Charm City Land Trusts maintains a board of directors and a general membership. The board handles the day-to-day operational and outreach considerations of the organization. For general information about the composition of the board, visit our Organization page.
Below, you will find our current board officers with brief bios and contact information:
The Board
Ayrika Fletcher – President
Ayrika is a charter member of Charm City Land Trusts and resident of Baltimore’s Northwood neighborhood. A former community organizer, she has extensive experience in real estate law and finance and has provided foreclosure prevention and estate planning workshops for a number of organizations and faith-based institutions.
Ann Mitchell Sackey – Vice President
Ann has extensive experience in nonprofit management and leadership, including her work with the Federation of Neighborhood Centers in Philadelphia, PA, and the National Council of Nonprofits in Washington, DC. She currently consults with nonprofits on strategic planning, fundraising and capacity building and is an active volunteer and member of the Baltimore Housing Roundtable.
Michael Casiano – Secretary
Mike is a full-time doctoral candidate at the University of Maryland, College Park, and coordinator and web editor for the American Studies Association, a nonprofit scholarly society based in Washington, D.C. A McElderry Park resident and active volunteer, Mike is also a member of the Eastside Human Rights Committee and the Baltimore Housing Roundtable.
Gary Dittman – treasurer
Gary has been Pastor of Amazing Grace Lutheran Church in McElderry Park for the last seven years. He moved to Fells Point with his wife Karen, a neo-natal nurse practitioner at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Amazing Grace is deeply engaged in community-guided initiatives and collaborations to bring both resources and healing to the community. Gary serves with multiple organizations, boards, councils, and advisory committees including: the Charm City Clinic, the McElderry Park Community Association, the Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Steering Team, the Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute, the Community University Coordinating Council, the BGE Community Advisory Committee, CARE, and BRIDGE Maryland.
Peter Sabonis
Peter works with community groups to promote dignity and economic and social rights. During his 24 years of legal services to those with low or no income, Sabonis co-founded the Baltimore-based Homeless Persons Representation Project where he spearheaded a Day Labor initiative that resulted in the creation of the United Workers – a multi-racial human rights group that successfully campaigned to increase wages and improve working conditions of temporary laborers at Camden Yards.
Sharon Hunt
Sharon is a resident of McElderry Park has worked for American Airlines and the Baltimore Orioles. She has served on the Johns Hopkins University Community Research Advisory Council (Bayview) and the Community Outreach and Education Center Day Market Program, a venue bridging the disconnect between community and access to resources and information. Sharon is also a member of the Eastside Human Rights Committee.
Charlie Jones
Charlie Jones has been a member of Charm City Land Trusts since 2002 and is a resident of Baltimore’s Patterson Park neighborhood. He is also co-founder of the New Columbia Community Land Trust in Washington, D.C. where he devised the model for the resale appreciation formula and negotiated expansion of New Columbia Trust’s target area. Additionally, Charlie has trained at workshops and national conferences, and facilitated the creation of the National Community Land Trust Network.
Beth Myers-Edwards
Beth Meyers-Edwards is the Director of Community Engagement for Banner Neighborhoods, after serving as a community organizer for four years. Beth is a founding charter member of the Eastside Community Reinvestment Corporation / Monument McElderry Fayette Revitalization Plan Board of Governors and serves on the boards of several other organizations.
