Thanks everyone for making MMMC 2010 great!

2011 Presenter Bios

Some of the raddest people you'll ever meet, in alphabetical order by last name...

Sarah Abbott is a national organizer for Resourelokce Generation. Sarah has been involved with RG since 2009, when in her senior year of college she first attended the Making Money Make Change conference. She is a founding member of the Hummingbird Collective, a cross-class giving project supporting grassroots migrant justice organizing in Arizona. She has also been an RG chapter leader in Minneapolis. Sarah is passionate about developing the ability of young people with wealth to fully align their skills and resources with the social movements they believe in. As a donor, Sarah is committed to supporting grassroots organizing that builds power in communities most impacted by injustice. She is a midwesterner at heart and by choice, raised in small-town Minnesota and currently residing in vibrant Minneapolis. When she's not organizing, you'll find Sarah aerobicizing at her local YWCA or breaking it down on the dance floor. 

  
Tina Bartolome is a San Francisco native and daughter of immigrants from the Philippines and Switzerland. Her community work over the past twelve years has created radical spaces for young people of color to develop their leadership and artistic voice for making social change. Tina directs all SOUL’s program work and collaborations, bringing her many years of experience to organizational efforts to develop a new generation of movement leaders. She is equal parts dialectical materialist, astrologist, and dancehall queen.
 
George Cheung is Director of the Win/Win Network, a nonprofit technical assistance provider promoting civic engagement in Washington State. Prior to this position, George was Founder and CEO of Lopez & Cheung, Inc., an independent consulting practice focused on social science research, geographic information systems and public policy. The firm’s past clients include the National Fair Housing Alliance, Zipcar, APIA Vote, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation/Making Connections. He also worked for several civil rights enforcement agencies. In his volunteer time, George helped found Equal Rights Washington and has served as Board Chair or Interim Executive Director from 2004-2006.  A Washington State native, George received his Bachelors in Political Science from Brown University and a Master in Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. 
 
Lori Choi was born and raised in Hawaii by first-generation Korean parents who valued education, faith in God, and giving back to the community. Her parents’ generosity and compassion towards causes and people in need has inspired Lori to grow and leverage her resources for social change. A graduate of Wharton, Lori first joined the wealth management industry as a Portfolio Manager at the Bank of Hawaii, and is now a Senior Associate at Veris Wealth Partners, where she works with individuals, families and foundations to create sustainable competitive investment strategies that have a positive impact. She feels empowered by the idea that you don’t have to give away money to make a difference. Lori currently servesas a Sunday School teacher at Grace Redeemer Church, and has volunteered at the YWCA, educating children about financial literacy. Lori and her husband live in New Jersey, and are passionate about health and fitness. 

Xiomara E. Corpeno is the National Campaigns Director of for the Coalition for Humane Immigrants Rights of Los Angeles (www.chirla.org). Ms. Corpeno has over 15 years of organizing experience, starting her career as an organizer while a student at University of California, Riverside. She has worked issues ranging from worker rights, financial aid, as well as racial, economic and lgbt justice. She has worked on campaigns for Healthcare Jobs, immigration reform, the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights, and several voter education and mobilization campaigns. CHIRLA has been at the forefront of immigrant worker and family organizing for over 25 years and is currently playing a leadership role in the National Domestic Workers Alliance (www.domesticworkers.org) and their Caring Across Generations Campaign.

 
Emily Cramer is the founder and director of The Twist Fund, a start-up philanthropic organization supporting grassroots work in Texas and Oklahoma. Twist is affiliated with Common Counsel Foundation (Oakland, CA) and heavily influenced by the folks and work of Resource Generation, in addition to other inspiring regional grassroots funders.  After graduating from Stanford University with a degree in Feminist Studies, Twist was born out of Emily’s move to Texas and the desire to integrate her values, wealth, and a regional need for grassroots funding. Emily is currently a Fellow in Mission Related Investing with Resource Generation, actively involved with the Dallas Women’s Foundation, and has a mild horse addiction.  She would like to take this opportunity to shamelessly applaud the incredible grassroots organizations in Texas and Oklahoma, ask her about them!

Ryan Li Dahlstrom is a mixed race Chinese queer organizer, activist, fundraiser, and facilitator/trainer who has worked at the intersections of LGBTQ, youth, and anti-violence movements for the past decade. Currently, he is on staff at GIFT (Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training) as the Training and Network Coordinator. GIFT provides fundraising resources, training, and analysis to social justice organizations nationwide and those based in communities of color. Prior to GIFT, Ryan Li was the Executive Director of the Trans Youth Support Network (TYSN) and was actively involved with Headwaters Foundation for Justice, PFund Foundation, and the GLBT Host Home Program.   Ryan Li also serves on the Board of Community United Against Violence (CUAV).

Sean Dobson is field director at the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, where he spearheads work to engage NCRP's members and allies in campaigns to make grantmakers more responsive to nonprofits and vulnerable communities. Prior to joining NCRP in 2010, Sean co-founded and served for ten years as deputy director and then executive director of Progressive Maryland and Progressive Maryland Education Fund, two nonprofit organizations that advocate for working families on a variety of issues. Among other accomplishments, Progressive Maryland led the Health Care for America Now (HCAN) coalition in Maryland, an alliance of local groups organizing to make health care more accessible and affordable to all Americans. Sean also served previously in the Clinton Administration as advisor for communications and strategy at the National Economic Council. He holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University and a B.A. from Yale University. 
 
Marjorie Dove Kent is the Executive Director of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice in New York. She has nine years of experience in issue-based, identity-based, and neighbourhood-based community organizing. Marjorie has organized with the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance, the Boston Workmen’s Circle, and other organizations and campaigns. She teaches anti-racism community education courses, leads anti-oppression workshops, and facilitates community arts programs. 
 
Farhad Ebrahimi is a philanthropist, environmentalist, musician, lover of film and literature, supporter of science, hipster, and bicycle snob who lives in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.  Farhad comes from a background of unambiguous financial privilege, and he believes that responding to that privilege in an equitable and just manner will be a significant part of his life's work.  He's especially passionate about issues of climate, energy, and environmental health, which he approaches primarily through his role as the founder and trustee chair of the Chorus Foundation, a domestic funder based in Boston.  Farhad graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2002 with a bachelor's degree in Mathematics with Computer Science.
 
Elokin Orton-Cheung is a hapa femme who is continuously searching for different ways to redistribute wealth through genuine cross class collaboration, building deeply respectful relationships, and listening. The intimate advice and transformative models created and shared by many generations of queer women of color and their allies have been essential to her process towards redistribution. She especially wants to give thanks and acknowledgement to our community elders who have given us so much legacy of social justice models to grow from. As health challenges have affected and changed her life in the past year, Elokin is now slowly shifting from working with youth at The Bikery, a community space and collective business run by folks of color in Oakland, towards healing justice work through reconnecting with plants and their healing powers as a beginning herbalist. She hopes to combine the essential work of supporting youth with an herbal medicine practice to work through trauma and healing as a community.
 
Danielle Feris is a White, Jewish, Queer, born-and-raised New Yorker, currently living in Berkeley, CA. Danielle is the Founder and National Director of Hand in Hand: The Domestic Employers Association.  Danielle studied Sociology at Wesleyan University in Connecticut and since then has been a community organizer on a range of issues, working with Democracy Now!, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, MoveOn.org and other organizations and campaigns.

Jason Franklin serves as Executive Director of Bolder Giving, which encourages donors to “Give More, Risk More, Inspire More.” He brings to this work over 15 years experience in philanthropy education, nonprofit strategy, and urban policy & education advocacy. He is also an award-winning Lecturer and Doctoral Candidate at New York University, where he teaches and conducts research on philanthropy and policymaking.


He is the author of the forthcoming book Outrageous Generosity: Inspiration and Advice on Giving Boldly (Sutton Hart Press) and a regular commentator in the media about issues of philanthropy and generosity with recent coverage in ABC News, Wall Street Journal, Chronicle of Philanthropy, Bloomberg News, The Associated Press, and more. He serves on the boards of directors of Resource Generation, North Star Fund, Proteus Fund, 21st Century School Fund, and the Social Justice Philanthropy Collaborative and on the advisory boards of Wealth for the Common Good and the Chartered Advisors in Philanthropy program.


He comes to Bolder Giving from the 21st Century School Fund where he most recently served as Deputy Director. Previously, he coordinated the Rockefeller Foundation’s Next Generation Leadership Network housed at the NYU Research Center for Leadership in Action and has also worked for the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, White House Office of National AIDS Policy, and Oregon Commission on Children and Families. 

Elspeth Gilmore is co-director of Resource Generation. She has coordinated, developed curriculum for and trained RG’s national programs since she came on staff in 2007. She is excited about the role that young people with wealth can play in organizing for tax justice and has been helping to coordinate RG’s Tax Organizing Team.
 
Alison Goldberg coordinates Wealth for the Common Good, a network of business leaders, high-income households and partners working together to promote shared prosperity and fair taxation. She was the Donor Education Coordinator at Resource Generati on, and co-authored Creating Change Through Family Philanthropy: The Next Generation.

Angelique Gonzáles is the Executive Director of SOUL. She grew up along the US-Mexico border in Chula Vista, CA. She began her involvement with SOUL when the organization was founded in 1996, first as a young participant, then as a volunteer trainer with the SOUL Teaching Collective, and now she directs the organization. She has worked previously as an advocate, program director, and community educator in San Francisco’s working-class and immigrant communities. She is a proud aunt & madrina, and a committed anti-imperialist.

Richard Graves is an award-winning social entrepreneur, environmental journalist, and new media strategist. The founder of Fired Up Media, he was the online organizer for TckTckTck Campaign's 17 million person and 181 country global campaign for climate action, helped launch a number of civil society organizations, and has trained hundreds of young people in how to use new media for social change. A board member for the Institute for Technology and Social Change and SumofUs, he is a clean energy angel investor and is participating in Resource Generation's NextGen Fellowship in Mission-Related Investment. 
 
Shaun (Sha) Grogan-Brown has worked to strengthen movements for social justice as an organizer, fundraiser, artist, trainer and consultant since the late 90s. He worked with Committee In Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) from 2001-2008 as a fundraiser, program organizer, and Development Director.  From October 2009 through June 2010, Sha served as the Grassroots Fundraising Coordinator for the US Social Forum 2010.  Sha is currently the Grassroots Fundraising Coordinator with Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, and also co-founded two small consulting groups, On Point Consortium and Rise Fundraising, dedicated to increasing the effectiveness and self-sustaining capacity of organizations.  Sha has a virtual toolbox of skills that he likes to put to use in all of his work, including graphic design, Spanish-English translation and interpretation, and technology support.  In his free time, Sha creates and sells original screenprint artwork through Sha’s Community Supported T-shirts.

Molly Hein: Over the course of her 10+ year relationship with Resource Generation, Molly Hein has led local and national workshops, served as an inaugural member of the CORE Advisory Committee, and illustrated the book Classified: How to Stop Hiding Your Privilege and Use It for Social Change. She is excited about using the tools of Re-evaluation Counseling to work towards divesting from wealth and ending classism. She is a 33-year-old New Yorker currently working as a graphic designer for Sesame Street.

Holmes Hummel is a Resource Generation alum who aged-out after a decade of learning through RG's peer network of change-makers.  Bothered at first by unanswered questions on the MMMC Money Survey, Holmes dug into a fascinating excavation of family history and also started getting a grip on personal financial responsibility.  Participation in action-oriented groups like Wealth for the Common Good and Responsible Wealth has helped Holmes make choices about investments and giving, decisions that reflect an allied interest in changing rules that both accelerate accumulation and aggravate social conditions on many fronts.  In a parallel life that is also inspired by movements for dignity and fairness, Holmes serves as an advisor on energy policy.

 
Julie Johnson grew up in a conservative, wealthy Midwestern family that called itself upper middle class. While bumping heads with her Republican father, she has explored the morality and ethics of money in her working and personal life. After working at three different socially responsible investing firms, she is now Managing Director of Fresh Pond Capital Management where she works with individuals and families helping to align their values, goals and investments. Through investing and volunteering, Julie pursues particular interests in sustainable agriculture, community organizing, and financial literacy. She has served on the board of The Food Project and invested in her local community’s fabric. The growth of her family can beenjoyed at www.finnmcveigh.blogspot.com. 
 
Sarah Lazarewicz is a founding member of the Hummingbird Collective. Born into a single parent household in Missoula, Montana, Sarah has deep roots in the mountains and plains of the West. After a brief stint in Massachusetts (where she attended Smith College), she headed West to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she has lived since 2008. Sarah has been actively involved in the struggle for migrants’ rights as a core member of the Minnesota Immigrants Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) and the Hummingbird Collective. Since attending her first MMMC in 2010, Sarah has been inspired by the radical potential of shifting money and resources towards movements for liberation and is excited to return as a presenter. In her spare time you can find Sarah baking in her kitchen, taking long nighttime bike rides, or diving into one of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes. 
 
Virginia Leavell is a founding member and seed funder of the Wayside Center. Virginia grew up on a farm outside Charlottesville, VA and has lived in and around DC since 1997. As a student, she was a founding member of the successful Georgetown Living Wage Campaign and the subsequent Living Wage Action Coalition. After working two years in Northeast Thailand for a grassroots study abroad program, Virginia returned to VA and DC to work for immigrant justice with the People United and Mexicanos sin Fronteras. In DC she worked at a string of Thai restaurants, the Washington Peace Center, the Change to Win Labor Federation,  and currently works with the Laborers International Union of North America organizing for green construction jobs. Virginia is working to make Wayside a resource for DC metro area communities and organizations.

B. Loewe is the communications director for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, a migrant worker organization organizing to turn the anti-immigrant tide from hate to human rights. Having entered movement work at age 15, B has organized on a variety of fronts in Maryland suburbs, Maine woods, the east and west coast and most proudly in the Midwest and Chicago where B. lives today. Follow @bstandsforb and visit Ndlon.org
 
Teresa Mabry is a Fabulous Queer Black Xicana from Guadalupe, AZ.  Co-Founder of 3rd Space a Fabulous collective of Queer Folx of Color and Allies working to make the invisible visible through grassroots organizing, leadership development, and community empowerment in Arizona. Teresa is also pursuing a degree in interdisciplinary studies with focuses in Justice Studies and Music at Arizona State University. A mover and a shaker, oldest of six, Teresa strives to live an intentional life of love with the understanding of the work of those who came before her and those who will come after her; moving forward to embrace her entire person with the recognition of the power that stems for her identity, community, family, history, culture, and the simple state of just being. Upon completion of her Undergraduate degree Teresa will continue her education with hopes of obtaining a PhD, and then returning to continue to shake and move in AZ culturally and politically. 
 
Mike Markovits is President of the Re-evaluation Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to supporting the spread of the ideas and tools of Re-evaluation Counseling around the world. Through this work, he has led workshops on money and related topics in the United States, Mexico, Europe, and Australia. He is an experienced teacher of Re-evaluation Counseling, having taught his first class back in 1982. His work within Re-evaluation Counseling has centered on oppression and liberation issues associated with gender, race, class, religion, and work. 
 
Cathy Meals is a donor to and member of the Board of Instigators of the Diverse City Fund (DC Fund), a new community fund in Washington, DC that gave its first grants to DC-based grassroots social change projects this fall. Cathy got her start in activism by working on the living wage campaign at Swarthmore College. She has worked as a strategic researcher in the labor movement since 2004, and is currently working on the United Food and Commercial Workers’ Making Change at Walmart campaign. When she is not working, she’s probably riding her bike, doing crossword puzzles, injuring her eardrums listening to loud music, vacuuming up cat fur, or finding ridiculous funny stuff on the internet.
Andrew Pearson is a social entrepreneur and social justice organizer born in Canberra, Australia, and living in Carrboro, NC.  He Studied womens’ history and nonprofit management at UNC-Chapel Hill, and was national coordinator of the Student Environmental Action Coalition in the late 90s.  He then managed the Internationalist Bookstore, a coop and nonprofit community center - and still has a long unfinished reading list.  Andrew was lead organizer for the NC Peace & Justice Coalition from 2002-2006, organizing national protests against the Iraq War. He co-founded and managed a tech startup, HomeTownRent.com, providing rental property advertising services nationwide. Andrew received an MBA in 2009 from UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, focusing on entrepreneurship and sustainability, where he was on the winning international Venture Capital Investment Competition and placed 2nd in Net Impact’s sustainable business competition.  Andrew has served on 4 boards of directors, including (the best) 6 years with Resource Generation, serving terms as fundraising and finance chairs.  He is an avid salsa and swing dancer, and misses going out dancing after board meetings in New York City.  Andrew consults for start-ups, social ventures, and nonprofits, and in June 2011 won Startup Weekend with a new concept, YardSprout.com, a social venture to help connect expert gardeners with people and organizations ready to grow food in urban yards.
 
Ai-jen Poo has been organizing immigrant women workers in New York since 1996, where she started as the Women Workers Project organizer at CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities. In 2000 she helped start Domestic Workers United, an organization of nannies, housekeepers and elderly caregivers in New York organizing for power, respect, fair labor standards and to help build a movement to end oppression for all. DWU helped to organize the first national meeting of domestic workers organizations at the US Social Forum in 2007, which resulted in the formation of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. In April 2010, she became Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. Ai-jen also serves on the Board of Social Justice Leadership, the Seasons Fund for Social Transformation, the Labor Advisory Board at Cornell ILR School, and the New Labor Forum Editorial Board.
 
Sylvia Robinson (Diverse City Fund) is a founding board member of the Diverse City Fund. She is also Executive Director of the Washington DC-based Emergence Community Arts Collective (www.ecacollective.org) as well as founder and visionary for this innovative project. Since 2006, the ECAC has hosted hundreds of arts, civic, social and support activities for the Pleasant Plains community in Washington DC. Returning to the neighborhood she was raised in, she combined her experience in for-profit and non-profit management, cultural arts, martial arts and drug and alcohol counseling to create a new model of community development. The core of the project is a historically significant building at 733 Euclid St. which she lives in and operates as a community center.  Extending her organizing skills into the community, she has been a catalyst for a new neighborhood heritage trail, and a growing Task Force of residents desiring equitable development over gentrification of their community.
 
Sam Seidel is the author of Hip Hop Genius: Remixing High School Education.  He has taught in a variety of settings from first grade to community college and directed an award-winning arts program for young people in and transitioning out of prison. He now works with several national networks of innovative schools, speaks at education events, and writes for The Husslington Post, as well as other publications. Sam recently joined the board of Resource Generation.  He has facilitated Reflective Leadership trainings before several MMMCs, led workshops on Anti-Racist Philanthropic Practices, is a member of the Criminal Justice Initiative funding panel, and a founding member of Gulf South Allied Funders.  He is a recovering sneaker addict.

Elizabeth Snowdon is a trustee and current President of the Hill-Snowdon Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based family foundation engaged in social justice philanthropy. Elizabeth is the founder of Nusta Spa, a full-service day spa in downtown D.C. that opened in 2004. In 2010, she brought on a Managing Partner to run the spa’s daily operations and now serves in an advisory capacity on issues of financial management and strategic planning. Elizabeth's previous work experience was in corporate communications and investor relations in San Francisco.  She holds a B.A. in International Relations from Stanford University, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa, and an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, where she was named a John W. Rollins Scholar for leadership and academic achievement.  From 2003-2009 she served on the Governing Board of her high school alma mater, National Cathedral School. She recently joined the Association of Small Foundations’ (ASF) Impact Initiative Working Group.

Naomi Sobel: Naomi Sobel is a writer, organizer, educator, food nut, and queer femme with roots in New York, a soft spot for Chicago, family in the Bay Area, and a home base in Somerville, MA. She has deep roots in progressive Judaism and a burgeoning interest in harnessing her class privilege for radical social change. She serves on the board of the Edmund and Jeannik Littlefield Foundation, based near San Francisco, and was a member of the MMMC
Planning Committee for 2009 and 2010. 
 
Zeke Spier has been working at Social Justice Fund for three years, and is currently the Executive Director.  Over that time, he has engaged hundreds of people as donors and helped to move millions of dollars to grassroots organizing in the Northwest.  Zeke has experience both as a manager in the corporate sector and as a community organizer, working on issues from the just reconstruction of New Orleans to criminal justice issues in Philadelphia.  He is currently sits on the Steering Committee of the Seattle chapter of Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy and is a member of the leadership team of the Coalition of Anti-Racist Whites.  Zeke was born in Portland, Oregon, and enjoys reminiscing about his cross-country bicycle trip on his 2-mile ride to work. 
 
Burke Stansbury has organized locally with the DC RG chapter since 2007, and as part of that work joined the steering committee of Save our Safety Net DC, a coalition that fights to increase income tax rates for DC's highest earning residents.  Burke inherited $1 million dollars in stock at a young age and subsequently worked with his parents to start a family foundation.  In 2010, he worked with other donor organizers and community leaders in Washington DC to start the Diverse City Fund. For the last year and a half, Burke has coordinated video and communications projects at the Center for Community Change, and is the former executive director of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES).
 
When he's not engaged in activism, Burke prefers hanging out with his 2 years old son Lucas, who was born with a congenital neuromuscular disease. He and his partner Krista blog about the wonders and challenges of being special needs parents, and recently an essay by Burke was published in the anthology "Rad Dad: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Fatherhood." Burke also likes to play basketball and mix compost. 
 
Sonja Swift: Sonja is a writer and organizer doing freelance work in philanthropy and mission-related investing. She is a board member of her family foundation, working programmatically as well as on aligning the foundations values and mission: bio-cultural diversity and resilience in the face of climate change, with its investments. She also serves on the advisory board of Confluence Philanthropy, is assisting with their New Mexico Native Green Loan Fund, serves as co-chair for the Next Gen Fellowship on Mission Related Investing, under
Resource Generation and is currently a fellow at RG. 
 
Will Tickle: Will is a Portfolio Manager and the Director of Impact Investing at Ballentine Partners, one of the nation’s leading wealth advisory firms for high net worth families. In that capacity he has nearly 10 years of experience reviewing public and private investment opportunities for clients and, since 2005, he has led the review of all impact-oriented investments for the Firm. He graduated from Brandeis University in 2003 with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and is currently a candidate for Level III of the Chartered Financial Analyst program. Will lives in Cambridge, MA and enjoys music and photography. He is also an avid skier, hiker, and cyclist. 
 
Maggie Williams is a strategic advisor for legislative advocacy and organizational development.  She has extensive experience with grassroots community organizing and working to ensure that all communities have their voices heard in the political and legislative process.  Most recently, Maggie applied her experience of collaborating with grassroots organizations to analyzing and drafting legislation and making policy decisions in the New York State Senate.  During the 2010 legislative session, Maggie was lead counsel on two key bills that were signed into law—Senator Eric Schneiderman’s bill to end prison-based gerrymandering and Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson’s bill to establish no-fault divorce.  Prior to joining the Senate, Maggie worked as an advocate on criminal justice issues  at the Correctional Association of New York and The Bronx Defenders.  Maggie lives in Brooklyn, New York and is exploring the possibility of starting a cross-class social justice PAC (political action committee). 
 
Jeff Winder (Wayside Center) brings 20 years of experience with organizing and activism to his role as Coordinator for the Wayside Center. For 15 of those years, his three children, Fiona, Rourke and Ammon have been his most important and cherished teachers. He works hard to save their future from global capitalism and is deeply grateful when they spend time at Wayside. For a number of years, Jeff lived and worked in Catholic Worker Communities, first in Norfolk where he served meals to homeless veterans in the shadow of the military base while protesting war. Later, he was a founding member of the Little Flower in central Virginia where he continued organizing around international issues while exploring sustainable living. Jeff spent seven of these years as a part-time organizer with the Office of Justice and Peace of the Catholic Diocese, helping to create the state-wide group Sowers of Justice.

 In 2000 Jeff accepted a job as Program Director for School of the Americas Watch and spent next few years, working to shut down this military training school through street protest, direct action and legislative work. The Latin America solidarity work begun at SOAW became a theme for Jeff that continues to this day. His travel in Latin America with Witness for Peace eventually led to five years term on their board including a term as chair. Returning to his home state of Virginia in 2003 Jeff founded The People United. This group has grown into a vibrant network that has supported struggles for justice across the region from mountain justice to prison issues. In recent years, much of Jeff’s organizing work with The People United has been focused on immigration issues including the campaign to stop the Farmville Immigrant Detention Center. He is part of the founding collective of Wayside. go