Board of Directors | Donor | Community Partner
Board of Directors’ Showcase
Val Weiss, Treasurer 
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.”
Donor Highlight
Ann Adams
As the Associate Vice President of Research at Northwestern University, Ann Adams works to support world-class research. Ann is also committed to improving the community in which she lives and works, not only as a long-time donor to the Moran Center but also through her active participation in the organization as a member of the Advisory Council.
Adams credits her time in law school for sparking her interest in the work that the Moran Center does to end the school-to-prison pipeline. Adams says she was particularly attracted to the Moran Center because of our efforts to clear individuals’ criminal records at the Expungement & Sealing Help Desk.
Adams says that she’s continually impressed with Executive Director Patrick Keenan-Devlin and the entire Moran Center staff for doing extremely important work with limited resources – changing people’s lives. On this point Ann asks, “Who wouldn’t want to support that?” We agree, Ann!
Community Partner Showcase
Erie Family Health Centers
Erie Evanston-Skokie provides low-income community members with medical, dental, and behavioral health services, along with wrap-around social services. Excitingly, this winter, Erie will be expanding to house 32 medical exam rooms and 6 dental chairs! This expansion will help the organization to better serve our community.
We are extremely grateful for Erie’s partnership in providing Moran Center’s clients with critical psychiatric services, as well as providing free STI (Sexually Transmitted Infections) testing to youth between the ages of 13 and 24 every Friday from 1-4pm. Erie has also provided the Moran Center with boxes of free condoms to ensure that our clients consistently practice safe sex. Learn more about Erie and all they do to improve the health of our community here!
