Mahleah Chicetawn is a life-long resident of Philadelphia and has worked at the Examiner since April of 2011. She is a single parent of three with her youngest child being diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder at the age of 15 months old. Mahleah has worked for the Philadelphia School District as a Parent and Community Ombudsman, the state of Pennsylvania as a therapist through the Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, and a correctional officer through the City of Philadelphia. She also proudly served in the United States Army for six years. Over the last 35 years she has served residents in Philadelphia as both advocate and activist. Mahleah has also worked with members of city council as well as elected state officials to improve the lives of families especially single parent households. The 51 year old has Bachelors degrees in both Criminal Justice and Psychology in addition to a Master’s degree in Community Counseling. She is currently pursuing her Bachelor’s in Journalism and Mass Communications at Ashford University. You can find Mahleah’s many blogs on AllVoices, Blogged, Blogger, Google Buzz, LinkedIn, LiveJournal, Newsvine, Tumblr, Twitter and Yahoo! She also has a Facebook fan page, Mahleah H. Chicetawn, as well as a website www.mahleahhchicetawn.com.