Meet the Team

Dr. Shirlana Dash is the Chief Executive Officer for SELF Inc. Leading the administration of strategic business operations, Dash brings more than 30 years of diverse experience and leadership serving families, children, seniors, and veterans in social services and public policy. Joining SELF Inc. in 2022, she has expanded her capacity to serve Philadelphia’s vulnerable communities through the nonprofit’s efforts in providing housing solutions, mentoring, advocacy, services, and resources.

David Fair has been a leader in the labor, LGBTQ, AIDS, homeless and child advocacy movements in Philadelphia, PA since the 1970s. He has founded or co-founded several advocacy and service organizations, including the Philadelphia Lesbian and Gay Task Force [1] (1977), the Philadelphia Gay Cultural Festival (1978), Lavender Health (1979) (now Mazzoni Center), the Philadelphia/Delaware Valley Union of the Homeless (1985), Philly Homes 4 Youth (2017), and the Philadelphia Coalition on Opioids and Children (2018), and led the creation of numerous local government health and human service initiatives, including the AIDS Activities Coordinating Office for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health (1987) and the Division of Community-Based Prevention Services (2001), the Parenting Collaborative (2003), and the Quality Parenting Initiative (2014) for the Philadelphia Department of Human Services.

Rev. Dr. W. Wilson Goode Sr. is the President and CEO of Amachi Inc., a nationally acclaimed faith-based program for mentoring children of incarcerated parents; and Board Chair Emeritus of SELF Inc. – a nonprofit dedicated to serving homeless men and women. Goode is also Chairman and CEO of the Philadelphia Leadership Foundation. He is a Senior Fellow in the Program for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society at the University of Pennsylvania. Because of his innovative work with the Amachi, he received the Civic Ventures Purpose Prize and the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Citizen of the Year Award.