Trisha McWilliams

Trisha McWilliams

Trisha McWilliams recently joined the YWCA Chicago’s new Center for Racial Justice and Activism. In her role as Racial Justice Scholar, she co-facilitates the YWCA Challenging Racism Workshop Series and conducts outreach to communities and organizations looking to define and oppose systemic racism.

Trisha graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.A. in Communication Studies. After interning at Paramount Pictures in Hollywood, she returned to UNC-Chapel Hill to attend law school where she worked for the UNC Center for Civil Rights. During law school she worked on litigation in the areas of public education, felon disenfranchisement, zoning and municipal law. She also worked as a community organizer in rural Eastern North Carolina, advocating with under-served Black communities in their effort to receive access to municipal services, such as water and sewer, as well as voting access within political bodies which enacted land use policies.

After law school, Trisha joined the staff of a Chicago-based youth development organization called Free Spirit Media with an interest in working with urban youth who want to share their own voice as well as the voice of their community. During college and law school, she was able to do the same by creating documentaries about the history of integration, poverty, and race. As FSM's Program Coordinator at the Gary Comer Youth Center, Trisha instructed youth crews in live-event and documentary production.