Integrity Icon Philadelphia

2025 Integrity Icon

Director of Immigrant/Refugee Affairs and Language Access Services 

Sarorng Sorn, Director of Immigrant/Refugee Affairs and Language Access Services for the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services, is a tireless advocate for immigrants and refugees. Her colleagues call her a “visionary” who “teaches people to know their rights and what the city is obligated to provide for them.”

2025 Integrity Icon

Client Services Manager for the Office of Safe Neighborhoods

Nathan Sallard’s work has been described as nothing short of transformative. “When Nate was first hired, the retention rate for clients in this program was only 35 percent, meaning many participants didn’t remain employed after 90 days. Since Nathan’s arrival, he has dramatically improved this metric, boosting retention to 78 percent,” his colleagues explain. “His work with individuals associated with violent groups has had a direct impact on reducing gun violence and increasing employment stability, completely shifting the trajectory of the program.”

2025 Integrity Icon

Constituent Services Representative

Charlene Samuels is a Constituent Services Representative in the Office of Minority Leader Kendra Brooks; her coworkers insist that “Ms. Charlene does not tolerate mediocrity in any City department or non-profit organization – and she does not take no for an answer when it comes to advocating for constituents!”

2025 Integrity Icon

Northeast High School Principal

Omar Crowder is principal of Northeast High School, the largest public high school in the city; he is described as “a pillar of strength for both his students and the entire school community” by 2020 Integrity Icon Richard Gordon, now an assistant superintendent for the School District.

2025 Integrity Icon

Language Access and Engagement Specialist

Yu-Shan Chou is Language Access and Engagement Specialist for the Office of the City Commissioners; her coworkers say her “dedication to the community she serves — including her volunteer efforts with the Welcoming Center – and the department for which she works is boundless. Her kindness and work ethic are unmatched.”

2024 Integrity Icon

Deputy Commissioner at the Office of City Commissioner Seth Bluestein

Eric Kapenstein worked around the clock to ensure all Philadelphians’ voices were heard in the 2020 presidential election. He was responsible for creating new processes, including the counting process for an unprecedented amount of mail-in ballots,  He is also behind the expansion of language access for non-English proficient voters.

Read his profile here.

2024 Integrity Icon

Director of Group Violence Intervention at Group Violence Intervention

Deion Sumpter leverages his experience with incarceration to build strong, lasting relationships in communities through weekly, on-the-ground outreach. He identifies members of the community who are at high risk for gang activity and provides them with services including employment, relocation, and therapy. Over 1,000 group members have been identified so far.

Read his profile here.

2024 Integrity Icon

Deputy Commissioner at the Department of Records

Tracey Williams listens to deed fraud victims with patience, warmth, and understanding. She is committed to educating people in and out of the office on how to spot scams and access resources to prevent fraud. Tracey is a role model and mentor for other City employees, especially women of color.

Read her profile here.

2024 Integrity Icon

Philadelphia Victim Advocate at the Office of the Victim Advocate

Adara Combs wraps her arms around the victims and co-victims of trauma to connect them with the resources they need to heal. She is the first person to hold the position of Philadelphia Victim Advocate. Under her leadership, the Office will launch the Crime Scene Cleanup pilot, a unit that will handle the needs of families and communities after a crime has occurred and police have moved on from the scene.

Read her profile here.

2024 Integrity Icon

Director of Problem Solving Courts at Municipal Court, First Judicial District of Pennsylvania

Lesha Sanders does everything possible to empower clients through their struggles toward treatment, employment, reconnection with loved ones and a better quality of life. Her office serves as a resource hub and drop-in center, equipped with a “closet” that offers clothes to clients in need. Lesha promotes educational opportunities to colleagues through routine email lists.

Read her profile here.

2023 Integrity Icon

Program Manager for the Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy.

Tu has spent his lifetime supporting artists and art that reflects who we are as a city, our darkest times and our hopes for the future. His approach: “Invite artists in. Give them a seat at the table. Let’s explore how we can present issues.”

Read his profile here.

2023 Integrity Icon

Director of Language Access Programs in the Office of Immigrant Affairs

Maria is a multilingual immigrant from Colombia who found a job in the City’s accounts payable department, before moving over to the Office of Immigrant Affairs, where she quickly rose to Director of Language Access Programs. In her role, she committed to recognizing the humanity of all Philadelphians and her focus on instilling a sense of pride and dignity among oft-overlooked communities made her stand out. “Language access is a civil right,” she says. It doesn’t matter how many resources are available in Philadelphia if people are unable to take advantage of them because of language barriers.

Read her profile here.

2023 Integrity Icon

Community Relations Officer for the Philadelphia Police Department’s 25th District

Officer Ryan Barksdale, a Community Relations Officer in the 25th District — encompassing Hunting Park, Franklin, Feltonville, Juniata Park, and parts of Fairhill and Upper Kensington — is a celebrated member of the community. He is the kind of man who devotes his personal time to serving others and who commits his own resources when he knows it will fulfill the community’s needs. Barksdale joined the PPD in 2006 and had served as a patrol officer for 11 years when he was recommended for the position.

Read his profile here.

2023 Integrity Icon

Senior Labor Compliance Investigator for the Department of Labor, Office of Worker Protection

Gutierrez has worked on wage theft, worker retaliation and Covid protections cases. She specializes in investigating claims where a worker alleges their employer has violated the City’s Fair Workweek law and complex cases in which employees may not have proper documentation, or cases with a lot of data to sift through. A native Spanish speaker, she also translates for the office, as Philadelphia’s Latino population grows.

Read her profile here.

2023 Integrity Icon

Member Services Manager for the Mayor’s Office of Civic Engagement and Volunteer Services

In her role, Greene focused on supporting and training the city’s AmeriCorps volunteers. She provided them with tools that would enable them to go out and support Philly residents they were assigned to serve. Her proudest achievement: arranging for Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity to train the AmeriCorps volunteers in record expungement — that is, legally helping folks remove criminal charges that may be on their public records and could be holding them back from opportunities like employment, housing, funding, and more.

Read her profile here.

2022 Integrity Icon

Deputy Commissioner for Policy, Outreach and Taxpayer Assistance in the Department of Revenue

As a steward of our city’s tax dollars, Lopez Kriss is in the center of some of the most important—and opaque—work in Philadelphia government. She pushes for integrity by making the Revenue Department more transparent, navigable and easy to understand for citizens so they know their rights—and know what help is available.

Read her profile here.

2022 Integrity Icon

Director of Urban Forestry at Philadelphia Parks and Recreation Department

Hayes is the person in charge of planting the trees that make our city more beautiful and livable. She won, in part, for her efforts to make Tree Philly’s programs accessible to everyone—the elderly, the blind, women who want to climb trees and be arborists, low-income communities and returning citizens.

Read her profile here.

2022 Integrity Icon

Biking Ambassador for the Office of Transportation, Infrastructure and Sustainability

Ridgeway can be found riding from one end of the city to another on an Indego bicycle, educating residents, coordinating with community groups and working to increase access to the bike-share program for all Philadelphians. Under her watch, Indego has grown the number of bikes in underserved neighborhoods, by listening and working with community members to ensure the program is serving their needs.

Read her profile here.

2022 Integrity Icon

Feltonville Arts & Sciences Paraprofessional 

Wood is described as an innovative educator in a North Philly middle school, who demonstrates integrity by, among other things, being willing to admit mistakes and urging her students to do the same through a method she learned in a previous job at Burger King: L.A.S.T. (listen, apologize, satisfy, and thank). She has elevated the role of paraprofessional beyond the classroom as one of the founding members of “Para Power,” which organizes around salary issues and working conditions.

Read her profile here.

2022 Integrity Icon

Director of K-12 Mathematics for the School District of Philadelphia 

Young was the lead content developer for math during the pandemic, putting the neediest children at the forefront of this work. She supported the Office of Family and Community Engagement FACT program by providing training for parents, caregivers, and community members to learn the skills and tools needed to support their children’s academic endeavors — including dealing with stress.

Read her profile here.

2020 Integrity Icon

Program Manager for the Injury Prevention Program at the Philadelphia Department of Public Health

Through her research, publications, and testimonies in front of various state committees, Abaya’s position opened the door for her to become a Stoneleigh Fellow where she created a registry of people who are injured by gun violence. This system allows the City to understand how it does in getting victims the resources they need.

Read her profile here.

2020 Integrity Icon

History Teacher at One Bright Ray Community High School

On top of teaching duties, Aponte spearheads We Love Philly, the after school program-turned-accredited-class and nonprofit. He believes changing students’ environment — getting them out of the four-walled classroom — allows them to let their guard down, build relationships. Thrive.

Read his profile here.

2020 Integrity Icon

Principal at Paul Robeson High School for Human Services 

Among other accomplishments, Gordon turned Paul Robeson High School, a school with a 90-percent poverty rate and 100-percent minority population and one that the District had been planning to close in 2013, into one with a 95-percent graduation rate. His success can be attributed to the formal programming he’s put in place—from mental health counseling to career mentorship to partnerships with Philly’s institutions of higher ed. But his progress all comes back to his unique gift of empathy.

Read his profile here.

2020 Integrity Icon

Social Studies Teacher at Central High School

Since 2015 Quinn has been organizing Philly Youth Vote, through the Caucus of Working Educators — an activist coalition within the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers—to lead a non-partisan effort to register every eligible high school senior in the city. So far, the group has recruited teachers in 45 district schools who have volunteered to get registration information and forms into the hands of any of the 8,000 seniors who turn 18 each year.

Read his profile here.

2020 Integrity Icon

Social Studies Curriculum Specialist for the School District of Philadelphia

She started out as an academic coach in 2014 before segueing into her role as one of two District Social Studies Curriculum Specialists, overseeing K-12 social studies curriculum for the more than 200,000 students in our public schools. She helps organize Future Ready, a program with Wells Fargo and the Chamber of Commerce, that pairs 6th graders with local businesses to provide career exploration, resume writing skills, and interview practice.

Read her profile here.