Coumba Gueye

Ms. Gueye is a Housing Placement Assistant working in African Services’ HOPWA program. She helps find permanent housing for people living with AIDS and assists clients in understanding their rights and obligations as tenants. Coumba brings to this role her experience in several other client programs within African Services. Previously, she worked in retail and with a family-owned business in her home country of Senegal. Coumba has a BA in business administration from Lehman College and speaks English, French and Wolof.

Claudette Francois

Ms. Francois is African Services' senior HIV case manager conducting client intake and needs assessment, developing service plans, and managing and providing guidance to the other case managers. She facilitates a weekly multilingual support for immigrants newly-diagnosed with HIV and works closely with our housing and Independent Living Skills programs connecting clients with the spectrum of care and support offered at African Services. Originially from Haiti, Claudette worked for UNICEF as a project officer developing a network of civil society organizations to promote awareness of children's rights in public opinion and law, supervising rehabilitation programs for homeless and street children, and developing an education and training program for incarcerated women and children. She also provided extensive technical support to UNICEF offices in Cameroon and Chad. Prior to that, Claudette worked as a liaison to USAID in the Bureau of Agricultural Credit, Ministry of Agriculture in Haiti. In addition to her international experience, she was as a caseworker in foster care and adoption services for Harlem-Dowling Children's Services in New York. Claudette has a BS in social welfare from Adelphi University and speaks Haitian-Creole and French, in addition to English.

Claire R. Thomas

Claire Thomas joined the Legal Services Program during the summer of 2009 as a legal intern and transitioned into her current position of Legal Advocate in September, 2011. She conducts intakes for new clients and advocates for immigration relief for survivors of gender-based violence.

A Chicago native, Claire completed her undergraduate degrees in anthropology and French at the University of Chicago and also studied at the Université de Paris X, Nanterre. She holds a graduate degree from New York University's Center for Global Affairs and a law degree from New York Law School. In law school, Claire also interned for the ACLU's Women's Rights Project and the Refugee Protection Program at Human Rights First. Claire has contributed articles on women's rights to Perspectives on Global Issues and Women for Women International's Critical Half Journal. She speaks French and is learning Spanish.

Christine Chiu