PPUF’s Board of Directors

The Poor People’s United Fund Board of Directors consists of representatives from the PPUF partner organizations and activists representing multiple disciplines from the greater Boston metropolitan community. In addition to providing direction and support to Poor People’s United Fund, the Board of Directors sets policy and direction and shares perspectives on issues relating to poverty and homelessness.

  • Fran Froehlich, President/Director, Author: Urban Meditations, Essentially Women
  • Jessica Butler, Acupuncturist, Community Activist
  • Claire Cassidy, Registered Nurse Boston Public Schools
  • Lynnette Frazier, former Chief of Staff for City Councilor Charles Yancey
  • Susan Jacoby, Clerk, Executive Producer of Left on Pearl, Community Activist
  • Janet Magnani MD., MPH (Ret.)
  • Georgia Mattison, Author: Women in Citizen Advocacy: Stories of 29 Shapers of Public Policy, Member of MA State Welfare Coalition, Tree of Life Advisory Committee Bromley Heath
  • Margaret Rhodes, PhD Philosophy, Author:  Ethical Dilemmas in Social Work Practice, Associate. Professor, UMass Boston (Ret.)
  • Vicky Steinitz, Professor UMass Boston (Ret.), College of Public and Community Service, Coordinator of Cambridge United for Justice with Peace
Board menbers

Georgia Mattison, Project Coordinator (Ret.)

Georgia Mattison

Georgia has fought for the rights of excluded populations, particularly women and children. After graduating from the University of California with a BA in Sociology, she spent the years from 1967-1972 teaching English in the Peace Corps in Iran and in the Boston Public Schools. In 1975 she received an MA in Special Education from Antioch University and began her work as a child nutrition advocate. She went on to co-found the Boston Food Bank with Kip Tiernan in 1978 where she retired from the Board of Directors in 2002.

From 1985 through 1992 Georgia worked as an advocate for Medicare and Medicaid patients for the Visiting Nurse Associations. Since 1993 she has taught critical thinking at Mass Bay Community College and the College of Public and Community Service, UMASS Boston.

Georgia is a founding member of Financial Resources for Women and Children which had provided funds and training for women in domestic violence shelters. Georgia has received many awards for her work at the Boston Food Bank, most notably the 1988 Channel 7 Thanksgiving award. She published a book on women advocates titled, Women In Citizen Advocacy:Stories of 29 Shapers of Public Policy.