Thank You, Inez Green

QVNA Vice President Inez Green is retiring from the association’s board of directors, effective December 31, 2020. In 2015, during her first year of board service, Inez co-founded Summer at Courtyard, the free learning enrichment program for Queen Village children ages 5 through 11, which has helped educate more than 100 students since its inception.

Community leadership is second nature to Inez. For more than 25 years, she has served as President of the Courtyard Residents Council (CRC) and Chief Executive Officer of its Board of Directors. Within the Courtyard Apartments community, Inez has garnered a reputation for being a person of her word and a persistent advocate for residents and their quality of life. More than 1,298 residents live in the Courtyard community.

When Courtyard Apartments sought much-needed funding to replace 25-year-old heating/air conditioning systems, major appliances, the elevator in its senior citizen apartment hi-rise, and needed upgrades, Inez worked closely with the Philadelphia Public Housing Authority and Courtyard’s management company, The Michaels Organization, to obtain it. Necessary funding was obtained through a federal grant program and city tax subsidies.

When $32 million in funding for necessary renovations and upgrades became available, Inez led a carefully planned, staged rollout and kept the community informed. Then she worked directly with each Courtyard family before and during their move to temporary housing while their home was under renovation. When it was time to replace the elevator in Riverview Apartments at Courtyard, Queen Village’s senior center, Inez telephoned each resident with advice on what to expect. In addition, she met with seniors if they had questions about the replacement of their appliances or carpet. The project was completed in 2019, 1,298 residents were relocated to temporary housing and back to their homes, and Inez was credited with putting residents at ease throughout the process.

Inez and Jerry, her husband of 34 years, are grandparents to four, but Inez is also a grandmotherly figure to dozens of Courtyard children who fondly call her “Miss Kandi.” While President of the CRC, and during her first year as a QVNA Director, Inez co-founded Summer at Courtyard, a six-week learning enrichment program, designed to help stem the typical summer reading learning loss experienced by children ages 5 through 11. Since 2015, Summer at Courtyard has provided Queen Village children with six weeks of structured learning experiences and weekly field trips during late June and July. More than 100 children have benefitted from this program. Had it not been for the pandemic, 2020 would have been the sixth year of Summer at Courtyard.

Although Inez (a.k.a. Kandi) is retiring from QVNA’s board, she will remain an ardent QVNA volunteer and leader of next year’s Summer at Courtyard program.

Thank you, Inez for your leadership and community to the Queen Village community! ■