WHY JOURNEYS TO CHANGE?
ABBE MARCUS!
Your guide to the people, stories and places where history happened.
ABOUT US
OUR TEAM
ABBE MARCUS
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Abbe Marcus, has spent decades building relationships with people in communities throughout the country with lived wisdom and understandings of history and justice. Her educational and social justice experiences as the Co-Founder and Executive Director at J-Teen Leadership, and in positions at The Workers Circle, the 92nd St. Y, the Jewish Education Project and Westchester Jewish Community Services have shaped her passion for immersive and experiential learning. She has created, developed, and led numerous trips for teens and adults to Georgia, Alabama, Virginia, Washington, DC, Detroit, Charleston, Oklahoma City and Nashville, immersing participants in the sites' civil rights history, exposing them to life-changing narratives from leaders and activists, and creating community service activities. She is curious about people and history and believes every journey is an adventure, every journey can be life changing. Abbe is an active board member of Foot Soldiers Park and Westchester Jewish Coalition for Immigration (WJCI).
AARON MARCUS
PROGRAM DIRECTOR
Aaron Marcus is a researcher, writer, and filmmaker interested in history, memory and the complicated links between them. He worked on the 2021 documentary In Search of Monsters (aka Guantanamo Diary Revisited), which was awarded Germany’s prestigious Stern Prize for journalism in 2022. Aaron studied social sciences and German at Wesleyan University, and has an MA in European Studies from the Freie Universität Berlin. In 2006 Aaron helped cofound J-Teen Leadership alongside Amanda Bilski.
RONNIE SIEGEL
MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS
After earning a BFA in communication design, Ronnie Siegel held graphic design positions in both advertising agencies and non-profit organizations. Eventually she combined her right-brain passion for visually communicating stories with her left brain curiosity for marketing strategy by earning an MBA in Marketing. Her business and design skills led her to positions at the 92nd St. Y, Citigroup and J-Teen Leadership, where she had the great fortune and privilege of working with Abbe and helping J-Teen Leadership innovate and grow. Ronnie was in the first cohort to complete Westchester County's Launch 1000 entrepreneurial accelerator program and, in addition to working with Journeys to Change, has her own freelance graphic design business.
OUR MISSION
The mission of JOURNEYS TO CHANGE is to move you to another place in your understanding of people, places and history by getting close to the past, hearing unfiltered narratives, and interacting with local people through volunteer experiences. Our goal is to inspire and empower you to take action and get involved in your community and beyond.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
SUSAN ATKINS
Sue Atkins has over 40 years of experience in finance, almost all of it in Corporate Restructuring. During her career she led many high-profile bankruptcy reorganizations in the Telecom industry, the auto sector during the 2007 Financial crisis and most recently working with stressed and distressed situations in Covid impacted industries globally. She most recently served as the Global Head of the Special Credits Group at JPMorgan. Sue serves on the Board of HerJustice, a non-profit organization that provides legal support for women living in poverty in New York City and is also a founding Board member and former Chair of LItWorld, a global literacy organization where she continues to serve as an emeritus board member.
JOYCE SHARROCK COLE
Award winning Historian and Genealogist Joyce Sharrock Cole is dedicated to helping others know themselves by knowing their family histories. Cole is a native of Ossining, where she serves as the Village Historian. She recently launched a genealogical research business, JSC Research LLC, where anyone can hire her to dig into their family for them.
APRIL HAMPTON
In 2014, after attending a Jewish Seder, A.W. Hampton, a resident of Montgomery, Alabama felt the desire to bring a condensed, unified history to African-Americans that can be easily shared in one sitting over a “soul food” meal. She created the seder as a way to keep the legacy of her forefathers and mothers strong and to pass on to the youth. She also sees the importance of creating a table to invite others to, to gain the same understanding and appreciation for the African-American community as a people, that she gained towards the Jewish experience by having the opportunity to participate at their table.
JAN FISHER
Jan Fisher has devoted her career to empowering nonprofit organizations, the people served and the nonprofit workforce. As the Executive Director of Nonprofit Westchester, she brings 300+ members together to advocate with one voice, demonstrate the strength and impact of the nonprofit sector, share ideas and expertise, and facilitate learning and collaboration with nonprofit, business and government partners. Deeply committed to equity and justice, Jan believes we must confront the underlying issues that create barriers to the full and equitable inclusion of all people in community life, and work together to dismantle systemic racism, ableism, and heterosexism.
Jan currently serves on the boards of directors of the Youth Shelter Program of Westchester, Journeys to Change, the Westchester Putnam Workforce Development Board, the Westchester County Association, the Public Private Partnership for Aging, and the Westchester COAD (Community Organizations Active in Disaster). She sits on Governor Hochul’s Not-for-Profit Advisory Committee, the Advisory Committee for the Westchester Center for Racial Equity, and is a member of the Westchester County Suicide Prevention Task Force.
Click here to learn more about Michelle Browder.
RABBI SHIRA MILGROM
Rabbi Shira Milgrom, Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Kol Ami in White Plains, NY, reflects a generation of rabbis who passionately create extraordinary encounters with Jewish texts, rituals and traditions that merge the intimate and personal with the grand vision of Judaism and the Jewish people.
Rabbi Milgrom has traveled throughout North America bringing Jews closer to the words of Torah and Jewish self-expression. Rabbi Milgrom is the author of articles on Jewish spirituality, education and healing. She has been the keynote speaker in major American conferences ranging from young leadership, women and feminism to issues facing the aging and the elderly.
OUR ADVISORY BOARD
JOANNE BLAND
During her lifetime, Joanne Bland has been both a witness and a participant in some of our nation's most consequential civil rights battles. Born and raised in Selma, Alabama, Joanne has seen first-hand how racism and segregation created a deadly divide between two races. Bland was a highly active participant in the Civil Rights Movement from her earliest days, and was the youngest person to have been jailed during any civil rights demonstration during that period.
Her passion for the movement inspired Joanne to co-found the National Voting Rights Museum in Selma, Alabama, where she was the former director. Today, Joanne remains a civil rights activist and tour director.
Click on her website, Journeys for the Soul to learn more about Joanne Bland.
MICHELLE BROWDER
Michelle Browder, a nationally recognized artist and activist, is bringing light to racial disparities in healthcare through art, history, and long-overdue conversations. Her work has been exhibited in four galleries, including the Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery, Alabama. She is the Executive and Artistic Director of the More Up Campus Capitol Campaign — which seeks to participate in the national reckoning around race in the United States by finding creative ways to honor the voiceless, the minimalized, and the ignored.
Michelle is also the owner and operator of More Than Tours, a tour company which provides educational tours about racial bias and history to students and tourists in Montgomery, Alabama.
Click here to learn more about Michelle Browder.
RABBI STEVEN KANE
Rabbi Steven Kane had been the spiritual leader at CSI for 30 years. With a balance between tradition and the needs of our times, Rabbi Kane developed rituals and observances that allow our members to express feelings as individuals and as a community in meaningful ways.
Rabbi Kane received his master’s degree and rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary. In 2012 he was awarded a Doctor of Divinity honorus causa by JTS. He also holds a Bachelor in Hebrew Literature from the University of Judaism (now American Jewish University) and a B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis. He is a Senior Rabbinic Fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute and is currently President of the Lower Hudson Valley Rabbinical Assembly. He has served as a member of the Rabbinical Assembly Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS), where he composed the guidelines for High Holiday services for Conservative synagogues during Covid. He hails from the “holy city” of Chicago and is an avid fan of the Chicago Cubs and baseball in general.
ILANA TRACHTMAN
IIlana Trachtman has produced and directed Emmy award-winning nonfiction programs for twenty years, for networks such as PBS, HBO Family, ABC-TV, Showtime, Lifetime, Discovery, A&E, and the Sundance channel. Concerned with bearing witness, Ilana’s work strives for immediate, irresistible human recognition across difference. Ilana’s independent feature documentary, Praying with Lior, about the spirituality and Bar Mitzvah of a boy with Down syndrome, played theatrically in 60 cities in the US and abroad. The film received six Audience Awards for Best Documentary, the Grand Prix at the International Disability Film Festival, and was a critic’s pick of the New York Times. Most recently, Ilana’s film for WHYY, The Pursuit: 50 Years in the Fight for LGBT Rights, was awarded the Mid-Atlantic Emmy for Best Documentary.
REV. ERWIN LEE TROLLINGER, JR.
Rev. Erwin Lee Trollinger, Jr. attended Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia, majoring in Social Work and Theology. He earned his Master’s Degree in Sacred Theology at the Christ Theological Seminary in Yonkers, New York.
Rev. Trollinger has served as the sixth pastor of The Calvary Baptist Church of White Plains since 2011. In 2017, Rev. Trollinger accepted an appointment to become the International President and Patron for the Agape Christian Ministers College in Kumasi, Ghana.
Rev. Trollinger served as Chaplin at The Sing Sing Correctional Facility of the State of New York and has been keynote speakers at Yale, Hofstra, Westchester & Nassau Community Colleges, Stony Brook, as well as Binghamton Universities.
Rev. Trollinger worked for Abbott House Children & Family Services for 17 years and became a foster parent for older boys in the foster care system.
Rev. Trollinger’s personal ministry motto for over 42 years is: “Lord let me decrease that thou might increase”
Click here to learn more about Reverend Trollinger.
EVA ZASLOFF
Eva Zasloff is thrilled to join the advisory board of Journeys to Change. She had the honor of working with Abbe Marcus through the Workers Circle, a secular Jewish social justice and education organization. While there together, Eva acted in a supporting role on Abbe’s extraordinary Civil Rights trips to Alabama, Georgia, Virginia, and DC.
Eva has served on the Workers Circle Board of Directors since 2012, and has been active in the Manhattan Workers Circle School (MWCS) since 2010, serving as the MWCS Board President, Curriculum Coordinator, and Teen Community Service leader. Since 1993, she has been working at Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn as a 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade teacher. Her collaborations with Abbe in the Workers Circle have enabled Eva to re-engage in the world of Jewish education and activism, and to renew her commitment to making the world a better place.