Buffalo Solider and former Managing Director for the City of Philadelphia, Joe Certaine has made transition

Learning of the passing of Joe Certaine is like learning of the death of a Godfather or dear Uncle

- Thera Martin

That’s how I felt about this man, Joe Certaine, who was a leader in Philadelphia in his own right; while, he was never an elected official, he was an appointed official for many years in Philadelphia Government, and, oh what an exciting and storied life he led. When I think of Joe Certaine, I think of the Buffalo Soldiers; he was a member of that historic organization of Black men.

When I think of Joe Certaine, I think of political campaigns he helped to shape for a number of elected officials, including now retired PA State Representative Rosita C. Youngblood, who represented the 198th legislative district for well over two decades.

I also think of now-retired PA State Senator Shirley M. Kitchen, Joe Certaine helped her with a couple of her past political campaigns as well.

In more recent years, all of my contact with Joe Certaine had to do with educating and motivating people in our community across the state of PA to get registered to vote and to participate in the political process.

Joe Certaine was the founder of the Octavius Valentine Catto Voter Initiative; he was all about getting people to participate in the voting process from A to Z. In more recent years, one of the organizations that Joe Certaine helped to lead was The Pennsylvania Coalition in Defense of Democracy. They regularly conducted Train the Trainers programs over the last three years in order to prepare speakers and workshop facilitators for scheduled events around the state. These speakers and trainers conducted voter education workshops.