ASSOCIATES

Jennifer Ladd

Rhonda Soto

Tanya O. Williams

Nicole Brown

Chuck Collins

Zoe Greenberg

Alan Preston

Peter Redington

 

Class Action Board Members

Class Action Staff

 

Associates: People who collaborate with Class Action

 

Jennifer Ladd, Co-Founder

Jennifer Ladd, Ed.D. of Jennifer Ladd Consulting, is a philanthropic advisor as well as fundraising coach and group facilitator. She co- founded Class Action with Felice Yeskel. In her consulting work, she is dedicated to creating resilient community by helping resources move where they are most needed. She uses theater and play, as well as traditional tools and practices to help organizations and individuals achieve their goals. See www.jenniferladd.net for more information.

 

Rhonda Soto

Rhonda Soto knows how important and challenging the work is to build awareness around issues of race and class, specifically what it can mean to a low income person of color. Being bi-racial, born and raised in Harlem, New York, Rhonda has been exposed to various forms of racism and classism. As a single parent on welfare, she moved to a culturally all white suburban area. She continued her education and worked her way towards earning a bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke College, where she was inspired by her professor, Beverley Tatum, Author of “Why Are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?,” to deeply examine the impact classism and racism has on society. Upon completing her bachelors, Rhonda worked with teens in a transitional shelter, then with GED students preparing for college. Most recently she taught middle school where she also chaired their diversity committee.

Her long-standing interest in social justice has led her to become a vocal advocate, trainer, and consultant around issues of diversity, including facilitating workshops for teachers who serve a diverse population of students. She also participated in a federal funded project on the impact of welfare reform with presentations at national conferences, dialogues on race/class, and interviews in the media. “I have a passion for this work and a commitment to keeping it going.”

Tanya O. Williams

Tanya O. Williams, Coordinator of Multicultural Affairs at Mt. Holyoke College, was born and raised in Houston, Texas by working-class African American Southern parents.  Tanya first encountered experiences with racism and classism when she was bused to the predominately white, public Poe Elementary School in a wealthy part of Houston where she also attended junior high and high school. After attending college and working in higher education student affairs for five years, Tanya returned to school to study Social Justice Education at the University of Massachusetts where she is completing her doctorate researching internalized racism and a path to liberation for African Americans.

 

Nicole Brown

Nicole Brown, former intern for Class Action, was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York by a lower-middle class West Indian father and African American mother.  Nicole first encountered issues of classism when she entered a private high school in New York City. During her senior year at Mount Holyoke College, she did an internship at Class Action. Since then, she has worked for various nonprofits that focus on increasing economic and employment opportunities for residents of low-income communities of color.  Most recently, Nicole completed a 4-month fellowship as a community organizer in NYC.

Chuck Collins

Chuck Collins is a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy (IPS) and directs IPS’s Program on Inequality and the Common Good. He is an expert on U.S. inequality and author of several books, including Economic Apartheid in America: A Primer on Economic Inequality and Insecurity (New Press, 2005). He coordinates a national effort to preserve the federal estate tax, our nation’s only tax on inherited wealth. He co-authored with Bill Gates Sr., Wealth and Our Commonwealth, a case for taxing inherited fortunes.

In 1995, he co-founded United for a Fair Economy (UFE) to raise the profile of the inequality issue and support popular education and organizing efforts to address inequality. In 1997, he co-founded Responsible Wealth, a project of UFE to bring together business leaders and investors to publicly speak out against economic policies and corporate practices that worsen economic inequality. He was Executive Director of UFE from 1995-2001 and Program Director until 2005.

Zoe Greenberg, Filmmaker

Zoe is the Writer/Director/Producer of "Enough: A Kid's Perspective", an 11-minute documentary film that explores issues of wealth, poverty, and what is "enough" through interviews with Philadelphia kids. She made the film when she was twelve, but she is sixteen now, and a junior at Springside School in Philadelphia. After the film was made, she teamed up with Felice Yeskel and co-led workshops for both kids and adults about the film and the issues it raises.

Her work garnered her the 2007 Princeton Prize for Race Relations in the city of Philadelphia. She has been featured in The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Jewish Exponent, and some other places too. This year she is presenting to local teachers at the Multi-Cultural Resource Center in Philadelphia, as well as co-leading a workshop at the National Association of Independent Schools. She was inspired by Demetri Martin on the Daily Show and has now become Class Action's trendspotter.

Alan Preston, MBA

Alan is an independent consultant and experienced group facilitator who specializes in inspiring deep personal reflection and cultivating cross-class dialogue. Alan grew up with the advantages of class, race, and gender and is committed to using his privilege to challenge the growing economic inequality in society.

Alan has designed and facilitated programs around class, wealth and leadership for progressive foundations, giving circles, churches and nonprofit organizations. Alan draws on his training in the methods of Dr. Parker J. Palmer and the Center for Courage & Renewal in creating safe spaces for people to explore and talk about difficult issues such as money, class and power.

Alan has worked in the business, public and nonprofit sectors. Most recently he worked for four years as a philanthropy consultant and is himself active in several philanthropic networks (Social Venture Partners Seattle, Tides Center and Social Justice Fund Northwest.) His personal experience in philanthropy informs his professional practice.

 

Peter Redington

Peter grew up in the historical, affluent town of Concord, Massachusetts before embarking on a journey into education that has taken him from the Social Studies classroom of the rural North Country town of Canaan, Vermont to the ropes courses of the Thompson Island Outward Bound Education Center in the Boston Harbor. Somewhere along the way, he heard someone talking about privilege and oppression, and he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about that since.

He lives down a dirt road in Wendell with his wife and dog. When not discussing social justice issues, they enjoy following the Red Sox, reading by the woodstove, and wandering about in the woods.

Peter writes about class and is currently gathering stories from people across the class spectrum.

 

 

 

 
   


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