Meet the Staff

Rachel Durchslag, Executive Director
Rachel Durchslag has been working in the social justice community for more than eight years. After receiving her BS from Skidmore College in 2000 with a double major in women’s studies and social work, Rachel moved to Chicago where she worked for Personal Political Action Committee, the Day Care Action Council of Illinois, and the Chicago Chapter of the National Organization for Women. In 2005, Rachel earned her master’s degree in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago. In June of 2006, Rachel founded the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, an organization that works to eliminate sexual exploitation through litigation and advocacy, organizing and policy reform, and prevention and resource development. Besides serving as the Executive Director of CAASE, Rachel is a Trustee on the Board of the Nathan Cummings Foundation and a board member of the Dreamcatcher Foundation. In her spare time Rachel is a fitness instructor with the Lakeview YMCA.

Rachel is the recipient of the YWCA's Promise Leadership award, the Soroptimist's Woman Making a Difference award, the Young Nonprofit Professional Network's Young Nonprofit Professional of the Year award, Chicago NOW's Women Who Dare award, Global Centurion's Norma Hotaling Innovative Demand Reduction award and .Avodah’s “Partners in Justice” award.

Contact Rachel at rachel@caase.org

 Meet the 2011 CAASE Board of Directors: Read their bios here.

Lynne Johnson, Policy and Advocacy Director:
Lynne Johnson has been working in the violence against women movement for over 13 years. As an attorney in Maryland, Lynne represented battered women in Protective Order hearings and also worked in Baltimore City’s Juvenile Court system representing children in the foster care system. Since relocating to Chicago in 1999, Lynne managed domestic violence and rape crisis programs and has advocated for improved community responses to violence against women. Lynne holds her 40 Hour Crisis Intervention certifications in both domestic violence and sexual assault. Lynne is a trainer for the Chicago Rape Crisis Hotline and the University of Chicago’s Resources for Sexual Violence Prevention program. Lynne joined Chicago Foundation for Women in 2005 as the Program Officer, and later served as its Director of Advocacy, working in areas of reproductive justice, violence against women, and women’s health. In July 2009, Lynne joined the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation and serves as its Policy and Advocacy Director, where she leads the End Demand Illinois statewide campaign. Lynne holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and a Juris Doctor from the University of Baltimore’s School of Law. Lynne lives in Chicago with her beautiful 6-year-old son, Caleb.

Contact Lynne at lynne@caase.org

Kaethe Morris Hoffer, Deputy Executive Director and Legal Director:
Kaethe Morris Hoffer represents individual survivors of sexual assault, including through prostitution, advocating for them through civil litigation and within the context of the criminal system. Kaethe has spent the last twenty years doing legal and political advocacy opposing sex inequality and sexual violence. She has advocated for individual survivors in state court, in federal court, in university disciplinary proceedings, and in numerous other venues. She has co-authored cutting edge civil rights laws for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence, and lobbied for progressive legislation on trafficking and prostitution in Springfield, Illinois, Washington, D.C., and at the United Nations.

Kaethe conducts trainings on civil legal remedies against sexual assault for rape and domestic violence service organizations, as well as for attorneys and legal organizations. She currently serves on the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault’s Policy Advisory Committee, and previously was a member of the women’s policy advisory group for the Obama Campaign, the Governor’s Commission on the Status of Women in Illinois, and a policy advisor to Mayor Richard M. Daley.

Contact Kaethe at kmh@caase.org

Kristin Claes, Communications Manager:
Kristin Claes has worked in communication and fundraising in the nonprofit sector since 2004. She received her BA and MA in English literature from Saint Louis University, where she also studied journalism and served as editor-in-chief of The University News. While at SLU, Kristin helped to form the feminist student group Una and to produce Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monolgues on campus. She has taught composition at the college level and holds a certificate in creative and professional writing. From 2008 to 2010, Kristin served as a communicator for the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago. She has received several awards for her writing, including a certificate of excellence from the ECHO Awards for the Red Cross donor newsletter Crossnotes, which placed 5th out of 700 entries. As a member of the Red Cross Advanced Public Affairs team, Kristin deployed to Nashville in 2010 to assist with the flooding relief operation. She enjoys exploring social media and is proud to be the voice of @TheCAASE on Twitter.

Contact Kristin at kristin@caase.org

Jennifer Escalante, Staff Attorney:
Working within CAASE’s Sexual Assault Justice Project, Jennifer represents survivors of sexual assault and exploitation in civil court. She also provides advocacy for her clients in the criminal justice system. By reaching out to law enforcement and prosecutors, Jennifer assists clients in obtaining charges against the perpetrators. Prior to joining the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, Jennifer was an attorney in private practice at Duane Morris, LLP and SNR Denton.  She graduated from the University of Chicago Law School in 2003.

Contact Jennifer at jce@caase.org

Sheerine Alemzadeh, Staff Attorney
Sheerine is a Skadden Fellow who will be litigating under state and federal laws to achieve workplace justice for sexual assault survivors. Sheerine graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School as a Toll Public Interest Scholar. While in law school, Sheerine co-founded Students Against Gender-Based Exploitation, a pro bono project providing legal support to Philadelphia organizations serving survivors of gender-based violence. As a law student, Sheerine interned for the Equal Employment Opportunity Project of the Washington Lawyers' Committee, the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, and the Employment Unit of Community Legal Services of Philadelphia. Upon graduation, Sheerine received the Fordham Human Rights Award and the Goldstein Memorial Prize for Best Paper in Labor Law. Prior to law school, Sheerine worked for the legal department of Tahirih Justice Center, advocating on behalf of  immigrant survivors of gender-based violence.  

Contact Sheerine at sa@caase.org
 

Veronica Martinez, Project Administrator:

Veronica has worked as a paralegal for eight years. She previously worked at Life Span Center for Legal Services and Advocacy, which assists victims of domestic violence in family law matters. Veronica joined Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation in 2010 as the Project Administrator for the Sexual Assault Justice Project. She works with our staff attorneys to help survivors of sexual harm seek justice in criminal and civil court.

Contact Veronica at veronica@caase.org

Karen Beilstein, Office Manager

Karen began her work with CAASE as a volunteer, coordinating the development of our Communities of Faith Toolkits and assisting the organization with many special projects. Currently as a staff member, she helps to coordinate CAASE's operations and works with fundraising and budgeting efforts.

Contact Karen at kbeilstein@caase.org  

Caleb Probst, Education Outreach Associate

Caleb first became involved with CAASE in 2007 while helping to research the behavior of men who buy sex (“johns”) in the Chicago area. He directed "Body and Sold" in 2008 - a play that told the stories of eight prostituted young people in America.  In 2010, he wrote "The Strings Attached" and produced it and "The Johns" under the title "Private Lies: Two Plays about Prostitution and Johns."  As CAASE's Education Outreach Associate, he is bringing our new curriculum to high schools and empowering young men to become allies in ending sexual exploitation and violence.

Contact Caleb at caleb@caase.org

Larone Ellison, Prevention intern

Larone has started an internship at CAASE through the Women's Studies department at Northeastern Illinois University. As a Women's Studies major, he hopes to be a voice in the fight to end sex demand across Chicago. Larone is actively creating a new curriculum dealing with teen masculinity, as well as the deconstruction of images of negative male figures in inner city areas. He also speaks with young men about avoiding the sex trade.

Contact Larone at lellison@caase.org

Jordan Franklin, Legal Intern

Jordan is currently a student at John Marshall Law School. She received her BA in Sociology-Social Welfare and Gender Studies from Augustana College. Prior to law school, Jordan worked as a Residential Youth Counselor and Assistant Program Coordinator, implementing rehabilitation programs for both sexual violence victims and offenders. At CAASE, Jordan works with the legal department conducting legal research and advocacy initiatives to assist CAASE attorneys in their representation of victims of sexual violence.

Contact Jordan at jfranklin@caase.org

Kendra Harding, Community Engagement and Communications Intern

Kendra is currently pursuing her MA in Forensic Psychology at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. She received her B.A. from the University of Iowa in Psychology and Sociology in 2010. Kendra has also completed two years of AmeriCorps where she worked at Women in Distress of Broward County as a Legal Community Outreach Team Leader. Kendra looks forward to advocating for women and changing society's view on prostitution and sexual exploitation.

Contact Kendra at kharding@caase.org

Lara Janson, Volunteer

Lara Janson has worked on the issue of human trafficking in Latin America, Europe, and the United States. She is conducting research for CAASE about the demand side of trafficking and the commercial sex industry. She analyzes online Johns Boards, where men trade information about the commercial sex industry throughout Illinois. Lara has contributed to a curriculum for educating boys and young men about modern-day slavery and human trafficking. Last spring, Lara also organized a Bandana Project event to raise awareness in Chicago about sexual violence against farm worker/immigrant women.

Darci Jenkins, Community Outreach and Engagement Intern

Darci is currently in her second year at the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago. She is on the social administration track and is also part of the Violence Prevention Program of Study. Darci received her BA from the University of New Hampshire in Psychology and Justice Studies. She was a peer advocate at the rape crisis center at UNH as well as an intern and eventual night staff supervisor at the regional rape crisis center serving the Greater Seacoast area of New Hampshire. Darci will be working on collaborating with local colleges and universities to start Colleges Aligned Against Sexual Exploitation chapters on their campuses. She will also be creating educational toolkits for the community to use.

 Contact Darci at djenkins@caase.org 

Lauren Rankin, Communications Intern
Lauren received her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre with a minor in Gender Studies from Northwestern University in 2008. For the past three years, she has been a voiceover actor and music theatre teacher to children in the Chicagoland area. She comes to CAASE after working in communications at Between Friends, and is the author of a feminist blog, www.4thwavefeminism.blogspot.com. She is committed to giving a voice to women who have been exploited and helping to reshape public opinion about sexual exploitation.

Contact Lauren at communication@caase.org

Blair Sterling, Policy and Advocacy Intern

Blair is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Social Work at Loyola University.  Blair received her BA at Pennsylvania State University where she majored in psychology and crime, law and justice.  Prior to beginning graduate school, Blair worked for six years in the Philadelphia Juvenile Justice System. Blair is thankful for the opportunity to be a part of CAASE’s policy and advocacy efforts to transform Illinois’ response to prostitution and sex trafficking.

Contact Blair at policy@caase.org