Staff

Since its beginning, the Poverty Initiative’s staff has consisted of committed, creative, and collaborative volunteers, work-study students, UTS Field Education students, interns, and the Scholar-In-Residence.

In recent years, the Poverty Initiative’s staff has expanded to include a few paid hourly/part time consultants and two full-time staff members

To contact Poverty Initiative staff members, e-mail poverty@povertyinitiative.org.

Liz Theoharis is the Coordinator of the Poverty Initiative. She has spent the past 15 years organizing amongst the poor in the United States. Liz received her MDiv from Union Theological Seminary in 2004 where she was the first William Sloane Coffin Scholar. Currently, Liz is PhD candidate and Henry Berg Scholar in New Testament and Christian Origins. Liz is certified for ordination to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Willie Baptist is a formerly homeless father who came out of the Watts uprisings, the Black Student Movement, and working as a lead organizer with the United Steelworkers has 40 years of experience organizing amongst the poor including with the National Union of the Homeless, the Kensington Welfare Rights Union, the National Welfare Rights Union, the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, and many other networks. Willie serves as the Poverty Initiative Scholar-in-Residence and is the Coordinator of the Poverty Scholars Program.

Onleilove Alston is in her fourth year of the Master of Divinity/Master of Social Work program at Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University School of Social Work. As a member of the Poverty Initiative she is co-developing the Mary Magdala Welfare Queen Project. Onleilove is a contributing writer for Sojourners Magazine and Blogging Specialist at Ecumenical Women at the United Nations. She is also a member of NY Faith & Justice and The Beatitudes Society. A native of East New York Onleilove plans to return to do faith based advocacy and organizing. 

Nkosi Anderson is a second-year Master of Divinity student at Union Theological Seminary. This year he is a field-education intern with The Poverty Initiative. He remains active is a number of progressive struggles for social justice.

Adam Barnes has been working with the Poverty Initiative for over three years.  The knowledgeable and inspiring people who work at and with the Poverty Initiative continue to deepen Adam’s understanding and commitment to the Poverty Initiative's sophisticated vision of enduring social change.  Adam’s specific interests are in thinking about the process of communicating across diverse cultural and religious boundaries in order to help strengthen, enrich, and transform that vision.

Rachel Barnhart is a work-study student with the Poverty Initiative, in her third year of the M. Div program at Union Theological Seminary. She is currently working on Poverty Scholars Program planning with the Religious Strategy curriculum. A certified candidate for ordination as an elder for the United Methodist Church in Upstate New York, Rachel’s primary interests are in leadership development for pastors and congregations of mainstream churches and their role in a social movement to end poverty.

Julia Bertalan is in her third year of the M.Div program at Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University School or Social Work. She is a work study student with the Poverty Initiative and is currently working on fundraising and Poverty Scholars Program planning.

Vanessa Cardinale is a 3rd year MDiv student at Union. Vanessa came to Union after working as an organizer with CATA - The Farmworker Support Committee, a member organization of migrant farmworkers in South Jersey and Southeast Pennsylvania. She also has worked for several years with U.S. El Salvador Sister Cities, an organization that provides support and solidarity to organized rural communities and the larger social movement in El Salvador. Currently Vanessa is in-care with the United Church of Christ. Vanessa is a work study student with the Poverty Initiative and is interested in religious strategy and language inclusion in the movement to end poverty.

Chris Caruso is a PhD candidate in Cultural Anthropology at the CUNY Graduate Center and an Instructional Technology Fellow at City College. Chris is the founder of Human Rights Tech, a non-profit organization that trains grassroots community organizers how to use information technology to promote human rights and end poverty. Chris is an active member of the Poverty Initiative and married to coordinator, Liz Theoharis.

Charon Hribar is the Curriculum Development and Replication Coordinator at the Poverty Initiative. She became involved with the Poverty Initiative as a student at Union where she attained her Masters in Divinity in 2007. Currently, Charon is pursuing her PhD at Drew University in Christian Social Ethics.  In addition, Charon has a particular interest in the use of Poverty Truth Commissions to confront the structural violence that creates poverty in the United States and around the world.

Mary Ellen Kris came to Union Theological Seminary following a career in law and public service. An active volunteer in outreach ministries and disaster relief work with the United Methodist Church, Mary Ellen’s passion for outreach ministries and social justice led her to enroll in the Masters of Divinity program at Union and become an intern at Union’s Poverty Initiative. She helped coordinate the Poverty Initiative’s Immersion Course in January and assists with the Poverty Initiative’s outreach to faith-based organizations.

Kymberly E. McNair graduated from with a Master of Divinity and Master of Sacred Theology from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York in 2008 and 2009 respectively.  Kymberly currently teaches adult learners at the College of New Rochelle’s School of New Resources.  She also serves as the co-Chair of the Social Action Ministry of her home church, Antioch Baptist Church, in Bedford Hills, NY.  She works with the Poverty Initiative’s religious strategy team.  

Derrick McQueen is a native of Morristown, NJ and started singing in the church as a child. He received his BA from Drew University in Theatre Arts. He has worked in avant garde theatre companies, community organizing, arts programming, and African American History. He offers workshops on The Spirituals, The Songs of the Civil Rights Era, Vocal Movement, and Vocal Group Improvisation. He is a Union graduate (MDiv) inTheology and the Arts, a poverty scholar with the Poverty Initiative, co-facilitator of worship design, and the 2008 Hudnut Preaching prize winner.

Dawn Plummer has served as the Poverty Initiative's Development Coordinator since 2008, responsible for fundraising and working with PI supporters. Dawn has worked with poor people's organizations, NGOs,and social movements fighting poverty in the US and abroad. From 2001-2005, she was the National Coordinator of the Friends of the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement (MST). Dawn is among the first generation of her Pennsylvania-based family to attend college. Dawn studied Leadership Development in the MST and received an MA in Political Science from the CUNY Graduate Center. In 1999, Dawn was a Human Rights intern for the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.

Charlene Sinclair works on the Poverty Scholars Program as a work-study student. Charlene has 20 years experience as a community organizer. Having coordinated campaigns for the Center for Community Change, ACORN and the National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support, Charlene has experience in providing comprehensive training in grassroots organizing and political strategy and targeted organizational development assistance.

Alix Webb is the Program Manager for the Poverty Initiative. Alix came to the Poverty Initiative having worked in and with poor people’s organizations and in non-profit management and program design. Alix has worked around the United States and particularly in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with welfare rights activists, low-income Asian young people, leaders of local non-profits, college students, artists and other community leaders and members.

Colleen Wessel-McCoy has been involved with the Poverty Initiative since 2004 and currently works as the Publications Coordinator. Originally from Georgia, Colleen received her undergraduate degree from Agnes Scott College in 2001 and worked for three years as a community organizer in Chicago before moving to New York to attend Union. She earned a M.Div. from Union in 2007 and is currently a PhD student in Ethics.

John Wessel-McCoy is a project organizer at the Poverty Initiative.  He is originally from Decatur, Illinois.  He earned an MA in Spring 2009 from Union Theological Seminary and was awarded the Charles Augustus Briggs Award, given to graduates who have demonstrated "qualities of conscience, commitment, and courage as exemplified in the life and work of Charles Augustus Briggs."  Prior to entering the MA program at Union Theological and working with the Poverty Initiative, he was a union organizer.

Suzy Ujvagi is a second year dual-degree student at Union Theological Seminary, in the Masters in Divinity and Masters in Social Work program.  Coming from Toledo, Ohio, Suzy has interests in politics, community-based organizing, and social justice issues, particularly regarding gender and queer rights.  Suzy is currently working with the Poverty Initiative as a work-study student, assisting in volunteer coordinating and with the religious strategy team.

Staff Alum

Jessica Chadwick currently serves as an Associate Pastor at First Baptist Church of Greater Des Moines in Iowa. In 2007 she received an MDiv. from Union Theological Seminary and MSSW from Columbia University. Jessica has been involved with the Poverty Initiative since 2004 and continues to help develop curriculum and programs for religious congregations.

Susie Hermanson recieved her MDiv from Union in 2007. Susie is currently a Community Minister at Judson Memorial Church, initiating Step By Step services there, and serving as part-time minister with the South Lyme Chapel in Connecticut.  She is under care toward ordination with the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme CT, and had been active with Poverty Initiative Immersions and fund-raising.

Megan Joiner A Union graduate (MDiv) in Systematic Theology, Megan is an aspirant for ministry in the Unitarian Universalist Association. Megan's main interests lie in the intersection between race and class and in public communications concerning progressive religion and the movement to end poverty. 

Aaron Scott is a Union graduate (M.A., New Testament Studies) who has assisted with Poverty Initiative staff childcare, immersion programs, religious strategies, and Bible scholarship.  Aaron currently lives in Vancouver, WA, works for the Oregon Health Study, aids in youth education with the Episcopal Church, and occasionally telecommutes to NYC for Poverty Scholars Strategic Dialogues.

Marlene Smith

Joe Strife

The Poverty Initiative receives great support from Union Theological Seminary, including the establishment of a subcommittee of the UTS Board of Trustees dedicated to working with, fundraising for, and advising the Poverty Initiative. Alumni and former Trustees from Union also serve on the Trustees Committee. Members include: Douglas Ades, David Callard, Aiyoung Choi, Barbara Fiorito, Susan Hermanson, Stephen Hudspeth, David McAlpin, Emma Jordan Simpson, Ted Pardoe, Art Trotman (co-chair), Michaela Walsh, Mary White and Mitchell Watson (co-chair).

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