Empowering The Poor’s Board of Directors is the organization’s governing body, elected by the members at an annual meeting. All members are responsible for the planning and policy development, the expansion of ETP’s outreach and increase of its visibility and donor support. All board members are volunteers and serve without compensation. Click here for Board of Directors’ bio
Darius Coulibaly, MA
President & CEO, Founder
Empowering The Poor, Fredericksburg, VA
Darius Coulibaly was born and raised in a poor and rural environment in northern and southern Côte d’Ivoire, where he witnessed firsthand poverty. Darius grew up without electricity, clean and running water, no indoor plumbing, no health centers; and, he walked long distances to fetch water, wood, farm, and to go to school. Rampant diseases, the lack of health centers, deaths and funerals were normal and a frequent cycle of events in Darius’childhood. He quickly became familiar with the despair and frustration endemic to individuals and communities struggling to survive. As a youngster and teenager, he literally watched children dying in their mother’s hands from malaria, cholera, dysentery, malnutrition, and many other preventable and curable diseases.
Darius was puzzled and became more inquisitive as his mother could not answer the millions of questions he had. For instance, why did the 6year old Gnerewa died from diarrhea in her mother’s hands while the entire family stood powerlessly around her. In the midst of his unanswered questions, Darius discovered his call and purpose in life: serving the poor and combating poverty wherever it exists. Standing over seven feet tall, Darius’s height symbolizes the towering challenges that people living in poverty face daily. His call to serve the poor was nurtured at a very young age by his mother Marie Coulibaly, who to this day continues to assist the poor and needy in his hometown in Korhogo, Cote d’Ivoire. She has been and continues to be Darius’s biggest role model and source of inspiration.
By God’s grace, Darius landed miraculously and alone in the United States at age 17. Darius was blessed with a strong supporting cast of loving and caring individuals, who he calls family- the Smiths, Morriseys, Jacksons, and Tinnermons. As a senior high school student in Greensboro, North Carolina, Darius was blessed with a full athletic scholarship from Vanderbilt University where he completed both his undergraduate and graduate studies and obtained a Masters degree in Economics with a concentration in Development Economics, while competing in the toughest collegiate basketball conference, the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
Guided by his personal bouts with poverty and his faith in Jesus Christ, and driven by his passion to serve poor communities around the world, Darius founded Empowering The Poor in 2006, with the mission to empower poor communities to self-reliance through education, healthcare, and micro loans programs in the United States and around the world. Empowering The Poor was awarded the 501(c) (3) status by the Internal Revenue Service on June 14, 2007. Working directly with poor communities, Empowering The Poor’ strategic approach seeks to teach the poor how to fish for the rest of their lives versus feeding them for one day, empowering them to self-reliance versus making them depend on handouts.
Darius is an educator; he is a licensed special education teacher at Chancellor High School in Spotsylvania, Virginia, where he teaches Geometry and Environmental Science. He is also an adjunct instructor at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he teaches Economics. Darius is a guest lecturer and speaker, and his speaking themes include “Poverty and HIV/AIDS in Sub Saharan Africa”, “Foreign Aid and Economic Growth in sub Saharan Africa”, “The Academic Achievement Gap in the United States”, “Pre and post colonial Africa”, and various national and political economic related issues. Darius writes and speaks fluently in French, English, and he is highly proficient in German, and Bambara (African dialect). Darius is the Founder and Chief Executive Servant of Empowering The Poor. Darius is married to his beautiful queen, Sophonie Coulibaly.
Boubabcar Traore, MA, MBA
Representant Resident
African Development Bank, Gabon, Central Africa
Hashmel C. Turner, Jr.
Reverend, First Baptist Church of Love, Fredericksburg, VA
Fredericksburg City Council member, Fredericksburg, VA
Reverend / Councilman Hashmel C. Turner, Jr. has been serving as the Interim Pastor of The First Baptist Church of Love in Fredericksburg, VA , since 2005. He is the Chaplain for the Fredericksburg Area Veteran’s Council and he is often called on to lead the invocations at many of the city’s spiritual, political and social events.
Reverend / Councilman Turner is currently serving his second and last term as Councilman for the city’s minority Ward. He is the Council Representative in full support of the Fredericksburg Area Veterans Council War Memorial in downtown Fredericksburg. Councilman Turner is the representative to the Community Housing Advisory Committee to grant loans to low income families and seniors to repair or purchase homes. Reverend Turner also supported faith communities’ work to relocate the Thurman Brisben Homeless Shelter and help for Hurricane Katrina evacuees.
Honored as Citizen of the Year by the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity—Tau Rho Chapter; selected as The Legionnaire of The Year for the American Legion Post 142 in Fredericksburg, VA; and he was featured as the cover story for the Washington Post Magazine, “Do Christian Prayers Belong in Government Chambers?” (12/09/07) highlighting his current challenge for freedom of speech. He received a Meritorious Award from the US Army for service rendered during the 9/11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon; he is a Vietnam Veteran;
During his tenure he has urged the city to take action on Downtown Retail Merchants, Inc. request for downtown improvements. He is a loyal supporter of the United States National Slavery Museum with plans for development in the Fredericksburg area. He successfully campaigned for the construction of the two new city schools and has proven his community leadership with the initiation and construction of the Mayfield Community Center. In 2005 Reverend / Councilman Turner was appointed to the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission to serve on the late Congresswoman JoAnn Davis’ Task Force.
Reverend Turner and his wife Alice of thirty-three years have one daughter, Yolanda and they enjoy being the proud grandparents to their grandson, Robert LaMar.
Daniel J. Mc. Duffie
Senior Manager of Client Relations
Medassets, Atlanta, Georgia
Daniel graduated from East Tennessee State University with a Bachelor of
Business with a concentration in Finance. He also received his MBA from
Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. Daniel has worked in the
healthcare industry for the last 8 years, and joined Medassets in 2005 as a
financial consultant in pricing services and was promoted to Manager of
Pricing services in September 2007. He currently serves as the Senior Manger
of Client Relations where he is responsible for client engagement for a
variety of client's across the revenue cycle space.
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