Philadelphia, PA – December 17, 2024 – COMHAR Inc. Board of Directors announced that Trapeta B. Mayson has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the agency. The Board held an Executive Session, in which they unanimously voted to remove the interim tag from Trapeta B. Mayson and make her the Chief Executive Officer effective December 16, 2024. As an experienced Human Service leader Trapeta’s career spans over 25 years across nonprofit, government, and civic sectors. Trapeta’s appointment is historic as the first woman and first African American to hold the role of CEO at COMHAR.
Trapeta B Mayson, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, has her B.A. from Temple University, M.S.S from Bryn Mawr graduate school of Social Work and Social Research, and M.B.A. from Villanova University. She started her career with COMHAR as a Division Director and was promoted to Chief Program Officer in 2019. Her continued commitment and hard work have always been a guiding star to COMHAR. She then was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in 2022 and Interim CEO in September 2024 during leadership transition.
Mayson brings a deep commitment to both the organization and the community, underscored by a distinguished career in senior leadership positions across Philadelphia, including Executive Director of Historic Germantown, Vice President of Education and Family Learning at the Please Touch Museum, and Social Work Supervisor at Coatesville VA Medical Center. In addition to her leadership in the nonprofit world, Mayson is an accomplished artist and community arts practitioner. She is the founder of Healing Verse Philly and the Healing Verse Poetry Line and held the honor of being the 2020-2021 Poet Laureate of the City of Philadelphia.
Mayson, a native of Liberia who grew up in North Philadelphia and Germantown, brings a personal commitment to ensuring that everyone who engages with COMHAR’s programs receives quality care. “I am dedicated to delivering services through a culturally responsive lens, treating each person with dignity and as an individual—not defined by a diagnosis,” said Mayson. “I look forward to building on COMHAR’s legacy and fostering a welcoming, inclusive community for all.”
Mayson’s appointment signals a new chapter for COMHAR, as the organization continues to grow and evolve in its service to individuals and families throughout the region.
About COMHAR:
COMHAR is a 50-year-old community-based organization providing comprehensive mental health, intellectual and developmental disability, and substance use services. Serving over 5,000 individuals monthly across Philadelphia and neighboring counties, COMHAR is dedicated to empowering individuals and enhancing their quality of life through compassionate, culturally responsive care.
On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we honor Indigenous peoples’ strength, courage, and resilience. We celebrate the vast contributions of Indigenous communities to the world. We recommit to respecting Tribal sovereignty and self-determination and working to usher in a new era of our Nation-to-Nation relationships.
The history of America’s Indigenous peoples is marked by perseverance, survival, and a deep commitment to and pride in their heritage, right to self-governance, and ways of life. Since time immemorial, Indigenous peoples have built and sustained powerful Tribal Nations, cultivated rich cultures, and established vibrant communities. And their discoveries and knowledge still benefit us today. But because of our Nation’s failed policies of the past, generations of Native peoples have faced cruelty, violence, and intimidation. They were forced to leave their homelands, prohibited from speaking their own languages and practicing their sacred traditions, and forced into assimilation. Indigenous lives were lost, livelihoods were ripped away, and communities were fundamentally altered. Despite the trauma and turmoil, Indigenous peoples have persisted and survived. Their stories are testaments to the bravery and resolve of generations to preserve their heritage, cultures, and identities for those to come after them.
Today, Indigenous peoples lead in every way, share their histories, and strengthen their communities. They are also stewarding lands and waters, growing our shared prosperity, and celebrating the good of our Nation while pushing us to tell the full truth of our history. Indigenous peoples have long served in the United States military, fighting for democracy. And Indigenous communities continue to be an integral part of the fabric of the United States, contributing so much to our shared prosperity.
President Joe Biden
Vanna Health and COMHAR will be hosting a Community Fall Fest for members of Vanna Health and COMHAR on November 7, 2024. Come socialize, paricipate in games and craft activities, enjoy open mike time, and share your goals.
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National Disability Employment Month (NDEAM) 2024
Observed each October, during National Disability Employment Awareness Month, or “NDEAM,” we celebrate the value and talent workers with disabilities add to America’s workplaces and economy. NDEAM’s purpose is to confirm our commitment to ensuring disabled workers have access to good jobs, every month of every year. That’s the spirit behind this year’s official theme: “Access to Good Jobs for All.”
The “Situations and Solutions Finder” offers examples of workplace accommodations shared by users of the Job Accommodation Network, a service of the department’s Office of Disability Employment Policy. The database draws its examples from organizations large and small, across industries, and from the private and public sectors. The tool allows users to filter and save results by disability, limitation and/or occupation.
“Accommodations are at the heart of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and they’re about maximizing productivity for workers with disabilities, plain and simple,” said Assistant Secretary for Disability Employment Policy Taryn M. Williams. “By allowing people to learn what has worked for others in similar, even if not exactly the same, situations, this new resource empowers employers, as well as employees or job applicants themselves, to ensure disabled workers have access to what they need to do their best on the job.”
For more information about COMHAR’s employment opportunities for the neurodiverse population visit our website.