OUR TEAM
Get to Know the Faces behind Southern Door Community Land Trust
Since our founding in 2019, The Southern Door Community Land Trust has developed and grown exponentially. We’re very proud of the expertise of our staff and their abilities to contribute their own unique experience and skills to our success.
HAJRA AZIZ
Executive Director
Hajra is a licensed social worker with a focused purpose of doing social work for social justice. As a long time resident, community advocate and mother of 4, Hajra finds it imperative to get involved in work that will uplift and empower historically marginalized folks.
Since coming on board as the Executive Director of the SDCLT Hajra has been keenly focused on developing relationships with stakeholders, community leaders, residents and power brokers in an effort to develop a footprint in the community around housing justice.
ADA ROBINSON-PEREZ
SDCLT Board President
Ada Robinson-Perez, PhD, LMSW, CEAP
Career Bio
As a native upstate New York, Ada Robinson-Perez has been a NYS licensed social worker for over 25 years. Her professional experience ranges from leading an internal Employee Assistance Program to providing community based mental health services for children and families. Ada is currently a practitioner at Binghamton University in the Division of Diversity Equity and Inclusion serving as the affirmative action officer and ADA Coordinator. Her other professional and academic experience includes work as a professor in social work and a therapist/consultant in the local community.
Ada earned her PhD in Community Research and Action from Binghamton University (2019) and her MSW from Syracuse University (2001) and holds professional certifications in employee assistance and affirmative action/EEO practice. Some of her research areas include examining the mental health implications of racial microaggressions, vulnerabilities of intersectional identities, and class based perceptions within parent engagement programs localized in rural schools. Ada’s experience in board leadership includes work with local non-profit organizations that serve women, children, and families and community charter school development. In her leisure time she enjoys time with her family, reading, traveling, and karaoke.
EPIPHANY MUNOZ
SDCLT Board Secretary
Epiphany Munoz is native to Binghamton, a Binghamton University Alumna, and a mother. Epiphany has seen firsthand how housing in Broome County has gone from being highly affordable, to being hoarded and saved for college students, overpriced, outdated and largely unsafe for its residents.
After spending several months as a Southern Door Community Land Trust Ambassador learning about the history of housing in the U.S and land trusts in relation to the resources in the community, Epiphany knew the SDCLT was the place to make tangible and meaningful change.
KHADEJAH AZIZ
SDCLT Board Treasurer
Khadejah is an Upstate NY native. SUNY Broome graduate of criminal Justice and Community Policing. Khadejah has had her fair share of experiences with lack of access to affordable, safe and energy efficient housing, which has developed into a proactive approach to righting the wrongs of housing injustice.
KORSAH AKUMFI
SDCLT Board Member
Korsah has been a Binghamton resident since 2015. As a renter Korsah has experienced first hand the difficulties people encounter trying to get a house and making it a home for themselves and their families.
Korsah strongly believes there is a need for an occupant to have a say in how their homes are managed and cared for by landlords. Korsah strongly believes that community residents have a vested interest in living spaces just as much as homeowners.
URIAH HUNT
SDCLT Board Member
Uriah Hunt is a Brooklyn NY native that obtained undergraduate and graduate degrees from Binghamton University in Geography and urban planning. Post graduation Uriah decided to settle locally and experienced difficulty finding housing.
As a board member of the Southern Door Community Land Trust Uriah has found an important focus in bringing more sustainable, affordable housing to the residents in Broome County that need it the most.
ASIA AMBLER
SDCLT Board Member
Asia Ambler is a lifelong resident of Broome County. After leaving the area for school she returned with a vested interest in community work that uplifts, empowers, promotes equity and true representation.
Asia understands the impact that low-quality housing, homelessness and poverty can have on the development of youth, stability of families and community mental health. These principles have motivated Asia to take action, pushing BIPOC communities to the forefront of change.
BRIANNA SALAZAR-OLAIYA
SDCLT Board Member
Brianna Salazar-Olaiya is a Banking Officer, Business Banking Underwriter and has been in banking since 2004. She has obtained degrees in Music Performance/Music Education, Music Business and Accounting. Brianna is proud to be a part of an organization that will bring housing equity to the community she grew up in.
AMBER JOHNSON
SDCLT Board Member
Amber Johnson has a strong passion for social justice with a racial justice lens. She has been a community organizer for 5+ years, with a love for environmental and housing justice.
Amber is a founding member of the CLT, finding good cause to invest her time in local housing crises due to many other community connections such as working with Citizen Action and Binghamton Regional Sustainable Communities.