Denise M. Brown

Denise Brown is the executive director of the Leeway Foundation, which provides support for individual women and trans (people who identify as transgendered, transsexual, and genderqueer) artists in the Greater Philadelphia area who create art for social change. Denise was the associate director of Bread & Roses from 1998 to 2005. She has served on the board of the Funding Exchange and the Women’s Community Revitalization Project and is currently on the board of the Scribe Video Center. A graduate of Brown University, Denise was a film programmer for the Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema, from its debut to 1998. She has also served as a panelist for the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the Pennsylvania Humanities Council.

Jill Feldstein — Secretary

Jill Feldstein is a longtime community organizer with experience leading coalitions to win resources for low-income families, registering and mobilizing tens of thousands of voters, and developing the skills of community members to lead campaigns. She is the director of the Penn Center for Community Health Workers, a growing organization that hires and trains residents of West and Southwest Philadelphia to support high-risk patients of Penn Medicine. Jill believes that Bread & Roses is a unique grassroots institution in the Philadelphia region and is excited to help sustain vital movements and cultivate the next generation of organizing leadership.

Elicia Gonzales

Elicia Gonzales has worked in the social justice field for more than 19 years. She is currently the executive director of Women’s Medical Fund. She holds master’s degrees in social work and human sexuality education and is an adjunct professor for Widener University’s Center for Human Sexuality Studies and co-founder of the SEXx Collective. From 2009 to 2016 she served as executive director for GALAEI, a queer Latinx social justice organization. Elicia sits on the boards of Planned Parenthood of Southeastern PA and Camp Sojourner Girls’ Leadership Camp. She lives in Fishtown with her wife and cat and is originally from Denver.

Jean Hunt — Co-chair

Jean has lived in Philadelphia since 1965 and has been active in a variety of struggles for justice: civil rights, the anti-war movement, the grape boycott, the women’s movement, and neighborhood organizing. Jean’s career has included paid organizing, staff nursing, running a feminist women’s health center, working for Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, foundation work, and running two nonprofits: Elizabeth Blackwell Health Center for Women and the Campaign for Working Families. Jean has always supported the People’s Fund/Bread & Roses because she believes in its mission of strengthening organizing at its base, in neighborhoods, among people most directly impacted by injustice.

Jennifer Jordan — Co-chair

Jennifer Jordan is a policy wonk who’s passionate about health equity, social transformation, and data analysis. She has worked in a variety of settings, including labor unions and state agencies. Jennifer is a consultant to state Medicaid agencies, Medicaid health plans, and safety net providers. While her paid work is currently focused outside the Philadelphia region, she sees serving on the board of Bread & Roses as an opportunity to invest her time, talents, and resources in supporting social change in her community. Jennifer lives in South Philadelphia with her partner, Rose, and their son, Levi.

Trina Middleton — Treasurer

Trina Middleton’s objective in life has always been to serve others. She has worked with alumni volunteers, with high school and college students interested in being educators, and as a civil engineer. She is the director of the University of Pennsylvania alumni board services and also volunteers with organizations that focus on alumni, arts, and health care. Trina appreciates that the mission of Bread & Roses has always been to help sustain organizations that give a voice to those who’ve been ignored — something that may be more crucial now more than ever — and she is grateful for the opportunity to serve.

Leah Pillsbury

Leah is a nonprofit fundraiser and is currently pursuing her Master of Accountancy at Temple University. Most recently, she was the Capital Campaign Director for Farm & Wilderness, a nonprofit organization operating six summer camps in Vermont. She previously worked for Common Market as Director of Development. Before that, Leah managed Mariposa Food Co-op’s capital campaign for its relocation and expansion. In her volunteer time, Leah raises money for organizations and political candidates she believes in and encourages others to think more radically about the money they are giving away or investing. She is a member of Resource Generation. Leah is excited to bring her passion for fundraising and more than 10 years of experience working with nonprofits to support Bread & Roses.

Julia Stone

Julia Stone is a microbiologist for the Philadelphia Water Department. Her social justice work has included organizing young people with wealth or class privilege to redistribute land, wealth, and power with Resource Generation and organizing tenants to fight back against unscrupulous landlords with Philly Socialists’ Solidarity Network. Julia believes that Bread & Roses’ focus on change, not charity, and democratic grantmaking moves power from people with money to people working for real change. She believes that board service with Bread & Roses will deepen her commitment to social justice.