Lisa Gottlieb 2024 Sleeping Bear Dunes, Lake Michigan
Lisa Gottlieb is a Michigan licensed Master of Social Work and a certified trainer with the Center for Nonviolent Communication. She has lived in Ann Arbor since 1976.
She co-founded Selma Cafe in 2009 with her husband at the time, Jeff McCabe. Their marriage ended in 2012.The weekly breakfast salon, held at their home near Eberwhite Elementary School, featured chefs from local restaurants using locally sourced and produced food. The breakfasts were prepared and served by a staff of all volunteers, with donations accepted to support local farmers. Selma Cafe moved location in 2013 to Sunward Co-housing, after the city notified the group that the breakfasts were violating local zoning ordinances. Then in mid-2014 Gottlieb announced that the event would be taking an indefinite hiatus. The last breakfast was in April 2014.
Gottlieb was a school social worker for the Washtenaw Intermediate School District (WISD) for 20 years and retired in 2019. She provided social work services to students in the Washtenaw County Juvenile Detention Center and the county jail, for the Ann Arbor Deaf and Hard of Hearing Programs, and WAVE (Washtenaw Alliance for Virtual Education), a countywide alternative high school program. As part of her work with the juvenile detention center, she started a community garden located in the building's courtyard. She is a certified Kripalu yoga teacher and offered yoga classes for incarcerated youth. She also was part of the Washtenaw County Youth Drug Court Program and the Girls Trauma Progam while working at the juvenile detention center.
In 2014 she founded a practice group for compassionate communication (also known as Nonviolent Communication) in Ann Arbor, and began the process of becoming a certified trainer with the Center for Nonviolent Communication. She became certified as an NVC trainer and for the last 10 years she ahas facilitated classes, workshops, immersion programs and other NVC trainings in person and online. Her website is www.lisagottlieb.com. Additionally, Lisa founded Great Lakes NVC, an organization to promote NVC in SE Michigan. She has a private therapy and coaching practice where she supports individuals, couples and families through the lens of NVC.
Gottlieb lives on the Old West Side near Eberwhite Woods. Her daughter, Zoe Clark, is political director at Michigan Public (Michigan's largest NPR affiliate), and co-hosts the radio program It’s Just Politics with her husband Rick Pluta. Her son, Nevon Clark, manages Gottlieb's Airbnb.
In the news
Meet a Customer: Lisa Gottlieb – Literati Bookstore blog, Sept. 8, 2015
Lisa Gottlieb on Compassionate and Nonviolent Communication – Interview in Crazy Wisdom Community Journal, Fall 2015
Presentation on nonviolent communication (video) – Dispute Resolution Center, Sept. 27, 2014
Selma Cafe Takes a Hiatus – Ann Arbor Chronicle, Aug. 19, 2014
Selma Cafe Secures Nonprofit Status – Ann Arbor Chronicle, Aug. 5, 2013
Selma Cafe to open for brunch at new location after troubles with city codes – AnnArbor.com, June 7, 2013
Selma Cafe Finds New Fiscal Sponsor: Artrain – Ann Arbor Chronicle, May 31, 2013
Selma Cafe halts operations after city says it violated zoning codes – AnnArbor.com, April 20, 2013
The Story of the Legendary Selma Cafe – video by Andrew Kaufman, April 18, 2013
City Notifies Selma Cafe of Zoning Violation – Ann Arbor Chronicle, April 13, 2013
Presentation at Entre-SLAM (video) – Ann Arbor Entre-SLAM event, May 2013
A Taste of Selma Cafe (video) – AnnArbor.com, April 29, 2012
The Trip for Life: Selma Cafe and Local Food (video) – The Trip for Life, July 28, 2011
Interview with Lisa Gottlieb and Jeff McCabe (video) – Jeannie on the Beat show, May 2011
Presentation at Ann Arbor greenbelt advisory commission – Ann Arbor Chronicle, Nov. 10, 2010
Selma Cafe's Farmers Fund builds hoop houses – AnnArbor.com, Sept. 10, 2010
'Locavore' food movement growing strong in Ann Arbor area – Ann Arbor News, July 23, 2009
Friday Mornings @SELMA Finds a Home – Ann Arbor Chronicle, July 29, 2009
Ann Arbor’s Selma Cafe: Open for Breakfast, Community, and Conversation – Gastronomical Three blog, Feb. 28, 2009
Timeline
November 2014: Founds an Ann Arbor practice group in nonviolent communication and begins work as managing director of Compassionate Communication Ann Arbor.
August 2014: Announces that Selma Cafe will be taking an indefinite hiatus.
2009: Co-founds Friday Mornings @SELMA (later known as Selma Cafe) with Jeff McCabe, and serves as operations manager through mid-2014, when the event takes an indefinite hiatus. The weekly breakfast salon, originally held at Gottlieb's home, featured local chefs and locally produced food, with a staff of volunteer servers and donations to support local farmers.
1997: Earns masters degree in social work from the University of Michigan School of Social Work.
2000: Begins work as a school social worker for the Washtenaw Intermediate School District (WISD). Provides services to students in the Washtenaw County Juvenile Detention Center, for the Ann Arbor Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program, and WAVE (Washtenaw Alliance for Virtual Education), a county wide alternative high school program.
2020: Lisa retires from WISD and continues her work as a certified NVC trainer, including teaching and offering therapy and coaching services.
Sources
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lisagottlieb
Airbnb profile: https://www.airbnb.com/users/show/2017515
