• History
• Founder & CEO
• Board of Directors
• Senior Staff

History

People for People, Incorporated (PFP) is a not-for-profit 501 (C) (3) organization, created by the Reverend Herbert H. Lusk, II in 1989 and incorporated in 1991 for the purpose of community economic development and the promotion of education and entrepreneurship in North Central Philadelphia. The target population is comprised almost exclusively of low-income African-Americans, more than half of whom live in single-parent family groups. Most are renters. A significant number reside in the former Richard Allen Housing Project (originally transitional, but now permanent housing).

PFP’s mission is to break the generational cycle of poverty in the lives of local residents by providing them with the necessary tools they need to abandon gangs, drugs, welfare dependency and crime and to create new, stable self-sustaining lives for themselves and their families.

PFP seeks to provide support services to needy residents and to link distressed neighborhoods with concerned leadership and available resources. Its goals include enhancing micro-enterprise development and community revitalization by offering educational and job training opportunities, individual counseling and skills assessments and financial services and education all of which lead to the rejuvenation of individual lives in the area, one at a time. In addition, substantial strides have taken place and will continue to take place in the acquisition of land and housing suitable for renovation, in order to increase the number of affordable residence options and to create new businesses which will, in turn, bring more jobs to the district.

People for People, Inc. confronts the challenges of its surrounding community through a holistic approach that brings quality education and social services to and fosters personal responsibility of all generations who reside there. The PFP Early Childhood Development Center, the PFP Charter School, the EARN Center and the new PFP Institute are all founded on the understanding that change in the community as a whole must be grown at every age level in order to create a continuum of life practices that will pass to each successive generation. PFP understands that the neighborhood in which it stands is an organic whole, each component of which affects the others around it, and so while it provides opportunities for adults to catch up on lost educational growth in the past, it also addresses the need to bring solid education to even the youngest members of the area so that they will be equipped to create healthy lives for themselves and contribute to the overall prosperity of the community as they themselves become adults.

All of this has been made possible by the support of financial partners from the metropolitan Philadelphia area over the years who not only have provided the fiscal fuel needed to move programs and services forward but also the wisdom, expertise and a variety of in-kind gifts which have contributed to making People for People what it is today. People for People stands as a testimony to what can be accomplished in a community enlivened by one man’s vision, energized by communal effort and enabled by continual success. People for People truly does CHANGES LIVES.

Founder & CEO

Pastor Herbert H. Lusk, II has been surrounded by the Word of God and the Spirit of the Holy Ghost since he was a young child growing up in Memphis, Tennessee. From Memphis to Monterey, California to Philadelphia, Pastor Lusk has committed himself ever-increasingly to service of those in need: the jobless, the homeless, the hungry, and those in prison, eventually even leaving his position as the ”Praying Tail Back” on the Philadelphia Eagles team to become Pastor to an inner city church in an impoverished area which needed his vision, his heart and his dedication to survive.

Pastor Lusk has been the Senior Pastor of Greater Exodus Baptist Church, 704-714 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania since 1982. Under his leadership the Church has experienced a substantial renaissance, growing from 17 to 2000+ members. Pastor Lusk was able to stabilize the church financially by eradicating the $1 million of debt existing when he assumed leadership, and he subsequently completed over $3.5 million in renovations and improvements to the church building, rendering it more suited to its many social outreaches. Currently, the church provides food to hundreds of families annually, oversees substance abuse counseling, operates a mentoring program for children of incarcerated parent(s) and in partnership with People for People, is opening the New H.O.P.E. Center for women unexpectedly pregnant and in need of assistance. Pastor Lusk hosts regular evangelistic services at Greater Exodus with other inner-city and suburban churches which, together, help meet the material needs of low-income individuals in the area in numerous ways.

Pastor Lusk does not measure the success of his ministry by how many members he has under his ministry, but by how many people his ministry serves.

Pastor Lusk has emerged as a leader in the Faith Based Movement, and his notable efforts in Philadelphia eventually even caught the attention of the White House. Championing the role and effectiveness of faith-based organizations in leading community revitalization efforts, and because of his accomplishments, Pastor Lusk was honored to be appointed to serve as Advisor to President George W. Bush on matters of faith-based initiatives, and was also appointed to serve on PACHA, the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. As Founder of Stand for Africa, created to raise awareness about and funding for the millions affected or infected by HIV/AIDS in Africa, Pastor Lusk has become a potent broker between African governmental and spiritual leaders and those in the United States who can provide financial resources needed to fight the AIDS pandemic via the most effective agencies and organizations already on the ground in the sub-Saharan territory where the disease has been most devastating.

Board of Directors

Herbert H. Lusk, II
Founder, CEO

Sterling McCray - Sterling and Sterling Associates
Chairman of the Board

People for People Inc. Board of Directors

Dr. Ayanna Agustus, Ph.D - Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
Mr. John Boyer - Former Chairman, Philadelphia Suburban Water Company
Jack C. Briscoe, Esquire - Jack C. Briscoe and Associates
Jeffrey Briscoe, Esquire - Jack C. Briscoe and Associates
Dr. Leonard Cherkas - Cherkas Dental Associates
Mr. Jack Easton, Jr. - Former Chief of Staff, PNC Bank, Philadelphia
Mr. K. Ray Ellis - President, CEO, The Kerwin Company, Phoenix, Arizona
Mr. Len Faulkner - President, L and L Associates
Ms. Cynthia Gowdy - Brownstone Capital Group
Mr. Thomas J. Gravina - Founding Partner, GPX Realty Partners GPX Management LLC
Dr. Leonard Jamison - Vice President, Eastern University
Mr. Willie Johnson - PRWT
Paul J. Killion - Chief Disciplinary Counsel, Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Mr. Mike Mamula - Director, Business Development, CSS Test Inc.
Mr. James A. Maxim - President, Maxim Automotive
Mr. Brad Mills - Corporate Managing Director, Octavia Hill Association, Inc.
Moreland, Tony - U. S. Air Force Flight Engineer
Mr. Romaine Phillips - Delaware River Port Authority
Mr. Mark Sakil - The Standard Register
Reverend Larry V. Smoose - Reformation Lutheran Church, Media, Pennsylvania
Wayne Walker, Esquire - Walker Nell Consultants, Inc.
Mr. Robert White - Harden Communications Finance and Development Corporation
Mr. Reginald Wilkes - Senior Vice President, Mercantile Trust Sports and Entertainment Division
Mr. Clarence Williams - Deacon, Greater Exodus Baptist Church

Senior Staff

Keith Harris Controller

Nakiyah Jackson Manager of “The View”

Dennis Mann Director of Organizational Development

Mueni Mwanzia Executive Administrator

Frank Robinson Director of Development

Bonney Scott Communications Manager

Donavan West Director of Social Service Programs