Onleilove Alston

Brady Banks

Brady Banks currently serves as director of the Mayor Karl Dean’s Office of Neighborhoods in Nashville, Tennessee. Brady is a former candidate for council at-large and worked for the Karl Dean for Mayor campaign as field director during the runoff election. Previously, he served as the hearings and appeals officer at the Tennessee Housing Development Agency. In 2003, Brady completed a project on affordable housing strategies of the Mayor’s Office, faith-based organizations and other affordable housing groups in Nashville through a grant from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. The research was later used in cities nationwide as part of an initiative through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Faith and Community-Based Initiatives Office called “Unlocking Doors.” Brady has worked as staff for local and state-level campaigns and has coordinated volunteers for national-level campaigns. He has also worked on foreign missions to Brazil and the Middle East and as a minister to various churches. He is a graduate of Mercer University (BA ’01) and Harvard Divinity School (MDIV ’05).

John Cosgriff

John Cosgriff is currently attending Harvard Divinity School where he is working towards a Masters in Religion, Ethics, and Politics. He is a graduate of Trinity College in Hartford, CT where he earned degrees in English and Religion in Public Life. He was an undergraduate fellow at the Leonard Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life, where he edited and wrote for the journal Religion in the News.   He has worked in Washington DC as a Communications Specialist for Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. Most recently he was Deputy Communications Director for Tom Perriello’s campaign in Virginia‘s 5th Congressional District. In this role, John handled online outreach and communications work, along with doing faith outreach to local evangelical communities in Southside Virginia.

Valerie Cousin

A finance manager for over twenty-five years, Valerie Cousin is currently a full-time student at Union Theological Seminary where she is studying preaching and worship and hopes to receive her Master of Divinity degree in May, 2009.  Valerie was ordained in May, 2007 and enjoys working for the social justice of others.  Valerie also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Alabama State University, and a Master of Public Administration degree from Seton Hall University.  Valerie has also done post graduate work at Teachers College, Columbia University.  She is the mother of two boys and is married to a pastor.

Elizabeth DeGear

Elizabeth B. DeGear is a pro-choice Catholic chaplain, wife, and mother of two.   With degrees from Brown University (B.A. 1990, magna cum laude and phi beta kappa) and Fordham University (M.A. 2001), she is currently working on her PhD in Psychiatry and Religion at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. In her twenties, Lizzie was a broadcast journalist with ABC News PrimeTime Live, first as head of their research department and then as Associate Producer. In 1999 she began training as a hospital chaplain and was certified with the National Association of Catholic Chaplains in 2002.  As a chaplain, her work with groups on the inpatient psychiatric unit affirmed for her the powerful and perilous connections between the human psyche and the divine.   In 2004 she had the opportunity to bring her passions for scripture and the psyche together in her PhD work at Union, where she is currently focusing on Hebrew Scripture and an exploration of the Unconscious of the Bible.

Ian Heston Doescher

Ian Heston Doescher is currently a Ph.D. student at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, focusing on issues of racial justice in the United States.  He graduated with an M.Div. from Yale Divinity School in 2005, and has a B.A. from Yale in Music (1998).  Ian is a strong supporter of Barack Obama, and has only recently felt called to mix his faith with his politics. Although he was born and raised in the Church of Christ (a small denomination that considers itself non-denominational), hestarted attention a Presbyterian Church after high school and is now a member of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).  He is currently a candidate certified ready to receive a call in the PCUSA.  He looks forward to the work to be done on FaithfulDemocrats.com, and to being a part of the challenge to mix faith and politics, particularly from the Democratic side of the aisle.

Jessica Kawamura

Jessica Kawamura is a second year master’s candidate at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley.  She is an alumna of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where she participated in the Interfaith Program House and volunteered at the local Boys and Girls Club.  After returning to the San Francisco Bay Area, Jessica has been active in her home church, teaching Sunday school and helping with youth activities.  She spent last summer as an intern with the Children’s Defense Fund in Washington, DC.  She is excited to be part of the Faithful Democrats Fellowship Program.

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Tabitha Knerr

Tabitha Knerr is a dual degree student at the University of Chicago, and with any luck will graduate with a Master of Divinity and Master of Public Policy in June 2009.  She attends Iglesia del Pueblo – Hope Center in Hammond, IN, but first discovered the glorious fruit of faith and politics while a member of Webster Groves Christian Church in St. Louis, MO.

William Ellis Hill

;Born in 1975 at Cherry Point Marine base in eastern North Carolina, William Hill was raised in an evangelical Baptist home. At the age of 13, Will moved to the Washington DC area where his father was stationed at the Pentagon.  Fascinated with all things political, Will graduated from Towson University with a BA in Political Science and has worked on several campaigns in communications, grassroots development, and as a political advisor. He also has a passion for the Arabic culture and language.  For years, Will has made a study of the great faiths which have found their roots in Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as well as trying to build bridges between the political and Christian communities. Will also tries to find answers to the cultural issues that sometimes separate Americans and stresses the inclusive message of Jesus Christ that all who believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved whether Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, Evangelical, or Episcopalian. Will currently writes and would like to work in political communications.

Jonathan Patrick Levine

Jonathan Patrick Levine is very excited to be a part of this wonderful community.  Raised by a couple of Democratic Party Activists, Jonathan Graduated from Cornell College, in Mt. Vernon, IA (“The real Cornell”) with a degree in Comparative Religion, and Theatre.  So it’s only logical that he would take this degree and forge a career in political campaigns.  After all, as the joke goes, you take a little Religion, and add a splash of theatre, and you have politics!  In his short but exciting career, Jonathan has had the chance to travel nearly the entire lengths of the country, working to bring Democrats to power.  He started his career working in a way he highly recommends to everyone: working for a candidate who is completely unopposed.  No primary, no general, just victory!  Since then he has worked on races on the local level (as co-field director of a race in St. Louis), State level (working as Campaign Manager for a race for State Treasurer in Missouri), Federal Level (working as Regional Field and GOTV director in southern Florida) and on the Presidential Level (working for Senator John Edwards in Iowa and Nevada).

Wilson Paine

Wilson Paine was born and raised in Maryville, TN (a small suburb outside of Knoxville, TN).  He is currently pursuing my Masters in Theological Studies at Harvard Divinity School.  From June – November 2008 he worked on the Obama campaign as a Field Organizer in Richmond, VA Working for Obama and being a part of his campaign further strengthened Wilson’s belief that the nexus between Faith and Politics is crucial to the progression of America‘s political discourse.  He is interested in the use of Religion in both American Politics as well as globally — particularly in regards to international development.  And in the end, he hopes you enjoy his posts, and are able to pull something away from each of them (whether it be agreement or not) so that we can continue this ever importance discourse of Faith and Politics.

Leigh Rogers

Hailing from Ann Arbor, Michigan, Leigh Rogers is a Midwestern transplant now settled in Brooklyn, New York.  After majoring in Religion at Denison University in Ohio, Leigh earned a Masters degree in Theology from Union Theological Seminary, graduating in May 2008.  Leigh has attempted to immerse herself in the political landscape of the progressive faith movement. She did her undergraduate Honors Thesis on Televangelism and the 2004 Presidential Election, as well as her Masters thesis on Religion and the American Dream.  In the summer of 2007, she was a Beatitudes Society Fellow where she interned at Sojourners for the Media and Marketing departments. She then became point-person and founder of the Beatitudes Society chapter at Union.  Her continuous interest in faith and politics is rooted in the belief that oppression and injustice can be eliminated–and faith restored–with policy such that the Democratic Party provides and hope that the Christian faith proclaims.