Mary F. Morten is the President of Morten Group (MG), a consulting firm specializing in social change through skills development, public policy and advocacy. Morten Group’s work includes: organizational and resource development; workshops on diversity; public policy initiatives; trustee cultivation and film/video production. Morten served as associate and interim executive director for the Chicago Foundation for Women.
Morten is the immediate past Director of the Office of Violence Prevention for the Chicago Department of Public Health. Prior to this position, Morten was a mayoral appointee for Mayor Richard M. Daley and served as the Director/Liaison for the Chicago Commission on Human Relations’ Advisory Council on Gay and Lesbian Issues. She led the community-based coalition for the film, It’s Elementary, a 37-minute educational film for use in staff development trainings for Chicago Public Schools, which represents the largest institutional use of the video in the country, and developed the anti-racism project, The Color Triangle, for the LGBT community. She is co-founder of the Illinois Safe Schools Alliance.
Morten is a former board member of Chicago’s Center on Halsted and of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Morten co-anchored the LesBiGay Radio and later serving as founding general manager of Windy City Radio. Her commitment to full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people was honored with 1996 induction into the Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame. For seven consecutive years, Morten directed and produced Justice for All Gala videos.
Morten has received numerous honors for work with women and girls and in the philanthropic community, such as Rape Victim Advocates Visionary Award, Women’s Funding Network’ Changing the Face of Philanthropy Award, and Women’s Business Development Center’s Advocacy Award.
Morten holds a B.A. in Communications from Loyola University of Chicago. She currently chairs the Illinois Center for Violence Prevention’s Leadership Council, is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and is on faculty for the Axelson Center for NonProfit Management. Morten is currently in production on her own documentary on African American youth, Woke up Black, slated for completion in 2010.
Equality Illinois salutes Mary F. Morten for her commitment to justice for all
