board

Ada Volkmer

Ada was born in Brownsville, TX and raised in Matamoros, Mexico.  Her mother is a native of Matamoros and her father was born in Germany and immigrated to Mexico when he was seven years old. Every week when she was growing up, she would cross the US-Mexico border dozens of times – to go to school, come back home, or visit family and friends. When she was 18, she moved to the United States. Fifteen years later, her beloved and she have made our home in Asheville, NC.

Ada began working with other immigrants as a Immigration Specialist, helping families navigate the complicated (and racist) US immigration system. In 2007, she began coordinating the Coalición de Organizaciones Latino-Americanas (COLA), a regional coalition of Latino and immigrants rights organizations. Her work includes supporting local Latino leaders and organizations, facilitating and planning local retreats and gatherings, and supporting new leaders in the immigrants’ rights movement. She was a founding member of Nuestro Centro, Asheville’s first Latino center and a key organizer of the May 1, 2006 march in Asheville. In 2009, she participated in a Soul Sanctuary program at The Stone House and has returned to Mebane to participate in several trainings and for personal retreat. Being at The Stone House reminds her of the importance of silence and of her love for long walks, hot days and good food.

 

Chad U. Jones (Co-chair)

Chad is Executive Director of the Community Investment Network, which inspires, connects and strengthens African-Americans and people of color to leverage their collective resources to create the change they wish to see. Over the past decade, he has worked with multiple foundations nationally supporting economic justice, movement building and immigrant rights. In 2001, he was a Coro Fellow in Public Affairs. In 2008, he was an ABFE Fellow. Currently, he is also a board member at Resource Generation, and on the Endorsement Committee of the Freelancers Union PAC.

Two transformative moments in his life were: being 8 blocks from the twin towers on 9/11, and being a White House intern for 7 weeks in the scandalous summer of 1998. Since then he has been reminded of the significance of electoral politics, food and interdependence by reading Gary Rivlin’s Fire on the Prairie, Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan, and Octavia Butler’s sci-fi slavery classic, Kindred. Chad has spoken about storytelling, people and possibilities at Making Money Make Change, the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders, the International Human Rights Funders Group, and GoodWork among others.

Chad supports community supported agriculture for the fresh onions and other veggies, public libraries for the book borrowing, and drinking fountains since there is no bottle afterwards. He studied Economics and History at Macalester College in the Twin Cities. Chad’s been on the board since November 2008, spending his time weeding, tweeting and eating in The Stone House gardens, under the grape vines or in the kitchen.

 

Claudia Horwitz (ex-officio)

Claudia has been a leader in national efforts to integrate the power of spiritual practice and the work of social justice. In 1995 she founded stone circles after some years of community organizing around economic justice issues and finding a bit of peace through meditation and yoga. Her book The Spiritual Activist: Practices to Transform Your Life, Your Work, and Your World (Penguin Compass 2002) is a practical guide to individual and social transformation through spirit and faith.

Claudia has a master’s degree in Public Policy from Duke University and was a Rockefeller Foundation Next Generation Leadership Fellow.  She currently serves on the board of the Seasons Fund for Social Transformation and the Education as Transformation project based at Wellesley College.  Trained as a yoga teacher in the Kripalu tradition, she follows a yogic path on and off the mat.  Her greatest loves are citrus, her beloved friends and family, sitting quietly with others and swimming in the pond. Claudia lives on the land at The Stone House with Zak the dog.

 

Danyelle O’Hara, Secretary

Since 1990, Danyelle has worked with a range of organizations in the U.S. and abroad to build capacity in issues related to community economic development, natural resources management, and community change.  In particular, Danyelle seeks to help strengthen organizational infrastructure that supports communities develop visions for their aspirations and practical plans for achieving those visions in the most inclusive ways possible. Danyelle has a Bachelor’s degree in anthropology and a Masters in international development education, both from Stanford University, and extensive experience in program development and design, program management, and evaluation.  She currently works as an independent consultant.

Danyelle joined the stone circles board in 2010, although she has participated in stone circles activities and been a friend of the organization dating back to 1997.  She lives in Norman, Oklahoma with her partner and their two children.

 

Evangeline Weiss, Co-Chair

A fierce advocate for justice and an innovative community builder since she discovered at age 16 that democracy and capitalism might not be such a good fit, Evangeline has a master’s degree in Educational Policy Studies, and began her career in NYC, working in HIV/AIDS social service delivery for 10 years. From many moons of training and curriculum design, Evangeline turned her attention to helping organizations and people she witnessed struggle to live more fully into their values. While in North Carolina, Evangeline discovered stone circles and felt as if “peace and justice no longer needed to feel corny and idealistic!” In addition to five years as the Director of Diversity and Equity Programs for Duke University, she facilitated racial justice culture change work nationally and internationally for OpenSource Leadership Strategies, Inc.

In November of 2010, Evangeline and her family relocated to Silver Spring, MD in order for Evangeline to become the Director of Leadership Programs for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. In her new role, she designs and facilitates capacity building that is founded on collective action, intentional leadership and solidarity. When she’s not designing a soulful way to make things better, Evangeline is walking trails, reading bed time stories or making art.  Evangeline has served on the stone circles board of directors since 2007.

 

Michelle Johnson

Michelle received her undergraduate degree in Psychology with a minor in Art from the College of William and Mary.  In 1998 Michelle graduated from University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill with a Masters in Social Work.   Michelle is a licensed clinical social worker with a private practice in Carrboro, NC where she specializes in working with survivors of sexual violence, people who have experienced trauma, identity work, and people who have eating disorders.

She has worked in several community agencies in the area including, the Orange County Rape Crisis Center, the Mental Health Association, Counseling and Wellness Services at UNC-Chapel Hill, and she served as the director for Heirs to a Fighting Tradition.  She is a core trainer with Dismantling Racism Works, dRWorks, and has learned invaluable lessons from working with institutions on developing an analysis of institutional and cultural racism.   Michelle is a yoga teacher as well and loves weaving social justice and healing into her yoga work.  She loves engaging in projects that feed her soul, speak truth to justice, and serve the community.  She works as a community organizer, bringing all of herself to her work, organizations, and her community.  She lives in Carrboro with her lovely partner Jeff, and her cute dog Bella. Michelle joined the Board in 2011.