Association for a More Just Society (AJS)

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"Doing Justice Locally and Globally" Conference: Speaker Bios

	Carlos Hernández is the president of the board of AJS's Honduran sister organization, la Asociación para una Sociedad más Justa (ASJ). Days after AJS-supported lawyer Dionisio Díaz García was assassinated, Carlos he has received death threats for his involvement in protecting the rights of poor Hondurans. Carlos is also the director of Honduran community development organization SCM/Genesis.
	Dr. Kurt A. Ver beek lives in Honduras, where he runs Calvin College’s Third World Development semester in Honduras. Dr. Ver Beek has a Ph.D. in Development Sociology from Cornell University, and did his dissertation fieldwork among Honduras' Lenca indians. He has published several articles on the results of research he has conducted on labor conditions in Honduras apparel manufacturing industry and on short-term missions. He and his wife, Jo Ann Van Engen, are founding members of the Association for a More Just Society (AJS) and of AJS's Honduras sister organization, ASJ.
	Jo Ann Van Engen, originally from Grand Rapids, Mich., has lived for the last 20 years in Honduras with her husband, Kurt, and kids, Anna (15) and Noah (11). She enjoys co-running Calvin College's Semester in Honduras program with her husband, teaching video to a group of youth in Nueva Suyapa (the poor Tegucigalpa neighborhood where she and her family live), spending time with the women in her church, and learning all kind of interesting things every day from her kids. Jo Ann and Kurt recently led a January-term course focusing on immigration and the United States.
	Chris Treter is co-founder and co-president of Higher Grounds Trading Co., Michigan's only 100% fair trade and organic coffee roasting company. He is also co-founder of the Chiapas Water Project, Oromia Photo Project, and Guitars for Chiapas – all organizations working to alleviate poverty in coffee growing regions. He is co-author of - Coffee Awakening: A Quest for Higher Grounds. Previously he has worked in human rights and economic justice issues with Global Exchange, the Organic Consumers Association, and American Apparel.
	Chris Bedford is an award-winning writer, filmmaker, and radio producer and grass-roots campaigner and consultant. One of Mr. Bedford´s most recent documentaries, “What Will We Eat,” focuses on the success of the Sweetwater Local Foods Market in Muskegon—Michigan’s first farmers market to exclusively sell local produce raised according to organic standards and products from animals raised humanely.
	Sarah TenBroek has served as the Raise Hope program manager for Safe Haven Ministries since May 2006. Through her work, she reaches businesses, churches, schools, youth groups, agencies and other groups and opens a dialog with them about domestic violence, how to identify it, and how best to respond. Sarah has also worked as a case manager for women who were experiencing violence, substance abuse, and financial difficulties, and currently serves on the R.A.V.E. Advisory Committee, Music and Arts for Justice in the Community (M.A.J.I.C.) Board, Kent County Domestic Violence Coordinated Response Team, and is a member of the Progressive Women's Alliance.
	Abram Huyser Honig is an AJS Fellow. He lives in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, where he works out of the office of AJS's Honduran sister organization, ASJ.
	Grace Miguel is an AJS Fellow. She lives in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, where she works out of the office of AJS's Honduran sister organization, ASJ.
	Sarah Lawrence is a volunteer with Stewardship of Christian Ministries / Genesis in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

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Questions or comments? Please email us at info@ajs-us.org or call us at 1 (800) 897-1135

The Association for a More Just Society (AJS) oversees and funds initiatives carried out by Honduran partner organization la Asociación para una Sociedad más Justa (ASJ). AJS is a US-registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so all donations to AJS are tax-deductible for US taxpayers.