WELCOME NEW BOARD MEMBERS Janine, hanna, amelia, AND NICOLE!
We’re thrilled to welcome Janine Macbeth, Hanna Sufrin, Amelia Vigil, and Nicole Walter to the Chapter 510 board! They are bringing with them rich experience and passions spanning education, publishing, and social justice work. We are so excited to have them join our community!
Our board is comprised of Oakland educators, creatives, and change makers dedicated to uplifting young people in Oakland to bravely write.
We are incredibly grateful to all of our board members for their profound commitment and dedication.
Janine macbeth
Janine Macbeth is a writer, an award-winning artist, and a third generation Oaklander who has worked in the racial justice nonprofit sector for over 18 years. Their experience spans publishing, development, executive leadership, and consulting, with years of service at the Applied Research Center and ColorLines Magazine, Children’s Book Press (the nation’s first and longest standing multicultural, bilingual, and first voice children’s book publisher), and The Greenlining Institute.
The power of story has been a throughline of Janine’s art and social justice work, and fueled her passion for publishing. In 2013, while working full time and raising two small children, Janine started Blood Orange Press, a small publishing house committed to correcting the invisibility of people of color in children’s literature. As part of the Bay Area’s independent bookmaking community, Janine was a founding organizer of the first Social Justice Children’s Book Fair in the country, launched in Chapter 510’s space in 2017. Janine has degrees in American Studies (Ethnic Studies) and Cultural Anthropology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and studied publishing at New York University. She is a proud product of Oakland Public Schools.
Hanna Sufrin
Hanna Sufrin is an Oakland educator. She is driven by a deep commitment to Oakland’s youth and to helping them discover their power as readers and writers. Hanna was a 4th grade teacher at Oakland Unified’s Acorn Woodland Elementary, where she helped elevate the school’s focus on students’ writing experiences in and beyond the classroom. In one of her many collaborations with Chapter 510, Hanna was a partner in the launch of the inaugural Write Your Roots epic poetry project with the students of Acorn Woodland.
After leaving the classroom, Hanna supported teachers as an Instructional Coach at REACH Academy and served as Assistant Principal at Franklin Elementary. She is now a proud member of Oakland Unified’s Literacy Team as the Literacy Coordinator for 16 elementary schools, helping schools pursue their goals for students’ literacy growth and guiding advances in reading and writing instruction. Hanna is thrilled to get to continue to dream big with Chapter 510 in her current Literacy leadership role.
Hanna grew up in Chicago and taught in Guangzhou, China and New York City before moving to the Bay Area. She holds a BA in Anthropology from Yale University and an MA in Educational Leadership from the Principal Leadership Institute at UC Berkeley. Hanna lives in Berkeley with her husband Aaron and their young daughters Hazel and Magnolia. You can often find the four of them admiring redwood trees or searching for banana slugs.
Amelia Vigil
Amelia Vigil is a Grant Manager at Justice Outside and an experiential educator and teaching artist. Their career in cultural and social justice–centered nonprofits includes serving as Interim Executive Director at Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirit (BAAITS), Chief Operations Officer at Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples, curriculum developer and field instructor at Girl Ventures, and co-founder of Transcending in Nature, a collective for trans and non-binary outdoor enthusiasts.
Amelia holds double associate degrees in Outdoor Recreational Leadership and Liberal Studies from Feather River College, a BA in English Literature from Mills College, and an MFA in Creative Writing and Poetry from the Institute of American Indian Arts.
For seven years, they’ve served on the Advisory Board of the Environmental Leadership Initiative, helping steer investments in emerging Environmental Justice Leaders across California. Amelia has also worked as a poetry teaching artist with the Bay Area Book Festival, and for 14 years co-produced the BAAITS Two-Spirit Pow Wow as Event Producer and Committee Co-Chair.
Their poems appear in Beyond the Glittering World: An Anthology of Indigenous Feminisms. When not working, writing, or camping, Amelia can be found swimming at the Mills pool, enjoying live music, or curled up at home with their two cats.
nicole walter
Nicole Walter is a research and evaluation specialist with over a decade of experience helping mission-driven organizations use data and storytelling to deepen impact and drive change. She has managed evaluation, communication and strategy work for global initiatives at USAID, the World Bank and Meta - tackling complex issues from public health to climate resilience and housing justice. Nicole excels at reframing and restructuring information to align with desired outcomes, a strength she’s excited to bring to Chapter 510 to clearly demonstrate the organization’s value to the community and help it achieve its goals.
Nicole is deeply passionate about the transformative power of writing as a tool for connection, growth, and emotional development. She knows how powerful it is when young people have space to express themselves authentically and is committed to helping them recognize that vulnerability is a strength—not a weakness. As a creative and persistent thinker, she thrives in dynamic environments and is eager to support Chapter 510 in building a world where every young person feels seen, heard, and empowered. She is based in Oakland and holds degrees from UCLA and UC Berkeley.