Tiffani Watson Email & Phone Number

Chicago, Illinois, United States

The CBA Media and Civic Education, Inc., formally, CBA TV Productions, Inc. (est.1986), was renamed by Tiffani M. Watson, M.Ed. in 2021 and is the nonprofit or charitable entity of the Chicago Bar Association. Its mission is to engage Chicago-area students in interactive educational programming that provides an approachable and real-world understanding of how our Constitution and the nation’s legal system shape the rights and responsibilities of U.S. citizens, with focused awareness on racial injustice, societal inequities, and restorative justice principles.The Lawyers in the Classroom program, a 42-year city-wide, self-funded, civic education program for elementary, middle, and high school students, is the educational programming that resides under CBA Media and Civic Education, Inc. is This programming, which originally existed as part of Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago (CRFC) since 1982 and is now known as the CBA Lawyers in the Classroom program, was later named after the child-advocate, Edward J. Lewis II after he gathered 100 attorneys from his firm in the early 1990s to volunteer to teach at Pickard Elementary. Now, the program serves 5000 students in more than 60 schools across Chicago land. Volunteer attorneys and attorney teams from across the city use the Lawyers in the Classroom curriculum to help students understand the Constitution, Constitutional principles, and their rights as citizens under the law.Lawyers in the Classroom curriculum includes but is not limited to lessons that discuss jury selection, free speech vs. hate speech, the letter of the law versus the intent of the law, privacy rights, voting rights, the difference between civil and criminal court, and more.

Chicago, Illinois, United States

•Led interactive, civic educational programming and funding initiatives to maintain organizational advancement.•Implemented and rebranded organization to heavily focus on awareness of racial injustice and societal inequities, across the organization’s mission, vision, and curriculum.•Renamed Chicago Bar Association’s 501(c)3 and implemented new communication, organizational and marketing strategies to reflect new direction. •Designed and implemented new, racial equity-focused curricula and training materials for program attorney volunteers and partner teachers.•Trained program volunteers in how to impart curricula for students and a real-world understanding of how our Constitution and the nation’s legal system shape the rights and responsibilities of U.S. citizens

Greater Chicago Area

Founded in 1974, Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago (CRFC) was a part of Constitutional Rights Foundation in Los Angeles, and in 1990 became an independent 501©(3) organization headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The organization’s mission was to strengthen American democracy by providing elementary and secondary students with hands-on learning about the Constitution to prepare them for informed civic engagement. The programming that originally existed as part of Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago (CRFC) included elementary programming: The Lawyers in the Classroom program (transitioned to CBA in 2019), The Action Based Communities (ABC) Project. The Lawyers in the Classroom program, later named after the child-advocate, Edward J. Lewis II, pairs volunteer attorneys in schools to teach students their Constitutional rights. The Action Based Communities was a dynamic program that engages 5th-8th grade students in “civic learning through doing.” Students explore their community; identify, research, and write about a problem; consider public policy options; design and implement a civic project; share their recommendations with local experts and policymakers. •Led programming for the Lawyers in the Classroom program and the Action Based Communities Project.•Cultivated 20 percent program growth in the first quarter of being hired, including recruitment of partner schools and program attorney volunteers.•Added 23 new Lawyers in the Classroom partner schools during a two-year tenure.•Co-led communication and fundraising efforts, increasing program visibility, and guiding program improvement,•Built and sustained program partnerships through personal contact, training schoolteachers/administrators, and attorneys.•Transitioned the Lawyers in the Classroom programming to the Chicago Bar Association’s 501©(3), originally known as the CBA TV Productions, Inc. in October 2019.

Greater Chicago Area

EPIC Academy is a neighborhood charter high school that opened fall of 2009 in the South Shore Chicago community with the mission to inspire and equip every student to build a path to college and career success. The school embraces the challenge of public education - to develop every student’s resolve to reach their full potential regardless of the odds. EPIC Academy has 3 Goals for every student: 1. Be prepared for college. 2. Develop college-bound beliefs & behaviors. 3. Graduate from college. To achieve these goals EPIC administrators and teachers inspire students to imagine their future, provide belief-altering experiences that broaden their vision of what is possible, and build students’ academic skill sets to achieve attain their goals. Our results speak for themselves.•Designed, managed, and implemented a peer council restorative justice program to improve culture, which resulted in the minimizing of punitive consequences.•Led a 40 percent reduction in student misconduct by addressing social-emotional root causes.•Improved school culture and climate and parent involvement through building rapport with families, students, and teachers.•Enhanced parent engagement through outreach, analysis of functional incoming freshman data, design of behavioral intervention strategies and implementation of enhanced school culture approach.

Greater Chicago Area

For more than 20 years, North Lawndale College Preparatory Charter High School, located in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood, has had an unwavering mission to empower students with the tools necessary to earn a college degree. With deep ties to Chicago’s North Lawndale community, today NLCP educates over 750 high school students across two public charter school campuses and has graduated nearly 2,000 alumni – 99% of whom have been accepted to college.The mission of North Lawndale College Preparatory Charter High School (NLCP) is to prepare young people from under-resourced communities for graduation from high school with the academic skills and personal resilience necessary for successful completion of college.• Taught 9th-11th grade Literature, Composition, and Reading.• Developed students’ English competency as a curriculum writer, collaborating with English teachers to identify, design and implement literature and composition curricula.• Served as an Interdisciplinary Team lead, and instructed teachers in interdisciplinary instructional methods around the freshman research project.• Designed, Implemented, and facilitated incoming 2013 and 2014 ninth-grade literacy curricula.• Awarded 2015 Teacher of the Year Award.• Co-Led’ Louder Than A Bomb’ Student Poetry team for ‘Louder Than a Bomb’ competition to finals.

Greater Chicago Area

Chicago International Charter School (CICS) -Longwood (now under Distinctive Schools) provides students with the necessary tools and skills needed to develop superior levels of achievement. The school strives for academic, social, and physical excellence by providing a quality and challenging curriculum. CICS-Longwood promotes positive moral and social values, fosters an atmosphere of self-discipline in a safe learning environment, and maximizes individual productivity to meet the needs of a changing global society.• Increased the average Reading benchmark scores by nine percent as a first-year teacher.• Increased student standardized test scores by 10 percent.• Administered and interpreted weekly assessments to create data-driven lesson plans.

Springfield, Illinois Area

Springfield Southeast High School is a public high school located in Springfield, Illinois. It is the youngest high school serving Springfield Public Schools District 186, the oldest and second oldest being Springfield High School and Lanphier High School, respectively.•Assumed the 9th -12th grade English/Speech teacher position in the Spring of 2011 at Springfield Southeast High School.•Designed and implemented classroom procedures and processes. •Developed student-centered lesson plans designed to enhance student engagement and achievement.

Oak Park, Il

District 97 is the public elementary school district located in Oak Park, Illinois. The district has eight elementary schools and two middle schools, provides a well-rounded education to nearly 5,800 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, and employs more than 900 highly qualified certified and non-certified staff members.• Taught 7th/8th grade Writing at Percy Julian Middle School prior to Fall Student Teaching assignment at Gwendolyn Brooks Middle school.•Organized and executed cooperative classroom group learning. • Developed a data-driven approach for student improvement in grammar and punctuation. • Implemented Response to Intervention (RTI) strategies to improve classroom conduct.

Greater Chicago Area

Children’s Home & Aid (Now Brightpoint) is a leading child and family service agency in Illinois. Each year, the agency strengthens, educates, and counsels nearly 30,000 children, youth, and families. Since 1883, Children’s Home & Aid has been a compassionate advocate helping to shape public policy in child welfare, early childhood, children’s mental health, and juvenile justice. Children’s Home & Aid is recognized for establishing best practices and achieving outstanding results through its programs and services that focus on child abuse prevention, healthy child and youth development, and strengthening families. The agency’s mission is to advance the well‐being of children by investing in families to disrupt the systemic and multi‐generational cycle of racial, social, and economic inequality. Its vision is an equitable world where all children and families thrive in strong communities.•Taught after-school reading to 2nd -5th grade students at Cameron Elementary School in Chicago.• Provided tutoring sessions on demand.

Northbrook, Il

The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) is one of the largest publicly held personal lines insurers in the United States. We are widely known through the slogan “You’re In Good Hands With Allstate®.• Served the Information Technology Division first as a technical writer and Communication Consultant• Composed weekly communications, covering Information technology project progress, reaching 3000 employees.•Managed intranet communications and site content for the Allstate Technology Intranet site.• Developed technical marketing presentations and publications for the Assistant Vice President of Information Technology Department• Developed, published, and managed division branding and marketing materials.

Master Of Education (M.Ed.), Secondary Education; Teaching & Learning

Bachelor Of Arts, English, Writing Minor