EFE Welcomes New Staff Members

Cheryl R. Jansen joined Equip for Equality's Policy Department as the legislative policy manager, with responsibilities for legislative and regulatory efforts to achieve the organization's policy agenda. Cheryl, who has a J.D. from DePaul University Law School in Chicago, works out of Equip for Equality's Springfield office.

For more than 15 years, Cheryl practiced law in Springfield with a diverse Leahy Law Offices civil practice that included litigation in the trial and appellate courts and before the Illinois Human Rights Commission, with a concentration in employment discrimination and civil rights law. Thereafter, she spent three years with the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education as the director of programs, developing, planning and producing legal education programs for attorneys throughout the state of Illinois.

Camille Rucks joined Equip for Equality's Abuse Investigation Unit (AIU) as an investigator responsible for reviewing, assessing and investigating incidents of abuse and neglect of people with disabilities. She will also work to address broad systemic safety issues and to achieve the priorities and objectives of the Abuse Investigation Unit. Camille comes to Equip for Equality with a wealth of experience, having worked with individuals with mental illness and substance abuse for more than 20 years while with Thresholds. At Thresholds, Camille held various supervisory positions, including that of MISA program director. Her background adds a new dimension to the professional expertise of the AIU staff, which will be of tremendous assistance in a number of settings.

Mariangela Favero Monteiro returns to Equip for Equality as an advocate on a one-year assignment. She formerly worked with Equip for Equality as a legal intern and will provide people with disabilities one-on-one legal advocacy services. Mari comes to the organization with experience at the Family Law Clinic of the Law Offices of Chicago Kent College of Law, and work with AmeriCorps VISTA of the Chicago Alliance for Neighborhood Safety. She has volunteered with the Law Offices of Centro Oscar Romera and attended the Centro de Linguistica Aplicada, Pampatar, Venezuela, obtaining a Legal Spanish Certificate. Mari obtained her J.D. from Kent College of Law in Chicago and a B.A. from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.

Equip for Equality Receives 'Make a Difference' Award

Cook County Clerk David Orr presents Equip for Equality training manager Stacy Yusim and senior counsel Karen Ward with a 'Make A Difference' award, who accept on behalf of EFE for its disability training of election judges before the 2004 elections.

Morris Fred Returns to Academia

Photo of Morrie Fred Morris Fred, a senior policy analyst for Equip for Equality since 1998, accepted a teaching position last year at the University of Chicago, where he is conducting two graduate-level seminars: The Anthropology of Dis/ability and The Ethnography of Law. The first class builds on his experiences at Equip for Equality and with the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic at the university's school of law. The second class will examine the contributions of ethnographic research to the study of law and will consider how such research can be useful in legal practices and in shaping social policy.

Morrie contributed significantly to Equip for Equality's nationwide deinstitutionalization study and served as the manager of the Guardianship Reform Project.

"I have always tried to combine my interests in teaching with my desire to do 'practical anthropology,' " he says. "I seized the chance after more than five years at Equip for Equality to teach about my experiences and hopefully encourage others to recognize that the dichotomy between theory and practice is actually a continuum."

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