 He made the effort to know all of the employees at the Main Library on Fifth Avenue by sight.Following his father's work, Powell served as legal adviser to the Women's Prison Association of the City of New York, which was founded by his great-grandfather and Quaker abolitionist Isaac Hopper.He also served on the Board of Directors for the NAACP, the Colored Orphan Asylum and the Association for the Benefit of Colored Children in the City of New York.