Uncrowned Community Builders

Mrs. Baugh is the former President of the Board of Education of the City of Buffalo and the current Director of Neighborhood Services, Community Action Organization of Erie County, New York. Highly active in community service, she has dedicated her life to helping Buffalo's poor and disadvantaged. She rose quickly through the ranks of the Community Action Organization, where she began as an aide and today heads the Neighborhood Services Department. Her experience there tempered her for the demanding position of the President of the Buffalo Board of Education, an office she held from May 1975 until December 1980. She was re-elected President in July 1983. Mrs. Baugh continued to serve as an at-large-member of the Board of Education until July 1989. She also served as board member of the Western New York Education Services Council; Sheehan Memorial Hospital Board of Directors; President of the New York State Conference of Large Cities Boards of Education; The Council of Great Cities School Boards; Western New York Art Institute; and the National Association for Community Development. She presently serves as Church Clerk, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and Church Organist of Providence Baptist Church. She has chaired the Ellicott Houses Board of Directors since 1978, and was a member of the Board of Trustees of D'Youville College from 1980-1988.

In 1986, she was appointed by Governor Mario Cuomo to serve on the Fourth Judicial Screening Committee for New York State and served in this position until 1994. She has received numerous community service awards from such groups as the Buffalo Chapter of Negro Business and Professional Women; the Black Educators Association; the University at Buffalo, Alumni Award; the National Conference of Christians and Jews Educational Award; was named Outstanding Citizen of the Year by The Buffalo News (1975); and Citizen of the Year by the Buffalo Kiwanis Club (1976). She attended the Millard Fillmore Collegeat the State University of New York at Buffalo, and has received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Canisius College(May 1976), and from Medaille College(1985). She received the State University of New York Board of Regents, Medal of Excellence on February 22, 1984; the State University of New York, Distinguished Citizen Award (1986); and the New York State School Board Association, Everett R. Dwyer Award (October 1987).

In January 1995, Mayor Anthony M. Masielloappointed Mrs. Baugh to the Economic Development Zone Board of Directors. That same year, she completed training in Community Presence and Managing A Network at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, at Syracuse University. She also received a certificate of completion as a Certified Housing Counselor from Howard Universityin Washington, D.C. The National Association of Community Action Agencies certified Mrs. Baugh as a Community Action Professional (CCAP) in September 1995. In February 1996, she was appointed a member of the Board of Trustees of Villa Maria College, and in May of that year was appointed to the Chase Manhattan Bank Community Advisory Board.

Her awards include: the Erie Community College Ebony and Ivory Award (January 1997). In February 1997, Mrs. Baugh was one of twelve women (six living and six deceased) named to the newly established Western New York Women's Hall of Fame. She was selected as one of ten representatives from Western New York to participate in the President's Summit held in Philadelphia in April 1997.

Mrs. Baugh's guide for living is the Holy Bible. Her personal desire is, "justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God."

She is the mother of five children and grandmother of nine.