Jill Moss Greenberg
Jill Moss Greenberg was born in New York in 1943. She has made Maryland her home beginning in 1969.
As a teenager Jill was sensitive to the needs of others and responded by joining groups and doing volunteer work. As a college student she and a friend convinced United Cerebral Palsy to donate space for a pre-school for disabled children, a facility that would become one of the first of its kind established in the United States.
Jill represented Prince George's County on the Maryland State Commission for Women and led in the creation of the Prince George's County Commission for Women in 1972. In response to the needs of children and the aged, she initiated the first task forces to address child care and aging and participated in the establishment of the Task Force on Women with Disabilities. Recognizing the void that existed in the absence of historical documentation on achievements and contributions of Maryland women, Jill founded the Maryland Women's History Project in 1980. She was a co-founder and the first Executive Director of the groundbreaking Maryland Women's Heritage Center and Museum which opened in 2010.
She played a significant role in the passage of the Maryland Equal Rights Amendment, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Title IX, a federal law that requires schools that receive federal funds to prohibit gender discrimination. As a co-founder of the Maryland and Prince George's County women's political caucuses, she served on the original Finance Committee of the National Women's Political Caucus. Jill was a "founding mother" of the Women's Center and Referral Service and the Women's Action Coalition, in addition to participating in the development of many programs throughout the county, state and country that assist women and children.
In her position as a Race Equity Specialist for the Maryland State Department of Education, she instituted the Black History at Your Doorstep Project. This project essentially brought together a diverse group of individuals to produce curriculum that would identify contributions made by African-Americans in Maryland. She served on the maryland Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and the Maryland Committee for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday, working for the passage of a national holiday for Dr. King.
She has worked extensively on the development of educational and technical training programs focused on race and gender equity. Additionally, she has written several publications on the subject, including The Adolescent Directory, focusing on the worth and value of diversity and respect for all persons. She served as the Director of Multicultural Education at the Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium, providing assistance to school systems in the five mid-Atlantic states. She developed a program for Homeless Education in Baltimore COunty schools that became a model utilized throughout the nation. At the national level, Jill served as the first Executive Director of NAME, the National Association for Multicultural Education. She represented NAME on the National Hate Crime Coalition, working to combat hate in all its forms.
Throughout her life, Jill has demonstrated unwavering dedication to the plight of persons in need, regardless of their race, gender, religion, disability, national origin, age, region, sexual orientation or socio-economic status. Her vision has always been that each person makes a difference - "something can be done" about social inequities. Jill Moss Greenberg has made a substantial difference in the lives of countless Americans.