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Jessica

  Palmert

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

Recommendations

  • Catalyst

  • Energizer 

  • Innovator

  • Creator

Recommendations

"As a person of color leading a predominately white theater on a journey towards being antiracist, working with Jessica has done as much to help the theater make advances as she has helped me as the executive director. Her coaching of me has been liberatory. Her work with the white affinity group and with the artistic director are incredibly valuable. And, her strategy work with staff working on racial healing is largely responsible for our progress."

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Angel Ysaguirre

Executive Director

Court Theatre at The University of Chicago 

“As a white leader, Decentering Whiteness offered a brave space to consistently and actively question, learn, and grow in my antiracism. White people need to honestly reckon with, interrupt and deconstruct white supremacy within the systems they inhabit and influence. Jessica utilizes her knowledge, compassion and unrelenting commitment to anti-racism to teach, guide, and inspire white leaders to think critically, tend to self, create community, hold each other accountable. I recommend this program to white leaders looking to be supported and challenged. My capacity for effecting change within my organization is strengthened.”

 

Amy Chandler, Participant in Decentering Whiteness Intensive 

LCSW Senior Therapist Womencare Counseling & Training Center

“I worked at a disability rights organization for many years, specifically organizing Chicago Public High School girls with disabilities.  She formed a “white allies” group that drew white activists throughout the city (including me) who were anxious to examine their role in racial oppression.  She was among the first people I knew to address the problem of burnout among progressives. Her deep experience in the social justice movement, her hunger to constantly upgrade her skills and share what she learns, her vast network of allies and contacts, her energy, empathy and sense of humor make her a natural for this work.”    

 

Susan Nussbaum

Disability Rights Activist, Youth Worker/ Organizer and Acclaimed Author and PlayWright 

"Decentering Whiteness was a skillfully designed and beautifully facilitated space that helped me deepen my anti-racist learning and practice more than any other analogous space I've been a part of.  Jessica pulled together a rich blend of somatic practices, historical and contextual teaching, small group dialogue and daily application that changed the way I organize, facilitate and build relationships as a white person."

 

Nik Zaleski, Participant in Decentering Whiteness Intensive 

organizational development with murmur

coaching with intimate somatics

"I worked with Jessica as a researcher on the Voices of Youth in Chicago Education (VOYCE) initiative sponsored by the Gates Foundation.  Her experience with youth was invaluable to this citywide initiative that drew youth from six racially diverse neighborhoods. Through her involvement Jessica ensured that there was always a youth development focus so that youth gained real skills, not just for the initiative but also for the rest of their lives.  She has a unique ability for meeting youth and adults where they are at and moving with them to new knowledge and understanding of the world and the critical place they hold in it. Jessica is a unique and wonderfully creative woman with the heart of a warrior and the soul of a sage.”

 

P. Catlin Fullwood

Principal Consultant

On Time Associates

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