Brenya Twumasi
Founder, Director
Brenya Twumasi Within the capacity of Director Brenya serves both an incredible team of Volunteer Staff and Board Members. She is responsible for the overall vision and direction of the Company. Brenya also serves as the Chair for the Executive Board of C4C. Brenya established C4C:Kaleidoscope in 1992 with the support of Loreen Wutoh Odoom. For a life time she has championed the case of Peace within Community. After pursuing Law as a Career within Advocacy she became a Community Counselor. Within the context of Community Health, as a visionary, she seeks to demonstrate that the traditional health based system is inclusive of the not so traditional workings of the Police and Criminal Justice Systems. She demonstrates that the gatekeeper of one's community is the one that does the policing. Those who do the policing set the tempo of the community health from the Bedroom to the Boardroom.
From her induction into the world of Advocacy as a ten year old when she co founded the Perfect Peace Club with Flossie and Sybil (see Company Introduction) Brenya and co founders would knock on community doors with flyers. The flyers educated residents on steps to community transformation. At this age Brenya had been schooled by her elders that fear divided. Where there was a high fear level division would be present. She sought to bring trust and unity to individuals and communities through dialogue and openness. Dear to her heart is her Peace Garden Model that she designed and developed over three decades. This Design and Model has been nurtured through many hours of labor and devotion. It is a design that works for individuals, to families, to corporations through Nations.
Brenya began her University studies at The Johns Hopkins University Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, where she received her Bachelor of Arts Degree (Political Science program). She earned her Masters with Honors, Chi Sigma Iota, at St. Mary's University, and her Juris Doctor Degree from the University of Maryland School of Law. Brenya also studied at Harvard University (French studies).
Brenya as an academic is interdisciplinary, with a professional career that spans a number of fields. At present, her professional expertise lies in the fields of: Community Mental Health, Law, Education, Advocacy and Lobbying and Criminal Justice. Her professional expertise also includes that of Youth Empowerment, Community Restoratation, Teaching and training Police Officers, Reconciliation and Restorative Justice, Disaster and Crisis Management. She is a trained Advanced Hostage Negotiator and a Certified Gang Investigator. Her Field Background serves to support Community empowerment as our Communities are rich with diversity. Brenya as a healer is also a member of The International Order of St Luke the Physician.
Brenya has written policies and procedures to enact and establish citizen review panels for child abuse and neglect throughout all 24 jurisdictions of the State of Maryland. She has advised, trained and guided Maryland State representatives, staff and volunteers in regard to the duties, responsibilities and laws pertaining to these panels. She has served as a mediator and arbitrator, and served as a manager on the staff of a school for troubled youth. She has also worked with inmates within the correctional system, and has received an award for her work.
Over the decades Brenya has gained a stellar reputation for being a successful Crisis Manager amongst diverse populations.
Brenya, as a professional strategist and advocate, has had a successful lobbying record. She has evaluated legislation and lobbied Maryland State Legislature for Social Service reforms. It comes as no surprise, given that her advocacy career started in her youth when, at age eleven, she co-founded “The Perfect Peace Club”. Also in her youth, Brenya served Ghana as a member of The Ghana National Swimming Team. Brenya’s leadership and service spanned through her youth into her University years. In University she served as Treasurer for a number of clubs, including AIESEC. She also served as elected Student Representative on the Student Council, and on the editorial staff of The Maryland Law Forum, a contemporary law journal.
Later in her professional journey, Brenya was appointed by The Maryland Governor to review the progress and disposition of minors in the Maryland foster care system, and to make recommendations to courts and agencies. She assisted in two mayoral political campaigns, that of Mayor of Baltimore, and Mayor of San Antonio. She currently is on the Board of The Ghana Visions Foundation (GVF). In this role, she assists in the development of The GVF “Malaria Be Gone" project. Brenya also served at The World Bank in Washington D.C. as a Consultant. Her consultancy involved the review and condensation of adjustment loans, for inclusion in the ALCID database, emphasizing policy and legal conditions.
Brenya has been a guest speaker on numerous Professional Panels, including:
Voice America - The Zimmerman Verdict; St Mary's University & Northwest Vista College - Drug Violence on the Border of Mexico & The United States; Trinity University - Tattoos on Walls; Alamo Community College District - The Makeup of a Gang; The American Red Cross - Disaster Preparedness; Howard University - Voice of United Africa; Villa Julie College - International Law and Terrorism; Morgan State University Radio - Traditional vs. Modern Politic, West Africa; Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland; Boy Scouts of America.
Outside work, Brenya is passionate about hiking mountain trails, biking, roller blading with her grown children, reading, weight training, swimming, and jazz & hip hop dance with the Dance Divas.
" I enjoy simple living and the depth of stillness".