Staff
Rev. C.J. Hawking, Executive Director
Rev. C.J. Hawking, Executive Director of Arise Chicago since 2007, has been partnering with religious leaders to bring a fuller measure of God’s justice to the workplace since 1993. She has organized faith-labor coalitions in five U.S. cities. She currently serves as the Harry F. Ward Pastor for Social Justice at Euclid Avenue United Methodist Church in Oak Park, and as a board member for Community Renewal Society. Hawking is a visiting lecturer on labor and social movements at the University of Illinois and co-authored Staley: The Fight for the New American Labor Movement (University of Illinois Press, 2009) which won three Book of the Year awards.
Adam Kader, Worker Center Director
Adam Kader received his master’s degree in Urban Planning and Public Policy with a concentration in Community Development from the University of Illinois at Chicago. As part of his Lawrence University undergraduate research in Bolivia, he studied with a feminist organization and met with indigenous leaders, including Evo Morales. He has taught the “Labor and Social Movements” course at the University of Illinois. Adam is a founding member of the Popular Education Alliance and the Chicago chapter of the Planners Network. Since joining Arise Chicago in 2006, he has assisted other worker centers to launch and develop their programs. Adam is fluent in English and Spanish.
Shelly Ruzicka, Director of Operations
Shelly received her bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Intercultural Studies with a focus on Developed-Developing World Relations at Elmhurst College and received the Founders Award for Service, the college’s highest honor awarded a student. While at Elmhurst College she studied for one semester at Oxford University, and later spent an academic summer term in Ecuador. Each semester Shelly is invited to speak to a variety of classes at Elmhurst College, and has recruited multiple student interns to Arise Chicago. She participated as a former grantee representative on a public foundation’s grant-making committee, and has provided peer support on fundraising and administrative systems to other worker centers and non-profit organizations. Shelly also serves as Co-Chair on the Board of Directors of Chicago Fair Trade. As Director of Operations, Shelly manages communications, fundraising, and finances for Arise Chicago. She has blogged for Gapers Block, Labor Notes, and Dignity at Work. Shelly is fluent in English and Spanish.
Ania Jakubek
Ania was born in Poland. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Public Relations from the University of Warsaw. She came to the U.S. in 1998 and worked as a domestic worker. She later received her an associates degree in fine arts from Truman College. From 2005 till 2010, she worked for the Northwest Neighborhood Federation as an organizer. She is a co-founder of the Polish Initiative of Chicago where she recruited and developed a core leadership team. As a Worker Center Organizer recruits and assigns roles to new Polish members, and is currently focusing on organizing domestic workers. Ania is fluent in Polish and English.
Jorge Mujica, Worker Center Organizer
Jorge Mújica was born in Mexico City and participated in several popular movements in Mexico until he moved to the United States in 1987. As a journalist, he worked in several Spanish language newspapers, in Univision and Telemundo Spanish TV stations, and won two “First Place” awards by the National Association of Hispanic Publishers. As an activist, Jorge has collaborated with many labor unions in organizing and election campaigns, picket lines, and strikes, and is a member of several community organizations dealing with Mexico-USA issues, from remittances to the right to vote from abroad. He is one of the three conveners of the historic immigrant rights marches in Chicago in 2006, and ran for the US Congress in 2009, representing the immigration movement in the electoral arena. Jorge is fluent in Spanish and English.
Gabriela Rivero, Worker Center Member Organizer
Gabriela is originally from South America. She moved to Chicago 20 years ago at which time she worked in a restaurant. She then began working in sales and worked her way up to account management at several large telecommunications companies. She first came to the Worker Center after facing discrimination at her workplace. She works as a member organizer where she coordinates and facilitates Spanish and English Worker Rights Workshops in our office and at community locations. She is a certified bilingual interpreter and an OSHA-certified health and safety trainer. Gabriela is fluent in Spanish and English.
Luke Sullivan, Religious Organizer
Luke Sullivan is a year-long intern with Arise through the Dominican Volunteers USA Year of Service Program. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 2012 with a Bachelors of Science in Microbiology and Spanish. While in school, he was vice-president for two years of United-2-Heal, an interfaith humanitarian aid organization that collects and redistributes surplus medical supplies from area hospitals and ships them to resource-poor hospitals around the world, focusing mainly on the country of Ghana. He plans to attend medical school in the fall of 2013 with a focus in Global Health and Pediatrics. Luke is fluent in English and Spanish.
Micah Uetricht, Worker Center Organizer—Car Wash Campaign
Micah Uetricht is an organizer for Arise Chicago. He graduated from Loyola University Chicago in 2009 with a degree in sociology, and was twice named the department’s student of the year. He received two fellowships for independent research and was an undergraduate research fellow for the Center for Urban Research and Learning, where he received the Kale Williams Award for Exceptional Work in Promoting Human Rights and Social Justice in 2009. He was an American Sociological Association honors student in 2008. At his first job out of college, as a cashier making minimum wage, he and his coworkers successfully organized a union. He has also worked as a paralegal for a tenants rights law firm and a freelance writer. Micah is fluent in English and Spanish.
