Next up for this month’s Frunchroom show is Jessica Scheller.
Jessica Scheller is the proud mother of 8-year-old twins Charlotte & Grayson, the dedicated wife of Adam Wiers, and the reluctant owner of a golden retriever named Dave. She and her family have been squatting in a house on South Seeley Avenue for the past 11 years that will forever be known by the name of its previous owners – the Mittendorfs.
Jessica is the newly elected Vice President of Action & Policy on the Executive Board of Illinois NOW. She focuses her volunteer time and energy on galvanizing citizens to action.
She was among the leadership of the ERA Coalition organized to pass the ERA in Illinois in 2018. Jessica also served as an advocate in the Reproductive Health Coalitions which were responsible for passing HB40 in 2018 and the Reproductive Health Act in 2019.
She recently formed and Co-Chairs a committee with advocates in the gun violence prevention community to organize around legislation restricting the possession of semi-automatic assault rifles, large-capacity magazines and the associated accessories in Illinois.
Jessica believes in the extraordinary power of the citizen who is engaged and is convinced that the identity of the spokesperson of any grassroots effort is far less important than that of the keeper of the spreadsheet.
She is the Co-Founder of Women’s March Chicago, NFP, a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization and served as the President of the Board of Directors for two years while overseeing three demonstrations in Grant Park in Chicago and one in Springfield. Jessica also Co-Founded MarchOn, NFP, a National 501(c)(4) advocacy organization comprised of leaders of the various women’s marches held around the country in January of 2017 which focuses on coordinating mass-feminist demonstrations.
Jessica serves on the Board of Directors for Chicago NOW as its Vice President. Through CNOW, she focuses her advocacy efforts on promoting economic equity for women in the workplace, boosting women to positions of political power, increasing reproductive justice, ending domestic abuse and increasing public safety.
In her professional life, Jessica is the Chief of a major Civil Litigation Division in a public office. During her legal career in public service, she has successfully defended against challenges to Illinois’ Campaign Finance Reform Statute and the Cook County Blair Holt Assault Weapons Ban.
For this month’s show, Jessica will talk about her work in activism. See her and the rest of our readers this Thursday, January 16th at Beverly Arts Center.
The Frunchroom 