Ben Brown is a Senior Attorney for Land of Lincoln Legal Aid, Inc and has worked in its Springfield Office since 1996. He spent 16 years focusing his practice on the law as it applies to senior citizens and caregivers of senior citizens. He also spent 8 years as the Elder Law Task Force Coordinator for Land of Lincoln. He now focuses on Bankruptcy, Consumer Law, Foreclosure defense, and expungement and sealing of criminal records.

Deidra Frisbie, DNP, APRN, FNP-C is a Neurovascular Nurse Practitioner in the Department of Neurology at SIU School of Medicine. She works, inpatient, on the Stroke Service at Springfield Memorial Hospital. Deidra earned her Doctorate in Nursing Practice at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and, she graduated from the University of St. Francis with her Master’s degree as a Family Nurse Practitioner. Prior to joining SIU School of Medicine and the SMH Stroke team, she spent many years on the Trauma/Surgical/Neurology Intensive Care Unit at SMH. Deidra is board certified by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and has a special interest in understanding and improving racial inequity in medicine.

My research and teaching specialties are Social Inequality/Stratification and Social Psychology with a focus on race and ethnicity, and intersectionality. These guide my instructional approach, as well as my public engagement and research. My work uncovers how oppressive systems variably affect Black group members with intersecting identities as Black people attempt social mobility and well-being. This work is usually done through investigations of social support as a concept in the social psychology of inequality. My Master’s Thesis was a quantitative analysis of social support and depressive symptoms of African American and Afro-Caribbean women. My dissertation was a qualitative analysis of social support for economic mobility of Black women by immigration status.

I am now a mixed methods researcher, engaging students and community members in various aspects of both qualitative and quantitative research that helps solve community issues. I abide by a transformative-emancipatory worldview in my research. The transformative-emancipatory paradigm conveys the notion that social research should be conducted with the ultimate goal of achieving justice and alleviating inequality and inequities. The paradigm, also found largely in feminist research, places the center of importance on the experiences and voices of marginalized social groups, providing avenues for oppressed groups to speak for themselves and to speak truth to power.

I have engaged in participatory action research with Black students at a Predominate White Institution (PWI) project to investigate social support for Black college student retention. This research included the formation of a university-level Freedom School where students engaged with community and university leaders for change.

I am co-PI with Rev. Dr. Karla J. Cooper, Presiding Elder in the Fifth Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church on research that provides mental health services to Black pastors, investigates social support for sustainable ministry, and addresses inequalities and social justice in the Black church. This latest work was initially funded at $50,000, then later funded for $1M over five years by the Lilly Foundation and the Duke University School of Divinity, and recently awarded another $500,000 to sustain and spread the work. The Lilly Foundation has also award me and Dr. Cooper with a $55,000 grant to develop research regarding authenticity in pastoral leadership.

I am now also engaged with Black Springfield citizens in multi-year ethnographic research on “The State of Black Springfield,” where community members and leaders speak to and strategize on issues regarding the effects of historical redlining and residential segregation on current access to resources for economic mobility and community well-being. This research involves an annual conference as well as mixed-methods investigation.

I was raised in Atlanta, Georgia, flunked out of college twice, and had a baby “out of wedlock.” Upon my return to Atlanta, I obtained employment with a Fortune 500 corporation, where I advanced from secretary to contract negotiator in five years, handling multiple million-dollar transportation contracts. I left corporate life after experiencing sexual harassment (from a Black male) and refusing to report it. I later returned to school at Georgia Perimeter College, then obtained my Bachelor of Science in Sociology from Charleston Southern University in 2006, my Master of Arts in Sociology from the University of Nebraska (UNL) in 2010, and my Ph.D. in Sociology from UNL in 2016.

I am a Black, Southern, never-married single mother who kept trying. I gratefully came out as queer at the age of 46 and received my Ph.D. at the age of 50. I am grateful for all of the social support that I have received along the way, and utilize every resource possible to advocate for the social support, well-being, and economic mobility of Black people wherever I go.

T. Ray McJunkins accepted the call to serve as Lead Pastor at Union Baptist Church of Springfield, Illinois, July 31, 2002. As a beacon light to the African American community, Pastor McJunkins is only the 4th pastor at Union Baptist in over a century. Union Baptist Church and Central Illinois are both blessed to have him as a community leader.

A Native of North Little Rock ArkansasHusband to the former Phyllis R. Gougis Father of two adult daughters Marleachia and ChelseaCo-Founder and Past President, Faith Coalition for the Common Good (FCCG)Past President, Wood River Baptist Dist. Congress of Christian EdPast Board Member Habitat for Humanity of Sangamon County Pastor Board Member Boy and Girls Club of Central IllinoisPast President, Gamaliel Foundation of Illinois, and IowaPast Board Member Springfield Urban LeaguePast Board Member United Way of Illinois Past Board Member Contact Ministries

Currently serves as:

• 2nd Vice-President of Congress of Christian EducationBaptist General State Convention of Illinois
• Member of R3 (Restore, Reinvest, Renew) Steering and Planning Committee
• Member of American Legion Post 809
• Member of Prince Hall Masonic Lodge #3
• Secretary of Mu Delta Lambda Charitable Foundation
• Member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Mu Delta Lambda Chapter
• Secretary of Springfield Baptist Pastors Fellowship
• Co-Chair Illinois High Speed Rail Commission

Educational background includes:

• Associate Degree, Management from Capital City Business College, Little Rock, Arkansas
• BA in Business Administration, Kansas Wesleyan University, Salina, Kansas
• Certificates and Diplomas of Completion, Arkansas Baptist College in Old/New Testament Studies, Preaching Styles and Techniques
• Studies in Sociology and Psychology
• Seminary Studies and Christian Counseling Therapist Certification from Christian Bible College and Seminary, Independence, Missouri
• BA and MA, Christian Ministry from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Kansas City, Missouri

Lynette oversees the Demonstration Center, Deice Loan Program and Special Projects for IATP. She has worked in most programs at IATP and enjoys her job as it is very rewarding to help someone find a device that can enrich their lives.

Before working for Illinois Assistive Technology Program, she worked for Springfield School District 186 working with at risk children and their families to find services and resources that enabled them to continue to live, go to school and thrive in their communities.

She has also lived all over the world as both her father and husband were career military. Lynette has 2 children and 3 dogs, and is an avid reader and enjoys traveling.

Wendi Wills El-Amin, M.D. is the Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. She is a Professor at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in the Department of Family Medicine where she provides care at the Center for Family Medicine in Springfield. Dr. El-Amin is dually appointed to the SIU’s Department of Medical Education where she serves as an academic strategist.

She completed her residency in family practice and community medicine as chief resident at the University of Texas-Houston (2001). She earned her medical degree at Georgetown Medical School (1998) and a bachelor’s degree in biology at Hampton University in Virginia (1993).

She is presently a board member of the Community Foundation of the Land of Lincoln. Springfield YMCA, and Springfield Memorial Hospital and Foundation. She is the recipient of the 2023 SIUSOM Leonard Tow Humanism award, 2023 Athena Award, the J. Dorsey Teaching Award in 2022, Springfield chapter of N.A.A.C.P. Webster award, and was named one of the 2022 Women of Influence from the Springfield Business Journal.

She has a passion for addressing health disparities and inequities in healthcare.