Executive Team
Rev. Dr. W. Wilson Goode, CEO and Chairman of the Board
Dr. W. Wilson Goode, Sr. (he/him/his) is the President and CEO of Amachi, Incorporated, a nationally acclaimed faith-based program for mentoring children of incarcerated parents; and Chairman and CEO of Self, Incorporated – a nonprofit corporation dedicated to serving homeless men and women. Dr. Goode is Chairman and CEO of the Philadelphia Leadership Foundation. He is a Senior Fellow at the Fox School at the University of Pennsylvania. Because of his innovative and ground-breaking work with the Amachi Program, he received two prestigious awards from the Civic Ventures Purpose Prize, and the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Citizen of the Year Award.
Dr. Goode has served as an officer in the United States Army where he received the Army’s Commendation Medal for his outstanding leadership. As President of the Philadelphia Council for Community Advancement, he led ground-breaking work in faith-based housing for low and moderate income persons. And, he was the first African American member and Chairman of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission where he presided over the Three Mile Island nuclear incident in 1978. He broke racial barriers again with his appointment as Managing Director for the City of Philadelphia. He became the City’s first African American Mayor in 1984 and served two terms. He subsequently spent 7 years as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Education in the Clinton Administration.
He is an Emeritus Board Member and Former Chairman of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Independence Region, and an Emeritus board member of the Free Library of Philadelphia; He is also former Chair of Partners for Sacred Places and the Cornerstone Christian Academy. He is an Emeritus Board Member of America’s Promise Alliance; He is a board member of Community In Schools of Philadelphia, and a Trustee of Eastern University. He is an Emeritus board member and former Chairman of Leadership Foundations, and Trustee of Southwest Leadership Academy Charter School.
Dr. Goode led the construction of 2,000 housing units for low-and-moderate income families in the 1960s and 70s. – for that work he was honored as the Outstanding Young Leader of the Year by the Jaycees. He is responsible for the City’s Skyline. He created the First Homeless Program by any city in the country. He created the first HIV/AIDS Program in the country. He created the first Literacy Commission established in the mayor’s office. He created the Minority Set-aside Program. He appointed more Blacks to management positions than the first 94 mayors combined over 300 years – he was number 95. He placed 6 African American lawyers in the “Red Book” – more than any other city in the country. Dr. Goode assisted six Black businesses in reaching the million dollar status. He increased contracts to Blacks and women from less than one million to more than 50 million in his first 4 years in office.
Dr. Goode has earned degrees from Morgan State University (BA), the University of Pennsylvania (MA), Palmer, Theological Seminary (D. Min.), and fifteen conferred honorary doctorates. He is a member of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.
Dr. Goode and his wife of 60 years have one son, two daughters and two granddaughters.
We believe that everyone has the right to housing.
We mourn the loss of our past President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Hinson, Jr.
In Memory of our beloved "Mike" the Board and Executive named SELF's newest emergency housing services site, The Mike Hinson Resource Center (MHRC). MHRC is a day respite program in North Philadelphia for men experiencing homelessness. It is equipped with showers, washers and dryers and a learning lab. In the evening, it serves as the city's After Hours-intake site for adult men seeking night-by-night accommodations.
Mike Hinson (he/him/his) joined SELF in 2017 as executive director and was promoted to President and COO by SELF, Inc.'s Board of Directors in 2017 and CEO in 2022. In addition to advancing organizational development at SELF, Mike was a leading policy maker and influencer for policies affecting homeless individuals in Philadelphia.
As head of the SELF, the largest provider for emergency housing services for homeless individuals and a provider of innovative permanent housing solutions, Mike not only advanced organizational development at SELF, and was a leading housing policy advisor and maker. He was the founder and former executive director of The COLOURS Organization, the Co-Founder of Philadelphia Black Gay Pride and a public policy advisor to Mayor John Street with a focus on child welfare, homelessness, education, health, human services, public safety and was responsible for the City’s LGBT related policies and programs.
For five years he served as an Adjunct Professor at Cheyney University in its Master of Public Administration Program. Michael is a Summa Cum Laude Graduate of Peirce College with a Bachelor of Science in Legal Studies. At Peirce, Michael was a W.W. Smith Academic Scholar, a Peirce College Legal Studies Scholar and received the Peirce College Academic Leadership Award. He holds a Master of Public Administration from Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, with a concentration in Nonprofit Management. Michael completed his doctoral coursework at Capella University. Mike was elected co-chair of the City of Philadelphia’s HUD required Roadmap to Homes Board - and treasurer of the Board of Directors of Philadelphia Family Voices -- a Family Legacy Organization.
We miss him dearly.
Dr. Shirlana Dash, Chief Operating Officer
Quibila Divine, Chief Program Officer
Quibila A. Divine (she/her/hers) joined SELF, Inc. as director of programs in 2018 and was promoted to Chief Program Officer. She directs year-round planning, execution and quality control of program activities throughout the SELF network of housing and human services. She ensures that participants have access to innovative programming that underscores their resiliency and advances their journey to self-sufficiency and wellness. Outside of SELF, Quibila is an education advocate who works tirelessly to ensure that low-income children are provided equal access to high-quality education. She has over 20 years of experience educating students, enlightening families and empowering communities as the founder and president of her own nonprofit agency, The Educational Advocates Reaching Today’s Hardworking Students, Inc. (EARTHS). Quibila is an advisor to PARENT POWER (What Will You Do with Yours?); Chairs the Community Advisory Board of Community Umbrella Agency (CUA) 7 Northeast Treatment Centers (NET); serves on the board of North Philly Project and serves on the Community Advisory Board of BEBASHI’s Health Enterprise Zone (HEZ) Project. In 2020, Quibila was selected to represent Pennsylvania on the Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium's (MAEC) State Advisory Council. MAEC is an education nonprofit dedicated to combating issues of inequity in schools across the country. As part of a diverse group of family and community members known as the Collaborative Action for Family Engagement (CAFE), Quibila lends her voice and expertise in ensuring that the experiences of low-income and homeless families are considered when high-impact school, family and community engagement strategies are developed in Pennsylvania.
Quibila holds a bachelor’s degree in Marketing Management from Drexel University and two master’s degrees from Lincoln University, graduating summa cum laude both times.
Yahn Kittrels, Chief Administrative Officer
Yahn Kittrels (he/him/his) joined SELF, Inc. as finance coordinator in 2016 and was promoted to CAO. Prior to joining SELF he was a commercial credit analyst for Ford Credit Commercial Lending and commercial credit analyst for First Union Bank. He earned his BA degree at the University of Pittsburgh.
, Director of Case Management Services
Yvette Hawthorne, Director of Operations and Processes
Yvette Hawthorne (she/her/hers) joined SELF, Inc. in 2000 as a residential aide. Since then, she has worked in many capacities including as short-term support counselor, administrative assistant, program coordinator, acting program manager, operations coordinator and now as director of operations and processes. She attended Colorado Technical University for business administration.
Bahiyyaha Duncan, Administrative Coordinator
Bahiyyaha Duncan (she/her/hers) joined SELF, Inc. in 2018 as a residential aide and was promoted to assistance finance coordinator in 2021. Prior to joining SELF, she worked for the Philadelphia Police Department.