Val Weiss has been on the Moran Center’s Board of Directors for the past 10 years, recruited by former Executive Director Naria Santa Lucia for her extensive business and non-profit management experience. From the start Val says she was impressed by the staff’s extraordinary dedication, and she has been humbled to be a part of the Moran Center team. Val affectionately calls the staff and board “the dream team,” because of their shared passion for the mission of the organization and for their collaborative support of each other’s work. Val is “proud of the work that we do to support some of the most vulnerable kids in our community. I’ve loved getting to know the staff and the board. We truly enjoy our time together. We joke that we even keep the fun in FUNdraising.”
Val’s board involvement reflects her passion for helping grassroots organizations thrive. Since joining the Moran Center’s Board, Val has witnessed the agency’s growth and it’s deepened commitment to the community. “I’m very proud of the sustainable growth. During the past eight years, the Moran Center has quadrupled its budget and met all of its strategic goals. We now serve more clients and expanded the portfolio of our programs. It’s particularly exciting to see the launch of the Moran Center’s School-Based Civil Legal Clinic and our restorative justice work.”
Val feels extremely lucky to live in Evanston, appreciating the diversity of this community while recognizing that many continue to be burdened by systemic disinvestment and prejudice. Val finds it unacceptable that we live in a “free” country that has the highest incarceration rate in the world, and is inspired by Bryan Stevenson who says, “we all have a responsibility to create a just society.”
