About
The Neighbors Trust
Our Mission
We build trust and
provide direct support that empowers vulnerable mothers in our community.
HOW WE DO IT
Our Simple Model
The Neighbors Trust is intentionally transparent, efficient, and effective. We move donor funds through our valued nonprofit partners directly to program participants, who receive 100% of your financial contribution.
WHO ARE ARE
Our Team & Advisors
Our “small but mighty” team of staff, partners, and advisors bring formidable expertise and passion in directly relevant areas of guaranteed income, gender wealth equity, public health, immigration, community engagement, and communications.
Team
Rona Buchalter, PhD
Rona 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 loving mini-schnauzer named Helga.
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Sam Sittenfield
Sam (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.
Betsy 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.
Our Advisors
Amy Castro, PhD, MSW
Amy 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
Diane 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.
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
Stacia 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.
Financial Oversight
& Accountability
The Neighbor's Trust fund is held at the Philadelphia Foundation, ensuring rigorous oversight and confirming the tax-deductibility of your gifts. We are fiscally sponsored by Women’s Way.
The Neighbors Trust is designed to be a transparent and effective method for moving donor funds into community hands. We maintain funds intended for direct program payments entirely separately from those intended for operational expenses like staffing, ensuring 100% of your donation is always used as you intended. Learn More about The Neighbors Trust.
Donor funds intended for our direct program payments are made to The Neighbors Trust by way of the nonprofit Philadelphia Foundation and are held there in an interest-bearing account. Philadelphia Foundation was established in 1918 to administer community-based philanthropy, ensuring rigorous nonprofit compliance and tax-deductibility of your gifts. Learn more about the Philadelphia Foundation.
Donor funds intended to support our operational costs are made to us by way of the nonprofit Women's Way. Established in 1977 from existing women’s organizations, Women’s Way focuses on current issues facing women and girls in the greater Philadelphia region. Women's Way is also our fiscal sponsor. Please contact Betsy Torg for more information about supporting our operations. Learn more about Women's Way
