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Miriam
Mohammed Banaszak
joined the Council in the Spring of 2000 and is responsible for coordinating
the Council’s juvenile justice initiative and the Women of the Millennium
project. Her interests include race and ethnicity studies, domestic and
international public policy, and gender and cultural studies.
Banaszak, a senior at Chicago’s Roosevelt University, has helped manage the Community Convention on youth crime in Grand Boulevard (and is preparing for the next Convention in Humboldt Park), attended numerous community and civic meetings representing the Council, provided editorial support for One City magazine, and is currently facilitating focus groups with girls from diverse cultures in preparation for the Council’s next issue of One City—Girls and Diversity. She has definitely hit-the-ground-running!
Before becoming a social science major at Roosevelt, Banaszak was an early childhood educator (8 years) and enjoyed working as a team with family and colleagues. “The world of young children is quite vigorous,”said Banaszak. “What inspired me the most was how children have a clear way of seeing the world. They are active learners and demand that of their environment. I was always inspired by the challenge.”
Since joining the Council, Banaszak has participated in juvenile justice summit meetings and symposiums on race and ethnicity. Both experiences have added some practicality to her academic studies.
“The leadership of the Council has allowed me to learn, get involved, and practice some of the theory I’ve learned in my studies at Roosevelt University, which allows me to examine my interests through an umbrella of disciplines,” she said. Banaszak concluded by illustrating the benefit of working with people who are committed to social justice.
“I have been actively involved in social justice since I was a youth. Over the years I have grown to see how social justice and equality interlock with economic and political justice, both in the U.S. and global world. What I am encouraged about the most, are the many caring individuals that I have met and continue to meet, that aspire to recreate a fair and just society (world).”
To Staff
