity related to HIV in the Black community. Shakita is also a strategy and facilitation consultant with Radical Optimist, a cooperative team of practitioners that serves to support groups in racial healing learning.
Dr. Carole Zugazaga
Dr. Carole Zugazaga is vice president-elect of Arise’s board and is an at-large board member from Auburn. She is an associate professor and chairwoman of the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work at Auburn University. She holds a BSW from Florida State University and an MSW and a Ph.D. from the University of Central Florida. Her research interests include homelessness, poverty and health care.
Dr. Zugazaga was named a Fahs-Beck Fellow in 2007 and was the recipient of a research grant for research and experimentation to support her study of the fastest growing subgroup of the homeless: women with children. She served as a consultant to the Governor of Alabama’s Office of Faith Based Initiatives regarding issues related to homelessness and also served as an inaugural member of Gov. Bob Riley’s statewide Interagency Council on Homelessness Academic Advisory Group. Dr. Zugazaga was the recipient of a grant from the Alabama Women’s Commission to study the issues that affect women in Alabama with children aged 1 and below. She was also the recipient of the College of Liberal Arts Engaged Scholar designation for 2008-11.
Kelvin Mastin
Kelvin Mastin is secretary-elect of Arise’s board and represents All Nations Church of God in Montgomery. Kelvin is an Arise member who was born and raised in Montgomery and has been an Arise volunteer since 2009. He also is a graduate of the Alabama Organizing Project’s Grassroots Leadership Development Program. By day, Kelvin works as an administrative assistant for the City of Montgomery’s Sanitation Department, and by night, he is a part-time Zumba instructor. Kelvin earned a bachelor’s degree in communication from Auburn University.
Carmen Maria Austin
Carmen Maria Austin is treasurer of Arise’s board and is a community volunteer representing Mary’s House Catholic Worker Center. Carmen retired from the BellSouth Corporation and later was a public school teacher in Shelby County. She is a member of Prince of Peace Catholic Church and Beloved Community Church. She lives in Hoover.
Ashley Edwards
Ashley Edwards is an at-large Arise board member from Montgomery. She works as a social worker/investigator at the Federal Defender Program for the Middle District of Alabama. She holds both a B.A. and an M.A. degree in social work from Auburn University. Ashley is a member of First Christian Church in Montgomery.
Ana Delia Espino
Ana Delia Espino represents United for a Fair Economy on Arise’s board. A native of New Mexico who was raised in southern California, she saw the influx of the Mexican community and how they invested, struggled and flourished in their new home. Her love for advocacy and resistance grew with California’s Proposition 187, an infamous anti-immigrant state initiative. Ana Delia moved to Alabama in 2001 and has held leadership roles with several nonprofits. She now works at United for a Fair Economy as the director of inclusive economies for the South. Ana Delia is passionate about working with her community and other immigrant communities across the state to nurture a spirit of civic engagement, justice, healing and empowerment.
Benga Harrison
Benga Harrison is an at-large Arise board member from Birmingham, where she has worked in the nonprofit sector for 19 years. She is the director of United Way Hands On, which serves as the volunteer center for United Way of Central Alabama. She previously worked with Living River: A Retreat on the Cahaba and with Leading Edge Institute, a leadership development program for young women. Benga received her B.S. degree in psychology with a minor in sociology and a concentration in leadership studies from Birmingham-Southern College. Benga has been married for 41 years to James T. (Tom) Harrison, an engineer at Southern Nuclear, and they are the proud parents of two daughters and a son-in-law.
Kenneth Tyrone King
Kenneth Tyrone King represents Church of the Reconciler on Arise’s board. He grew up in Jacksonville, Fla., and now lives in Birmingham. Kenneth is a husband, a father and an advocate for people who are homeless and formerly incarcerated. He has volunteered with groups including Greater Birmingham Ministries, Ban the Box and ACT: Action Changes Things. Kenneth was trained in print production and now works in landscaping.
Dr. Will Nevin
Dr. Will Nevin is an at-large Arise board member from Huntsville. He is an assistant professor and program coordinator for Communications Media at Alabama A&M University, where he teaches classes in media law, news writing and public speaking. As a freelance writer, his interests are in both a wide range of features and the intersection of the First Amendment and public policy, including free speech rights for public school students and attempts to regulate or criminalize online speech.
Will holds a B.A. in journalism and political science, an M.A. in communication, a J.D. and a Ph.D., all from the University of Alabama. In addition to serving on AAMU’s 150th Anniversary Committee, he is a proud part of the City of Huntsville’s Male Mentorship Program and a leader in the city’s bustling running community. He is also a citizen of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians and serves as an alternate to the tribe’s Ethics Board.
Audrey Noel
Audrey Noel represents Community Enabler Developer of Anniston on Arise’s board.
Tiearra Pettway
Tiearra Pettway represents Bay Area Women Coalition of Mobile on Arise’s board. She is a community advocate who has teamed with Arise in our Medicaid reform work as part of the Alabama Community Health Partnership.
Benard Simelton
Benard Simelton represents the Alabama State Conference of the NAACP on Arise’s board. He is a Harvest resident who graduated from Mississippi Valley State University with a degree in sociology and served 23 years in the Air Force before retiring in 2000. After retiring from the Air Force, he worked for COLSA Corporation in Huntsville for 16 years, working on the Missile Defense Program before retiring from COLSA in 2016. He is active in the community and his church, where he serves as a deacon. He is president of the Alabama State Conference of the NAACP and a member of the NAACP National Board of Directors. He also serves on various other boards and community-based organizations. Benard is married to Elaine Simelton, and they have two children.
Dianne Steele
Dianne Steele represents Trinity Gardens Community Civic Club of Mobile on Arise’s board.
Tari Williams
Tari Williams is the organizing director at Greater Birmingham Ministries (GBM), an Arise member group. She also is co-founder of the Empowerment Alliance, which advocates and educates on criminal justice reform, voting rights restoration, civic engagement and the intersectionality of race and gender. Tari has worked for economic and social justice throughout her career. She began her career as a judicial law clerk and an assistant state’s attorney in Baltimore. She has held positions with the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama and the University of Alabama School of Law, where she was an adjunct professor and assistant dean of public interest law. Tari also is a former member of the Alabama Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Tari came to GBM in 2011 to serve as economic justice/systems change organizer. She received a B.A. in psychology from the University of Maryland in 1992 and a J.D. from the University of Baltimore School of Law in 1998.