CSTI 2004

Trainer Photo FRANCISCO “PANCHO” ARGÜELLES PAZ Y PUENTE, Mexicano, ha vivido en los Estados Unidos desde 1997. Es miembro de la mesa directiva de la Red Nacional por los Derechos de los Inmigrantes y Refugiados (NNIRR). Del 2000 al 2003 fué el organizador del Grupo de Trabajo de Organizadores de las Comunidades Inmigrantes, con la Alianza Nacional de Organizadores [NOA] Comenzó a trabajar en educación popular en 1983 en Chiapas. Durante los siguientes 20 años Francisco trabajó como organizador y educador popular en comunidades rurales y e inmigrantes a través de México, Nicaragua y los Estados Unidos.

Francisco “Pancho” Argüelles Paz y Puente

MOIRA BOWMAN Triangle Dingbat

has been a Field Organizer/Trainer at Western States Center for 4 years working in both our Research and Action for Change and Equity (RACE) and Gender Justice Programs. She has 14 years experience working in progressive organizations and as a trainer.

JUDY BROWN is Director of Idaho Center on Budget and Tax Policy, a project of United Vision for Idaho. She is an economist with long-term interest in poverty and rural development issues. She lives in Moscow, ID with her husband and sons.

MARGARET BUTLER is Director of Portland Jobs with Justice, a labor-community coalition that is dedicated to protecting workers’ rights and supporting community struggles to build a more just society. Working with JwJ’s more than 70 organizations has given her a deep understanding of the challenges and rewards of coalition building. Margaret has been a telephone operator as well as an organizer for Communications Workers of America.

BARBARA BYRD has been a labor educator for over 25 years, Triangle Dingbat

working in states as diverse as Indiana, Texas and California. She is on the faculty of University of Oregon’s Labor Education and Research Center in Portland. She is member of AFT Local 8035 and is active in Metropolitan Alliance for Common Good, the Portland chapter of Industrial Areas Foundation.

PAMELA CHIANG has been organizing with people of color, immigrant and low-income communities in California and throughout the Southwest United States for the past thirteen years on issues of environmental and economic justice, human rights, women's rights and workers' rights. She is now a consultant who helps organizations become more strategic, organized and creative in their social change work.

TOMÁS ENCARNACION works with youth and community organizations at Project South’s office in Washington DC. Born in the Dominican Republic, he recently graduated from the PhD program in Sociology at Howard University.

TOMÁS ENCARNACION trabaja con jovenes y organizaciones comunales en la oficina del Proyecto Sur en Washington DC. Llevado en la República Dominicana, él graduó del programa de sociología en la universidad de Howard.

ENVIRONMENTAL & ECONOMIC JUSTICE PROJECT (EEJP) is based at AGENDA, a grassroots community organization in Los Angeles. Their mission is to build the long-term capacity of environmental and economic justice organizations and networks nationally by providing community organizing training and strategic facilitation.

CRAIG GILMORE is an organizer and co-founder of California Prison Moratorium Project and Central California Environmental Justice Network. He is formerly co-editor of Prison Focus.

Maria Gonzalez Mabbutt Photo MARÍA GONZÁLEZ MABBUTT is coordinator of Idaho Latino Vote, a project of Idaho Hispanic Caucus, and has worked as a farmworker advocate for more than 15 years. She is a Western States Center board member and a past trainer for Western States Center’s Western Institute for Organizing and Leadership Development.

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STEPHANIE GUILLOUD works at Project South: Institute for the Elimination of Poverty & Genocide, an organization that uses popular education strategies to stimulate the movement for social and economic justice. She is an educator, writer, editor, and organizer.

STEPHANIE GUILLOUD trabaja con el Proyecto Sur: Triangle Dingbat

Instituto para la Eliminación de la Pobreza y del Genocidio, una organización que utiliza estrategias de educación popular para estimular el movimiento para la justicia, social y económica. Ella es educator, escritor, redactor, y una organizador.

LEAH HENRY-TANNER recently served as coordinator of United Indians of All Tribes Foundation's Native American Women’s Dialogue on Infant Mortality. She has extensive experience on issues ranging from violence against women of color to tribal sovereignty. Leah is a member of the Nez Perce Tribe, is a graduate of Western States Center’s WILD program and currently serves as Treasurer of the Center’s board.

JEANNETTE HUEZO, Coordinadora de Educación y En

trenadora para Unidos por una Economía Justa, originaria de El Salvador, Jeannette tiene mas de 20 años de experiencia organizativa, como educadora popular, organizadora comunitaria y trabajando por justicia y cambio social. Antes de llegar a UFE, Jeannette fue la Directora de Programa/Entrenadora para el Instituto de Mujeres para el Desarrollo de Liderazgo (WILD).

DAVID HUNT is an Organizer with USAction, the nation’s largest progressive activist coalition. He has 20 years of experience working with community based organizations and is founder of Community Building Storytelling Project, an organization designed to reintroduce storytelling into American culture as a tool to build community and heal America.

EUNICE HYUNHYE CHO is BRIDGE Project Coordiantor at National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. She is editor and co-author of BRIDGE: Building a Race and Immigration Dialogue in the Global Economy, a popular education resource for immigrant and refugee community organizers.

INSIGHT ARTS, based in Chicago, promotes cultural work that supports social change and defends human rights. IA believes that access to Triangle Dingbat

information, education and art is a basic human right; meaningful social change requires cooperative social and political structures; and taking time for contemplation is crucial to community empowerment. IA offers free arts education to youth and adults; presents performances and exhibitions related to their core values; and provides rehearsal space and support for a wide variety of artists.

ASHLEY JONES, a high school student and intern at Sisters in Action for Power, has been a member for over three years. She was instrumental in the organization’s efforts to secure reduced cost bus passes for students to get to school. She has written articles for the organization’s newspaper and has conducted several trainings on community organizing and self defense.

CHIRECE JONES, a high school student and intern at Sisters in Action for Power, has been a member for over two and a half years. Jones recently represented the organization on a Cuba Solidarity Trip and is co-editor of the organization’s community newspaper, Critical Addition. Member of the Propaganda Committee, Jones also works to popularize the analysis of Sisters in Action’s organizing efforts.

COURTNEY JONES, now an intern at Sisters in Action for Power, has been a member for over three years. She was instrumental in the organization’s efforts to secure reduced cost bus passes for students to get to school. A student at a “non-performing” high school, Jones is helping fight the No Child Left Behind Act in Portland.

CAMILLE KENT, a high school student and intern at Sisters in Action for Power, has been a member for over two and a half years. Co-editor of the organization’s community newspaper and member of the Propaganda Committee, Kent has been instrumental in working to popularize the analysis of Sisters in Action’s organizing efforts.

E. THERYN B. KIGVAMASUD’VASHTI is a grassroots activist at Communities Against Rape and Abuse (CARA) in Seattle. Theryn organizes in Black communities and with women of color to end domestic and sexual violence in the context of rape culture and violence against women. Her focus is building connections between interpersonal and state sponsored violence. Currently, CARA houses a campaign to stop the forced sterilization of women of color who are addicted to criminalized drugs in the US.

ALMA MAQUITICO trabaja con el Red Fronteriza de los Derechos Humanos en el Paso, Tejas. El Red se enfoque en campañas de la salud, inmigración, labor y de los derechos económicos. Alma enseña a los promotores de derechos humanos y da a luz cómites en las comunidades fronterizas para la legalización y los derechos de inmigrantes. También es coordinadoa de la junta inmigrante del Grupo de Mujeres de le Frontera – un grupo religioso dedicado a avanzar la paz y justicia en el sud de México Nuevo, el oeste de Tejas y Chihuahua.

CAROLE MEYERS is an organizer Janet Robideau & Carole Meyers and a founding member of Indian People’s Action. Carole got involved because she believed that Montana’s urban Indians needed a voice that address the issues and fights for change.

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Janet Robideau & Carole Meyers

HOLLY MINCH is Director of SPIN Project, a nonprofit communications consulting firm assisting grassroots groups nationwide with strategic support, training, coaching and public relations resources. She is also Editor of the 2004 book Loud and Clear in an Election Year: Amplifying the Voices of Community Advocates, created to help nonprofits convey their messages in an election environment.

MOVIMENTO DOS TRABALHADORES RURAIS SEM TERRA (MST)/LANDLESS RURAL WORKERS MOVEMENT is the largest social movement in Latin America. Though the Brazilian Constitution allows for government redistribution of unused land, 3% of the population still owns two-thirds of the arable land while 4.8 million farming families are landless. Since 1985, MST has pressed for enforcement of the Constitution by occupying unused land and establishing cooperative farms, schools, and clinics. More than 250,000 families have won land titles as a result of MST actions, and 70,000 other families currently live in encampments awaiting government recognition. In 2002 the MST helped elect the Worker’s Party (PT) candidate President of Brazil.

SCOT NAKAGAWA is Associate Director of the Western Prison Project. Before moving to Oregon, Scot worked with Native Hawaiian and immigrant youth and families on the island of O’ahu. He was a founding staff person of the Coalition for Human Dignity, and has worked as Fight the Right Project Organizer and Field Director for the National Gay and Lesbian Task; Force; Executive Director of the McKenzie River Gathering Foundation and Co-Director of Education for the Highlander Research and Education Center.

TAMARYN NELSON is WITNESS Program Associate for Latin America and the Caribbean. Rooted in the power of personal testimonies and in Triangle Dingbat

the principle that a picture is worth a thousand words, WITNESS empowers local human rights organizations to incorporate the use of video as an advocacy tool. Prior to WITNESS, Nelson worked with NGOs in the Americas and Africa, most recently as Secretariat Coordinator for Inter-American Coalition for the Prevention of Violence.

AMARA PÉREZ is Executive Director of Sisters in Action for Power, a girl-driven, intergenerational, community-based organization in Portland. Their mission to develop the leadership and organizing skills of low income women and girls in order to influence institutions and reshape dominant culture so as to promote economic and social justice.

DOUGLAS PHONSAVANH currently serves as Fiscal Manager of Nonprofit Assistance Center. Doug received his B.A. in Economics and Accounting from University of Aix-Marseille in France and has 20 years experience in higher education and nonprofit finance and accounting.

Power Photo POWER is a multiracial grassroots low and no wage workers organization made up and led by poor people of color in San Francisco. Our mission is to unite to fight against the poverty and oppression that keep us and our communities down.

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VALERIE REUTHER has been an independent consultant with social change organizations, teaching organizations how to raise money from individuals, and facilitating strategic planning and board development since 1997. Valerie began major gifts fundraising as Director of Development for Infact where she led face-to-face fundraising efforts that increased the major donor income from $45,000 to $450,000 in three years. Valerie has also worked as Executive Director of A Territory Resource.

JANET ROBIDEAU is Executive Director of Montana People’s Action and Indian People’s Action (IPA), organizations that fight for social, economic, and racial justice using direct action organizing. Janet is a founding member of IPA, the only organization in Montana that builds the voice and power of the state’s urban Indian population.

Andy Robinson Photo ANDY ROBINSON has worked since 1980 as an organizer, trainer, and grassroots fundraiser. He is the author of Grassroots Grants and Selling Social Change. When he’s not on a plane, Andy lives in Plainfield, Vermont. He is honored to be CSTI’s longest running trainer.

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DAVID ROGERS has worked as a trainer and field organizer for Western States Center for the past 5 1/2 years. He also co-coordinates Western States Center’s Dismantling Racism Project. He has 15 years of organizing and organizational development experience.

BRIGETTE SARABI is founding Executive Director of Western Prison Project, and lead organizer for WPP’s Rural Prison Organizing Project. She is on the advisory board of the National Resource Center on Prisons & Communities, which provides legal and organizing assistance to communities throughout the U.S. fighting new prison construction. She is co-author of The Prison Pay-off: the Role of Politics & Private Prisons in the Incarceration Boom and co-editor of The Prison Index: Taking the Pulse of the Crime Control Industry.

AARTI SHAHANI is an organizer with Families for Freedom (FFF), a New York-based defense network by and for immigrants facing deportation. FFF seeks to repeal the laws that are tearing apart our homes and neighborhoods; and to build the power of immigrant communities - as communities of color - to provide a guiding voice in the growing movement for immigrant rights as human rights.

JUDY SMITH is Director of Center for Policy Analysis and Community Change based in Women’s Opportunity and Resource Development, Inc. of Missoula, MT. She served as convener of Fair Share Network, a coalition of groups that organized for more progressive tax policy in the Montana legislature.

Roey Thorpe Photo ROEY THORPE is Executive Director of Basic Rights Oregon, a statewide grassroots GLBT civil rights organization. Roey has been an activist for social justice for over 20 years and a nonprofit administrator for 15 years, with 6 years as an executive director. She is a former city councilwoman and acting mayor of Ithaca, New York, and has extensive experience in all aspects of political campaign work.

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NORMA TIMBANG is currently pursuing a research doctorate and also provides private consulting on community program development, community organizing, and cross-cultural services development for community-based social change organizations and human service providers. Norma is former Executive Director of Asian & Pacific Islander Women & Family Safety Center and of Asian Pacific AIDS Council, and former Community Programs Director at International Community Health Services in Seattle.

KELLEY WEIGEL is Field Director at Western States Center and coordinates Voter Organizing, Training and Empowerment (VOTE) Project. She has over 12 years experience integrating non-profit organizing and electoral action.

WESTERN PRISON PROJECT is a regional organization playing a lead role in building a grassroots, multi-racial movement that achieves prison reform and reduces the over-reliance on incarceration in the states of OR, WA, ID, MT, UT, WY and NV. WPP involves prisoners, former prisoners, family members and allies in a broad range of advocacy, education, and capacity building projects related to criminal justice reform.

VERLENE WILDER is Union Cities Organizer for the King County Labor Council in Seattle. She is responsible for bringing unions together to work in solidarity on organizing projects, street solidarity, support for community and faith campaigns and civil and human rights issues. She also directs the Council’s education program and assists National AFL-CIO with labor education in the Western Region.

ELISHA WILLIAMS has been a member of Sisters in Action for Power for 4 years. She was instrumental in the organization’s efforts to secure reduced cost bus passes for students to get to school. A student at a “non-performing” high school, Williams is helping fight the No Child Left Behind Act in Portland.

BOB ZAHRADNIK is a Policy Analyst with Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. He focuses on budget and tax issues at the state and local levels, working on low-income tax relief, Earned Income Tax Credit, rainy day funds and other aspects of the budget process.

THALIA ZEPATOS is Deputy Director of Organizing & Training for National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. She has more than 25 years’ experience as a community organizer, activist, campaign manager and political consultant, focusing on building political power for underrepresented communities. She is co-author of “Women for Change: A Grassroots Guide to Activism and Politics” and a core contributor to Western States Center’s “Building Grassroots Power” electoral guide.