Meet our Co-Founders and Program Director
Liz
Murray
Co-Founder & Executive Director
There’s a whole lot to learn about Liz Murray but let’s simply start with this: she knows why stable relationships matter to at-risk kids because she was one herself. Her life was transformed for the better by mentors who refused to look the other way. Her conviction that these kind of relationships can change other kids’ lives, as they did her own, underpins everything we do at The Arthur Project.
Liz is an inspirational speaker who is notable for having been accepted by Harvard University despite being homeless in her high school years. She was born in the Bronx, New York to poor and drug-addicted parents, both of whom would later contract HIV. She became homeless just after turning 15, when her mother died of AIDS in 1996 and her father moved to a homeless shelter.
Despite her late high school start and lack of a stable home, Murray began attending an alternative high school, graduating in two years. She was awarded a New York Times scholarship for needy students and was accepted into Harvard University. A made-for-TV film about Murray’s life, Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story, was released in 2003. Liz’s bestselling memoir Breaking Night was published in 2010. Liz credits two key mentors in her youth as the needed support and foundation in transforming her life.
Jeff
Muti
Co-Founder & Board President
Jeff describes himself as the “boring business guy” and Liz, “the soul” of The Arthur Project. Jeff has a keen understanding that for a not-for-profit organization to be successful, it needs to be run like a business and he has a wealth of expertise to help make that happen.
Jeff is Founder, CEO and CFO of Sigma Worldwide, an engineering-services company and manufacturer of accessory products for various industries. He brings significant business expertise to The Arthur Project, having served in senior management and financial leadership roles. Jeff has been actively involved in charitable activities and served on the Board of Storefront Academy, a tuition-free, private school in Harlem and the South Bronx educating underserved children.
His primary role with the Storefront Academy was to assist in fundraising efforts. Jeff attended Duke University for undergraduate studies and received his MBA from Harvard Business School. He and his wife, Antoinette, have two wonderful children: Isabella and Connor.
Jessica
Greenawalt
Program Director
In July 2017, Dr. Jessica Greenawalt was hired as our Program Director and has been instrumental in working with Liz and Jeff in bringing The Arthur Project from an idea to reality. Jessica is a licensed Social Worker and holds a doctorate in Social Work and Sociology from Boston University. She has worked in community-based organizations in public schools for over a decade, overseeing graduate students and providing direct services herself. Jessica also has dedicated experience teaching and advising social work students.
The only thing that Jessica cares about more than working with students of all ages is her daughter, Francesca. When Jessica is not overseeing the program, attending meetings, analyzing data or teaching anti-oppressive clinical skills to social work students, Jessica and her daughter love to spend time dancing, singing, baking and enjoying their neighborhood in the Bronx.
