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Owens Battles Kepert For 4th CD

excerpted from Suffolk Life
By:Barbara LaMonica
9/26/07

Running for a second two-year term in the Fourth Council District in the town of Brookhaven, Democratic incumbent Connie Kepert is being challenged by Republican candidate Roberta Owens. The Fourth Council District consists of Gordon Heights, Yaphank, Middle Island, Bellport, North Bellport and the hamlet of Brookhaven, as well as parts of Farmingville, Medford, Holtsville, Coram, Ridge and North Shirley.

Challenging Kepert, Owens is making her first bid for town council. She has been a licensed master social worker at the Independent Group Home Living Program in Manorville since March 2007. She served as secretary to the commissioner of Brookhaven Town's department of housing community development and intergovernmental affairs from 2001 until 2006; and engaged in a social work internship for Community Connections Counseling Services in Center Moriches from 2005 to 2006. Owens has been serving as chairwoman of the town of Brookhaven's Black History Commission since 1991.

Owens received a master of social work degree from Stony Brook University in 2006 and a bachelor's degree in social work/community and human services from Empire State College in Old Westbury in 2004.

A civic leader, volunteer and community activist, Owens is engaged in a host of local organizations. She has been second vice president of the NAACP since 2003 and has served as chair advisory of the Elsie Owens North Brookhaven Health Center in Coram since 2000. In addition she is a member of the National Association of Social Workers, League of Women Voters, and Gordon Heights Civic Association. Owens received the National Association of Social Worker Student Social Worker of the Year award in 2005; Town of Brookhaven Community Service Volunteer of the Year award in 2006; and a Prestigious Community Service Award from the NAACP Long Island Region. She resides in Coram.