Universal Companies is in the business of helping people. Our mission is to create educational, cultural
and entrepreneurial opportunities that will stimulate the development of wealth within historically
disenfranchised communities.
To accomplish this, Universal Companies focused on the identification and removal of systemic barriers
to wealth creation within urban settings.
Our Vision
The premise of the Universal Plan is simple – without a comprehensive approach to community development, true neighborhood revitalization will never occur. This is particularly true in the African-American community, which faces significant challenges on many levels. Nearly 50% of African-Americans live in the country’s largest 8 urban areas, many of them low-income. Therefore, the key to revitalizing the African-American community lies in revitalizing America’s cities. The Universal Plan for Urban America is a multi-pronged approach to reinvesting in urban America – and in the African-American community.
Among the goals of the Plan are:
to physically rebuild the community at scale;
to rebuild the African-American family – the core component of community life;
to create a new education environment;
to rebuild the economic infrastructure with small business;
to challenge the institutional and systemic issues that “lock in” the African-American community, such as welfare;
to reconnect the community to the larger regional economy;
and to implement a long-term community wealth-building strategy through homeownership
The Universal Plan seeks to create a balanced development outcome, encompassing diversity of income and diversity of ethnicity. To do this, Universal Companies has taken the following approaches:
Target communities that are at the point of transition, between decline and the pressure of residential reinvestment.
Aggregate land and create a portfolio of affordable and market-rate developments to complement the increasing private investment in the community.
Engage in comprehensive planning in the target area with a variety of public, civic, and private sector partners. Create a vision for revitalization that identifies key properties, corridors, and neighborhood assets.
Foster local community capacity to take advantage of market change.
This last is particularly important, and Universal has broadened its approach to assist neighborhood residents in building this capacity, through educational and social services, workforce development, and technical skills learning. This community development model, targeting education reform and community revitalization simultaneously, is at the heart of the Universal Plan, and has become a national model for a new approach to community development.
Our History
Universal Companies is a not-for-profit "Community Development and Community Management Corporation" formed under the efforts and direction of one of Philadelphia's greatest talents, Mr. Kenneth Gamble, world-renowned musical writer, composer, producer and founder and CEO of Philadelphia International Records. Mr. Gamble has been credited for being a pioneer in the development of soul/rhythm and blues music in America. Since 1960, Mr. Gamble has written, produces, and recorded more than 3,000 songs performed by numerous artists and is credited as the creator of "THE SOUND OF PHILADELPHIA (TSOP)." TSOP has placed Philadelphia on the International Map as a Mecca for the music industry and promoted Philadelphia worldwide.
Since it's inception in 1993, Universal has built the capacity to challenge and reverse the effects of urban decline, which include economic and social disinvestments; poor quality housing, lack of job opportunities, high crime levels, poor quality of education, and an overall poor quality of life.
Our Partners
Universal Companies is fortunate to have many private and public-sector partners providing support to numerous programs and initiatives. They are as follows:
Community Partners:
American Reading Company Foundations, Inc.
Drexel University Mighty Writers
Kramer + Marks Architects City Year
900 AM WURD Odunde 365
Domus Construction House of Umoja
Dranoff Properties Pennrose Properties
Nicetown CDC Hawthorne Community Council
Diversified Community Services Point Breeze Performing Arts Center
Wilson and Associates Sultan Jihad Ahmad Foundation
Gans & Gans & Associates Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship
Funding Partners:
Lomax Family Foundation William Penn Foundation
Philadelphia Foundation Samuel S. Fels Fund
Annie E. Casey Foundation Prudential Foundation
Pew Charitable Trusts Ford Foundation
Prudential Foundation Fannie Mae Foundation
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Pincus Family Foundation
Public Sector Supporters:
Office of Tom Corbett, Governor Office of Mayor Michael Nutter
Office of State Rep. Kenyatta Johnson U.S. Dept. of Education
School District of Philadelphia Dept. of Community and Economic Development
U.S. Small Business Association Commerce Department, City of Philadelphia
U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development SEPTA
Private Sector Supporters:
Citizens Bank TD Bank
Lincoln Financial Group Wells Fargo Corporation
Soverign Bank Botci Solutions
Independence Blue Cross Keystone Mercy Health Plan
PRWT (Official Adopt a School Partner of Universal Daroff Charter School)
Leadership
Executive
Rahim Islam, President & Chief Executive Officer
Under his direct leadership, Universal Companies has grown to exceed nearly a billion dollars of real estate development activity with a staff of more than 450 professionals with a wide range of skills and expertise in diverse and specialty areas of real estate and community development. In addition to becoming the one of the largest developers of affordable housing in the city of Philadelphia, Universal Companies has the distinct honor of being the largest community-based, private manager of public schools in the country providing education services to nearly 4,000 children.
Shahied A. Dawan, Chief Financial Officer/EVP
Mr. Dawan is a certified public accountant (CPA) with 30 years of experience, working 12 years in the development, management and operations of Universal’s educational entities. He manages Universal’s team of experienced accountants as well as the human resource, social service, technology and facility management personnel that perform back office support for all operations, including the operations of Universal’s Institute Charter School as well as other schools managed by Universal. Mr. Dawan has excelled in the challenging task of spending money on schools to ensure quality while still aggressively moving to expand.
Janis C. Butler, Ed.D., EVP Education
Dr. Butler has 30 years of experience teaching and working as an educational administrator for K-12 grades. Dr. Butler taught for the Philadelphia School District and has strong working knowledge of the District’s benchmarks for student success including PA’s Academic Content Standards and the PA Standards Aligned System for school improvement. Her experience ranges from teaching and managing a cluster of 13 schools to managing the district’s family and student support service. Dr. Butler has demonstrated that she has the knowledge and skills to identify resources required for our special education students, ELL students, gifted students and low performing students.
Tamelia Hinson, EVP Real Estate
As Executive Vice President of Real Estate Development, Ms. Hinson relieves the daily stresses of families that turn into stresses faced by children during their school day by helping families secure home ownership. This support of optimal opportunities for families allows them to focus on better meeting the academic needs of their children. Ms. Hinson identifies properties in various areas of the city for development into affordable and market rate homes. These homes are then sold/rented to residents and families. Ms. Hinson also coordinates necessary services for children and families with other agencies to ensure that children and families are able to secure housing while construction is being completed.
H. Stephen Brady, EVP of Operations
H. Stephen Brady joined Universal this year as the Executive Vice President of Operations. Under general direction of the CEO, Mr. Brady directs the scheduling, planning and implementation of policies, procedures and regulations to ensure smooth operations of assigned divisions. This ensures operations in education are being executed that meet both contract requirements and the “Universal Way.” Mr. Brady has over a decade of education administration and management experience along with a demonstrated knack for supporting underperforming schools. He’s successfully created and implemented a turnaround model for high need schools which played a pivotal role in the increase of student achievement and performance. He is a graduate of Temple University having earned a Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood/Elementary Education. He also earned a Master of Education in Administrative Education from Cheyney University.
Ronn Johnson, Executive Vice President of Education for the Mid-West Region
In July 2012, Universal’s President/CEO, Rahim Islam, appointed Ronn Johnson to the position of Executive Vice President of Education for the Midwest Region. In this role, Johnson is providing the necessary leadership to expand Universal Family of Schools’ educational footprint in the cities of Milwaukee, Chicago, St. Louis, and Detroit. Working with the Milwaukee Public School District, Universal has begun the approval process and hopes to open its first charter school in Milwaukee in September 2013. Mr. Johnson is currently completing his dissertation for a doctoral degree in Urban Education from Columbia University’s Teacher’s College in New York City. He brings over 25 years of experience to Universal Companies.
Vice Presidents
Larry Graybill, VP Construction
Mr. Graybill leads a team providing all aspects of construction including design, estimating and construction management. Since joining Universal in 2005, he has overseen many of the construction projects that Universal developed. He is no stranger to construction having spent 37 years as a carpenter, foreman and a project manager. He’s worked for a diverse range of construction companies including high rise window installation cabinetry shops, remodeling and new construction. A believer in quality affordable housing, he gets great satisfaction seeing a family move into a new home or apartment that improves their quality of life. He’s witnessed firsthand the need for improved housing options. Prior to starting his career in construction, Mr. Graybill worked as a social worker for inner city populations. He enjoys working with Universal’s many partners, helping them to reach their goal of improving neighborhoods throughout Philadelphia.
Fitsum Abay, VP of Supportive Services
Mr. Abay manages Universal Companies Division of Supportive Services. Under his administration, Universal Division of Supportive Services has developed specialization in the areas of youth, family and community services, consumer economic education, financial literacy and budgeting skill enhancements, asset building and retentions, comprehensive resource development, etc. These programs have been delivered with great success. Under his leadership, his team brings a unique, multi-faceted perspective to working with youth, families, community members, external service providers, financial institutions, universities, etc. Mr. Abay has created a supportive staff environment enabling them to perform effectively by recognizing and strengthening their skills and competencies and encouraging professional development focusing on the systems and policy level as well as the interpersonal level. He is a graduate of AA University having earned a BA degree in economics and MA degree in economics from Temple University. He had also attended Drexel University for his post masters education.
Eve Lewis, VP Corporate
Ms. Lewis is responsible for the general supervision of all programs and projects operating under the auspices of the office of the CEO/President of Universal Companies. Ms. Lewis fulfills those responsibilities of expected organizational outcomes as set forth by the President/CEO of Universal. Ms. Lewis is to be credited for marketing and public relations within all Divisions of Universal Companies including its Education, Social Services, Management Information Systems and Real Estate Divisions. Ms. Lewis is responsible for new business incubation and strategic alliances involving community development. She brings twenty-plus years of leadership experience spanning a variety of business roles.
Johnnie Williams, VP Technology
Mr. Williams is Director of Universal Companies’ Management Information System (MIS) Division that supports Universals’ Divisions of Education, Social Services, Real Estate and all management, fiscal and administrative departments. Under the leadership of Mr. Williams, Universal’s MIS integrates information collection, management and reporting within single programs and networks of organizations. Mr. Williams provides data from our MIS to help us shape our local policies and practices related to education, social services supports and real estate development. Mr. Williams has made information management a critical aspect of our social services division’s practices. Under Mr. Williams leadership, Universal’s MIS technology is increasingly being used to improve the collection, management and distribution of information within our organization.
Careers
Do you have what it takes to turnaround schools? Are you interested in joining a dynamic and diverse organization committed to improving communities and changing lives?
To apply for one of these positions, please submit your resume, teaching/counselor certification (if applicable), and clearances (FBI/Child Abuse) to: Mimi Thomas, Manager, Human Resources
Phone: 215.732.6518 x117
Fax: 215.732.6519
email: mthomas@universalcompanies.org
Applications without all of these materials will not be considered.
Universal Companies is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to providing opportunities for all individuals. Universal Companies does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, national origin, age or disability in recruitment, employment and compensation. Universal Companies is a drug free working and learning environment.
Funders
The premise of the Universal Plan is simple – without a comprehensive approach to community development, true neighborhood revitalization will never occur. This is particularly true in the African-American community, which faces significant challenges on many levels. Nearly 50% of African-Americans live in the country’s largest 8 urban areas, many of them low-income. Therefore, the key to revitalizing the African-American community lies in revitalizing America’s cities. The Universal Plan for Urban America is a multi-pronged approach to reinvesting in urban America – and in the African-American community.
Among the goals of the Plan are:
to physically rebuild the community at scale;
to rebuild the African-American family – the core component of community life;
to create a new education environment;
to rebuild the economic infrastructure with small business;
to challenge the institutional and systemic issues that “lock in” the African-American community, such as welfare;
to reconnect the community to the larger regional economy;
and to implement a long-term community wealth-building strategy through homeownership
The Universal Plan seeks to create a balanced development outcome, encompassing diversity of income and diversity of ethnicity. To do this, Universal Companies has taken the following approaches:
Target communities that are at the point of transition, between decline and the pressure of residential reinvestment.
Aggregate land and create a portfolio of affordable and market-rate developments to complement the increasing private investment in the community.
Engage in comprehensive planning in the target area with a variety of public, civic, and private sector partners. Create a vision for revitalization that identifies key properties, corridors, and neighborhood assets.
Foster local community capacity to take advantage of market change.
This last is particularly important, and Universal has broadened its approach to assist neighborhood residents in building this capacity, through educational and social services, workforce development, and technical skills learning. This community development model, targeting education reform and community revitalization simultaneously, is at the heart of the Universal Plan, and has become a national model for a new approach to community development.
Universal Family of Schools is recruiting talented educators for the 2013-2014 school year! We invite dynamic and results-oriented teachers to apply. Attend our next networking mixer to learn more!
