AHCOPA's 3rd Annual Celebratory breakfast

Friday, April 24th, Affordable Housing Centers of Pennsylvania held our 3rd Annual Celebratory breakfast fundraiser at the Arts Ballroom in Philadelphia.
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The Celebratory Breakfast gives AHCOPA and housing professionals across Philadelphia the opportunity to network, raise money for AHCOPA’s goals, and celebrate the work AHCOPA and our partners have accomplished over the last year.

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The 2026 breakfast was a resounding success, raising over $60k for AHCOPA’s future missions and current programs designed to help Philadelphians and beyond.

Our theme this year was Rooted in Community. We decorated each table at the Arts Ballroom with potted flowers and every guest received a small bottle of wildflower seeds. These seeds correspond with our theme that has been reflected in much of our work the last year and beyond. Planting seeds in our communities to allow families to flourish and grow their legacies. 

We opened the Breakfast with words from our Executive Director Kenneth Bigos, and our Board President, Jeff Ryckbost. They spoke on the past, present and future of AHCOPA, and specifically honored our previous board President, Paul Johnson, bestowing our “Community Advocate Award” to him for all of his hard work and service to our mission.

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We heard words of inspiration and encouragement about our different programs, especially the Will Power Program, from our Director of Strategic Partnerships, Derrick Thomas. Our first speaker, the Senior Pastor of New Joy Missionary Baptist Church, Reverend Edward Smith gave us many words of encouragement

Like previous years, the Breakfast included a silent auction – but this year, we ran it a little differently. To encourage more participation by allowing non-attendees to bid, we operated our auction online! The auction included items like a night at the Ritz-Carlton, an AJ Brown signed football and more. Through the auction alone we were able to raise over $3,000.

Attendees enjoyed a breakfast and mimosas provided by the Arts Ballroom, as well as the opportunity to network with other Philadelphia area housing professionals. We were excited to have multiple clients in attendance this year, including the Karapiti family who recently purchased their first home with the help of NeighborhoodLIFT. We were also fortunate to hear from Philadelphia’s Director of Planning and Development, Jessie Lawrence.

Jessie spoke about the monumental investments that Philadelphia is committing towards housing in the upcoming years and thanked all of us for the amazing work we have been doing.

AHCOPA’s 2026 Awards:

• Jessica Arroyo for Top Realtor, achieving the most home closings through AHCOPA in 2025.
• WSFS Bank for Top Lender, closing the most loans among our lending partners in 2025.
• TD Bank for Corporate Partner. TD Bank created the community advisory council, promoted revitalization work in Philadelphia, and partnered with AHCOPA for Housing for Everyone.
• HomeFreeUSA for Community Advocate. HomeFreeUSA has supported AHCOPA for many years and partnered with us through NeighborhoodLIFT.
• AHCOPA Staff Sarah Kellogg & Sakinah Lester for the Beyond Expectation Award. Sarah and Sakinah have gone above and beyond this year, helping AHCOPA be where we are today.
• Paul K. Johnson received the Community Advocate Award for serving many years as AHCOPA’s Board President.

ABC 6 covered the Breakfast (10:30), specifically mentioning AHCOPA’s NeighborhoodLIFT partner, HomeFreeUSA. 

We are grateful to the event’s title sponsors Citadel Credit Union and Citizens. 

Thank you to everyone who attended. This event was truly special and will work to help AHCOPA help Philadelphia for years to come!

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