Judith Gentile
Judith Gentile is a member of Board of Directors and has been part of the Upper Darby School District for about 50 years. “I was a teacher for 37 years and have been on the school board going on 16 years. The one thing that has been a positive for Upper Darby is that we always keep our standards high.
The children have to reach for their education and they have a lot of support. It is also important to us that they achieve at their best level while we give them as many resources as we can to succeed. “With regards to the Library, I have been on the library board since the year 2000.
It is an organization that understands that there are 57 different languages in our school district; this is something that the library recognizes. We have books that reflect these languages and programs for the children to help with their literacy.
The library works with the school district to make sure we have many summer readings. The library also makes sure we have several copies of books for students who cannot afford to buy them. “We are working towards getting computers into the hands of all our students. Every child now has the opportunity to use a Chromebook,” Gentile revealed.
Michael Chitwood, Superintendent of Upper Darby Police
Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood has been with the Upper Darby police department since 2005. He has more than 50 years experience in law enforcement including graduating from the FBI National Academy Senior Executives in State and Local Government program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy’s School of Government. Before coming to Upper Darby, Chitwood worked in Philadelphia as a homicide detective.
As the head of a department whose members interact with the citizens of the township on a daily basis, Superintendent Chitwood spoke about the challenges in law enforcement in a diverse community. “It is important to understand the nature of diversity. Upper Darby makeup is about 65 countries and 57 languages … the goal is to ensure that everybody enjoys quality of life,” Chitwood said.
The superintendent believes that the policing should be positive. He recalled one of the many important and informative sit-downs he had with the leaders of various immigrant groups from countries including Korea, Liberia, India and more. The goal was to break the stigma that the police are the enemy.
To enhance his department’s relationship with the immigrant community, Superintendent Chitwood mandated that officers must go through at least three separate trainings that deal with diversity. The program brought in a diverse group of people including two African American women, to train and help change the officers’ perception of minority and immigrant groups.
Inderjit Bains
Bains is one of the prominent members of the Sikh community in the township of Upper Darby and a staunch supporter of Mayor Micozzie’s policies. “I have been living in Upper Darby all my life. I was born and raised here. I am 35 years old and have been here all my life.
I went through the school district, Bywood elementary and graduated from Upper Darby high school. After working in the private sectors, I was able to open my own dealership on Marshall Road in Upper Darby. It is called Marshall Auto Sale. We have had the business set up there for about three and half years.
It has been a great deal for us. It runs very well and the traffic there is fantastic. Working with the Township has been a great experience as our business grows day to day. “Upper Darby is a great community because it is one of the most diverse Townships in all of the whole Pennsylvania. We
have so many different background, cultures, ethnicities and religions.
You have the Greeks, the Italians, the Turkish, Albanians, and Armenians. People from Asia such as Bangladesh, Korean, Chinese and others. You also have Latin-American people from
Ecuardor, Mexico and others. Then the African communities, the Liberians. It might be a little challenging at times but it brings everyone together.
With Mayor Micozzie doing International Day on 69th street, that has exposed all the different beautiful cultures and every one can see what each culture is like. Living with people from different backgrounds, you are able to experience it to a certain degree, to understand where everyone comes from and how they live.
Bains, who feels biologically attached to township said, “I am very invested in Upper Darby Township. Mayor Micozzie has been doing a great job in creating a lot of businesses in Upper Darby. Look at 69th Street; he is putting up new developments along Baltimore pike.” Bains was a former candidate for State Representative.
Rev. Nathanial Goodson (Multicultural Commission)
The Multicultural Commission is an organization that is made up of the diverse and unique residents of Upper Darby. It is responsible for reaching out to various cultures in our community. The commission began its work in 2014 and has touched the lives of people from Pakistan, various countries from Africa, Korea, India and the African American community. Together, the commission works to solve some of the major issues these groups face in the community. The goal of the organization is help everyone understand the differences in each culture.
Rev. Goodson hopes that the organization will continue to grow and reach every culture that Upper Darby represents. There are more than 57 languages spoken in the schools and neighborhoods of Upper Darby. One of the organization’s biggest goals for the year is to make government programs more accessible to everyone in spite of the language they speak. You can reach the organization on Facebook by searching Upper Darby Multicultural Commission.
