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History
Staff
Board of Directors
Advisory Councils

Alumni Council

Lucy Ascoli
Consultant to Nonprofit Organizations

Robert D. Blackwell, Sr.
Chairman
Blackwell Consulting Services

Rosellen Brown
Author and Professor
School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Deborah Epstein, Founder

Sunny Fischer, Founder

Ruth Lopez
Journalist

Damon J. Phillips
Professor of Organizations and Strategy
Neubauer Family Faculty Fellow Graduate School of Business
University of Chicago

Kathy Schaeffer
President
Kathy Schaeffer and Associates, Inc.

Joan Shapiro
Chair

Lesley D. Slavitt
Government Relations and University Outreach

Roosevelt University

Susana L. Vasquez
Director, New Communities Program

Kenneth W. Warren
Fairfax M. Cone, Distinguisehd Service Professor
Deputy Provost, Research & Minority Issues
Department of English, University of Chicago

Laura S. Washington
Ida B. Wells-Barnett Professor, DePaul University
Contributing Columnist, Chicago Sun-Times

Writers' Council

The Neighborhood Writing Alliance (NWA) attracts a group of acclaimed and talented artists to its Writers' Council. Included in the council are award-winning authors and poets, playwrights, journalists, historians, academics, visual artists, and photographers. Members of the Council contribute their time and expertise in a variety of ways, such as facilitating a special workshop with NWA participants, writing an introduction to an issue of JOT, or developing a project of their own making. We are honored by their commitment to the Neighborhood Writing Alliance.

Founders

  • Hal Adams
  • Deborah Epstein
  • Sunny Fischer