COMMUNITY SERVICE: Mohamood Ishmael has been a member of the Queens Village Civic Association for over 20 years. He had served as treasurer before becoming president in 2011.
In April, he became a member of Community Board 13, where he is committed to providing community service.
“As a civic leader I see myself as an advocate to preserve and improve the quality of life for all of our residents,” said Ishmael. “It gives me great satisfaction in seeing positive results on many of the projects and issues that we have worked on. Sometime, a great accomplishment might simply be getting a stop signed installed that could prevent a serious accident.”
BACKGROUND: Ishmael has been living with his family in Queens Village for over 27 years. Along with his community and civic services, he is a Certified Public Accountant who is currently the vice president of finance for a healthcare organization.
Ishmael is also an adjunct professor of accounting at York College of the City University of New York.
“As an immigrant from Guyana I consider myself successful and feel obligated to give back to the University and community that made it possible for me to succeed.”
FAVORITE MEMORY: “I recalled a few years ago, as a result of our civic leaders’ effort, we prevented a developer from getting a variance to proceed with his project. The project was out of character with the area and it would have created congestion.”
He continued, “on a personal note, my favorite memory was having my five-year-old granddaughter lead us in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at the last civic association installation dinner.”
BIGGEST CHALLENGE: “It is a challenge to motivate people to get them to participate and to accept positions. I think most residents feel that it is much easier to call someone to complain and have them take care of their issues.”
INSPIRATION: “I realized many years ago that if a community does not have advocates, it will be shortly changed in the allocation of resources and services. In other words, if the residents of a community do not participate, quality of life in that community will decline.”
RECOMMENDED STORIES
- Star of Queens: Maria Odysseos, Greek American Housing Association, Greek Childrens’ Fund, Ronald McDonald House
- Star of Queens: Bobby Sher, board president, Bell Park Manor Terrace
- Star of Queens: Gabrielle Fonrouge, president, Society of Professional Journalists, St. John’s University; Homes for the Homeless at the Saratoga Family Inn
