Madeline Talbott

Living Wage Jobs

Madeline has worked with thousands of Chicago and Illinois individuals and organizations to win increases in the state minimum wage (currently at $7.75 per hour and going up to $8.00 next year); the City of Chicago living wage (currently at $10 per hour and goes up with inflation every year for city contractors' employees) and the Big Box Living Wage (a proposal to require the largest employers in the country, such as Wal Mart, to pay their employees $10 an hour plus healthcare benefits), which passed city council but was vetoed by the mayor.

Public Safety

Madeline has supported Ceasefire, which provides gang and violence intervention in inner city neighborhoods in an evidence-based program to reduce violence.

Other Issues

Action Now works on any and all issues identified by its members and approved at community meetings. As the lead organizer, Madeline's job is to listen to the concerns of the members and help them to implement their objectives. See www.actionnow.org.

Educational Background

Madeline Talbott attended St. Mary's Academy in Portland Oregon for high school and Harvard University, where she received her B.A. in 1975. She was an instructor from 2000-2007 in a graduate program in Community Development at North Park University, a Christian Covenant college located on the north side of Chicago.

Personal Background

Madeline has a wonderful husband of 23 years and two marvelous daughters in college. She also has a third "daughter" who came to live with the family three and a half years ago and has been unofficially adopted by the family, who is also in college. They live in the same apartment in the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago that they have called home for more than 20 years.

Religion

Catholic. She has an interest in all religions, but the Sermon on the Mount is the most phenomenal. The Church is the place where she developed her commitment to justice.

Hobbies

Madeline loves novels, especially Jane Austen. She is also a movie fan, with the Dark Knight her current favorite, along with Juno. She watches the shows on TV with her daughters like the dance competitions, American Idol, Project Runway, etc. She is a particular fan of the Nanny shows, for which her family makes terrible fun of her. They also make fun of her Bruce Springsteen fan-aticism and her recent interest in opera. She loves the philosophy of Stanley Cavell and the people he writes about, especially Henry David Thorea and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Motown music, including Aretha, Smokey Robinson (My Girl) and the Spinners (Then Came You) are also big.