CPR Staff

Marcha Isabelle Chaudry is a Senior Policy Analyst with the Center for Progressive Reform. Over the course of her career, Ms. Chaudry has held clerkships with government, labor unions, and nonprofit organizations including the AFL-CIO, National Education Association, National Lawyers Employment Association (as a Peggy Browning Fellow), and Congress.

Prior to joining CPR, Ms. Chaudry served as a Senior Policy Manager with the National Women’s Health Network, where she developed and led their consumer safety policy efforts, with a particular focus on toxic chemicals in cosmetics and their impact on historically marginalized communities. She also served as a law clerk for the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and as an Associate Staff Counsel at the Pennsylvania State Education Association.

Ms. Chaudry earned a J.D., with distinction in Alternative Dispute Resolution from Howard University School of Law and a Bachelor of Science degree from Howard University. She is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia. She also serves as a Board Member for Women’s Voices for the Earth.

Contact Information:
202.747.0698 ext. 7
email

Maggie Dewane is the Digital Media Manager for CPR. She is a writer and communications specialist who has traveled to all seven continents to understand climate change, conservation, and how both are impacting people.

Maggie has written articles and provided lectures on climate change, and has been recognized by the National Press Club for her work. In 2017, she was featured in the Huffington Post’s climate series, “End of the Earth" and produced a short film on climate, "In Search of the Adelie Penguin."

Prior to joining CPR, Maggie managed communications for the international nonprofits Marine Stewardship Council and Environmental Investigation Agency. She has worked for the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the United States Senate. Maggie received her Master’s Degree in Environmental Science and Policy from Columbia University and holds a Bachelor of Science in Diplomacy and International Relations from Seton Hall University.

Contact Information:
202.747.0698 ext. 4
email

Grace DuBois is the Peggy Browning Fellow at the Center for Progressive Reform. The Peggy Browning Fund, a nonprofit organization that connects law students who are dedicated to social and economic justice with unique, diverse, and challenging work experiences, made the fellowship possible.

Ms. DuBois graduated summa cum laude in 2020 from the University of Pittsburgh, where she studied political science and economics. She was heavily involved in organizing and engaging students in the political process while in college, and she worked on several state-level campaigns after graduating from Pitt. Grace is now pursuing a law degree at the American University Washington College of Law. She is a member of the Moot Court Competition Team and a junior staffer for the Administrative Law Review.

Catalina Gonzalez is the Climate Justice Policy Analyst at the Center for Progressive Reform. She is passionate about advancing equitable climate solutions. She joins CPR to focus on climate justice governance in California.

Prior to joining CPR, Ms. Gonzalez spent five years with community-based nonprofits leading advocacy, community engagement, and capacity-building efforts to empower disadvantaged communities of color to advocate for environmental public policies, land uses, and community improvements to address disparities in public health and respond to climate change. She served communities throughout the San Gabriel Valley of Southern California as Environmental Policy Director at Day One, and as an advocate for safer, more reliable, and sustainable transportation systems with Active San Gabriel Valley. 

Her master’s research on urban water policy and green stormwater infrastructure programs in major U.S. cities examined the spatial distribution of green infrastructure projects — and associated impacts and multi-benefits — in relation to socially vulnerable populations.  

Ms. Gonzalez earned her B.A. from Wellesley College in 2014 and her Master's degree (ALM) from Harvard University in Sustainability and Environmental Management in 2020, with a focus on environmental policy.

Contact Information:
202.747.0698 ext. 10
email

James Goodwin, J.D., M.P.P., is a Senior Policy Analyst with the Center for Progressive Reform. He joined CPR in May of 2008. Prior to joining CPR, Mr. Goodwin worked as a legal intern for the Environmental Law Institute and EcoLogix Group, Inc. He is a published author with articles on human rights and environmental law and policy appearing in the Michigan Journal of Public Affairs and the New England Law Review (co-author with Armin Rosencranz).

Mr. Goodwin graduated magna cum laude from Kalamazoo College, where he received a B.A. with honors in Political Science. He received his law degree (with a certificate in environmental law) from the University of Maryland School of Law, where he graduated magna cum laude, and his master’s degree in public policy (concentration in environmental policy) from the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, where he graduated as class valedictorian. While at the University of Maryland School of Law, Mr. Goodwin was a member of the Moot Court team. He is a member of Order of the Coif and Phi Beta Kappa. 

Contact Information:
202.747.0698 ext. 5
email

Brian Gumm is the Communications Director at the Center for Progressive Reform. Prior to joining CPR in March 2016, he spent nearly a decade in several roles at the Center for Effective Government, including communications director and senior writer.

Mr. Gumm's previous public interest experience includes time with the Alliance for Healthy Homes, American Farmland Trust, and the Center on Wisconsin Strategy at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. He has been quoted by a number of media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal and The Dallas Morning News, and his work has appeared in several publications.

Mr. Gumm earned a B.S. in environmental policy from Northland College and a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School.

Contact Information:
202.747.0698 ext. 2
email

Catherine Jones manages CPR's general administration, project production, distribution, reporting, and conference planning. Ms. Jones joined CPR in October 2005. Prior to joining CPR, she worked as a Property Manager in the commercial office field for over 15 years in the Baltimore, Washington, and Virginia real estate markets. Working for premier commercial office management companies, she developed an extensive expertise in financial reporting and analysis, human resource management, construction management, and project management. She served numerous private and institutional clients, both foreign and domestic. Her favorite aspect of property management was tenant relations and getting the opportunity to work with a wide variety of tenants, both small and large, and helping them meet their office space needs.

Contact Information:
202.747.0698 ext. 3
email

Sophie Loeb is a Climate Justice Policy Fellow with the Center for Progressive Reform. Originally from Southern California, Sophie dedicates her personal and professional life to "tikkun olam," or repairing the world, and firmly believes, "The arc of the moral universe bends toward justice, but it does not bend on its own."

Prior to joining the Center, Sophie engaged with the Detroit community first as a public school teacher and then as a client advocate at the Neighborhood Defender Service (NDS) where she micro-advocated for alternatives to incarceration. While at NDS, Sophie wrote compelling and persuasive mitigation memos, bond motions, and release plans for clients, resulting in improved case outcomes including lower bond, lesser sentences, and community treatment.

Sophie sees racial injustice as the preeminent determinant of and gravest threat to public health. She is propelled to work at the mezzo and macro levels to advocate for environmental justice affected communities, specifically in the climate change mitigation space.

Sophie obtained her BA degree from UC Berkeley in 2017. In 2022, she graduated with a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Michigan, with a focus on Environmental Health Policy in Communities. In the future, she hopes to earn a law degree to further marry her passion for environmental health and law.

Communications intern Alexandra Rogan joined the Center for Progressive Reform in June 2022 and specializes in design strategy and content development. She is a rising junior at the University of Maryland studying Communication and Public Policy. She recently completed research on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and created a series of digital media toolkit pieces to advance ethics in sustainable development.

Alexandra grew up in Orlando, Florida then moved to to Rockville, Maryland prior to pursuing her degree at the University of Maryland.

Katlyn Schmitt, J.D., is a Senior Policy Analyst at the Center for Progressive Reform. She joined CPR in 2020 to work on environmental policy, enforcement, and advocacy.

Before joining CPR, Mrs. Schmitt spent four years working as the Legal and Policy Director for Waterkeepers Chesapeake, where she provided legal assistance to Waterkeepers and advocated for legislative and regulatory priorities in Maryland, D.C., Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

Mrs. Schmitt received her law degree from the University of Maryland in 2015, cum laude, with a certificate of concentration in environmental law, and her B.A. from Messiah College in Political Science in 2011, magna cum laude.

Contact Information:
202.747.0698 ext. 8
email

Minor Sinclair joined the Center for Progressive Reform in February 2021 as Executive Director.

Previously, Minor directed Oxfam’s U.S. Domestic Program on economic justice, equality, and workers' rights. Under his leadership, Oxfam mounted responses to major emergencies in Puerto Rico and the Gulf Coast with a focus on climate resiliency and social vulnerability. He co-founded the Equitable Food Initiative, a consortium of major food buyers, growers, farm worker groups, and consumer advocates seeking to improve working conditions and food safety. While at Oxfam, Minor led a team that supported more than 100 community-based and national organizations dedicated to economic, racial, and gender justice. He also helped launch the transnational migration initiative which brought organizations together across Central America, Mexico, and the United States.

Minor helped commission research publications on social vulnerability, food and agriculture, state and federal labor policy and national disaster response. His writing has appeared in the Washington Monthly, the Baltimore Sun, the Philadelphia Enquirer, and the Orlando Sentinel, among others.

Previously, Minor co-founded Oxfam’s program in Cuba and worked for many years on human rights and global issues, including overseas service with the Mennonite Central Committee. He graduated from Davidson College with a degree in International Development and completed an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School.

Contact Information:
202.747.0698 ext. 1
email

Allison Stevens is the senior editor and research advisor at the Center for Progressive Reform. She joined the Center in November 2020 as a writing and editing consultant and has expanded her portfolio at the organization to include communications training, scholar outreach and coordination, and grant writing and fundraising.

Prior to joining the Center, Ms. Stevens served nonprofits as a communications consultant and worked in staff positions at the Frameworks Institute and PR Solutions. An accomplished and multi-award-winning journalist, she has also written and edited for Women's eNews, Congressional Quarterly, and The Hill.

Contact Information:
email