Brown is a graduate of Michigan State University. She is also an alum of the Rutgers Newark law school, and upon graduation, clerked for New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Wilentz. Following her clerkship, Ms.Brown joined the law firm of Smith and Mullen, specializing in race, sex and age discrimination litigation, and later in her own practice in Newark. Brown is co-founder of Return to the Source, an acapella freedom song ministry (with Junius Williams), and University Heights Neighborhood Development Corporation (building 60 units of housing in Central Ward), and the award-winning Newark Debate Academy, and founder of The Upper Room Ministries, The Serengeti Moment (a daily devotional), and Dare to Fly Productions and the Newark Repertory Theater Company.
Brown has more than 40 years of engagement in community development advocacy and governmental relations focused on public policy, housing, education, and nonprofit leadership issues. For 22 years, Brown served in the positions of Academic Dean, Director of EOF and as Vice Chancellor for External and Governmental Relations at Rutgers University-Newark, primarily building legislative partnerships and anchor institution collaborations, including serving as the key representative building partnerships with the City of Newark, Newark Public Schools, community advocacy groups, and metropolitan Mayors and their communities in the key areas of education, public safety, community economic development and arts and culture. During her 17 years at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Brown worked in the area of labor relations and community planning serving local governments and county executives across New Jersey. Brown also served as a philanthropic program officer at Lucent Technologies and helped structure their multimillion-dollar spending portfolio in Newark focused on Newark’s nonprofits engaged in rebuilding neighborhoods and promoting precollege and college pipelines. Similarly, Brown ran the Minority Student Program (MSP) at Rutgers Law School Newark where she helped to create pathways for the admission of underrepresented and underserved students.
Currently, Brown is a member of the Long Branch Planning Board and the Monmouth Medical Center Patient Advisory Board, and a former member of the Long Branch Cable Commission. She is also a mother, grandmother, and faith walker.
Lynnette Mawhinney is Chair of the Department of Urban Education and Professor of Urban Education at Rutgers University-Newark. She is also affiliated faculty in the Africana Studies Department. Her love for teaching has always been a deep passion. She started her teacher training at Penn State University, earning a bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education/English and Communications, with a minor in Movement Science to use for athletic training with youth and adults. Later, she earned her Masters and Ph.D. in Urban Education at Temple University.
As a seasoned educator, Dr. Mawhinney is proud to have taught within many diverse populations from the American Indian reservations of South Dakota to urban Philadelphia. She has taught in a range of urban educational contexts, including middle school, high school, undergraduate, graduate, and GED and employment training programs for TANF (formerly known as Welfare) recipients and dislocated workers. For the last ten years, she has conducted teacher training in the U.S., Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand, South Africa, and Egypt.
In 2013, Dr. Mawhinney was awarded the prestigious Fulbright Core Scholar award. For the award, she spent one academic year (2013-2014) as Associate Professor of Educational Psychology teaching courses in educational trends and issues, action research, and child and adolescent development at Bahrain Teachers College in The University of Bahrain. In 2018, Dr. Mawhinney received the American Educational Research Association’s Division K award for Exemplary Research in Teaching and Teacher Education. In 2020, Dr. Mawhinney was the recipient of the American Educational Studies Association’s Critics Choice Book Award for There Has to be a Better Way: Lessons from Former Urban Teachers
Dr. Mawhinney’s publications are as international as her teaching experience. She has published extensively in both U.S. and internationally focused peer-reviewed journals. She is the author of There Has to be a Better Way: Lessons from Former Urban Teachers and We Got Next: Urban Education and the Next Generation of Black Teachers and co-editor Teacher Education Across Minority-Serving Institutions: Programs, Policies, and Social Justice and Opportunities and Challenges in Teacher Recruitment and Retention: Teachers’ Voices Across the Pipeline, and Strong Black Girls: Reclaiming Schools in Their Own Image. Dr. Mawhinney is also co-editor of the book series, Contemporary Perspectives on the Lives of Teachers: Opportunities and Challenges, with Information Age Press.
Aside from academic books, Dr. Mawhinney is also a children’s book author. Her book, Lulu the One and Only, received an acclaimed starred Kirkus Review. Imagination Soup labeled the book as one of the best picture books of 2020. The book has received a Mom’s Choice Award in 2020 , the Notable Social Studies Trade Book Award by the National Council for Social Studies and the Children’s Book Council, and the Multicultural Children’s Publication Award from the National Association for Multicultural Education.
Simone Marean is the Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Girls Leadership, a national educational nonprofit that teaches girls to exercise the power of their voice. In Girls Leadership’s eleven years as a nonprofit, it has impacted over 300,000 girls, and is on track to reach one million girls by 2025. She began her career teaching in New York at Brearley and the Young Women’s Leadership School, taught at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy in South Africa, and now presents the latest research and work on girls around the country, including at Google, Facebook, PwC, UBS, as well as on the Today Show and KQED’s Forum. Simone is a member of the Advisory Board for the Morgan Stanley Institute for Inclusion. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College, earned a master’s in education from NYU, and now lives with her family in Berkeley, CA.
Ashley Y. Lipscomb (she/her) is the Co-founder & CEO of the Institute for Anti-Racist Education, Inc. She has experience working with, motivating, and advocating for students and educators. A graduate of Hampton University (BA English and Master in Teaching), Harvard Divinity School (MDiv), and Montclair State University (Certificate in Supervision), Ashley has led, coached, and developed several committees & educational practitioners as they addressed problems of practice concerning diversity, equity, and inclusion in both K-12 and higher education settings. Currently, she is a Ph.D. candidate at Rutgers University where her research interests include school abolition, education policy, and womanist leadership ethics. As a school abolitionist, she has committed her life’s work to the liberation and healing of her community, and she believes that education is the site where a more loving world can be imagined and created.
Amos Machanic, Jr. is currently a Teaching Artist for Ailey Arts In Education & Community Programs. Mr. Machanic studied dance at the New World School of the Arts and continued his training at The Ailey School where he was a fellowship recipient. Machanic was a member of Ailey II and joined the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1996. During his years with the company, Amos had the pleasure of traveling across the globe. In 2010, he performed at the White House tribute to Judith Jamison and now enjoys being a freelance artist and teacher.
Nasha Thomas oversees AileyCamps and designs the national outreach for Ailey’s Arts In Education & Community Programs department. As a primary liaison between Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation and the national arts-in-education community, she plays a central role in working with local communities to develop and run AileyCamps across the U.S., as well as managing and teaching national residencies, workshops, and master classes, which reach over 1,000 young people each year. Ms. Thomas has led Ailey Arts In Education programs everywhere from public school classrooms, to Lincoln Center Plaza, to Gracie Mansion, to the White House. Chosen by Alvin Ailey, Ms. Thomas danced with the Company from 1986 to 1998. In 1980 she received the prestigious Presidential Scholar of the Arts award. Ms. Thomas is a graduate of New York’s High School of the Performing Arts and Southern Methodist University.
Cedric J. Greene (Boston, MA) is currently a Teaching Artist for Ailey Arts In Education & Community Programs. Mr. Greene began his dance training at the Boston Arts Academy and OrigiNation Cultural Arts Center before studying intensively on full-scholarship at The Ailey School. Cedric continued his training and graduated from the University of the Arts in 2010 whilst having the opportunity to perform works by Louis Johnson, Zane Booker, Anthony Burrell, and Roni Koresh amongst others. Post-graduation, Cedric has performed internationally in musicals such as A Chorus Line, Dreamgirls, Memphis, and The Scottsboro Boys. Cedric has been a teaching artist with AileyCamp for over six seasons and is Currently a teaching artist with the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation. His passion for performing still thrives today and hopes to perform on Broadway in the near future.
A native of Jersey City, NJ, Freddie Moore’s professional career as a dancer, master teacher and choreographer began with his formal dance training at The Ailey School. After graduating from the school’s Certificate and Merit Scholarship programs, he went on to being a featured artist with Ailey II, Donald Byrd/The Group, Forces of Nature, Gallman’s Newark Dance Theater, and Blue Mercury Dancing Company. During his distinguished 36-year career, Mr. Moore has amassed credits in musicals, national television shows, music videos, and documentaries. Mr. Moore’s innovative choreography has received national and international recognition. His career as a master teacher has traveled him across the United States as well as to Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and the Caribbean. A noted Master of the Modern Horton technique, Mr. Moore conducts artist-in-residence workshops in public and private schools. He has developed performing arts curriculum for schools and community-based programs and he works with churches around the world to develop liturgical dance ministries. A recognized community leader, he has received many honors for community service including commendations from the NAACP, the New Jersey Senate, the National Black Police Association, the Jersey City Community Outreach Team, and the Public Advocate for the City of New York. Mr. Moore is currently the Rehearsal Director for Ailey Student Performance Group (ASPG), Ailey Certificate Program Advisor and a faculty member at The Ailey School, Restoration Youth Arts Academy, Hudson Repertory Dance Theater as well as the Founder and Artistic Director of Footprints Dance Company.
Anthony Solo Harris also known as “The Dance Coach” is a bright, ambitious, hardworking, committed, and goal-oriented young man. One of his most praised accomplishments is his commitment to spreading the importance of Arts and Education and its benefits to adults young children and the developmentally disabled population. Anthony is apart of the legendary ENVY dance group (est.2003) out of Newark NJ, The group that revitalized street dance when the new millennium hit and helped cultivate the Jersey Club dance style and energy. During that time with ENVY, Anthony performed on national television, stages around the country, and helped to shine the light on the positive energy Newark had to offer. Since then, Anthony has been teaching professionally for over 10 years. In 2010 Anthony and his father co-founded @dance_mogul_magazine , to give dancers of the past, present, and future a voice to help inspire self-empowerment to each other and those who are new on their artistic journey. Anthony is also the co-founder of Dance Warz TV Show est. 2006, which is a competitive platform based in New Jersey, that houses raw dance performances and battles. Highlighting the top dancers, dance groups, and talent in the state. Recently Anthony has manifested Dancer First Management LLC, a company that puts dancer’s needs first when it comes to business collaborations and @soloexpressionpa, a dance studio that specializes in evolving disabilities within the IDD community.
Brother Jerome Hunter is a master dancer, national & internationally known choreographer and drummer who has merged several dance disciplines such as traditional Africa dance, Brazil, Caribbean, as well as North America, to create a unique fusion that is synonymous with LaRocque Bey, and has been performing these dance styles for over 40 years.
Mr. Hunter has studied at the LaRocque Bey school of Dance Theatre for over two decades. He is currently the Executive and Artistic Director as well as the chairman of the board at the Institution. LaRocque Bey School of Dance was established in 1960 and is one of the oldest African American Cultural Institutions in New York State and across the United States.
Mr. Hunter has studied a multiple dance disciplines, such as:
African, Tap, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Lindy Hop, Swing, Ball room, to name a few.
He has studied with Master teachers worldwide and performs domestically and internationally on stage productions and film. Mr. Hunter has worked with such artists as Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, Delfonics, Savion Glover, Phyllis Yvonne Stickney, George Clinton, Phylicia Rashad and many more. Mr. Hunter recently toured Great Britain as a choreographer and performer of the play “Tap Fusion” with choreographers from the Broadway play River Dance; as well as worked with several artists in the Broadway play “Fela” currently on Broadway. Mr. Hunter has also received several Proclamations from the Mayor’s, Senator’s and city Councilman’s office of New York city, New York State as well as the Bronx Counsel for The Arts..
He is currently an instructor at the Juvenile Justice Commision, the state of New Jersey, four private, and charter schools in the New York, New Jersey school system; teaching discipline through dance, spreading his cultural message as well as teaching skills for life to all students he comes in contact with.