Anthony James W.

About Anthony James W.

I\'m a comprehensive and solution-oriented facilitator/trainer, project manager and excellent communication specialist with 15+ years of experience leading and managing community-informed social justice initiatives from initial ideation through to post-event debriefs. I earned my Ph.D. in Sociology and hold extensive practice in crafting, teaching, and facilitating original and pre-existing curricula to audiences as small as six and as large as thousands.My academic research centers racism across the carceral continuum and public spaces with a focus on solitary confinement.

Experience

1. Associate Program Officer & Project Manager

   Spencer Foundation

   Jul 2024 — Present · Chicago, IL, US

   I hold a dual role where I review 300+ grant proposals across five programs—helping to distribute $22 million in research grantmaking annually—and co-lead our Racial Equity program as well as planning and carrying out 12 convenings of grantees and new external research, practice, and policy actors from across the globe. I am the primary internal and external contact for these events, from start to finish. As a Project Manager, I also co-led the successful redesign of the Vision Grant Cohort Learning Series meeting structure and curriculum design with two of my superiors. Together, we refined the curriculum and altered the meeting structure to great praise from attendees and our President. For example, I noticed the Vision Grant teams sought systems change without examining decisionmaking power and system levers. I pitched, got approved, and then created a three-hour Power Mapping training that I now lead for every cohort. Using the successful case study of a $25 million prison divestment campaign that I helped win, I train them on mapping the actors, institutions, systems, and relationships between them.

Education

• UCLA

  Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, Sociology

  2017

• University of Cape Town

  Study Abroad, Sociology

  2014 — 2014

• UCLA

  Master of Philosophy - MPhil, Sociology

  2017 — 2020

• UCLA

  Master of Arts - MA, Sociology

  2017 — 2019

• Solano Community College

  Certificate of Completion, Actor Training Program

• University of California, Berkeley

  Bachelor's Degree, Major: Sociology, Minor: Theatre & Performance Studies

Skills

• Theatre
• Dance
• Television
• Event Planning
• Teaching
• Acting
• Directing
• Journalism
• Editing
• Media Production
• Fundraising
• Communication
• Social Media
• Performing Arts
• Writing
• Community Organizing
• Activism
• Copy Editing
• Shakespeare
• Nonprofits
• Public Speaking
• Microsoft Office
• Leadership
• Powerpoint