Meet the Families Valued Leadership Council

In 2021, the Center for Public Justice Families Valued Program convened a council of leaders from different Christian traditions and theological perspectives, walks and stages of life, and spheres of expertise, to reflect together on what paid family leave could look like in the United States. The council undertook shared learning, dialogue and an intentional negotiation of common ground principles, rooted in a Christian understanding of human dignity, the possibility of solidarity, and the responsibility of citizens to work across differences in order to build a just common life.

Khadija Garrison Adams
Co-founder of Black Lactation Circle (BLaC) of Ohio, Leader and Chief Facilitator, On Neutral Ground

Khadija Garrison Adams is the co-founder of Black Lactation Circle (BLaC) of Ohio. She is also the leader and chief facilitator of On Neutral Ground, a virtual and in-person movement for cross-cultural understanding from a Christian worldview. She takes great joy in using good words and better listening skills to illuminate the perspective of others. A proud New Orleanian, Khadija, her husband, children, and their very affectionate Rottweiler now live on an unexpectedly bucolic tract of land in Columbus, Ohio.

Dr. Denise Daniels
Hudson T. Harrison Professor of Entrepreneurship, Wheaton College 

Denise Daniels is the Hudson T. Harrison Professor of Entrepreneurship at Wheaton College (IL). Formerly, she was a Professor of Management at Seattle Pacific University’s (SPU) School of Business, Government, and Economics, where she also served as Associate Dean, Interim Dean, and Associate Vice President for Strategic Initiatives. Dr. Daniels’ primary interests are in the areas of meaningful work, sabbath, leadership, gender, and motivation. She is also an active participant in the faith at work movement, presenting at a number of faith-at-work groups across the country.

Kristen Day
Executive Director, Democrats for Life of America

Kristen Day is the Executive Director of Democrats For Life of America. Previously, she worked on Capitol Hill, where some of her passions were working to pass pro-life and pro-family legislation and advocating for Democrats who oppose abortion. She is the author of Democrats For Life: Pro-Life Politics and the Silenced Majority published by New Leaf Press in July 2006.

Judy Wu Dominick
Writer, Musician 

Judy Wu Dominick is a wife, a mother, a writer, a singer/songwriter/musician, a cross-cultural bridge builder, a mentor to young women, and an advocate for marginalized people. She worked in the medical field for a total of 10 years. Judy is now focused on promoting interracial healing in both the church and our country through speaking and writing, including her newsletter, Life Reconsidered.

Rev. Sekinah Hamlin*
Justice and Witness Minister, United Church of Christ                                                   

Rev. Sekinah Hamlin is currently the Minister for Economic Justice at the United Church of Christ where she leads advocacy for economic justice, medical debt relief, and reparatory justice. She was the first African American female and youngest person to serve as President of the North Carolina Council of Churches. A longtime pastor in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), she has served local congregations and in non-profit organizational leadership, including the Ecumenical Poverty Initiative and the Faith & Credit Roundtable. She is a graduate of Bennett College for Women, Howard University, and Duke University Divinity School.

Dr. Steve McMullen
Associate Professor of Economics, Hope College

Steve McMullen is an Associate Professor of Economics at Hope College. He serves as executive editor of the journal Faith & Economics and hosts the podcast Faithful Economy, both associated with the Association of Christian Economists. He contributes regularly to the blog of the Christian Scholars Review. Much of his recent academic work lies at the intersection of moral philosophy and economics. His current book project is a debate about redistribution and the welfare state. He received his B.A. from Bethel College and his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Jena Lee Nardella
Partner, PRAXIS 

Jena Lee Nardella is a Partner at Praxis, a creative engine for redemptive entrepreneurship.  She believes deeply in building the durability and sustainability of nonprofit organizations and leaders. At the age of 21, she co founded Blood:Water alongside the band Jars of Clay; and under her leadership, the organization raised more than $20M to provide grants to grassroots organizations addressing HIV/AIDS and water in sub-Saharan Africa. Jena recounts her entrepreneurial and spiritual journey in her memoir, One Thousand Wells: How an Audacious Goal Taught Me to Love the World Instead of Save It. Jena lives in the Boston area with her husband and two children.

Grace Olmstead
Journalist 

Grace Olmstead is a freelance journalist. She focuses chiefly on farming, community, and family. Her writing has been published in The American Conservative, The Week, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal, among others. Her book, Uprooted: Recovering the Legacy of the Places We’ve Left Behind, was published in 2021.

Dr. Julie Hanlon Rubio
Professor of Christian Social Ethics, Jesuit School of Theology

Dr. Julie Hanlon Rubio is a Professor of Christian Social Ethics at Jesuit School of Theology (JST). She serves on the National Review Board which collaborates with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in their response to clergy sexual abuse. Her research brings the resources of social ethics to bear on issues of sex, gender, marriage, and family. She is the author of multiple books including A Christian Theology of Marriage and Family (2003), Hope for Common Ground: Mediating the Personal and the Political in a Divided Church (2016), and a current book project, Catholic and Feminist: Is it Still Possible?

Leah Libresco Sargeant
Writer

Leah is a freelance writer, covering religion, statistics, and as much theater as she can get tickets for. In her day jobs, she’s been a public policy researcher, a news writer for FiveThirtyEight, a curriculum developer, a lay student minister, and Public Discourse Chief of Staff at Better Angels. She is the author of Arriving at Amen: Seven Catholic Prayers that Even I Can Offer, Building the Benedict Option, and the newsletter, “Other Feminisms.”

Kaitlyn Schiess
Writer, Th.D. student, Duke University

Kaitlyn Schiess graduated from Liberty University in 2016. While a master’s student at Dallas Theological Seminary, Kaitlyn authored The Liturgy of Politics, to introduce Christians who had not previously connected spirituality and politics to new questions about our political work, our corporate worship, our spiritual disciplines, and how all of these things might be more connected than we think. She is currently completing a Ph.D. at Duke University as she continues to write about theology, politics, and culture.

Rev. Amy Ziettlow
Pastor, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Writer

Amy Ziettlow is ordained in the mainline Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and serves as pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Decatur, IL.  She has served in end-of-life care as a chaplain and COO of The Hospice of Baton Rouge. She is co-author (with law professor, Naomi Cahn) of Homeward Bound: Modern Families, Elder Care and Loss based on a study she led of Gen X caregiving and grieving. She is a dancer, spouse, and mother.

*Proposal Advisor/Contributor