Wanda Gilbert-Coker | BOARD MEMBER

Wanda A Gilbert-Coker is a proud SouthEast Raleigh resident, an experienced community and political organizer and Black liberation activist. Because she has been directly impacted by homelessness, she lends her voice and time advocating for low income housing.  She is currently serves as the 3rd Vice Chair AAC-NCDP and as a active board member of Raleigh PACT and City of Raleigh Fair Housing Hearing Board as well as a committed member of  NC BLOC, Sovereign Underground, Wake County Housing Justice Coalition, Statewide Housing Justice Network, Black and Brown Policy Network, Movement for Black Lives and North Carolina for Black Lives. 

Kerwin Pittman | board member

Kerwin Pittman was born in Germany but raised in Raleigh, NC. He is the Founder and Executive Director of Recidivism Reduction Educational Program Services, Inc (RREPS)- A nonprofit geared towards reducing the recidivism rate in North Carolina. Also, a National Social Justice Activist, who advocates in the social justice field, particularly criminal justice, in which he is a voice for the voiceless. As well as, he is an Author who penned the book “Love Yours: A guide on how to love yourself”, which is a self help book slated towards self empowerment of love in ones self. Kerwin is also a field director for Emancipate NC- A non profit slated towards combating structural racism in the criminal justice system. Kerwin also sits on the state re-entry council collaborative created and headed up by North Carolina’s Governor Roy Cooper. Kerwin also sits on the North Carolina Task Force For Racial Equity In Criminal Justice. Headed up and created by North Carolina’s Governor Roy Cooper.

Marcus Bass | Board Member

Marcus Bass is the Executive Director of the political strategy and advocacy group Advance North Carolina providing infrastructure support for local organizing and electoral strategy among black-led groups and underrepresented communities across the State. The work of Advance Carolina in the 2018 midterm election aided in a record number of Black Sheriffs and District Attorney’s elected across North Carolina. 

Marcus came to Advance Carolina in 2017 after serving as Statewide Campaign Director for voting rights advocacy group Democracy North Carolina, where he led their long-term redistricting effort, coordinated millennial and faith-based voter engagement and served as a key messenger for the organization. Prior to that Marcus worked for the North Carolina Association of Educators.  Marcus is the former Board Chair of Common Cause North Carolina and is currently the vice-chair of the NC State Voices affiliate Blueprint North Carolina. 

Marcus has spent the past decade organizing issue-based campaigns and leading citizens to harness their own power to create change. A native of Eastern NC, while at NC A&T, as Student Body President, Marcus led several grassroots efforts including Greensboro’s largest student march to the polls between Bennett College, UNC-G, Greensboro College and North Carolina A&T and a protest of the inequitable coverage of A&T by the Greensboro News and Record. After graduation Marcus served as Campus Outreach Coordinator for Common Cause North Carolina working with HBCUs on ways to engage college students in civic participation.  He has been featured on various media outlets and publications providing insight on southern and college voter engagement. Marcus is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc, and is the is also the founder and Co-Director of Camp Lead Up, a summer leadership institute focused on facilitating the transition for minority middle school students to high school through academic support, cultural enrichment, leadership development, civic engagement and community service.