Charity Simone

Simone’s path to leadership was inspired by her late mentor, Charles Foster, who encouraged her to be an active voice in their community. After seeing issues with building maintenance and a lack of clear communication, Simone ran for office and was elected Treasurer of her Building Association in 2023. Through this role, she noticed that community work is complex and needs navigating different opinions, yet the experience ultimately reinforced her belief that community is a “verb.” To her, it is an intentional, ongoing action that requires showing up every day to hold the system accountable. A significant aspect of Simone's story is her connection to the “foundation” of Co-op City: the senior citizens. She views these elders as her community's strongest warriors, commenting that they are the ones who show up at town halls to protest rent hikes and fight for their neighborhood's future. By participating in line-dancing classes with them, she bridges generational divides, exchanging contemporary perspectives for their hard-earned wisdom. Simone warns that while the seniors are currently leading the fight, the “youth them” must step up and learn these traditions of activism before the community's affordable and supportive way of life is lost ([00:19:50]). Professionally, Charity describes herself as a “certified operations girl” who recently earned her Project Management Professional (PMP) certification ([01:04:24]). She uses this expertise to view her community through an efficiency lens, intent on taking broken processes apart and putting them back together so they work better for everyone. She credits her drive to the excellence she saw growing up in the Bronx, where seeing neighbors succeed as doctors, pilots, and teachers taught her that high-level professional goals were always within her reach. Today, Simone stands as a powerful voice for proactive change within Co-op City’s governance and resident engagement, reminding her neighbors to speak up for themselves before a crisis occurs. She believes that community engagement should not start when a pipe bursts, but should be a constant part of a resident's life. Through her leadership, the skills she gained from her professional life, and her deep love for her home, she continues to empower the next generation to protect Co-op City as a bastion of affordability and collective strength.