GSA for Safe Schools Staff

Cindy Crane – Executive Director
Cindy Crane serves as GSA for Safe School’s Executive Director. Cindy holds a B.A. from UW Eau Claire and a Master of Divinity from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. After serving Evangelical Lutheran Church in America parishes for 10 years, Cindy came out as a lesbian and left the clergy roster in good standing. Cindy has been an active leader in social justice movements both in the Twin Cities and Madison. She also has four years of experience organizing seminars for continuing education credits for educators in Minnesota through a small business. In the Madison community, Cindy has been active working within the Latino community and attends LaSup meetings regularly. Send e-mail to .

Brian Juchems – Program Director
Brian Juchems serves as GSA for Safe School’s Program Director. Brian holds a B.A. from Luther College and has extensive experience with social justice and working with youth. In addition, he is a sought-after experiential education presenter who has worked extensively in the K-12 school system and other settings. He has been involved with our organization since 1998. He has also served as a Youth Development Specialist for Briarpatch and as Director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison LGBT Campus Center. Brian maintains close relationships with student leaders and school personnel, provides schools with technical assistance and consultations, and coordinates our conferences and trainings. Contact by e-mail.

Tim Michael – Program Assistant
Tim Michael serves as GSA for Safe School's Program Assistant. Tim holds a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is a graduate of the Wisconsin Apprentice Organizers Project (AOP), a program that seeks to foster a "culture of organizing" in Wisconsin. Prior to his apprenticeship with AOP and GSA for Safe Schools, Tim was a Field Organizer for the Fair Wisconsin campaign. As the founder his high school's GSA, Tim feels he has come full circle and is thrilled to rejoin the effort to make Wisconsin's schools safe for all. Send e-mail to

Monica Adams – Middle School Program Assistant
Monica Adams serves half-time as GSA for Safe School's Middle School Program Assistant. Monica was born and raised in Milwaukee, WI where there is a large and prevalent Latino community. "I was very attracted to the people, the culture, and the language as I realized there were many similarities between us. Quickly I found myself grasping the language and gaining acceptance, as I went from being viewed as Monica, to Mona la morena (dark Mona, doll)." Monica has studied at UW-Madison and is a graduate of the Wisconsin Apprentice Organizers Project. Along with working at GSAFE, she is employed part-time as the Queer Youth of Color/African-American Organize at Freedom Inc.