Brandon Fish is the Director of Community Relations for the Charleston Jewish Federation, where his work revolves around advocacy, government affairs, and intergroup relations. Since 2017, he has served the Jewish community and the Charleston community at large through the development of collaborative fresh food distribution programs in food deserts, building meaningful intergroup relationships, and expanding Jewish communal consensus-based advocacy. In 2018, Fish helped found the Stamp Out Hate SC Coalition to advance hate crimes legislation in South Carolina, and currently sits on the Boards of several issue-based statewide coalitions and the Charleston Interreligious Council. In addition to local work, Brandon serves on the Policy Advisory Committee for the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. Prior to his work in the Jewish community, Fish was an active advocate and organizer for a number of grassroots Charleston organizations, including being a founding member of Charleston’s first Black Lives Matter organization.

Damon Lamar Fordham was born in Spartanburg, SC on December 23, 1964 to Anne Montgomery and was adopted by Pearl and Abraham Fordham of Mt. Pleasant, SC the following year. He received his Master’s Degree in history from the College of Charleston and the Citadel, and his undergraduate degrees at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. He is currently an adjunct professor of World Civilizations, United States, and African-American History at Charleston Southern University and The Citadel in Charleston, SC and has taught US History and African-American Studies at the College of Charleston. He was a weekly columnist for the Charleston Coastal Times from 1994 to 1998, as well as the author of The 1895 Segregation Fight in South Carolina (Charleston: History Press, 2022), Mr. Potts and Me (Charleston: Evening Post Books, 2012) Voices of Black South Carolina-Legend and Legacy (Charleston: History Press, 2009), True Stories of Black South Carolina (Charleston: History Press, 2008) and coauthor of Born to Serve-The Story of the WBEMC in South Carolina in 2006.

Research and articles by Mr. Fordham appear in the books Sweetgrass Baskets and the Gullah Tradition by Joyce Coakley, South of Main by Beatrice Hill and Brenda Lee, The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Folklore for the University of Missouri Press, Cecil Williams and Sonny DuBose’s Orangeburg 1968, and The Malcolm X Encyclopedia for the University of Southern Mississippi Press in 2001. He has also commented on history and storytelling for numerous radio and television programs in the United States, Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom. He was on a ten day tour of Senegal and Gambia, West Africa, with fellow educators where he spoke to students at the University of The Gambia and toured the Slave Posts and Goree Island in May 2022 .

He has also appeared on the NBC LX News in 2022. He conducts a walking tour called “The Lost Stories of Black Charleston, and has received a citation form the South Carolina House of Representatives for his work in education, historical research, and social justice. His motto is Educate yourself to lead yourself, for if you wait on others to show you the way, you will wait for a long time.

Council Member Virginia Jamison. Native of North Charleston, SC Educated in the Charleston County Public Schools. She pursued her higher education from the Community College of the Air Force; and the Trident Technical College, she studied at the College of Charleston, Charleston, SC. She knows that “education is a possession; which man cannot be robbed”.

A 1963 Graduated of Bonds Wilson High School in North Charleston, SC; Ms. Jamison Served in the US Army from 1964 to 1968. Upon completion of recruit training at Ft. McClellan, Alabama, Ms. Jamison attended the Medical Corpsman School in Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Permanent duty assignment over the next four years consisting of two years at Ft Monroe, Virginia, one year at Fitzsimmons General Hospital, Colorado, one year at Ft Jackson, SC. During her Army Service she obtained the rank of Specialist E- 5. She also gained certification as a Cardiology Specialist.  Ms. Jamison is serving in her 2^nd term on North Charleston City Council.  She pledges to address infrastructure issues, adherence to the comprehensive development plan for District 3, police sustainability through training and increase diversity, communication and inclusion of all citizens of these communities.

Ms. Jamison is the mother of two adult daughters: Felicia Lecque US Army Retired & Thayer Lecque (Deceased). She has one Granddaughter (Lady Kennedy).

Former Council Member Carol Jackson is a retired non-profit executive and served the National Trust for Historic Preservation as Director of Administration when she first came to Charleston in support of NTHP’s Regional Office establishment as a vital step in the redevelopment of Upper King Street in the 1980’s.  She served, first as a Board volunteer, and later as Executive Director for her local Northern Virginia community’s non-profit housing organization.  Non-profit housing and community development have defined the latter years of her management career.  She was most recently the Director of Alexandria Housing Development Corporation in Virginia prior to retiring and moving fulltime and permanently to Charleston, where she and her husband first became property owners in 2002.  She currently works for friends and family in Residential Real Estate Sales for Charleston Real Estate Group, is a volunteer for Charleston WaterKeeper, and an active member of a number of local organizations.