The Team

Rona Buchalter, PhD is the founder and director of The Neighbors Trust. She has spent over 30 years working in nonprofit and education sectors here in Philadelphia, serving as the Director of Refugee Resettlement program at HIAS Pennsylvania and previously as the founding director of the Drexel Fellowships Office. She holds a PhD from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and lives in the Bella Vista neighborhood

with her husband Nathaniel Popkin and a very friendly mini-schnauzer named Helga.

Sam Sittenfield (he/him) is Community Engagement Lead for The Neighbors Trust. Sam is an experiential educator, trainer, and facilitator with a background in community building, community organizing, facilitation and training, and volunteer management. He is an alumnus of Tufts University as well as of several social justice oriented fellowship programs. Outside of work, you can find Sam fermenting vegetables in his kitchen, supporting Philadelphia’s urban agriculture scene with Sankofa Community Orchard and Philadelphia Orchard Project, volunteering as a board member of Tribe 12, and playing basketball in South Philly.

Betsy Torg, M.P.H., brings a wealth of experience to her role as the Development and Communications Lead at The Neighbors Trust. Most recently she served as Director of Development and Communications at the national Friends Council on Education. She holds a Bachelor’s from Harvard (Radcliffe) and a Master’s in Public Health from what is now Drexel’s Dornsife School of Public Health, where she focused on community health education. In addition to volunteering with Earth Quaker Action team and serving on their board, Betsy loves to run, hike, swim, bike, kayak, spend time in nature, experiment with mixed media, and tend her vegetable garden. She lives in the northwest section of Philadelphia with her husband Mark Taranta and their mini Pitt, Rue.

Advisors

Amy Castro, PhD, MSW is an Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy & Practice and the Co-Founder and Faculty Director of the Center for Guaranteed Income Research at the University of Pennsylvania. Her work explores economic mobility, guaranteed income, innovation, and disparities in housing and lending. Dr. Castro is the Co-PI of nearly 40 applied cash-transfer studies housed at CGIR where she advises more than 20 Mayoral teams, state, and county legislators on unconditional cash research. Prior to her time at Penn, she spent more than a decade working with non-profits and community-based agencies in Philadelphia and New York City.

Diane Cornman-Levy is Chief Disruptor at Women's Way, a Philadelphia-based gender justice organization. Diane brings more than 35 years of nonprofit leadership, coalition building, community organizing and fundraising experience to her advisory role with The Neighbors Trust. A tireless advocate for gender and racial equity, Diane has spearheaded innovative cross-sector partnerships to advance education, health and economic equity for women and families.

Eric Rosenfeld, Esq. is active in programs affecting immigrant and refugee communities. He brings legal expertise to design and management informed by a background of direct service at The Welcoming Center and Nationalities Services Center.

Stacia West is an Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee’s College of Social Work and the co-Founder and Director of the Center for Guaranteed Income Research at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on universal basic income, unconditional cash-transfers, women’s poverty and wealth inequality, and the affordable housing crisis.

Partners

The Neighbors Trust Fund is held at the Philadelphia Foundation. Donations can be made to The Neighbors Trust here.

Puentes de Salud provides comprehensive medical and wellness care to the Latinx population who cannot obtain health insurance. They are our community partner for Healthy Mama, Healthy Baby.

Dedicated to women's wealth equity, Women's Way is fiscal sponsor for The Neighbors Trust.