Executive Director
Aramenta Hawkins is an experienced community and campaign coordinator with a passion for racial and social justice, and a successful track record of working for nonprofit organizations. She was raised in Southern California, where she was involved in creating outreach programs for the inner city youth of Los Angeles through her family’s nonprofit organization, Sports Spectacular. Later, she attended Chico State, received a BA in Communications and worked as a coordinator for several local grassroots organizations, such as Frack-Free Butte County.The Board
Rain Scher was born in occupied Palestine (Israel) and grew up mostly in occupied Gabrielino (Los Angeles) and Ohlone (Bay Area) territories. Their ancestors came to Turtle Island from Sweden, Germany, England/Ireland/Scotland, Golitzia & Russia by way of the Jewish Diaspora. They became an activist in high school with the post 9/11 invasion of Iraq. They moved to occupied Mechoopda territory (aka Chico) in 2004 and have lived in Chico off and on since then. They are a full time community organizer and volunteer with many different groups and causes. Over the years they have been a part of groups like Food Not Bombs and Safe Space, and organized events like the Women’s March on Chico. They are a passionately intersectional queer anarchist feminist. They currently focus most of their activism on the Justice for Desmond Phillips campaign, SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice) Butte County, and the Stonewall Alliance Center.
Wayne Crooks is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over 35 years of experience in the field of mental health and social services. His tenure in the field includes work with children and adolescents, adults and couples. His experience includes working in correctional institutions, outpatient clinics, inpatient hospital, school based health programs, therapeutic foster care, residential treatment and the corporate setting. In his role as a health educator Mr. Crooks was instrumental in shaping the efficient delivery of health care services to students in the Dallas public school system. As a therapist Mr. Crooks has focused primarily on treating depression, anxiety, adjustment disorders and ADD/ADHD.Mr. Crooks’ experience is supported by a Master of Science in Social Work from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and a Bachelor of Science in Social Work from the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh. He also completed a clinical internship through the nationally recognized Dallas Child and Family Guidance Center. As a graduate student Mr. Crooks was a recipient of the Advanced Opportunity Fellowship.
Currently Mr. Crooks is a facilitator for the Alternatives to Violence Project, a member of the Board of Directors for the Chico Peace & Justice Center and an activist living in Chico, California.
Michael J. Coyle, Ph.D. moved to the US in his early twenties from Mykonos, Greece. He joined the Chico community in 2007 with his partner Anne, when he accepted a faculty position at California State University, Chico in the Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice. He has a scholarly background in the Humanities and Justice Studies (Harvard University & Arizona State University) and an activist background in human rights for people in prison. In all his work he engages the social construction of the excluded and discarded persons of our community (people of color, the underclass, the homeless, the imprisoned, and those identified for their difference from promoted norms –characterized as “unlike us,” “dangerous,” or “punishment-worthy”). His teaching and research center on penal abolition, transformative/restorative justice, the “criminal” system, and ethics. His activism – on campus, in Chico, and in national & international community contexts – has centered on leading or participating in groups engaging white supremacy, racial capitalism, and violence in everyday life, labor abuses, and a continuously shifting array of justice topics as they emerge (“criminal justice” system abuses, community justice projects, indigenous persons’ rights, governing abuses, and more). He maintains an active publishing schedule, with recent books including, Talking Criminal Justice: Language and the Just Society (Routledge 2013) and Seeing Crime: Penal Abolition as the End of Utopian Criminal Justice (forthcoming).
Peter Hoffman, board secretary, is a current resident of Quincy, CA and a resident of Chico for eight years. Grew-up in the South Bay and was an Americorp, City Year participant in Chicago. Really enthused about being a Chico community member – the most welcoming, large community he’s ever lived in.
Julia Murphy has lived in Chico for over twenty years and has participated in many community events and groups. She is a teacher, artist, community advocate, and co-founder of Pedal Press.
Volunteers
Loki uses he/they pronouns and has been a CPJC volunteer for one year in the IT department. He grew up in Chico, CA, and goes to school at Chico State where he is majoring in mechatronic engineering and is the president of the Chico For Animal Rights club. He is passionate about animal rights, as well as other social justice issues.