Advisory Group

As a cooperative owned and governed by home care cooperatives, the voice of cooperative leaders is central to our work. Elevate Cooperative’s Advisory Group, made of home care cooperative leaders from around the country, is guiding the development of Elevate until its formal launch. Once legally incorporated, a formal board of directors will be elected by the membership to govern the new cooperative.

Adria Powell

President & CEO, Cooperative Home Care Associates

In January 2017, Adria Powell assumed the role of President and CEO of Cooperative Home Care Associates, a licensed home health care agency located in the South Bronx. With over 1,800 home care workers and an administrative staff of nearly 100, Cooperative Home Care Associates has been nationally recognized for its unique worker centered philosophy which links quality jobs to quality home care services. Ms. Powell works closely with her Senior Leadership team to ensure that the organization: is poised to seize opportunities and meet the challenges of providing home health care services in a highly dynamic environment; has a strong strategic plan to offer the best services possible while simultaneously maintaining a deep investment in the development of the direct care workforce and; maintains compliance with all industry mandates and expectations. She leverages CHCA’s identity as a worker cooperative to champion the foundation and principles of the cooperative model, both with CHCA workers and worker-owners and to the broader community. Ms. Powell works with local government bodies to support CHCA’s work and advance the stability and support of the home care workforce. Through all this work, Ms. Powell focuses her efforts and those of CHCA on providing person-centered care for every client, and continually improving the care and the jobs for those who provide that care.

Tatia Jones Cooper

President & CEO, Home Care Associates of Philadelphia

Tatia Jones Cooper is President/CEO of Home Care Associates of Philadelphia. Tatia came to Home Care in 1994 as a job coach and took over the role of CEO in 2018. Prior to assuming the role of CEO, Tatia served as COO, Director of Workforce Development, and Director of Service Delivery at Home Care Associates. In addition to her work at Home Care Associates, she provided training to union delegates of a worker-owned childcare cooperative, reproductive health and HIV counseling, and direct care to geriatric patients of a Philadelphia medical clinic. Tatia also served as a board member of Center In The Park, a Philadelphia based community center that provides access to supportive services, housing and activities for seniors. Cooper has personally developed solutions to housing, childcare, health, and transportation challenges that impact Home Care Associates Workers Success. Tatia earned a Master of Human Services degree from Lincoln University in 2006 and is one of many family members with careers in health and human services. Tatia Jones Cooper resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Debra Schultz

Finance Manager, Cooperative Care

I have been working with Cooperative Care in Wautoma Wisconsin since 2006. Prior to 2006, Finance in various forms, was my career path. My mother had a debilitating stroke in 2001, which opened a world of caregiving, learning and all of the loops and hurdles that entails. She passed in 2007 after receiving services from Cooperative Care toward the end of her life. Through state programs, I was able to work at Cooperative Care and receive earnings for some of the care I was providing to her. During this time, I obtained a CNA license to provide the best care for her and possibly others in the future. Working in service to others and the community was and is fulfilling to me. It causes me to continue working in the field. I have learned the value of culture and democracy from beginning as a Caregiver, advancing to Team Leader, supporting other caregivers and serving on the board of directors. In 2016, I returned to my finance roots and became the Cooperatives’ Finance Manager. In 2021 I became the President of the Board. My future is in managing cooperative finances, caregiving, supporting workers, and advocating for paths that recognize and uplift the field.

Aquilina Soriano Versoza

Executive Director, Pilipino Workers Center of Southern California, incubator of Courage Home Care Cooperative

Aquilina Soriano Versoza is a founder and current Executive Director of the Pilipino Workers Center of Southern California, a nonprofit serving and organizing the low-wage Pilipino immigrant community in Los Angeles. Aquilina has been a leader in the growing domestic worker movement in California and nationally through advocacy, enforcement, workforce development and cooperative strategies. Aquilina served for 3 terms as the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and is one of the founders of COURAGE Homecare worker-owned cooperative agency. She is also a fellow at Rutgers University for the Build the Base program of the Workplace Justice Lab and an MIT Mel King Fellow focused on Centering Equity in Long-term Care. Aquilina currently sits on the Executive Committee for the California Workforce Equity Initiative Taskforce and has sat on various committees addressing racial inequities related to COVID-19 pandemic response programs. She was the recipient of the 2018 Frederick Douglass 200 Abolitionist award and has been appointed by Supervisor Hilda Solis to the Los Angeles County Women's Commission. She earned her BA in Asian American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Deborah Craig

Cooperative Development Specialist, Northwest Cooperative Development Center

Deborah Craig has worked as a Cooperative Development Specialist at the Northwest Cooperative Development Center since the spring of 2014. Prior to NWCDC, Deborah worked as a Human Resource Manager for the Community Food Co-op and Care Coordinator at Circle of Life Caregivers Co-op, both of Bellingham, WA.

Working with caregivers across Washington State, Deborah has assisted in developing 5 homecare co-ops in Western Washington.

Karen Kulp

Consultant and Former President & CEO of Home Care Associates

Karen has thirty-five years of progressive experience in business, program development, financial management, government relations, community organization and organizational development. Most recently, Karen was the President and CEO of Home Care Associates (HCA) in Philadelphia, the second largest worker-owned home care cooperative in the United States.

During her sixteen-year tenure, the company’s sales tripled, its profits increased, and its debt was eliminated. Karen currently serves on the Board of PHI, a national organization committed to improving home care through improving the direct care workforce. Karen has worked as a consultant for the Keystone Development Center on a project to develop home care cooperatives in rural communities. She also consulted with ICA on evaluating and strengthening management practices at Cooperative Care in Wisconsin.

Karen was a founding Board member of Valley Green Bank, a community bank started in the Mt. Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia. Karen served for nine years on the Board of the Delaware Valley Association for the Education of Young Children, most recently as Treasurer.

Prior to joining HCA, she worked as a consultant for Pathways PA and the Delaware Valley Child Care Council, the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania, served as chief of staff for a Pennsylvania state senator for ten years and was the executive director of Women Organized Against Rape in Philadelphia.