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WHEREAS, Mark Brentley Sr., the son of Essie Woods-Brentley and the late Irving Brentley Sr., is a lifelong resident of the City of Pittsburgh, raised in Public Housing in both the Hill District and Northview Heights neighborhoods; and,
WHEREAS, Mark Brentley Sr., along with his 6 brothers and 2 sisters, are Pittsburgh Public School graduates, with Mark Brentley Sr. graduating from Perry High School in 1975; and,
WHEREAS, Mark Brentley Sr. married his high school sweetheart Sharon Ramsey-Brentley, a 1977 graduate of Perry High School with whom he has raised 5 children, 4 that are Pittsburgh Public School graduates and 1 that will graduate from Barack Obama Academy in 2016; and,
WHEREAS, Mark Brentley Sr. and his wife Sharon have successfully put 4 of their 5 children through college and are preparing to send their youngest child to college; and,
WHEREAS, Mark Brentley Sr. and his wife Sharon were the founder and co-founder of "Our Daughter's Place", a residential group home for adolescent girls previously located in the Hill District, and they have also fostered over 80 children in their home as a certified emergency shelter for Pressley Ridge and a Second Chance Inc.; and,
WHEREAS, Mark Brentley Sr. served as an activist, volunteer, and Democratic Committeeman for 35 years, and has been the longest serving African American elected official in one single position for the Pittsburgh Public Schools, having generously given 16 years of his time as an elected volunteer school board member, serving as a voice for all under-represented children, especially the African American community in the Pittsburgh Public Schools; and,
WHEREAS, in 1998, Mark Brentley Sr. founded the "Take A Father To School Day" as an initiative to increase the participation of fathers, grandfathers and other male role models in the Pittsburgh Public Schools, which program in 2012 received one of three grand awards of $4,000 from the National School Board Association; an...
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