Eric Ward - Eric is currently the National Field Director with the Center for New Community based in Chicago. He began his evolution as a human rights leader in 1989 in the Pacific Northwest. A former staff member with the non-profit organization Clergy and Laity Concerned (CALC), Eric founded and directed a community project designed to expose and counter hate groups and respond to bigoted violence. Eric began this work during a period when the national white supremacist movement was shifting its focus from the South to the Pacific Northwest. He is the editor of three published works: Conspiracies: Real Grievances, Paranoia and Mass Movements; Second Civil War: States Rights, Sovereignty and the Power of the County and American Armageddon: Religion, Revolution and the Right.
Jill Garvey - Jill has worked extensively with non-profit organizations both professionally and as a volunteer. Committed to addressing the economic and social discrimination barriers in childhood and youth development, she has worked in the public school system, coordinating elementary early childhood programs. A native of Chicago, she returned from Brooklyn specifically to work with non-profit organizations in the Midwest, and has enjoyed the last two years working for a progressive organization addressing racism, bigotry, and oppression. An avid international traveler, Jill has spent time in Europe and South America, most recently studying Spanish in Argentina, Chile and Peru. Jill currently serves as the managing editor for Imagine 2050.
Brian M. Heiser - Brian is a city photographer currently living in Chicago. Growing up in Indiana, he developed a strong appreciation for nature and the outdoors. In his work Brian focuses on people in their natural surroundings, and has a special knack for capturing the little things that are often missed in a hectic urban environment.
Noah Chandler - As a 2007 graduate of the master’s program Social Documentation at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Noah’s background is largely centered around human rights activism, and he has served as a researcher and writer for over ten years in that capacity. Noah has a lot of experience and expertise working in diverse communities in both leadership and support roles. His documentary background has mainly been photography and writing but audio has been a close second.
Katie Bezrouch - Katie Bezrouch lives in Chicago and is the manager of popular indie coffee shop, Noble Tree. One part environmentalist, one part humanist, she is active with local projects that integrate sound environmental practices with community development. Katie especially enjoys sharing her love of gardening with urban youth, who have little access to usable green space in Chicago’s inner-city.
Stephen Piggott - Stephen Piggott is an intern at the Center for New Community. He is currently in his senior year at DePaul University in Chicago working on a bachelor’s degree in political science with a minor in Irish studies and Islamic studies. A native of Ireland, Stephen immigrated to the United States 10 years ago. Stephen is keenly interested in politics and sports. He writes for 2 soccer blogs and is an active member and former board member of the Chicago Fire supporters group, Section 8. Stephen plans to work for a non-profit organization or a think tank after graduating.
David L. Ostendorf - Rev. David Ostendorf is a United Church of Christ Minister currently serving as Executive Director of the Chicago-based Center for New Community. From 1981 until 1993 Dave served as Executive Director of PrairieFire Rural Action, a rural education, training and organizing group based in Des Moines, Iowa. Prior to that he served on the national staff of Rural America. He began his organizing work in the coalfields of southern Illinois. He has over fifty articles on social, economic, and racial justice issues published in newspapers, magazines and books.
Ana Turck - Ana received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a Minor in Gender and Women’s Studies from University of Illinois Chicago, and studied for two years at DePaul University’s Graduate School of Education. As a student she helped found Feminists United. A manager at a women’s retail store by day, Ana is also an accomplished artist. Before fleeing war torn Bosnia in 1995 she studied fine arts at Saravejo’s University of Art. Today she lives in Chicago with her husband Bill, a novelist, and their two cats.
Jessica Acee - Jessica got her start organizing among Latino immigrant workers and now works in education. She has a B.A. in International Affairs and Spanish. A native Oregonian, she has happily settled in Chicago despite the frigid winters.
Joan Flanagan - Joan is the Fundraiser for the Center for New Community. She has a BA in French from Denison University in Granville, Ohio, and is earning a Master Online Teaching Certificate through University of Illinois. She began her organizing career as the Office Manager for the Citizens Action Program (CAP), the Alinsky organization that defeated the first Mayor Daley’s last planned public works project, the Cross-town Expressway. After she slipped into fundraising with CAP’s door canvas, senior citizen BINGO, county-wide ad book, and neighborhood parties, she wrote the international best-seller The Grass Roots Fundraising Book. For 30 years she taught grass roots fundraising workshops in 47 states and six foreign countries. Now she is happy to stay in Chicago, reading mysteries in the winter and cheering for the Cubs in the summer.
Amy Spicer - Amy attended the University of Minnesota before moving to Brooklyn and then Chicago. A serious accident a few years ago brought a shift in her career towards Health and Human Rights. Now working towards a Master’s in Human Health Services and eventually obtaining her Ph.D. she plans to work within policy reform and legislation. She is involved in volunteer advocacy work involving patient’s rights and also continues to be a patient visitor. Although her education is focused on healthcare she is committed to affecting change and works for a progressive human rights organization which helps in recognizing those goals.
Walidah Imarshi - Walidah has toured the country several times performing, lecturing and challenging. She has facilitated poetry and journalism workshops third grade to twelfth, in community centers, youth detention facilities, and women’s prisons. Walidah is also the bad half of the poetry duo Good Sista/Bad Sista, and has co-authored with her partner Turiya Autry two chapbooks: “Good Sista/Bad Sista: Can YOU Tell the Difference?” and “Action-packed!”. She has shared the stage with folks as different as Kenny Muhammad of the Roots, Chuck D, Saul Williams, war resister Stephen Funk, Ani DiFranco, John Irving, dead prez and organizer and revolutionary Yuri Kochiyama. She has appeared on Puerto Punx Ricanstruction’s second album Love and Revolution and toured nationally and internationally with them.
Past Contributors:
Joel Ebert
Sarah Viets
Nicole Hallengrog
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