Cathy Wakeman

Board Spotlight - Phillip Bradley

Decades before the Dryden Center for Community was even a dream, board member Phil Bradley was learning about building community.  Hailing from the southwest side of Philadelphia, Phil brings years of experience and training and a heart of service to the Center.

Phil describes a city in turmoil and in need of community building. Following participation in the Million Man March, one of the largest demonstrations in US history, Phil helped to create the African-American Brotherhood in Philadelphia. As a program coordinator for developing rites of passage for young people, Phil has trained in areas as diverse as grant writing, conflict resolution and mediation, strategic planning for non profits and tutor training. When not growing community connections, Phil worked in the Wells Fargo Guard Service.

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Board Spotlight - Rich Winter

DCC: When did you first hear about the community center idea?

RW: About two years ago, it became obvious that the church would be closing. We had tried a number of things and they all failed. The big concern was “What is going to happen to the building?” When we heard about the New York Forward Grant, we thought maybe the Village would look at buying it to make it a community center. Tom Sinclair, Jennifer Dick and I went up to Homer Center for the Arts. They showed us around and they talked about how they developed their space. Nothing really much more happened with it until about a year ago January (2025). I called a few stakeholders of the church building together, Elizabeth (Gutchess), Tom and Jennifer, and we discussed how it might go. Then we had a second meeting which I very rudely forgot to come to. At that time, we realized that Tom was in a position to really make the thing go. He had the expertise and he had the connections to the Village and to the people who served on the committee who did the needs assessment for the grant, so he started to run with it. The rest is history.

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Board Spotlight - Marion Ferrer

Well before her delicious baked goods were available at local Main Street eateries, Board Member Marion Ferrer has been baking professionally all over the world. She brings her years of expertise in the kitchen, both baking and teaching, to the Board of the Dryden Center for Community. As our kitchen coordinator, Marion is helping to establish procedures for the rental of our certified commercial kitchen, organizing required training and preparing programs for young and old.

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Board Spotlight - Cindy Kjellander-Cantu

Many of you know Cindy from her years of dedication to managing the Dryden Community Center Café, or her design work for the History Center of Tompkins County. You may have had the opportunity to work under her as a tutor at TC3. However you’ve connected with Cindy in the past, at the Dryden Center for Community, we’re honored to have Cindy on our Board of Trustees and to recognize her in this month’s Member Spotlight. Cindy brings her considerable graphic design talent and expertise to the project, designing logos, posters, and a variety of publicity formats. She imagined and executed our Steeple Social and Open Doors Day and has supported the Center from its beginning.

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