The Illinois Justice Project (ILJP) is a continuation of the Justice and Violence Group at Metropolis Strategies and engages in criminal justice reform efforts that promote policies that will make our communities safer and reduce recidivism among youths and adults. Established in 2014 as a legacy project of Metropolis Strategies, the non-profit ILJP is a supporting organization of the Chicago Community Trust and an affiliate of The Commercial Club of Chicago.
The staff of ILJP consists of Margaret Cunliffe, Ahmadou Dramé, Isabel Kennon, Kelly McNulty, Heena Mohammed, Jennie Rosas, Annie Sweeney, Donovan Williams and Paula Wolff. You can read more about them in the Staff section below.
An advisory board provides counsel to the staff of the Illinois Justice Project. It is led by Esther Franco-Payne, the executive director of the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities.
1 South Dearborn Street
Chicago, IL 60603
312-332-8157
info@iljp.org
For media inquiries, contract Annie Sweeney at annie@iljp.org
STAFF
JUSTICE 20/20 NETWORK FELLOW
MARGARET CUNLIFFE
Margaret Cunliffe is the Justice 20/20 Network Fellow for ILJP. She discovered her passion for pursuing criminal legal reform in Illinois while working as a paralegal at the civil rights law firm Loevy & Loevy. At ILJP, Margaret coordinates projects, convenings, and research initiatives for Justice 20/20, and supports the strategic goals of the Network’s working groups.
Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, Margaret obtained her Bachelor’s degree in History from Columbia University in 2019. Upon graduating, she joined Loevy & Loevy, where she assisted with civil and criminal cases across the United States involving wrongful incarceration and police misconduct. Most recently, Margaret received her M.Sc. in Social Science of the Internet from the University of Oxford, where she was a Clarendon Scholar. Her thesis focused on the engagement of criminal justice stakeholders in the development process of the PATTERN risk assessment tool used in federal prisons.
Director
AHMADOU DRAMÉ
Ahmadou Dramé was promoted to Director of the Illinois Justice Project (ILJP) in June 2023 after serving as Program Director for two years. Throughout his career, he has used his advocacy skills, voice, and written word to empower people who were impacted by mass incarceration, to call attention to the injustices of the criminal legal system, and to advance policies and programs that eliminate permanent punishments and reduce society’s reliance on the criminal legal system as a response to social and economic racial disparities.
Ahmadou began his policy career at Safer Foundation, where he served as Director of Policy, Advocacy, and Legislative Affairs. During his tenure, he was an instrumental member of the award-winning Just Housing Coalition, which eliminated barriers to housing for Cook County residents with arrest and conviction records and their families by securing the passage of the Just Housing Ordinance. He also directed a program that provided “Know Your Rights” trainings to incarcerated people inside every state prison in Illinois, and secured the passage of state legislation that made it easier for people with records to pursue careers in the healthcare industry.
Ahmadou then transitioned to the Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC), where he served as the Housing and Community Development Policy Manager. At MPC, he advocated for policies that promote racial equity in community and economic development, and policies that create and preserve affordable housing in the Chicago region. He also supported efforts to eliminate racial inequities in the home appraisal system.
In June 2021, Ahmadou joined ILJP as a Program Director, leading several initiatives that resulted in the creation of housing, support services, and opportunities for the upward economic mobility of returning residents. He served as the Co-Chair of the Chicago Mayor’s Working Group on Returning Residents, which successfully advocated for the creation of the first Director of Reentry position in the City of Chicago, the creation of the Chicago Interagency Reentry Council, and more than $50 million in new city government investments into housing, support services and job training. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he directed a $1 million-reentry housing pilot program that served 120 households. His advocacy efforts across state, county, and city government have resulted in more than $150 million investments into affordable housing and support services.
Ahmadou is a 2023 Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow and former Chicago Mayoral Fellow. Governor J.B. Pritzker appointed him to serve on the Illinois Affordable Housing Trust Fund Commission. He was appointed to the Cook County Equity Fund Taskforce by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. He also Co-Chairs the Illinois Reentry Council. Ahmadou earned his bachelor’s degree in political science and master’s degree in public administration from DePaul University. Ahmadou recently married his wife, Tyree. He enjoys reading, road cycling, and traveling.
PROGRAM SPECIALIST
ISABEL KENNON
Isabel Kennon has returned as a Program Specialist after serving as a Graduate Intern for ILJP in 2022. Passionate about criminal justice and housing policy, Isabel found a niche in reentry housing. She works to organize and implement projects for the Illinois Reentry Council and supports ILJP's other convenings.
Previously, Isabel worked as an analyst with the South Side Housing Data Initiative in Chicago, as a researcher for the Atlantic Council’s Latin American center and as a COVID-19 contact tracer. Isabel is also the founder and director of Abolish Prison Slavery, a project aiming to humanize people in the criminal legal system and working to build support for abolishing the 13th Amendment loophole that allows slavery to continue as a “punishment for crimes.” She also serves on the administrative team for the Abolish Slavery National Network.
Isabel has a master’s degree from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, and a bachelor’s degree in Latin American Studies and Spanish from Washington University in St. Louis. She is from Nashville.
Operations and Program Manager
KELLY McNULTY
Kelly McNulty is Program Assistant at ILJP where her assignments include administrative support for the Illinois Reentry Council, Justice 20/20, and ILJP’s leadership of coalitions, as well as event planning.
McNulty joined ILJP in 2021 after nearly five years as executive assistant to the executive director of Cabrini Green Legal Aid (CGLA), one of the state’s leading and largest criminal justice reform non-profits. At CGLA, she was involved in nearly every aspect of CGLA’s work in support of low-income individuals negatively impacted by the criminal justice system. She began her professional career in sales and later assisted with the administration of a Chicago fine art gallery devoted to antique natural history prints.
A Chicago resident, McNulty received a bachelor’s degree in music management from Columbia College Chicago.
PROGRAM MANAGER
HEENA MOHAMMED
Heena Mohammed is a recent graduate from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, where she also worked to design criminal justice programs with the Institute of Politics.
Originally from Preston in the United Kingdom, Heena worked as a program manager for the Department of Communities and Local Government in London, a project manager for the Manchester City Council and as a policy advisor at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. She served as the Senior Private Secretary for the UK Minister of Policing between 2017 and 2018, and most recently served as the Deputy Head of the Police Powers Unit at the UK Home Office in London. Heena obtained her bachelor's degree in politics and international relations from The University of Manchester. She is also a 2022-23 Obama Scholar and a 2021-22 Fulbright Scholar.
PROGRAM ASSISTANT
JENNIE ROSAS
Prior to joining ILJP, Jennie held the position of Accounting Clerk at the Institute of Nonviolence in Chicago. Throughout her career, Jennie has dedicated herself to making impactful contributions within the nonprofit community. She has a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Illinois at Chicago. As a Chicago native, she enjoys exploring the city with her family and embarking on memorable family trips.
communications director
ANNIE SWEENEY
Annie Sweeney joined ILJP as communications director in December 2022 after covering crime, violence and policing at both the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune.
Annie has reported and written about individuals and neighborhoods most deeply impacted by violence, including community efforts to respond to gun violence. She explored gun trafficking routes to better understand the flow of firearms and exposed flaws in the state’s gun permitting systems. Her most recent work at the Tribune included stories on incarcerated women and analyses of the Chicago Police Department’s work force allocation and deployments.
Annie has a journalism degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a master’s degree in Peace Studies from Trinity College Dublin.
PROGRAM SPECIALIST
DONOVAN WILLIAMS
Donovan Williams obtained his Bachelor of Arts in philosophy at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and a Master of Public Policy from University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. He also studied abroad at American College of Greece. Before joining ILJP, Donovan was a research assistant for UChicago Urban Labs, and worked as a graduate analyst for Karp Strategies in New York. He is the co-founder and co-president of the Crime & Justice Policy Association at the Harris School. He was a volunteer debate teacher for the Rikers Debate Project in the Bronx and is a Justice Nerds Fellow at the Center for Policing Equity, headquartered in Denver.
Originally from the Bronx, Donovan now resides in the Hyde Park neighborhood.
POLICY ADVISOR
PAULA WOLFF
From 2000 until the creation of the Illinois Justice Project in 2014, Paula Wolff was Senior Executive at Chicago Metropolis 2020 and Metropolis Strategies where she led the Justice and Violence Group, the predecessor to the Illinois Justice Project.
From 1992 to 2000, Wolff served as President of Governors State University. During her tenure at GSU, the budget doubled and enrollment grew by 22 percent to more than 9,000 students on the campus in Chicago’s south suburbs.
From 1977 to 1991, Wolff served as Director of Policy and Planning for Governor James R. Thompson. She directed development and implementation of policy for all areas of state government, serving with her staff as liaison to 57 state agencies. She also worked for Governor Richard B. Ogilvie from 1969 to 1971.
In 1990-91, she directed Governor Jim Edgar's Transition Team, as she had participated in Governor James R. Thompson's in 1976-77. In 2014-15, she co-chaired Governor Bruce Rauner’s Public Safety Transition Policy Committee; in 2018-19, she served on the Governor Pritzker/Lt. Governor Stratton Transition Committee as well.
Wolff has been a college professor and visiting lecturer at several universities. She lectured at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy from 1991 to 1992 and again between 2000-2012, and she taught a public policy graduate seminar regularly while President at GSU.
Wolff has a bachelor’s degree from Smith College and a master’s and doctorate in political science from the University of Chicago.
Wolff serves on numerous boards including the Johnson Foundation, the Irving Harris Foundation, Ariel Investments, the Metropolitan Planning Council, and emerita on the University of Chicago Medical Center Board and the University of Chicago Board of Trustees. Wolff is Vice President of the Chicago Police Board and the former chair of the City Colleges of Chicago Board and also the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority.
She was married to Wayne W. Whalen, a lawyer who passed away in 2022, and has five children.
ILLINOIS JUSTICE PROJECT ADVISORY BOARD
ILJP’s diverse advisory board is comprised of representatives of community organizations, business, labor and civic groups from across the Chicago region. Affiliations are for identification purposes only.
Esther Franco-Payne, Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities, Chair
Delrice Adams, Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority
Gerald W. Adelman, Openlands
James L. Alexander
Daniel Anello, Kids First Chicago
MarySue Barrett, Metropolitan Planning Council
Frank H. Beal, Civic Consulting Alliance
Eddie Bocanegra
Walter Boyd
Dr. Byron T. Brazier, Apostolic Church of God
John Canning, Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC
Frank M. Clark, ComEd, Retired
Nora Daley Conroy
Ronald E. Daly, Océ North America, Retired
Derek Douglas, Civic Committee and the Commercial Club of Chicago
Judy Erwin, ASGK Partners
Tyrone C. Fahner, Mayer Brown
Garien Gatewood, City of Chicago
Jack M.Greenberg, The Western Union Company, Retired
Gene Griffin
M. Hill Hammock, Chicago Deferred Exchange Company
King Harris, Senior Fellow, Metropolitan Planning Council
Lanetta Haynes Turner, Office of the Cook County Board President
Adolfo Hernandez
David Hiller, Robert R. McCormick Foundation, Retired
Grace B. Hou, Illinois Department of Human Services
Anna LauBach, Robert R. McCormick Foundation
Era Laudermilk, Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender
Susan Lee, Chicago CRED
Alderman Matt Martin, 47th Ward of Chicago
Public Defender Sharone Mitchell, Jr., Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender
John McCarter
Michael H. Moskow, The Chicago Council on Global Affairs
David Mosena
Heidi Mueller
Aurie Pennick, Esq., Field Foundation of Illinois, Retired
Angelique Power, Skillman Foundation
Quinn K. Rallins
George Ranney, Metropolis Strategies, Retired
Raul I. Raymundo, The Resurrection Project
Jesse H. Ruiz
Andrea Sáenz, The Chicago Community Trust
Maria Saldaña, Sanchez Daniels & Hoffman LLP
Bryan Samuels, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago
Adele S. Simmons, Global Philanthropy Partnership
Kurt Summers
Don A. Turner, Chicago Federation of Labor, Retired
Don V. Villar, Chicago Federation of Labor
Kelly Welsh, Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago