Our Staff
Rev. Clare Butterfield , Executive Director
clare@faithinplace.org Rev. Clare
As Faith in Place’s executive director, Rev. Clare Butterfield preaches and teaches regularly at congregations throughout Illinois, while coordinating programmatic and organizational development. She started as Faith in Place’s original organizer and developed the organization into today’s regional scale. She is a Unitarian Universalist minister from central Illinois with a lifelong interest in environmental matters. Prior to entering the ministry, Rev. Butterfield had a career as a tax and corporate attorney. She has an M.Div. from Meadville Lombard Theological School (2000), a J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law (1983), a B.A. in History from the University of Illinois (1980), and she is currently working toward a D.Min. at Chicago Theological Seminary. She is the community minister for Unity Temple in Oak Park.
Zainab Khan , Congregational Outreach
zainab@faithinplace.org Zainab
Zainab Khan joined Faith in Place as part of our Congregational Outreach Staff in 2007. She has extensive experience as an educator, having worked for several years in the Muslim school system, and has a passion for all the work of Faith in Place, particularly our TAQWA cooperative and other efforts to link Muslim values and support for sustainable farming. Zainab has a degree in History from the University of Chicago in 2004, and a Masters in Teaching History from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2006. She is currently pursuing Doctoral studies in New World History.
Katy Regalado , Youth Program Coordinator
As youth program coordinator, Katy Regalado oversees our lively after-school and summer program for youth in Logan Square. She plans the environmental curriculum and teaches youth to grow food, compost with worms, and care for honeybees. Katy joined Faith in Place in January 2006 with four years experience in youth development. Previously, she worked as a youth educator/artist for Ecovida, an environmental justice organization in Chicago’s Pilsen community. She also participated in Public Allies, a non-for-profit apprenticeship program in Chicago, after receiving her B.A. in Latin American and Latino Studies from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2004.
Sara Spoonheim , Assistant Director
As assistant director, Sara leads Faith in Place’s fundraising efforts and assists with program development and strategic planning. Sara expanded Faith in Place’s programs to promote sustainably grown foods to congregations statewide and she helped her church become the first in Chicago to go solar. She also helped launch shopIPL.org, an on-line energy store for congregations nationwide. Before joining Faith in Place in 2004, she developed nationally-acclaimed sustainable housing for low-income Montana families at homeWORD. In 2003, Sara was named one of the country's most promising environmental leaders by the Environmental Leadership Program. She has a B.A. in Economics and Government from Connecticut College (1995) and Masters degrees in theology and community development from North Park Theological Seminary (2004).