Zoe Mikva
Zorita (Zoe) Wise Mikva is the wife of former Congressman Abner Mikva.
Background
Zoe Mikva's career in public service began with the Illinois Division of the American Civil Liberties Union. She then lobbied for the Friends Committee on National Legislation and worked on two election campaigns with the CIO Political Action Committee. When daughters Mary, Laurie, and Rachel were youngsters, Zoe taught primary school in Washington, D.C. and in Evanston. L
Zoe Mikva later wrote and edited public information materials, evaluated state highway safety programs, and developed education programs as a special assistant to the Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In the early and mid-1980's, Zoe co-owned and managed The Hill Company, which provided support services for people and organizations who were visiting Washington and wanted to affect public policy. For the next seven years, Zoe was Director of Development of The Advocacy Institute, a Washington organization that counsels public interest and grass roots lobbying groups. After returning to Chicago, she was Director of Special Projects in Education for Business and Professional People for the Public Interest.
Zoe's energetic involvement in many volunteer activities has also spanned four decades. It included PTA Leadership positions in Chicago, the initiation of Chicago schools’ Operation Headstart, the Board of Hyde Park Neighborhood Club, the Board of the Illinois ACLU, elected representative of the District Education Council of the National Education Association, tutoring for the Washington Literacy Council, Board service with Micah House, which shelters previously homeless and addicted women, and involvement in many state and local political campaigns. Currently she is an elected community member of the Canter School Local School Council.[1]
IPS "who's who"-20th anniversary celebrations
By its second decade the Institute for Policy Studies had built up considerable influence in the U.S. government.
According to Information Digest[2]the Institute for Policy Studies celebrated its 20th anniversary with an April 5, 1983, reception at the National Building Museum attended by approximately 1,000 IPS staffers and former staff.
In addition to 1960s folk songs by Josh White, Jr. and a bluegrass band, consisted of an underdone "roast" of IPS leaders Marcus Raskin and Richard Barnet hosted and chaired by IPS trustee Paul C Warnke, head of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and chief SALTII negotiator for the Carter Administration. Zoe Mikva, wife of Congressman Abner Mikva handled arrangements . The "roasting" was urdertaken by former Senator George McGovern, Rep. Ron Dellums, Ralph Nader, lesbian activist and author Rita Mae Brown, Village Voice cartoonist Jules Feiffer, Harry Belafonte and Cora Weiss, substituting for IPS board chairman Peter Weiss.
Many of IPS's current and former Capitol Hill friends attended or were represented by members of their staff. Among those serving on the IPS 20th Anniversary Committee chaired by Paul C. Warnke were Senators Chris Dodd {D-CT} and Gary Hart (D. CO) with an endorsement provided by Senator Mark Hatfield {R OR}.
Former Senators on the committee included James Abourezk, recently an IPS Trustee, Birch Bayh, Frank Church, William Fullbright, Eugene McCarthy and Gaylord Nelson.
The Congressional IPS comittee members included Les Aspin {D. WI}, George E Brown, Jr. (D.CA}, Philip Burton (D.CA), George Crockett (D-MI}, Ron Dellums (D.CA}, former Texas Congressman Robert Eckhardt, Don Edwards {D.CA}, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights, Tom Harkin {D-IA}, Robert Kastenmeier (D. WI}, Chairman of the Subcomittee on Courts, Civil Liberties and the Administration of Justice, George Miller (D-CA}, Richard Ottinger {D-NY}, Leon Panetta (D-CA}, Henry Reuss (D.WI}, Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, Patricia Schroeder {D.CO}, John Seiberling (D.OH} and Ted Weiss {D.NY}.
Among those attending were Victor Navasky and Christopher Hitchens of The Nation, Abner Mikva, appointed by president Carter to the U.S. Court of Appeals, philanthropist Philip Stern and Rep. Robert Kastenmeier. Among the well-advertised "no shows" were Bianca Jagger, who has been lobbying Congress with the assistance of the Washington Office on Latin America and the CISPES-Committee in Solidarity with the Peoples of El Salvador, against U.S. aid to El Salvador and for aid to the Sandinistas; and Atlanta Mayor and former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young.
Members of the IPS 20th Anniversary Comittee included:
David Aberswerth, Gar Alperovitz, David Baltimore, Mayor Marion Barry, Norman Birnbaum, Conrad Cafritz, Peggy Cooper Cafritz, Dr. Helen Caldicott, Charles Caldwell, Lillian Calhoun, David Carley, Lisle Carter, Jr., Noam Chomsky, Dr. Mary Coleman, Catherine Conover, Dr. Franklin Davis, Diana DeVegh, Dr. James Dixon, Leonard Dreyfus, Celia Eckhardt, William Fitzgerald, Nancy Folger, Yolande Fox, Dr. Jerome Frank, Robert Freedman, Clayton Fritchey, John Kenneth Galbraith, Cherif Guellal, Mark Green, Dean Charles Halperin, Sidney Harman, W. Averell Harriman, Terry Herndon, Seymour Hersh, Karl Hess, Sonya Hoover, Richard Hubbard, David Hunter, Ivan Illich, Christopher Jencks, Vernon Jordan, Jr. Patricia King, Gabriel Kolko, Adm. Gene LaRocque, Dr. E. James Lieberman, Dr. Robert Jay Lifton, Philip Lilienthal, Sally Lilienthal, Edgar Lockwood, Franklin Long, Dr. Reginald Lourie, Ira Lowe, Dr. Bernard Lown, Michael Maccoby, Harry Magdoff, Louis Martin, Hilda Mason, Anthony Mazzochi, Dorothy McGhee, Rt. Rev. Paul Moore, Jr., Sidney Morgenbesser, David Morris, very Rev. James Parks Morton, Stephen Muller, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Ara Oztemel, Grace Paley, Charles Peters, Dean Ronald Pollack, David Ramage, Jr., Earl Ravenal, Cary Ridder, Mitchell Rogovin, Florence Roisman, Maurice Rosenblatt, Charles Savitt, Andre Schiffrin, Stephen Schlossberg, Mark Schneider, Herman Schwartz, Herbert Semel, John Sewell, Richard Sobol, Ralph Stavins, Ben Stephansky, Philip Stern, Studs Terkel, Michael Tigar, Michael Trister, Dr. George Wald, Peter Weiss, Stanley Weiss, Jerome Wisner, Gary Wills, William Winpisinger, Andrew Young and Anne Zill.
"Hooray for Progressives"
"Ab & Zoe Mikva" sent the message ""Hooray for Progressives" to the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America 44th Annual Eugene V. Debs - Norman Thomas - Michael Harrington Dinner, May 10, 2002.[3]
Business and Professional People for the Public Interest
In 2008, Zoe Mikva and Abner Mikva were listed as sponsors/financial contributors to the Chicago based Business and Professional People for the Public Interest.[4]
Friends of Canter School
Friends of Canter School was in 2011 headed by Zoe Mikva. The school was named after Miriam G. Canter.
References
- ↑ http://www.mikvachallenge.org/the-mikvas/
- ↑ Information Digest April l5, 1983 p77-79
- ↑ Dinner program
- ↑ BPI website: Board of Directors