Philadelphia Office

1315 Walnut Street | Suite 1650

Philadelphia | Pennsylvania 19107

p: 215.545.0250

f: 215.545.2314

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Mary Donahue, Program Coordinator

Joe Nye, Program Organizer

Joe grew up in the Philadelphia area and graduated from Temple University with a BA in Political Science. Working as a canvasser for Clean Water Action for two years, in 2006 and 2008, he was a part of the victorious campaigns to unseat Sen. Rick Santorum and elect President Barack Obama. In 2006, Joe also campaigned to reduce mercury emissions in Pennsylvania by 90%. After graduating from Temple University in 2010, he worked on two congressional campaigns as a field organizer and also has experience as an employment counselor focused on low-income Americans.  Joe returned to Clean Water Action because of his strong to desire to hold politicians and large corporations accountable for their actions and looks forward to many more victories in the years to come.

Cord Briggs, Field Canvass Director

Pascal, Office Manager

The child of a madwoman and a village, Pascal has been in the projects of oppression-awareness and community-building since before pe can remember. Pascal has explored activism from surviving to thriving, local youth journalism to on-the-ground international women's/womyn's rights work. Transcultural environmentalism and eco-feminist storytelling heavily inform the work pe does and aspires to do with Clean Water Action. At home, Pascal paints poems and farms cities.

Pittsburgh

100 Fifth Avenue | Suite 1108
Pittsburgh | Pennsylvania | 15222
p: 412.765.3053 

f: 412.765.1737

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Myron Arnowitt, Pennsylvania State Director

Myron has served as Clean Water Action's PA State Director since 2007 and has worked as a community organizer for over 25 years for a variety of neighborhood, environmental, and social justice organizations in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Chester, PA. Myron’s accomplishments with CWA include passage of new air pollution compliance and air toxics rules, and getting strong state standards for oil and gas wastewater treatment. He has also helped residents with contaminated drinking water sources and worked with the PittsburghSchool District to reduce pesticide use. His work on fracking has appeared in national media outlets, including Fox News, the New York Times, and public radio’s This American Life.  He currently is a member of PA Department of Environmental Protection’s Water Resources Advisory Committee.  In addition to his Clean Water Action work, he serves locally on the board of the East End Food Co-op Federal Credit Union.

Felicia Sam returned to her activist roots, after many unfulfilling years as a financial systems analyst, to open Clean Water Action's Pittsburgh Phone Canvass in 1988. She became the director of the program, building it into one of the most successful canvasses in the country. Felicia has coordinated work on hundreds of issue and election campaigns, and in spite of the many exciting campaign victories, she feels her most important role has been recruiting and training hundreds of activists and organizers throughout the country, many of which continue to inspire her today.

Tom Hoffman, Western Pennsylvania Director

April 2012 marks his third anniversary with the organization.  During those three years, Clean Water Action has pushed for and won policies that drastically cut diesel emissions from school buses, cut down on diesel emissions from construction vehicles on publicly funded development projects and require publicly funded development projects to drastically reduce the stormwater runoff from their sites.

Before joining the staff of Clean Water Action, Tom founded Pittsburgh UNITED, a coalition of labor, faith, community and environmental organizations that has worked for progressive policies in Pittsburgh. Before Pittsburgh UNITED, Tom worked for the Justice for Janitors Campaign at the Service Employees International Union that won affordable family health care for janitors in Pittsburgh.

Tom loves the biking, hiking, skiing and backpacking.  He is a graduate of the National Outdoor Leadership School.  He plays banjo, guitar and does vocals for Smokestack Lightning.

Steve Hvodzovich, Marcellus Campaign Coordinator

Steve is a life long resident of Pittsburgh. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a BA in History and a secondary concentration in Political Science. Steve joined Clean Water Action in 2008 and initially focused on our community organizing efforts in the Pittsburgh suburbs around air quality issues. In 2010, Steve shifted his focus to the Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling issue. As the organizations point person on this issue, Steve has traveled all over Pennsylvania lobbying, organizing, and educating people on the potential dangers associated with this growing industry.

Julie St. John, Community Organizer

Julie St. John started working as a field canvasser with Clean Water Action in the summer of 2009. After a year and a half of pounding the pavement, Julie switched positions and began working with the program department, coordinating efforts to improve air quality in local communities. She works extensively with community groups in the Neville Island and Clairton areas.

Julie recently began working on the Clean Rivers Campaign, a coalition effort to make sure green infrastructure is part of the plan to fix sewer and stormwater issues in the region. Julie holds a MA in communication and a BA in journalism from The Ohio State University. Go Bucks! When she’s not working, Julie likes to spend time with her cat, Alice.

Amanda Hanbury, Pittsburgh Canvass Director

Amanda, a proud resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
began her career at Clean Water Action in the spring of 2008.  After receiving her bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from the Universityof Pittsburgh at Johnstown, she joined the Clean Water team to fight for environmental justice and is now the Canvass
Director in Pittsburgh.  Amanda has organized all over this great
nation, but her loyalty is with the Yinzers of Pittsburgh.  Amanda enjoys the outdoors, traveling,
Journey, and…..oh yeah, canvassing!

Greg Sinn, Field Canvass Office Manager

Greg is the Office Manager for the Field Canvass team. He lives in the East End of the city with his partner Amy. Outside of work, Greg is a student and instructor at Steve Demasco’s Shaolin Studios. He also enjoys backpacking, gardening and foraging, and playing in the local band Machete Kisumontao. He has worked in the nonprofit sector since graduation from the University of Pittsburgh in 2008, and plans to continue on the nonprofit career path.  His favorite part of working with Clean Water Action is recruiting new trainees, and watching them advance to new managers. 

Kerem Gokman, Phone Canvass Director

Originally from Istanbul, Turkey, Kerem started @ CWA in January 2001 as a phone canvasser & has spent his entire career with the organization at the Pittsburgh office, taking on Canvass Director duties in the Fall of 2012. Over the years Kerem has organized members in the state on a variety of issues & campaigns, ranging from protecting the exceptional value streams, the pesticide notification act, right to know reports & fracking in recent years. Aside from Clean Water Action, Kerem has been on the airwaves of public radio station WYEP Pittsburgh since 1997, producing & hosting a weekly electronic broadcast called Dubmission.

Kathy Knorr, Office Manager and Phone Canvass Administrator

Kathie joined Clean Water Action in 1991 as the phone canvass office manager and administrator.

Most likely she will be the first person you meet when you walk into the Pittsburgh office! Two of the things that keep her here are her love of working with people who share her passion for protecting the environment and the casual atmosphere. Her outside interests include
gardening, watching the sunset, and attending her son Dylan's sporting events.

Cassie Steenblok

Cassi started her work for Clean Water Action in July of 2010 with the Providence field canvass. She was born, raised, and educated in Upstate New York, graduating from Syracuse University in 2006 with degrees in History and Political Science. Cassi works to educate and organize the citizens of Liberty and Clairton in the Mon Valley around air quality issues. When she's not working Cassi enjoys shopping, reading, traveling, and hanging out with her cat
 

Harrisburg

Nathan Sooy, Central Pennsylvania Campaign Coordinator

Nathan Sooy has decades of experience in the techniques involved in getting the attention of political and economic power players. Sooy thinks that protecting our water, air, and families requires attention to the dynamics of political power as well as the technical details of environmental regulation. Nathan founded GAS TRUTH of Central PA which was created to educate, agitate, and organize to protect PA from Shale Gas drilling. Nathan has been a political and community organizer since 1977 and has led campaigns for social justice in Maryland, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio.