2017
Iconic. Virtuous. Ever Green.
This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community, and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. Life is no ‘brief candle’ to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to the future generations. George Bernard Shaw
Remembering One Great Woman Barbara Rose
Welcome to The City of Villages – where every household can walk-to-work walk-to-shop walk-to-learn walk-to-play.
Welcome to The Sustainable Square Mile.
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Van Jones on Naomi Davis "Naomi is one of the original pioneers in the movement to fight pollution and poverty simultaneously -through enterprises that both uplift people and honor the Earth. BIG™ is one of the most respected forces for good in our nation.“
Van was galvanizing coast to coast and GreenFestival was new, and in 2007 BIG™ incorporated as a green community non-profit to exhibit at that first Navy Pier weekend. We hosted our first of 7 annual pre-fest Receptions, Van was on our very first panel, and I joined a cohort called Green For All and became a Fellow. Everything good was possible.
Program An homage to BIGWIG's who have blazed trails, advanced sustainable economic development, and done so with big virtue.
Christy Webber Founder's Award
1st Principle ~ Sandra Finley 2nd Principle ~ Helen Kessler 3rd Principle ~ Marilyn Jones 4th Principle ~ Juanita Irizarry 5th Principle ~ Val Gray Ward 6th Principle ~ Delmarie Cobb
7th Principle ~ Brenda Palms Barber 8th Principle ~ Alison Ranney
Iconic. Virtuous. Ever Green. BIG DRINKS ARE BACK! Tonight’s reception remembers BIG’s popular Environmental Education Networking Socials, which entertained and educated thousands on their potential in the new green economy...and on this occasion we are pleased to announce a new phase of growth for Blacks in Green.
Celebrating The City of Villages Building The Sustainable Square Mile Living The 8 Principles of Green-Village-Building™
Smart Home, Smart Village, Smart City This event culminates the Bronzeville International Summit VI, launching Bronzeville Smart! – an all-day meet-up for innovators, community development practitioners, local stakeholders and civic entrepreneurs, supporting next level sustainability initiatives for the Bronzeville South Lakefront region. These BIGWIG’s are part of what makes this city so Smart! 6:00 Tangible Things Emporium Music, Passed Hors D'oeuvres, Cash Bar order your BIG™ brand casual wear 7:30 Welcome George Blaise Host, 26 N. Halsted on WCIU Remembrances & Acknowledgements Naomi Davis Founder & President of Blacks in Green™ 8:00 A Toast with our Signature Drink THE BIGWIGS
8:45 Collectors Photo Opportunities Desert is Passed Hors D'oeuvres Continue Emporium Resumes 9:45 Adieu from Naomi & George See you at BIG Drinks™ in the spring
BIG MILLENNIUM SOLAR
LAUNCHES WITH PRICELESS SUPPORT FROM
We are America's frontline, community-based CDC founded expressly to offer and implement a wholesystem solution to the whole-system problem common to black communities everywhere – specifically to:
catalyze system change redefine black urban planning reverse racial economic disparities uplift African American heritage/culture build community wealth through ownership organize black places as local living economies mitigate climate impacts on communities of color; and measure outcomes in improved health/wealth of black residents We teach the risks of global warming and opportunities of the new green economy, and work to build the local living economy as a greenhouse gas reduction strategy within African diaspora communities. We have nurtured and taught our whole-system solution nationwide - from kindergartens to corporations - and will be presenting recommendations from our journey at the US Green Building Council conference in Boston, November 2017 via our new Sustainable Square Mile Handbook™. We're a national sustainability network and community wealth building initiative launched in 2007 to advance The 8 Principles of GreenVillage-Building™ and The 12 Propositions of Grannynomics™ - our signature initiatives. Together they offer a whole-system solution to the whole-system problem common to black communities everywhere – culture specific, but with universal value. We consult, teach, and lecture through emerging partnerships around the country, and serve as a bridge and catalyst among communities and their stakeholders in the design and development of green, self-sustaining, mixed-income, walkable-villages in black neighborhoods. The mission of Blacks in Green™ is self-sustaining black communities everywhere and we are piloting our theories locally through the West Woodlawn Botanic Garden & Village Farm Initiative. In our walkablevillage we’re connecting the dots between green infrastructure, green energy, and green homes to produce an earned income platform of programs we designed years ago and which are consistent with 21st century non-profit best practices. Emerging social ventures include:
BIG MILLENIUM SOLAR
– see our launch reported in the October 2017 Union of Concerned Scientists blog – lobbying, training, employing BIG URBAN HOMESTEADS – rehabbing and building premium homes for the conservation lifestyle and middle-income purse BIG RHINO BACK OFFICE – seasoned experts are you virtual business team for pre-revenue to early stage operations excellence BIG BOTANIC GARDENS & FARMS – a worker-owned nursery, landscaping service, garden supply, gift café
a few key eco-partners
In our process, communities of color are financed to design, direct, represent, and benefit from economic development, with success measured by increase in household income and ownership of local businesses and land. Responding to our climate crisis, green-villagebuilders cultivate their sustainable-square-mile as a local living economy and greenhouse gas reduction strategy. Neighbor dollars circulate to finance local activities and investments, and the conservation lifestyle becomes standard. Blacks in Green™ is celebrating 10 years of advancing our vision for self-sustaining black communities everywhere. Our mission is to mainstream "The City of Villages" - where every household can walk-towork, walk-to-shop, walk-to-learn, walk-to-play, especially in African American neighborhoods. Our strategy will: • increase the rate at which neighbor-owned businesses are created and sustained • build the capacity of neighbors to own, develop, and manage the property in their community • foster the conservation lifestyle - the beautiful life!
By cultivating our consciousness for stewardship in these ways, African Americans will restore our place in the world. Celebrating The City of Villages Building The Sustainable Square Mile Living The 8 Principles of Green-Village-Building™ Naomi Davis, Founder & President 6011 S. St. Lawrence Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637 Garden Suite 773-678-9541 naomidavis@blacksingreen.org ©BIG, NFP 2017 All Rights Reserved
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Programs Artist Writers Gardeners Healers & Builders West Woodlawn Botanic Garden & Village Farm Initiative Urban Homestead Lifestyle Estates ~ Community Land Trust Owner/Rental Residences Heritage Garden Tours / 16 Great Migration Gardens of West Woodlawn • Orchard of the Ancestors • Lorraine Hansberry Play Garden • Michelle Obama Great Migration Garden • Emmett Till Healing Garden • Richard Hunt Sculpture Garden • SB Fuller Solar Garden Senior Victory Garden ~ South Side Garden Club ~ Young Gardeners Club Worker Owned Nursery, Landscaping, Garden & Gift Cafe Seed Bank & Vacant Lot Flower Production & Soil Remediation The Suitcase / Seed Saving Performances Sustainable-Square-Mile Handbook™ Sustainability Teaching Garden Washington Park Conservatory Nature Walks…Wilderness Weekends…FoodFlowerTree Camps & Retreats © BIG NFP 2017 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
BIG BOTANIC GARDEN & VILLAGE FARM MODELING GETHSEMENE AND FOLLOWING THE LEAD OF
About Our BIGWIGS They are icons -- one reason a special gift they will each receive is a personal 24x36 oil portrait of themselves by renowned Chicago artist Gwen Pruitt, commissioned and delivered on our Awardees' custom schedule, and shared at next year's BIGWIG Awards. Meet Gwen at the Emporium . They are virtuous -- an inspiration to us all in not only what they've achieved, but the spirit of how they achieved. We honor the big heart that goes with their big smarts. We're clear our BIGWIGS are a part of what makes Chicago so smart! They are ever green -- they are women at the top of their fields who are living embodiments of one of our 8 Principles of Green-Village-Building™ -- our signature platform designed as a whole-system solution for the whole-system problem common to black communities. Come discover how we define "green."
Christy Webber
Funders Award One of my most grateful achievements was winning the maintenance contract for the United Center. Christy Webber is a native of small town Montrose, Michigan. An avid athlete during high school, Christy received a basketball scholarship from the University of Denver and earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Education. While in Denver, Christy divided her time outside of class between playing basketball and cutting grass to earn extra money. It started to become clear to Christy that her “country” upbringing and father’s entrepreneurial spirit, he owned a small tavern just outside of Saginaw, Michigan, would be the driving forces behind a dynamic landscaping career in Chicago.
Christy moved to Chicago after the death of her father in 1983, taking up various odd jobs, including a teaching stint at Regina Dominican High School. Christy spent five years struggling in “regular” jobs until she realized her true passion was being outside with nature and, like her father, being an entrepreneur. In 1988, Christy began cutting her first lawns. Buying an old pickup truck and some lawn mowing equipment, Christy began cutting grass around Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. With determination and hard work, she took that small business from her kitchen table to what is now one of the largest landscape companies in Chicago. Today, the company has over 500 employees and an impressive fleet of trucks and equipment. She has expanded her service offerings beyond residential landscape maintenance to also include design, construction, seasonal rotations, snow removal, regional contract management, edible landscaping, and educational programing for her clients. Christy Webber Landscapes maintains the landscape on over 450 single family homes in Chicago, as well as provides landscaping services on some of the city’s iconic properties, such as the Museum Campus, Millennium Park, Water Tower, and Soldier Field. The full Christy Webber & Company team includes Christy Webber Landscapes, Christy Webber Farm and Garden Center, Kinsella Landscaping, RR Landscape Supply, Greenworks, and RR Resourceful Recycling. In all facets of the business, the teams strive to exceed the expectations of our partners and clients. Don’t be fooled by this success; Christy never forgot her roots. Today you will still find her behind the controls of a skid steer, at the handle of a shovel, or on her knees weeding a garden. She remains true to her passion and has bucked the old business school adage, “Work on your business, not in it!” “I love creating and enhancing outdoor spaces. Landscaping is more than just mowing the grass and weeding the garden, it’s a way of living your best outdoor life and sharing it with others in your family and community. Beautiful landscaping influences our lives and is important for the health and wellbeing of our children.”
1 WEALTH | MICRO-SAVING LENDING, LOCAL CURRENCY/WEALTH Each village has its own measures, exchanges, and repositories of wealth. 2 ENERGY | LOCAL ENERGY PRODUCTION AND TRANSPORTATION Each village produces its own energy for heat, light, and transportation. 3 PRODUCTS | SHOPPING AND WASTE Each village supplies all basic goods and services to neighbors, converting waste to wealth in the process. 4 HOMESTEAD | AFFORDABLE GREEN HOMES AND GARDENS Each village is sustained through jobs-driven development without displacement, providing low-income housing and producing high-quality food through land trust CDC’s. 5 CULTURE | NEWS AND NETWORKS STORIES AND STRUCTURES Each village celebrates its past, present, and future culture through stories in print, digital, and theatrical forms. 6 ORGANIZED | VILLAGE CENTERS AND BORDERS Each village is a walkable, self-sustaining whole with perceptible borders, interdependent local ties, global context, organized and in action for self-interest. 7 EDUCATION | HEALTH, EDUCATION AND WELFARE Each village fosters life-long learning through hubs, which are epicenters for green training, development, and lifestyle transformation. 8 OASIS/COMMERCE | GREEN JOBS AND ENTERPRISE Each village circulates its wealth through neighbor-owned businesses which invent, invest, manufacture, and merchandise locally.
Sandra Findley
Advocacy for Chicago $20M black bank deposit Sandra Finley is President and CEO of League of Black Women. The League of Black Women, founded in the 1970, is a national organization that provides strategic leadership research to communicate the collective voices of Black Women impacting societal issues and sustaining joyful living in our families, our communities and in our workplaces. As President of the League of Black Women, Sandra focuses the organization on advocacy for leadership success for Black women and girls in our society. As the premiere leadership research organization for Black women, the League has carved out a much needed niche. Sandra is committed to innovative leadership research that accesses the authentic voices of Black women as its main focus. The League has been commended for doing more than merely describing the unique challenges and dilemmas facing Black women leaders, but to understanding and equipping Black women with the strategic resources to solve them. Holistic in its approach, the League also seeks to empower women and offer them strategies and approaches to ensure that they engage in sustainable leadership experiences and joyful living. A graduate of Loyola University, Sandra is active in her community. She is a past Board Member of the Illinois Health Maintenance Organization Guaranty Association; a former member of the Public Policy and Public Programs committee of the Field Museum of Natural History; and she is a past Chair of the Union League of Chicago’s Committee on Race. She is president of Praxis Leadership Institute, a leadership consulting firm. Its motto: All of The People, All of The Time. She has emerged as an acclaimed communicator and has presented in institutions nationwide including Fortune 100 companies. Sandra also represented LBW at The White House Forum On Women & The Economy and she presented at the EU Commission Global Summit on Women Stabilizing an Insecure World in Brussels, Belgium. She presented at the 2014 Harvard Business School Symposium, Gender And Work: Relationships Among Women: Bridging, Generational and Global Divides, wherein LBW research work was featured and she has been selected as the 2013 honoree for the YWCA Of Metropolitan Chicago Award for Racial Justice.
1st Principle WEALTH | MICRO-SAVING LENDING, LOCAL CURRENCY/WEALTH Each village has its own measures, exchanges, and repositories of wealth.
Helen Kessler
Being the Green Goddess!
Ms. Kessler is President of HJKessler Associates, a sustainable design, LEED, energy efficiency and commissioning consulting services firm founded in 2003. With over 30 years experience in sustainable design and energy efficiency, she specializes in the use of an integrative design approach and has had a leading role on over 80 LEED projects. Projects include higher education, K-12 schools, hotels, office, commercial interiors, municipal, museum and many other project types as well as development of sustainability guidelines for prototype projects and organizations. Helen is also Co-Founder, Principal and “Seedswoman” with the Regenerative Design Collaborative. We are “gardeners” who facilitate a regenerative development and design process to tap the creative potential of local people to design, build, and manage a project. A successful regenerative project simultaneously develops the social, natural, produced, human, and financial wealth of the community. Ms. Kessler is a former Board member of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Illinois Chapter, co-directed its education programs, was on the Greenbuild host committee and was a voting member of the national LEED for Commercial Interiors Core Committee. She is past co-chair of the AIA Chicago Committee on the Environment, chaired the Energy Code Committee, which created Chicago’s first energy code, and was a voting member on the ASHRAE committee that created Guideline 0 – The Building Commissioning Process. Ms. Kessler is a frequent speaker and author on sustainability topics and regularly teaches various courses, including “Systems Thinking for Sustainable Design” and “Sustainability in Construction” at Northwestern University. Prior to starting her own firm, she worked on solar and energy efficiency projects as well as hotel development. Ms. Kessler has received numerous awards, including the USGBC Illinois Chapter Natural Leaders “Intent to Matter” award as well as its Chapter Leader award, AIA Illinois’ R. Buckminster Fuller Award for Social Good, the inaugural Illinois Real Estate Journal Women in Real Estate “Impact award” and Alumnus of the Year, The University of Arizona Honors College. She is a member of the inaugural class of LEED Fellows.
2nd Principle ENERGY | LOCAL ENERGY PRODUCTION AND TRANSPORTATION Each village produces its own energy for heat, light, and transportation.
Marilyn Jones
Triumphing over the belief that green printing is just recycled paper. Marilyn Jones founded Consolidated Printing Company in 1973. Her entrepreneurial spirit and concern for the environment, printing staff and consumers drove her to pursue the elimination of all toxic and carcinogenic chemicals from her company’s printing process. Marilyn’s mission was to eradicate the belief that green printing was simply soy ink and recycled paper, but rather the systematic elimination of all carcinogens, toxins and petroleum from the printing process. Marilyn’s devotion to her workers, environment and consumers was so great that Marilyn took the additional step to have Underwriters Laboratory (UL) evaluate her process with no exemptions taken. Not surprisingly the UL’s results clearly stated that no trace of toxicity was found in Consolidated’s printing process. Consolidated Printing has won nearly every meaningful environmental award beginning in 1997 when Consolidated was asked by the Illinois Clean Break Program which was a unique partnership between the printing industry, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) and state environmental groups to voluntarily reduce pollution and proper disposal of toxic chemicals. The results of this project led Consolidated Printing to be named the first “Illinois Great Printer”. Additionally, Consolidated has been acknowledged by city, state and fellow printers for her dedication to the environment and strict adherence to quality. Marilyn has also been awarded as the Entrepreneur of the Year by the Women’s Development Center for their 25th Anniversary Gala. Marilyn’s personal convictions go beyond her entrepreneurial spirit as she is a committed community advocate. Marilyn has been appointed to committees for the Global Alliance of Artists, Great Lakes Graphics Association, Norwood Park Chamber of Commerce, the Environmental Department and President’s Advisory Board at Wright College and the Women in Green Chicago Steering Committee. Marilyn’s goal is to educate the public that soy ink contains heavy metals and petroleum that are harmful to the worker, the environment and consumers. Marilyn has been referred to as the “mother of green printing” because she has led the way in which the printing industry can and should become environmentally responsible. Marilyn has recreated the definition of what green sustainable and safe printing truly is. Marilyn’s entrepreneurial spirit, dedication to the environment the worker and the consumer are unrivaled. Short The third principle: products: shopping and waste. To Marilyn Jones. She’s founder of Consolidated Printing Company. Her proudest achievement: Working against the belief that green printing is just recycled paper. Her concern for environment, printing staff, and consumers drove her to pursue elimination of all toxic and carcinogenic chemicals from her company’s printing process.
3rd Principle
PRODUCTS | SHOPPING AND WASTE Each village supplies all basic goods and services to neighbors, converting waste to wealth in the process.
Juanita Irizarry
Standing up against privatization of our public spaces. Juanita Irizarry is a bilingual/bicultural, Illinois-born Puerto Rican whose current role in government builds upon 20 years of experience in the non-profit sector, philanthropy, and government. Juanita is the executive director of Friends of the Parks, where she advances her organization’s 40-year effort to preserve, protect, improve, and promote the use of Chicago’s parks. She previously ran for alderman in Chicago’s 26th Ward, coming 142 votes short of a run-off. During that time, she also worked as Statewide Coordinator for Long Term Care Reform in the Office of Governor Pat Quinn, building on work she was engaged on from a funder standpoint in her most recent previous role as Senior Program Officer in Human Services and Community Development at The Chicago Community Trust, the Chicago region’s community foundation. Her grant-making at the Trust has focused on housing, homelessness, hunger, disabilities, immigration, early childhood education for the Latino community, and capacity-building for small non-profits. Her responsibilities include staffing the Trust’s Persons with Disabilities Fund and the Nuestro Futuro Fund and representing the Trust at the Hispanics in Philanthropy Chicago Funders Collaborative for Strong Latino Communities.
Juanita previously served the Christian Community Development Association as its Institute Director, coordinating and teaching trainings across the country to educate churches and faith-based organizations in the key principles of Christian Community Development. Through this role she became a published author, contributing a chapter entitled, “The Border, the Barrio, and the ‘Burbs: Ministry Among America’s Biggest Minority,” in the book A Heart for the Community: New Models for Urban and Suburban Ministry, published in 2009 by Moody Publications. From late 2001 to mid 2006, she served as the executive director of Latinos United (now Latino Policy Forum) where she led the retooling and refocusing of the organization, bolstering its position as a leading Chicago area non-profit policy and advocacy organization. For years Latinos United had been Illinois’ only regional, Latino-focused public policy and advocacy group regarding housing issues and the only Latino-specializing fair housing organization. Juanita led the organization through a merger and its metamorphosis toward a comprehensive Latino advocacy, policy, and research network addressing a broader range of issues impacting the Latino community, including immigration, and early childhood education. Previous to that, she played various roles at leading Chicago community development corporations: The Resurrection Project, Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation, and Hispanic Housing Development Corporation. She also worked at and later served on the board of the Olive Branch Mission homeless services center.
4th Principle
HOMESTEAD | AFFORDABLE GREEN HOMES AND GARDENS Each village is sustained through jobs-driven development without displacement, providing low-income housing and producing high-quality food through land trust CDC’s.
Juanita Irizarry Over the years, she has also played various teaching roles. She has served as adjunct faculty in DePaul University’s School of Public Service at the graduate level and in the undergraduate Community Services Studies program as well as in Eastern University’s Master of Urban Studies program. She previously taught a “Community Development, Culture, and Christian Leadership” course at the Olive Branch Mission’s Christian Center for Urban Studies. Juanita served for many years on boards of community groups, as a leader on organizing campaigns, as a volunteer in political races, and in church leadership roles in Chicago’s Humboldt Park and Logan Square communities where she has lived most of her life. She previously served as president of the Near Northwest Neighborhood Network, the co-chair of the Humboldt Park Empowerment Partnership’s Housing Action Team and Special Projects Committee, member of Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation’s New Communities Program Humboldt Park Task Force Housing Committee, and co-chair of the Puerto Rican Agenda. Currently much of her volunteer service is more regional in scope. She founded and leads the Latina Leadership Circle, a mentorship group for young Latina professionals in the Chicago area. She recently served as a vice president of the board of Community Renewal Society whose mission is to combat racism and poverty. She also co-chaired Chicago Latinos in Philanthropy and served on the Diversity and Inclusion Committee of the Donors Forum. Juanita sits on the Metropolitan Planning Council’s Housing and Community Development committee, for which she co-chaired the Public Housing Working Group. She directed on a volunteer basis the policy team of the Miguel del Valle for Mayor of Chicago campaign. In 2013 she joined the board of the Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy. In 2016, she joined the board of Common Cause Illinois. Her professional and volunteer activities have led to government advisory roles, including her role on the Illinois Attorney General’s National Foreclosure Settlement Advisory Council, a gubernatorial appointment to the current Illinois Commission to End Hunger, and service from 2004-2006 as a gubernatorial appointee to the Illinois Housing Task Force and its Executive Committee. She also served on a governor’s Transition Team Housing Committee and two City of Chicago 5-Year Affordable Housing Plan Advisory Committees. Her service and leadership has led to various recognitions. The Humboldt Park Social Services organization presented her with its Community Partner Award in October 2010. In 2007 she received Greenville College’s 2007 Outstanding Young Alumnus Award. She was named the 2004 Hispanic Heritage Month Leadership Award Winner by the City of Chicago Commission on Human Relations Advisory Council on Latino Affairs. Juanita has benefitted from various leadership development programs. While in graduate school, she was selected as one of 50 Harvard students to participate in the “From Harvard Square to the Oval Office” program for women who seek to run for political office or manage campaigns. In June 2006, she studied in Spain as one of 15 U.S.-based Hispanic leaders chosen by the government of Spain to participate in its “Programa de Jóvenes Líderes Hispanos” (Young Hispanic Leaders Program). In 2005, she was one of 22 Latinas chosen nationally to participate in the National Hispana Leadership Institute. In June 2007, Ms. Irizarry completed her Master of Public Administration degree at the Harvard Kennedy School where she studied on a full-tuition scholarship as a Presidential Scholar/Public Service Fellow and received upon graduation the Littaeur Fellowship Award for Public Service, Academic Excellence, and Potential for Leadership. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in History/Political Science and Spanish from Greenville College and has completed 60 hours of graduate study in urban planning and policy with concentrations in housing and community development as an Abraham Lincoln Fellow at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Val Gray Ward
KUMBA THEATRE
Revitalizing the black community through the arts.
Val Gray Ward, actress, producer, cultural activist and internationally known theatre personality, was born Q. Valeria Ward on August 21, 1932 in Mound Bayou, Mississippi, America's oldest all black town. As the daughter of a successful minister, Ward showed an interest early on in performance. She eagerly read poems and did readings for her father's congregation and eventually won various oratorical competitions in school. Above all, she was keenly interested in African American literature. After graduating from Mound Bayou High School in 1950, Ward dreamed of going to college. Instead, she moved to Chicago in 1951, got married and became Val Gray and a mother to five children. When the marriage failed, Ward went back to school and became active in Chicago's African American cultural activities. She was a regular at the South Side Community Arts Center and the DuSable Museum of African American History as she developed friendships with Dr. Margaret Burroughs, Gwendolyn Brooks, Don L. Lee, Haki R. Madhubuti and Abena Joan Brown. In 1965 Val Gray met and married journalist, Francis Ward as she continued to make a name for herself as an actress, television host and cultural consultant. Now known as Val Gray Ward, Ward was recognized as part of Chicago's activist Black Arts Movement. In this context Ward founded the nonprofit Kuumba Theatre in 1968. Kuumba is Kiswahili for clean up, create, and build and was dedicated to the revitalization of the black community through the arts. With Kuumba, Ward has produced and directed such plays as The Amen Corner by James Baldwin, Welcome To Black River by Samm Art Williams, and Five On The Black Hand Side by Charles Fuller. Touring has also been important. Ward took the cast and crew of Useni Eugene Perkins' play, The Image Makers to Lagos Nigeria as part of the FESTAC '77, an international African arts festival. Ward brought Kuumba's musical production, The Little Dreamer: The Life of Bessie Smith to Japan in 1981 and produced Buddy Butler's In The House of The Blues in Montreal, Canada. Ward and the company received Emmy Awards for the PBS television production of Precious Memories: Strolling 47th Street in 1988. When she is not producing, Val Ward performs one woman shows in the United States and abroad. Performances include Harriet Tubman by Francis Ward, Sister Sonji by Sonia Sanchez and I Am A Black Woman which includes the poetry of Mari Evans. Over the years, Ward has provided opportunities in the arts for hundreds of inner city youth and adults. All five of her children were or still are active in theatre. Ward currently lives in Syracuse, New York.
5th Principle
CULTURE | NEWS AND NETWORKS STORIES AND STRUCTURES Each village celebrates its past, present, and future culture through stories in print, digital, and theatrical forms.
Delmarie Cobb
Supporting everyone from Democrats’ first African American to woman presidential nominee.
The career of Delmarie Cobb, as a media and political consultant, spans the historic and credible presidential campaigns of the first African American man and the first woman nominee of the Democratic Party. She also served as the first African American press secretary for the Democratic National Convention upon its successful return to Chicago in 1996. As the owner of The Publicity Works, a boutique, Chicago-based public affairs firm— specializing in political consulting, media relations, strategic planning and crisis management—her analyses and opinion are in great demand by media outlets throughout the world. Since opening The Publicity Works, Ms. Cobb has served as political consultant for a long list of candidates, starting with Alderman Bobby Rush in his first congressional bid against incumbent U.S. Rep. Charles Hayes; Jesse Jackson Jr. in the 1995 special election; former Illinois comptroller Dan Hynes; the re-election campaigns of Cook County State’s Attorney Dick Devine; and many other local, state and national campaigns. In 2000, she served as Illinois State Director for presidential candidate Bill Bradley. Ms. Cobb started as a television news reporter working for network affiliates in various markets throughout the country. Upon returning to Chicago, she became a radio talk show host, a television producer, and a columnist—writing social and political opinion pieces for N’DIGO Magapaper. She also is the president of Deleco Communications Inc., a television production company, which produced the award-winning, national television newsmagazine program, STREET LIFE on PBS affiliates. Currently, she writes a column to a growing number of subscribers—Chicago Colors--which is often picked up by a variety of media outlets. Ms. Cobb brings to a project knowledge of the media; the respect of her peers; and her experience in hard news reporting and politics. It is these attributes, which make her invaluable to corporate, government and non-profit clients in developing public policy, strategic planning, crisis management, community outreach and messaging. Since opening her consulting business, on April 1, 1990, Ms. Cobb has helped to nurture and develop the careers of many young adults—in journalism and politics--who served as interns in her office. Short The sixth principle: organized: village centers and borders. To Delmarie Cobb. She’s owner of The The Publicity Works. Her proudest achievement: Supporting everyone from Democrats’ first African-American to woman presidential nominee. Hers is a boutique, Chicago-based public affairs firm specializing in political consulting, media relations, strategic planning and crisis management.
6th Principle
ORGANIZED | VILLAGE CENTERS AND BORDERS Each village is a walkable, self-sustaining whole with perceptible borders, interdependent local ties, global context, organized and in action for selfinterest.
Brenda Palms Barber
Showing what sweetness can come from a “rough community.”
Brenda Palms Barber, Executive Director of the North Lawndale Employment Network, an urban workforce development agency, and Founding CEO of Sweet Beginnings, LLC, a social enterprise using urban beekeeping to create jobs for those with significant barriers to employment, has served as Executive Director of NLEN since its founding in 1999. She launched NLEN’s wholly owned subsidiary social enterprise, Sweet Beginnings, in 2004 to ensure its hardest to employ clients could get jobs and gain a history of employment. Under Brenda’s leadership, NLEN has grown from two to 24 employees and generates an annual budget in excess of $2.4 million. Today, NLEN serves more than 2,000 people per year. Sweet Beginnings has expanded from a cottage industry to distribution at more than 40 Mariano stores and has been awarded one of the first Benefit Chicago loans for social impact businesses. NLEN has received numerous awards including one of the first MacArthur Foundation Awards for Creative and Effective Institutions (2006) and the prestigious Bank of America Neighborhood Builders Award (2015). Brenda has raised the national profile of NLEN, Sweet Beginnings, and the plight of people with barriers to employment through extensive media coverage including CNN, the NBC Today Show, CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley, a TEDWomen Documentary, and Lifetime. Brenda has published in the Wall Street Journal and appeared on ABC7 Windy City Live as a 4-Star Chicagoan. In recognition of her innovation and commitment to helping those in need, Congressman Danny Davis awarded Brenda the Cardiss Collins Trailblazer Award (2013). Brenda is a graduate of Harvard’s Strategic Perspectives in Non-Profit Management program and the Chicago Urban League’s nextOne entrepreneurship program, which included classes at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. She holds a Master of Science in Nonprofit Management from the Spertus Institute in Chicago.
7th Principle
EDUCATION | HEALTH, EDUCATION AND WELFARE Each village fosters life-long learning through hubs, which are epicenters for green training, development, and lifestyle transformation.
Alison Ranney
Leading executive searches for mission-driven clients.
Alison Ranney specializes in leading CEO, President, Executive Director and other senior executive searches for mission-driven clients across the country and around the world. Based in Chicago, she leads the Chicago Office of Koya Leadership Partners.
Alison partners with a broad range of clients including foundations, cultural institutions, membership organizations, other nonprofits, colleges and universities. She has successfully led searches at the CEO, President, Executive Director, Dean, COO, CFO and VP levels as well as Board members. Alison’s work has been featured in numerous publications over the years. In a 2017 cover page article, Crain’s Chicago Business profiled Koya’s efforts to strengthen and diversify the senior-most leadership at mission-driven clients in the Chicago area and nationally, noting “Koya Leadership Partner’s Alison Ranney is remaking what leadership looks like across the country.” Representative clients include the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Obama Foundation, the Art Institute of Chicago, the United Way and the American Red Cross. Alison also has deep expertise in Higher Education having led searches for the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan, Harvard University, Stanford University, Northwestern University and the University of Pennsylvania, among others. Prior to joining Koya, Alison was with Russell Reynolds Associates, the global executive search firm. At Russell Reynolds, she led the development of the Nonprofit practice in the Midwest and received the firm’s inaugural award for Excellence in Client Service. Alison began her career at Skadden, Arps, where she was a corporate attorney with a focus on mergers and acquisitions. She also served as Vice President at the real estate development firm responsible for Prairie Crossing, the award-winning conservation community, and as an executive with AT&T Wireless where she specialized in joint ventures.
With a strong commitment to civic involvement, Alison serves on the Boards of Public Radio International (PRI), World Business Chicago, the Goodman Theatre and Forefront (formerly the Donors Forum). Alison served on the Board of Directors of WBEZ/Chicago Public Media for 12 years and chaired the CEO Search Committee for the highly successful current CEO. Alison was on the Founding Board of City Year Chicago and the Board of Ryerson Woods Conservation Area. For her alma maters, Alison has served on the Visiting Committee of the University of Chicago Law School and the Alumni Council of Philips Andover Academy. Alison is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago and The Chicago Network. She was selected as an Emerging Leader by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
Alison is on the Board of Directors of the flagship bank of Wintrust Financial Corporation where she is active on the Compensation & Nominating, Audit and Business Development Committees. Alison received her B.A., magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, in Urban Studies from Brown University. She earned her M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.
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