Staff Profiles

DEAMON HARGES

De’Amon Harges – faculty member of the Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) Institute, Community Organizer, Creator of the Learning Tree, chairperson of the Grassroots Grantmakers Association Board, and featured in the new documentary “The Antidote: On Kindness in America” – is a frequent speaker on ABCD in secular and religious groups around the world, and is a layperson at Broadway UMC, Indianapolis, IN.De’Amon's role is to listen and discover the gifts, passions and dreams of citizens in his community, and to find ways to utilize them in order to build community, economy, and mutual “delight.”
The bulk of De’Amon’s work is based on the principles and practices of the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) that brings neighbors and institutions together to discover the power of being a good neighbor. De’Amon builds on what is already present and in place in the neighborhood, using those formally undiscovered assets to connect and empower rather than working only from the community’s needs and deficits.

DeAmon now describes his role on this planet as a social banker. He utilizes the intangible currencies that are cultivated and used by human assets and relationships to build a more abundant community.

KEITH PASCHALL

Wildstyle also known as Keith (that’s his government name) is a great example of how we are more than what we see! Wildstyle (appropriately name because of his unconventional skating techniques), is gifted with the skill of being a mechanic. He understands how mechanics and processes in human development works but he is more interested in telling stories through music and visual arts. He uses his time to cultivate young hip hop artists to hone their skills like Jedi Knights. He promotes and manages them. He says that “if I don’t model how to be a productive person how can young people see how to be one?” Wildstyle also partners with The Learning Tree. He plays the role as the Roving Illustrator. His job is to make the invisible visible. Kind of an evaluator with a hip hop flare. Y’all should check out his work.

AMANDA WOLF

The Executive Spirit acts as the glue of our mosaic. She facilitates, communicates and brings order to the seemingly chaotic energy of joy by convening the design team of The Learning Tree. The Executive Spirit tracks what neighbors are doing, collects information, does the bookkeeping and helps the team to see the big picture.

CAITLIN CHILDS

Caitlin Childs is a community organizer, writer and consultant from Atlanta, GA. She has nearly 20 years of experience in grassroots organizing working on a variety of social justice issues. Most recently she spent nearly 7 years in a funding organization designing and implementing an award-winning community organizing program throughout her home state of Georgia. Caitlin is passionate about interdependence, intersectionality and building movements that cross identity lines and support communities to create their own solutions to their problems. You can learn more about her by visiting www.caitlinpetrakischilds.com.