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Monique “Moe” Brown (she/her Black)As a member of the Steering Committee which established Challenging Racism as a non-profit organization, Moe Brown joined the Board of Directors upon its creation in 2017. She is a 2015 alumna of Challenging Racism: Learning How. Moe has facilitated four Learning How groups since completing Challenging Racism: Learning to Lead facilitator training in 2016. Moe volunteered at The Reading Connection and currently serves on Advisory Committees and the PTA. She attended Howard University and Northern Virginia Community College and has two children in Arlington Public Schools. Moe was born in Arlington and identifies as African American.
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Nancy Brown (she, her / white)Chair, External Affairs Committee
Nancy Brown joined the Board in its first year as a non-profit. She is a 2016 alumna of Challenging Racism: Learning How and completed Challenging Racism: Learning to Lead facilitator training in 2016. She was active in the Wakefield High School PTSA for several years, serving as Vice President and as the school representative for the APS Council on Instruction. She now volunteers with various church and community organizations. Her two children graduated from APS schools. A physical therapist (BS, Biology, MPT in Physical Therapy, MS in Orthopedic Sports Physical Therapy), she served in the Navy as a physical therapist and continues part-time in retirement. She was born in Alexandria, VA, and has lived in Arlington since 2003. She identifies as white and, with her African American husband, is raising two bi-racial children. |
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Alicia Puente Cackley (she, her / white Mexican- American)Immediate Past Board Chair
A 29-year resident of Arlington, Alicia Puente Cackley serves as Chair of the Challenging Racism Board of Directors. She is a 2015 alumna of Challenging Racism: Learning How and in 2015 was a founding member of the Steering Committee that eventually established Challenging Racism as an educational non-profit organization in 2017. Alicia has served as PTA President at Key Elementary and on several APS-wide committees. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Educational Theatre Company, a non-profit dedicated to unlocking the potential of children and adults through immersion in theatre arts. Her four children all graduated from Arlington Public Schools, including Key Elementary Immersion Program and Wakefield, Washington-Lee and H.B. Woodlawn High Schools. Alicia holds a PhD in Economics from University of Michigan. Alicia was born in the United States and identifies as Mexican-American. |
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Deborah Jackson Ed.D (she, her / African American)Board Chair
Deborah Jackson, Ed.D, currently serves as a Lecturer of Education in the Curry School of Education, Educational Leadership, Foundations, and Policy at the University of Virginia. Additionally, she is the Executive Director and Host of the Rotary Times TV Show, which is designed to inform, serve and improve the lives of all in our communities. Dr. Jackson was previously employed in the Fairfax County Public Schools system (FCPS) for more than 33 years before retiring. Dr. Jackson has earned a Bachelor of Science degree in political science, a Master of Business and Public Administration degree, and a Doctorate of Education. She has earned numerous awards and recognitions, including the Prestigious Blue Diamond Award for Contributions to the Field of Education and multiple Educator of the Year and leadership awards. Dr. Jackson resides in McLean, Virginia. |
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Tish Jenkins (she, her / white European-American)Following her participation in Challenging Racism: Learning How in 2013-14, Tish Jenkins joined the Challenging Racism Steering Committee as Secretary and then moved on to the Board of Directors. Tish chairs the Governance Committee. She volunteers teaching ESL classes to adult English language learners and has served two terms as President of the Washington-Liberty PTA and one term as President of the Swanson PTA. She is the parent of three children who attended Arlington Public Schools. Tish is Mid-Atlantic Regional Sales Director for Cyber Security firm Bandura Cyber and previously worked for Level 3 Communications and Verizon. She received a BS in Business Administration from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She has lived in Arlington her entire adult life after college. Tish identifies as white of primarily Irish descent.
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Mark Nadel (He, Him / white)Board Treasurer
Mark Nadel participated in Challenging Racism: Learning How in 2014-15 and joined the board in 2019. He has lived in Arlington since 2003 and his son has followed the Oakridge, Swanson, Washington-Liberty path. He co-chaired Temple Rodef Shalom's Lens on Race program 2016-19 and organized annual theater trips for that group and Challenging Racism to plays dealing with race and white privilege. He is also on the board of New Story Leadership – a 7-week summer program for young Palestinian and Israeli leaders who want to create positive change. He has written law review articles proposing policies for improving affirmative action, organ donations, real estate broker price competition, and media access consistent with the First Amendment, among others. He is an attorney/advisor at the Federal Communications Commission. He graduated from Amherst College (economics & political science) and Harvard Law School. |
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Tiffany Mitchell Patterson, PhD (she, her / Black)In the 2014-2015 school year, Tiffany Mitchell Patterson PhD, participated in the cultural competence facilitator training for APS teachers and briefly co-facilitated a few sessions of the Challenging Racism: Learning How in 2015. She is currently an assistant professor of secondary social studies at West Virginia University (WVU) in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction/Literacy Studies. Prior to WVU, she taught upper elementary and social studies for 5 years in Washington, D.C., and middle school social studies in Arlington Public Schools for 5 years. Mitchell Patterson earned her doctorate in multilingual/multicultural education and education policy from George Mason University. Advocacy, activism, intersectionality, and anti-oppressive education lie at the core of her research and teacher practice. Education is her revolution.
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Gail Perry (she, her / African American / Black)Board Secretary
We welcomed Gail Perry to the Board of Challenging Racism in March 2020. Although she is relatively new to the Board she has been with Challenging Racism since fall, 2014 in the Swanson Learning How Group. Gail participated in the first Learning to Lead facilitator training in 2016, and interned with Tim Cotman in a small group for “Let’s Talk about Race”, a 5 session Challenging Racism series for the Partnership for Family and Youth in 2016-17. Gail is a retired APS teacher who taught high school English at Langston HSCP in Arlington, VA, and a voracious reader, especially on topics related to racism. She is an active member of Little River UCC Church, encouraging and sometimes facilitating conversations on race at Little River. Her persistence brought a 2020 Lenten Study group to Little River on the book White Awake: An Honest look at What it Means to Be White, by Daniel Hill. One of Gail’s major focuses for her personal work in challenging racism is criminal justice reform including the school to prison pipeline, and housing/public school segregation. In 2018, she co-facilitated the first public book group for the Challenging Racism Continued program and she also facilitates conversations including book discussions, such as "How to Be an Antiracist," and presentations on topics such as voter suppression and talking to children & students about race. |