The Beating Heart of the Community: Cecil B. Moore Library

Cierra Freeman is the Co-Lead of Culture and Strategy for the Brewerytown Sharswood Neighborhood Coalition (BSNC), where she stewards the organization’s vision, relational alignment, and internal ecosystem of practice. As founding director and current administrator with over 15 years of experience as a community, education, and cultural organizer, she has helped build BSNC into a resident-led, movement-grounded coalition advancing equitable physical and social infrastructure in Brewerytown Sharswood.

Sophia Lee is a Sustainability Strategist at Jacobs, focusing on implementing LEED, WELL, and climate resilient design for life sciences. She used her positions as American Institute of Architects (AIA) Philadelphia Board Member At-Large and Chair of AIA Philadelphia Urban Design Committee to advance urban resilience, environmental justice, and Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI) representation. She co-led the Brewerytown Garden Compost Team for three years, one of the Philadelphia Parks and Recreation and Office of Sustainability pilot program locations in the Community Composting Network. She has frequently volunteered with Bicycle Coalition of Philadelphia. She has previously taught at Jefferson University CABE, and she is excited to return to Temple University as a lecturer on sustainability topics. She was the AIA Philadelphia Young Architect Award Winner of 2024.

Kate Goodman is a city worker and union member of AFSCME DC47 Local 2187. She works at Cecil B. Moore Library and has done research using online resources and also found archives in the branch. Throughout her 18-year career, she has been a labor organizer and a community organizer in Philadelphia, PA and Camden, NJ. She believes the city workers who make our city run has to unite with the broader community of working class Philadelphians in order to win fair wages, good healthcare, and robust public services.