Meet The Team
Our Newest Members...Welcome!
CHABA Bylaws
Nae Childers
Bryan Pugh
Brittney Ingersoll
Flavia Alaya
Co-Founder
Board President
Artist, author, professor, public historian (as well as Columbia U PhD and Guggenheim, Dodge, and Kress Foundation Fellows), Flavia is a cultural kickstarter with a zealous sense of place. Inspired into housing and preservation activism on New York’s West Side during urban renewal, then locked onto the backstory of industrial Paterson after moving there as a founding faculty member of upstate Ramapo College, she pioneered the teaching of cultural and intercultural studies while ‘scripting the landscape” of this gritty industrial, multicultural and immigrant city. She helped secure National Landmark status for Paterson's historic Negro Leagues Hinchliffe Stadium (now part of the city's National Historical Park) and National Network to Freedom status for the city's Underground Railroad activism. Now memorialized by the city's Huntoon/Van Rensalier site (patersonugrr.org)
She is past chair of the Passaic County Historical Society and both the Paterson and Bridgeton Historic Commissions, and longtime member of the New Jersey State Historic Sites Council.
Flavia moved to Bridgeton in 2006, and two years later co-founded CHABA, in hope of creating a laboratory for preservation as an engine of economic redevelopment and urban sustainability. Her recent 'intergenerational children's book' about the Nail House--"This little building is HUGE," won CHABA the 2021 Statewide Preservation Award for preservation innovation. (CHABA email: centerhabarts@gmail.com; preferred personal email: falaya@ramapo.edu )
Alan Maier
Chief Financial Officer
Board Treasurer
Alan Maier, a structural and electrical engineer, joined CHABA in 2018 when he was already a busy volunteer and community activist in and around Bridgeton. He has been especially active with the Friends of Bridgeton Public Library and as a local robotics coach for students.
At CHABA he has been critical to our financial management, most especially during the dry period of the pandemic, and has helped underwrite both our Obie Scholarship program (a tribute to NJ Hall of Fame engineer and Ferracute Machine Co. founder, Oberlin Smith, and of the ongoing Bring Back The Nail House Campaign.
Alan's engineering advice--essential to the Nail House project--continues vital as we move on from the Nail House to other potential restoration sites in the Bridgeton Historic District. He is often the most accessible 'Johnny-on-the-spot' for those seeking immediate advice about repairs, or who have received violation or need-for-review notices. CHABA email: alan.maier1@gmail.com
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Maggie DeMarco
Boardmember
Project Manager,
Nail House
Margaret ”Maggie” DeMarco, a Vineland native, came to Bridgeton in 1973, joining the struggle over city direction that, among other things, created the historic district.
​ An engineer by training (Catholic U, 1964), her early work as a VISTA volunteer in Arizona suggests the spirit of service that has defined her career. Bridgeton’s Neighborhood Preservation Coordinator from 1983, she was also its Assistant Director of Community Development, then Executive Director of the non-profit Bridgeton Housing Development Corporation, administering a Federal HOPE 3 grant that rehabbed 20 City-owned houses for resale to city residents. She retired in 2008 from the NJ Division of Taxation.
​ A member of the CHABA Board from 2011 to 2014 and Treasurer for two years, Maggie returned in 2018, taking the lead as Project Administrator for our 'Bring Back the Nail House' restoration campaign. She is also closely involved with the repair know-how of CHABA's signature HomeFronts program and brings her familiarity with Bridgeton neighborhoods and the culture of local home-ownership to the CHABA Board. She can be reached personally at mmad2642@proton.me
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Judy brings to the CHABA Board more than 27 years in the corporate meeting planning and special events industries, plus experience as a business and union executive, and even as a performer in television and radio. Now a freelance program and onsite event manager, she executes events or offers onsite assistance to offsite planners.
Growing up in South Jersey, with a father in the construction business and h her mother, Goldie Wulderk’s, interest in historic preservation, helped build a fascination with area history as well as a hankering for a Victorian home.
One of her mother's pet projects--the 1891 Queen Anne Victorian so-called 'More House' on Pearl Street)--spurs an ongoing interest in both history and preservation. She worked with Goldie both to restore its original glory and uncover the More family role in the industrial heyday of the city.
She also inherited the 1870s storefront at 28 East Commerce Street that houses the nonprofit Senior Thrift and Caring Center. As STCC President and CEO, she has generously offered office space to CHABA here, while main-taining a food gleaning program and thrift shop. These roles have kept her in touch with both the needs of post-industrial Bridgeton and the complications of maintaining and restoring a downtown structure. She admits that it’s sometimes sad to see how parts of the historic district have declined. "We really need the preservation efforts of CHABA,” she says. “I’m willing to help!”
Judith Wulderk
Boardmember
Judy Wulderk, pictured here with her mother, the late Goldie Wulderk (1928-2022), longtime food activist, preservationist and Bridgeton--and CHABA--benefactor.
Adaria Armstrong
Boardmember, Social media consultant
Adaria Armstrong, MA, with a master's degree in Library Science (MLIS), is (however) first and foremost a nature lover. Of course, obviously a book lover too, she also responds acutely to the spirit of the community she is in. We are grateful for her creativity and to the Bridgeton Public Library for hiring her as its woman-of-all-work-librarian, where she deals with historical and cultural research & media as well as cultural anthropology and children's resources, while--for CHABA--helping add video to our own resources. A grounded, down-to-earth bonne vivante, Adaria is also a writer, singer, DJ, artist, traveler, social justice, and environmental activist in her 'spare time,' and likes to design and collect cool old stuff. She will serve--if asked--as diplomat and toastmaster too, and as appreciator and facilitator of art, music, architecture, design, fashion, comedy, wit, integrity, creativity, kindness, AND respect for our planet and universe. Lest you think there is any slack in her vivid life, she adds: "I am also a swimmer, hiker, kayaker, bird lover, tree embracer, photographer, inspiration, muse, actor, and more. I have done so much in this life thus far and looking forward to everything else!!" Her Bridgeton Library email: adariaar@bridgetonlibrary.org
Dr James Johnson
Board Historian
Dr. James E. Johnson, CHABA's consulting historian, has his MA and Ph.D. in History from the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in African American History and the Civil War and Reconstruction eras, and has published several articles on the history of African Americans in Southern New Jersey.
His varied background also includes a BA in Political Science from Rowan University and an AAS degree in Chemical Engineering Technology from Gloucester County College, adding to his diverse work experience, with several years apiece in the merchant marine, and in industrial meatcutting and chemical laboratory analysis. As a former industrial worker himself, he has a special interest in the history of worker experiences in industrial communities.
Among his degrees and certifications is a NJ Standard Teaching Certificate in Social Studies. He is also a former high school history teacher, and now supervises social studies student teachers as an adjunct professor in the department of Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Education at New Jersey's Rowan University.
Wanda Albizu
After 34 years of teaching in Bridgeton Public Schools, Wanda--a native of Puerto Rico--published her first book in 2010 called “Mona: the Story of a Monarch Butterfly,” a sequel entitled "Mona Travels to Peru" in 2014, and a bilingual children’s book explaining the stories of abused dogs and how to care for them. She presents at workshops, schools, libraries and community events, educating children and adults about the importance of reading, and has helped CHABA build relationships with Bridgeton's large Spanish-speaking population, and assured correct translations of our Nail House books and public information.
Now a bilingual educator to union workers, she has also presented her books at local elementary schools in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Cuba, Colombia and Panama. "Teaching children brings my heart a lot of joy. I know I’m changing lives—one story at a time.” Contact personally at wandaalbizu@gmail.com .
James 'Jim' Bergmann
Public Historian &
Expert on American Vernacular Building Techniques
It's hard to tell where one of Jim Bergmann's many skills as builder, carpenter, construction guru, storyteller and historian ends and another begins, they flow so seamlessly into one another. A former shop teacher as well as restoration expert in at least two states (especially for historic 'vernacular'* structures), he has been a principal consultant and priceless source of historical building information as we have proceeded through the Nail House project over the last five years.
Author of several local histories related to both Maine and New jersey, and expert on the work of South Jersey novelist and Hollywood scriptwriter, George Agnew Chamberlain, Jim has now penned a kind of people's history of Bridgeton City Park for CHABA that will provide the perfect landscape backdrop to the storyline of the newly restored Nail House, at the park entrance. Watch for it!!
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*The term 'vernacular' applies to historic buildings created with some construction know-how but without necessarily consulting an architect.
Are you interested in preserving history and want it to
help shape Bridgeton's future? Do you have experience in
leadership, advocacy, or community engagement (or are you looking for some)?
Then we'd love to have you join our Board and help focus our direction!
CHABA is a non-profit organization dedicated to the restoration and revitalization of historic buildings and other historic and cultural resources in Bridgeton, New Jersey.
We believe our work is essential for creating a vibrant, sustainable,
and inclusive community.
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Please send an email to centerhabarts@gmail.com with a few lines about your background and
interests, and what you think you might bring to the work we do....We look forward to hearing from you!
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