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HILDA STOKELY

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A life devoted to public service for the betterment of her community, Hilda E. Stokely, has always lived in Harlem and now resides in the Mount Morris section of our town.

She is the Secretary of the Board of Directors of Harlem Urban Development Corporation, and has served as Housing consultant and Educational Consultant to Borough President Constance Motley and Percy Sutton. She is one of the original signers of the Memorandum which created the HUDC Agency.

A native of Kenston, North Carolina, Ms. Stokely came to Harlem as a teen-ager and has been here ever since.

Her biographer wrote of her at the time she ran for City Council of New York that she was a mature, experienced and dedicated public servant.

Mrs. Stokely served the people of the 68th Assembly District, her community, as the Democratic female district leader for 8 years. She look back fondly on her achievement of bringing distinction to female district leaders by fighting for their election to their positions, and not appointed by the male leader as was the custom.

She has served as Housing Consultant to Borough President Percy E. Sutton and before this assignment was Education Consultant to Borough President Constance Motley; and in that period she distinguished herself also as chairman of the Educational Committee of the New York County Democratic Executive Committee; she has served as Public Relations officer for the New York State Senate and was co-organizer for the New York City Womans Democratic Committee. Mrs. Stokely was elected Delegate and a member of the Credential Committee at the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention. She also served as a Democratic State Committee woman for six years.

As a community worker her affiliations were Board Member for the Union Settlement House; Chairman of the Board for the Harlem Opera Theatre and Workshop; Organizer and founding member, Mount Morris Park Rehabilitation Committee; President, East Harlem United Neighborhood Council; organizer of East Harlem Good Neighbors Committee; member, East Harlem Civic Association; President, Parents' Associations of elementary schools; junior high schools, and the High School of Commerce; President, 25th Police Precinct Council to reduce crime and delinquency; Chairman of the Board, Richard Rodgers Amphitheatre; now known as Mount Morris Senior Citizens Center; Volunteer PTA worker, Polio Drive Director and Scouting worker.

Mrs. Stokely is Board member La Guardia House and Varick community centers. She is a member of the Board of the Harlem Coordinating Council for the Aged; Board member of Associated Community East; and Board member of East Harlem Tri-Angle.

Wife of the late Williams Stokely, Sr., she is the mother of Brenda Stokely, Madeline Hill, and William Stokely, Jr. and is grandmother of Michele, Rochelle, and Zinzali. She prides herself on being just a member of Reverend James Metropolitan Presbyterian Church.

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