Yvonne Mbewe-Palmer

Yvonne Mbewe-Palmer is the Supervising Family Social Worker in the Family Case Management program. In this role, Yvonne provides case management services, individual and family therapeutic counseling sessions, facilitates bi-weekly support groups, conducts intakes of new clients, as well as supervises the family case management team.

Prior to working with ASC, Yvonne worked extensively with both adolescent girls who were victims of sexual human trafficking with Girls Educational & Mentoring Services (GEMS) and young adults in the juvenile justice system with Esperanza, NY. Yvonne is committed to working with young adults coupled with women's rights on both a domestic and global level. To that end, she spent considerable time in both Zambia and Ghana to work on issues such as commercial sexual exploitation of children, sexual abuse & rape, and HIV/AIDS. Yvonne is originally from Lusaka, Zambia but was raised in New York City. She received her BA in Political Science from Hunter College, CUNY and her MSW from New York University's Silver School of Social Work where she interned at both the In-Patient Pediatrics Department at Harlem Hospital Center and Harlem United Community Aids Center.

Ndeye Diallo

Ms. Ndeye Diallo is African Services Committee's receptionist responsible for greeting and directing visitors and managing agency calls. As the first point-of-contact for the clients, she brings her energy, language and cultural skills to create a positive and welcoming environment at African Services Committee. In addition, she provides data management support for the health programs. Prior to working for African Services Committee, Ndeye was an office assistant for the philosophy department at City College. She was also a certified dental assistant. She has done coursework at Columbia University and is now pursuing her BA in biochemistry at City College of New York. Ndeye speaks French and Wolof, as well as some Spanish, in addition to English.

Willa Cochran

Willa is a case manager working with immigrant families affected by HIV. She provides counseling, interpretation, escort and advocacy on behalf of clients to support treatment and maintenance care and ensure the psychosocial well-being of the whole family. She assist clients in obtaining health care and public entitlements and helps them navigate the medical, legal, educational and social systems that surround them. In this role, she also helps to facilitate African Services' weekly support group for immigrant women living with HIV.

Prior to joining African Services, Willa spent three years in Guinea as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching English as a foreign language. She also co-directed the Kérouane chapter of APROFIG (L'Association por la Promotion des Filles Guinéennes). In 2006, she founded and directed a national HIV peer education campaign for middle school girls, promoting women's reproductive health and rights in Guinea. Willa studied West African music in Accra, Ghana with the School for International Training and has a BA in music with a concentration in ethnomusicology from Skidmore College. She speaks French and Malinke.

Theodora Diwouta

Theodora Diwouta comes to African Services to serve as a medical interpreter and escort. She will aid clients in navigating health services in New York City, helping new immigrants become comfortable with the resources available to them at American hospitals and giving them confidence by allowing them to communicate with doctors in their own language. Herself an immigrant from Cameroon and a former client at African Services, Theodore is passionate about helping fellow African immigrant women build lives for themselves in the U.S.. "I want to help women have the same chances I've had," she says. Theodora is fluent in French and English.