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Our Staff
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Glenda Jo Orel, Executive Director, Developed NEA approved anti-racism materials
and extensively toured the country (colleges). Attended People’s College of Law. KCET community outreach organizer,
conducted drama classes at Glen Iris, tutored at the Adult Learning Center and at the WOO. Awarded Caryn Hollingsworth Prize
2003 and the UAB outstanding woman 2003.
Bonita Davis,
Administrative Assistant, Graduated Virginia College and has been working with the WOO for 3 years.
Madelyne Lannie Newman, Project Director, R.N., Worked as R.N. for 20 years and has been
teaching class for 2 years.
Lucille MaGee, RN Assistant,
Worked as a PCA Assistant for 20 years and has been teaching class for 8 years. Board of Directors Information
David Gespass,
is a Lawyer in private practice in Birmingham, Alabama. He is the president-elect of the National Lawyers Guild and is co-chair
of its international committee, a founding member and long-time steering committee member of its Military Law Task Force and
editor-in-chief of it intellectual journal, the Guild Practitioner. His is a member of the interim steering committee of the
Southern Human Rights Organizers Network. He has served as volunteer counsel for the WOO since its creation.
Kathleen Johnson, Kathy Johnson is a partner, of Gespass & Johnson. The firm has
a general practices but concentrates and civil and human rights. She is a member of the National Lawyers Guild. Kathy
earned a masters degree in international law, with a focus on human rights, in 1991. Following completion of her studies,
she spent six months in Palawan, Philippines assisting Vietnamese refugees seeking political asylum. In 1994, she served
as a UN Volunteer, working for the United Nations High Commissioner for refugees in the Balkans during the war in Bosnia,
dividing her time between Sarajevo and Osijek, Croatia. In 1996, she returned to Sarajevo, working as a Human Rights
Officer when the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) opened its mission in Bosnia. She later
worked for three months in Kosovo and Albania with a non-governmental organization assisting war crimes investigators and
then spent a year in Croatia as a Human Rights and Legal Adviser for OSCE. Most recently, she was the legal expert for the
observer team sent by the Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, a branch of the OSCE, to observe municipal elections
in Bosnia-Herzogovina. She is also the co-President of the local chapter of ZONTA, an international women’s organization.
Mia Fiterman, Treasurer is the owner of the Bookkeeping firm: Contabilidad
Mia LLC. and is on the Executive Board of Directors of the Operation New Birmingham Magic City Art Connection.
Steven Hannum, is the interim Executive Director of the Literacy Council.
Sharon Bracey, works at Kirkland Clinic.
Mary
Jones, works with the homeless and needy Church of Reconciler and the Greater Birmingham Ministries.
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Our Programs
(PCA) Patient Care Assistant Training Tuesday 10:00AM - 12:45PM
Thursday
10:00AM - 12:45PM GED Training Tuesday 10:00AM - 2:00PM
Wednesday 10:00AM - 2:00PM Thursday 10:00AM - 2:00PM
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History:
In 1996, Birmingham City Schools Adult Education program directed Mr. Steve Orel, an employee, to establish a program called
WIRED (Workplace Instructional Resources and Educational Development) at Miller Wire, located in the Gate City community,
near Woodlawn. The program expanded to include two more courses, GED preparation and literacy. In the spring of
2000, sixteen year olds began enrolling. They had dismissal slips from their former schools, which read “Withdrawn.
Reason: Lack of Interest”. This obviously was not the case. Their desire to continue their education defied
the description on the form. Steve Orel, along with Virginia Volker, a member of the Birmingham Board of Education,
blew the whistle on the School Board for pushing 522 students out of school, to raise Scholastic Aptitude Test scores.
Steve was fired the day after he spoke publicly at a Birmingham School Board meeting.
WOO began
as an independent school in the spring of 2000. On December 3, 2002, WOO became a non-profit, tax- deductible corporation.
Since its inception, the WOO has serviced nearly 4,000 people. Approximately 400 were served in 2008. Our Founder Steve Orel
passed away on July 7, 2007 and Glenda Jo Orel has taken over as Executive Director. Current major programs include GED classes
and the Patient Care Assistant (PCA) classes.
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