BARCC Leadership

President & Commercial Development Liaison
Mell Monroe
monroe@thebarcc.org

Vice President of Strategy
Safety / Security & Clean and Green
Dr. Keith McCoy
keith@thebarcc.org

Treasurer & Fundraising Director
Pamela Dempsey
pam@bronzevilleproperties.com

Records Chair & Condominium Liaison Director
Angela Higginbotham-Monroe
angie@thebarcc.org

Director of Activities & Marketing
Jonese Burnett
jonese@thebarcc.org

Director of Membership Development
Michelle Brown
michelle@thebarcc.org

Director of External Communications
OPEN

Director of Safety & Security / Chairman
Marie Smith
marie@thebarcc.org

Director of Condominium Development
Iva Funderberg
iva@thebarcc.org

Director of Commercial Development
Akari Muhansi
akari@thebarcc.org

Co-Director of Commercial Development
Teshera Henderson
teshera@thebarcc.org

Asst. Director of Commercial Development
Clarence Carson
clarence@thebarcc.org

Political Liaison
Tyrone Forte
tforte@thebarcc.org

Director of Condominium
Development Outreach
Marvell Turnage
marvell@thebarcc.org

Communications Director
Mechele Elias
mechele@thebarcc.org

Board Member
Phaedra Leslie
phaedra@thebarcc.org
Meet the BARCC Board Members


Marie Smith
Director of Safety and Security
marie@thebarcc.org

Marie Smith is a school social worker with Chicago Public Schools. She is a person who co-workers often say goes far beyond the limited confines of a school social work clinician  in providing services to her students.  

Marie is one of the founding members of BARCC and has served on its Board of Directors since its inception. She was the first social committee director and led the effort in Bronzeville’s first progressive dinners and the revival of the Historical Bronzeville Home Tours. She is currently active on the Safety and Security committee as her passion is assisting Bronzeville in becoming a more family friendly community.

Marie’s community activism goes back to when she was a preteen and participated in civil rights marches with her father.  A veteran of the Martin Luther King Northern Crusade, she was involved in the city-wide campaign against defacto school segregation in Chicago. Her commitment to believing that “If you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem” led to her becoming a Vista Volunteer in President Kennedy’s domestic Peace Corp. Assigned to Baltimore, Marie sharpened her community organization skills as a volunteer at the Community Action Agency. After college she retuned to Baltimore and CAA as assistant counselor where she motivated and organized residents to demonstrate and picket a neighborhood store until the stores agreed to start selling a better quality of food.

Marie is born again Christian and a member of Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church.  She is happy “never married” without children. Hobbies include scrabble and travel.

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