“It is my heartfelt desire that my work on the Mount Hope Commission helps move one corner of the world a step closer to achieving Dr. King’s vision of the Beloved Community.”

Dana Hallman’s involvement in Cheverly began in 1993 shortly after she purchased her home and put down roots in the Town’s 2nd Ward. As a single working mother, she carved out time to engage in her community. She chaperoned field trips at Gladys Noon Spellman, where her son was a student, and made life-long friends while volunteering for Boy Scout camp trips and Boys and Girls club basketball practices and tournaments. When her son left Cheverly for Hampton University, she redirected her volunteer activities. She joined the Progressive Cheverly Executive Committee where she organized educational events related to issues of social justice and implicit bias. Dana also proudly served as a councilmember representing Ward 2. She is a founding member of the Mount Hope Commission where she was invited by her long-time friend Liz Tuckermanty, to join her in establishing a Commission dedicated to diversity, inclusion, and equity in Cheverly.

Dana is a 37-year public servant whose federal career began in the early 1980’s as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania, East Africa. She possesses management experience, spanning three decades, in the fields of public relations and organizational and information technology development. She is grateful to apply her knowledge and expertise to the work of the Commission.

“I am awakening to the injustices all around our nation and our town. I am honored to be working with the Mount Hope Commission Board, as we research the past and work to build trust, create healing and reconciliation to make our community the open loving community of our dreams.”

Liz has lived in Cheverly since 1980. She and her husband, Dale Manty, moved into Mount Hope in 1983 after living on Arbor Street. They worked to rehabilitate Mount Hope after years of neglect. They raised their two daughters in Cheverly and were involved in Boys and Girls Club, sports, dance classes, the babysitting coop and the Cheverly Young Actors guild. She was a founding member of the Cheverly Community Market and worked to get farmer’s market coupons into the market. With neighbors she helped create the “Y’all come” Cheverly Informal Potlucks Suppers (CHIPS). Since she held her first yard sale she was struck with the friendliness of Cheverly. She is a founding member of the Mount Hope Commission which started with the changing of the Cheverly Town Seal and became a collective effort to improve inclusion and equity through education and outreach.

Liz, a nutritionist, worked at the national level in public health education and outreach at the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, and the National Cancer Institute. At USDA she worked in funding sustainable food projects in low-income communities across the country. She came to deeply appreciate the power of community to work together to get things done. She is retired now and is enjoying spending time with her daughters’ families including three grandchildren who also live in Cheverly. She is eager to use her experience in the work of the Mount Hope Commission.

“The Mount Hope Commission is the embodiment of the struggle of all people who have been othered. It is the taking of ashes and turning it into beauty.”

Kayce Munyeneh’s involvement in Cheverly blossomed in 2015 after the loss of her father. She became the President of the Fourth Ward Civic Association, the only civic association in the town, created to represent the interests of community members who are geographically separated from the rest of the town. She put her roots down in what is historically referred to as The Old Fourth Ward. Members of her community asked her to consider running for office and she did. She became the Councilmember for Ward 4 and hit the ground running, drafting proclamations and enacting new legislation.

Kayce became one of the founding members of the Mount Hope Commission after asking questions about the town seal and finally having Mount Hope Plantation removed from the seal. She joined in establishing a Commission dedicated to diversity, inclusion, and equity.

Kayce is an 18-year public servant whose local, municipal, and federal government career began in the early 2000’s as Program Coordinator for the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office under the Violence Against Women’s Act (VAWA). Her experience in organizational development have proven useful to the commission and local government. In July 2021, Kayce became the first Black Mayor for the Town of Cheverly and she proudly serves and supports the Mount Hope Commission’s values and goals.

Claudia Thorne has more than 40 years of professional experience working in health and human services organizations at local and national levels. Presently she is an assistant professor at Coppin State University in the Department of Social Work. Claudia has worked in numerous fields of practice from working with children and families to working with the elderly. Claudia is an ethno-gerontologist interested in aging across cultures. Dr. Thorne is the first person born in the United States in her family. Her parents were from Panama and her grandparents were from Barbados.

Claudia is a qualitative researcher who uses history as found in archives, private libraries and papers to explore historical people, conditions, and events in and around Cheverly, Maryland as it relates to Black and Indigenous People. This in-depth knowledge will bring greater understanding and awareness to the present.

Claudia has volunteered in numerous organizations addressing aging, women and children, and civic engagement for more than 40 years.

Claudia is a proud mother and grandmother.

she/her/hers (why include pronouns). I am pleased to be a part of the Mount Hope Commission as it seeks to recover our community’s historical memory by honoring the many ways of knowing that exist among us, so that more people in the present can feel that they belong.

Helen Starkweather moved to Cheverly in 2005 with her husband, Joseph Dalaker who is currently Council Member for the town’s Ward 4. As a deaf woman, Helen found it difficult to engage with the town’s many organizations. It wasn’t until 2018, when a neighbor took the time to ask her a simple question: “What do you need to be included?” that Helen became more involved in the community. She joined the Progressive Cheverly Executive Committee, where she focused on issues related to social justice and implicit bias and is now a board member of the Mount Hope Commission.

Helen is an organization development practitioner and a licensed graduate professional counselor in the state of Maryland. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Counseling at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Previously, she has been an adjunct instructor for Georgetown University’s certificate program in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and an assistant editor for Smithsonian magazine, focusing on topics related to history, the arts, sciences, and current events.

In her role as Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation pillar, Helen works at the intersection of both the personal and the collective, seeking to be guided by a stance of cultural humility, authentic collaboration, and community participation. It is the pillar’s goal to harness the power of the testimonial voice, or personal narrative, to move towards greater healing, well-being, and transformative justice.

“I believe the most compelling aspect of genealogy is its potential to bring to life forgotten people who were left voiceless in traditional history and, often, in life. Through the Mount Hope Commission, I hope to help shed light on the lives of the people enslaved at Mount Hope, as well as the native peoples displaced from the land.”

Anne Starkweather moved to Cheverly with her husband in 2012, after living for 20 years in Washington, DC. She loves the tranquil setting, as well as its proximity to DC, its diversity, and its sense of community. The importance of community became acutely personal for Anne after she lost her husband to COVID-19 in March 2020. Anne has a deep understanding of how members of a community help each other persist and thrive in difficult times and believes that the Mount Hope Commission can unearth the personal stories highlighting this link between challenges, community, and the ability to flourish.

Anne has a BA in History and an MA in Anthropology with a concentration in museum training. She completed an internship at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History exploring the context of collection to inform object conservation of ​indigenous Alaskan artifacts for an exhibit in Alaska. She has also worked on several archeological digs and completed an archaeological field school in Public and Historic Archaeology that emphasized public education and community engagement.

Anne has worked in operations management, project administration, contracts/grants management, procurement, and financial management for international development organizations for 25 years and has been fortunate to have been able to travel widely for work and experience a variety of cultures; her work travels include trips to South Africa, Zambia, Tanzania, Eswatini, Nepal, and India.

To become more proficient in a lifelong hobby, Anne obtained a certificate in genealogy from Boston University in 2018. She is excited to be able to use these skills to support the mission of the Mount Hope Commission.