Cynthia Brown
Durham, NC Cynthia Brown is the principal consultant of The Sojourner Group, a business she founded to help non-profit groups strengthen their leadership and address their organizational development issues. She also is a grassroots organizer and leader, former Durham City Councilwoman and a 2002 candidate for the United States Senate.

A native of Reidsville, North Carolina, has an undergraduate degree in political science from Bennett College for Women and a Master of Public Affairs degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. As a W.K. Kellogg National Fellow, Brown studied cultural, racial and economic justice issues in Australia, Brazil, Guatemala, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Egypt, New Zealand and Chile.

Brown's many organizational affiliations include the N.C. Coalition on Black and Brown Civic Participation, of which she is a founding member, the Latino Community Development Center, the N.C. Conservation Network, Democracy NC and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

Patricia Clark
Nyack, NY Pat Clark is executive director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the United States affiliate of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation, an organization with programs that advocate for demilitarization an nuclear disarmament, racial and economic justice, and peaceful resolution of conflicts.

A graduate of Smith College, Clark's previously served as the National Criminal Justice Representative for the American Friends Service Committee, focusing on such issues as the death penalty, hate crimes, prison reform, alternatives to incarceration, juvenile justice and restorative justice. Before that she was director of the Southern Poverty Law Center's KlanWatch Project.

Her current community involvement includes service on the boards of directors of the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana. She also is a member of the Moratorium Campaign Advisory Board and the Board of Advisors of Habitat for Humanity International, an organization with which she served 12 years in Africa.

Muktha Jost
Greensboro, NC Muktha Jost is an associate professor of curriculum and instruction in the School of Education at N.C. A&T State University. Her work focuses on areas including teacher education, instructional technology and multicultural education. She also is active in the Community Dialogue on Education's efforts to improve and support public schools.

A native of India who came to the United States in 1984, Jost has a Ph.D. in instructional technology from Iowa State University, a master's in journalism and mass communications from the University of Kansas, and a bachelor's degree in public relations from Madras University, Madras, India.

Jost, with her husband and two children, is an active member of New Garden Friends Meeting, where she works in the soup kitchen and community garden. She also is a board member of the group Right Sharing of World Resources.

Angela Lawrence
Greensboro, NC Angela Lawrence is a counselor, certified nursing assistant and community activist with a long history of work focusing on education and neighborhood development. She is an advocate for children in the public schools and a priestess-in-training, focusing on aspects of Yoruba culture including rites of passage, self-sufficiency and sisterhood.

A former residents council vice president of the Ray Warren Homes public housing community, Lawrence's experience includes serving as a cheerleading coach, as a relocation assistant for Montagnard immigrants and as a caregiver for the elderly.

Born and raised in Greensboro, Lawrence graduated from Page High School and earned her CNA license from Guilford Technical Community College, where she currently is pursuing a degree in psychology.

Bob Peters
Greensboro, NC Robert Peters is a retired corporate attorney who spent more than 40 years with eight different companies in the AT&T enterprise. In retirement, he works as an arbitrator for the N.C. District Court and the Better Business Bureau

A Michigan native, Peters has an electrical engineering degree from the University of Detroit, a law degree from Georgetown University and a master's of law in intellectual property, trade regulation and government contracts from George Washington University.

Peters also is a legal educator who has taught courses on commercial law with an emphasis on purchasing and sales contracts, dispute resolution and intellectual property. A member of St. Pius X Catholic Church, he also interviews candidates for admittance to Georgetown University.

Mark Sills
Randleman, NC Rev. Mark Sills is executive director of Greensboro's FaithAction International House, an interfaith, interracial, multicultural organization working to form a united community of many cultures. He also is facilitator for the group Religious Leaders of Greensboro, and a leader of retreats focused on healing racism.

After graduating from high school in Lincolnton, North Carolina, Sills earned his bachelor's degree in religion and philosophy from Greensboro College, his master's in World Christianity from Duke University, and his doctorate in comparative social ethics from the Wesley Theological Seminary of American University in Washington, D.C.

Sills is the former executive director of the Greensboro Urban Ministry and former president of the Human Services Institute. He also has served as an assistant Boy Scout leader, a board member of the Piedmont Interfaith Council, and as a speaker for numerous events, including Greensboro's 2004 Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast.

Barbara Walker
Greensboro, NC Barbara Walker is a retired manager with Wrangler Corporation and remains active in the community with the YWCA of Greensboro, where she previously served as board president, and the League of Women Voters.

Walker is a graduate of what is now Grimsley High School (formerly Greensboro Senior High School) and has an English degree from what is now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (formerly Women's College).

In addition to her work on the board of the YWCA of Greensboro, Walker was formerly a member of the board of directors for GCTV (Public Access Cable 8), and a member of the Family and Children's Services Advisory Committee.