Staff

John Zeigler
Managing Director, Egan Urban Center Projects
Phone: 312.362.6524
Email: jzeigler@depaul.edu

For the last twenty five years he has worked in the capacity of counselor, educator, community and social activist, lobbyist, therapist, researcher, and creative artist in Chicago communities.  He’s the founder of the youth community development initiative called Connextions International, which was designed to develop adolescents into conscious community builders. For over 12 years these students traveled to Central America and West Africa, where they were involved in community building projects such as: building a primary school, a medical facility for elders, and a library in Ghana and Ecuador. John has been awarded the Peace Corp’s Loret Miller Ruppe Award for Outstanding Community Service, Young Chicago Authors Wallace Douglas Distinguished Service Award, and the State of Illinois, “Everyday Hero”.
Currently, John is the Director of DePaul University’s Egan Urban Center (EUC). The Center’s focus is to extend the opportunities for DePaul University to collaborate with its metropolitan community and to address critical urban problems, alleviate poverty and promote social justice through teaching, service and scholarship. One of the Center’s current projects is the CPS Volunteer School Choice Project where the EUC helps CPS negotiate and implement community partnerships. John also is the Coordinator of the Englewood Community Cultural Planning Council, which uses arts and culture to address social issues in Chicago’s Englewood community. John is also the Executive Director of Connextions International which is a small non- profit that uses: education, cultural awareness, appropriate technology, and skill building to help support systems for self-help and social change  in under-resourced communities.
He received his bachelor of science at Roosevelt University and a Masters in Social Work from the Jane Addams School of Social Work at University of Illinois in Chicago. He is currently working on a Doctorate in Education at DePaul University where his research interest is the process of democracy within an informal organization and how does that deliberate into action steps. John sits on many boards and belongs to numerous national and local organizations.

Maurya Delaney
Research Assistant, Egan Urban Center Projects
Phone: 312.362.6518
Email: mdelane5@depaul.edu

Maurya Delaney is a Masters student in the Social and Cultural Foundations in Education program in the School of Education at DePaul University. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Women’s Studies from the University of Denver. She has worked in education in many capacities including a third and fourth grade elementary school teacher, an adult English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher, a tutor, and an after school program manager. Her graduate study interests are in the informal education processes involved in the problem-solving and decision-making process in community organizations. She is also interested in community participation and how it relates to empowerment and collective community change.

Nadya Engler
Research Associate, Egan Urban Center Projects
Phone: 312.362.8990
Email: nengler@depaul.edu

Nadya Engler has nearly ten years of experience conducting quantitative and qualitative, theoretical, policy, and applied research on poverty, participation, domestic violence, youth, education, and the role of civil society. She has worked on numerous needs assessments, evaluations, research studies, and program designs. She has extensive experience in the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, running youth participation and policy programs and conducting and contributing to major research projects in conjunction with a variety of local and international partners. Engler was the Policy Research Manager for a prominent Palestinian civil society organization from 2003-2005. When not working with the Egan Urban Center, she is the lead researcher for a Palestinian consulting firm, Associates in Building Capacity Consulting, that specializes in evaluation, assessment, strategic planning, and capacity building and maintains a long list of local and international development agencies and non-governmental organizations as its clients. Engler also works as an independent consultant in the United States.

Jamika Jackson
Community Coordinator, Egan Urban Center Projects
Phone: 312.362.5875
Email: jjacks56@depaul.edu 

Jamika Jackson, the Community Coordinator at the Egan Urban Center, is currently involved in the CPS School Choice Initiative.  She is an active grassroots organizer for and co-founder of the National Block Club University, an organization devoted to combating crime and promoting active citizenship in 167 disenfranchised neighborhoods suffering from some of the worst violence rates in the United States. A seasoned mentor and trainer, Jackson graduated from the University of Tennessee at Martin with a BA in Human Environmental Sciences and a special concentration in Family Consumers Sciences, and later earned a MA in Community Development from North Park University in Chicago. Jackson is particularly interested in models of human and social development that employ participatory community-driven approaches.

Erin Sadzewicz
Research Intern
Phone: 312.362.6518
E-mail: esadzewi@depaul.edu

Erin Sadzewicz is a master's student in the Social and Cultural Foundations in Education program. She recieved her Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Linguistics from Truman State University in Missouri. Her interests are in education and educational policy as it connects to larger sociopolitical formations, especially globalization and the structures of inequality. She is currently involved with the Chicago Public Schools project.

Liezl Alcantara
Research Intern
E-mail: lalcant1@depaul.edu

Liezl Alcantara is a master’s and doctorate degree student in Community Psychology. Her interests are in “ promoting healthy communities and using notions of social capital, empowerment, participatory research methods and participatory planning.” She also spent her time studying in Florence, Italy and later teaching English in South Korea which deepened her interest in diverse populations. Her commitment to asset-based community development (ABCD) — identifying and applying a community’s assets in service of its needs and its needy - brought her to the EUC.

Michelle Flores
Community Coordinator Assistant, Egan Urban Center Projects
Phone: 312.362.6518
E-mail: mflores6@depaul.edu

Michelle Flores is a master’s degree student in the Social Work-Community Practice program in the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences at DePaul University. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from DePaul University. Michelle has worked in various social service settings such as  community based organizations, hospitals and has worked in the legal setting as a DUI court monitor. Currently, Michelle serves as the full-time representative in the Master of Social Work Student Association (MSWSA). Her graduate study interests are grass-roots community organizing, participatory action research and policy issues around education and immigration. 

Vivian Alvarez
Office Coordinator
Phone: 312.362.6224
E-mail: valvare3@depaul.edu

Vivian Alvarez earned a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from DePaul's College of Commerce and is looking into furthering her education with a degree in Master of Arts in Art Education at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In addition, Ms. Alvarez will work towards a Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies at DePaul University. She has nine years of professional experience in the non-profit field with recent artwork exhibited at the Smart Museum in the University of Chicago. She worked in an adoption agency in Northbrook, as an art instructor in a gallery in Park Ridge, as a CPS SES Coordinator and SES Assistant Program Director in the Logan Square and Humboldt Park communities. In addition, she has volunteered at Erie Neighborhood House as an English tutor and at the Southwest Youth Collaborative as a guest artist. Ms. Alvarez is currently interning at Marwen Foundation where she helps underserved talented youth obtain an art education they otherwise could not afford. She is an advocate for Latinos and a passionate supporter in helping the youth explore their options in higher education and career goals.

Vinh Van Le
Office Assitant
Phone: 312.362.6356
E-mail: vle2@depaul.edu

Vinh is currently studying Management Information Systems at DePaul University.  Vinh traveled to Osaka, Japan in 2006-2007 to study Japanese and economics.  It was there that he learned that cultural experiences enlightens people and opens many doors of opportunities.  He seeks to bring that experience to the Egan Center along with his community experience at Erie Neighborhood House teaching English and helping New Americans adjust to their new life in the States.