Jewel Butler is an organizer invested in the liberation of all Black people. Jewel has years of experience in community organizing and policy issues. She also organizes precinct delegates in her neighborhood. As a strong believer in revising the hood, Jewel has worked on several campaigns canvassing the streets of Metro-Detroit, hearing the issues that citizens are facing on a daily basis, and hosting community meetings. Jewel was born and raised on the East Side of Detroit. Her mission is to organize and educate the hood so that all Black people can be free.

Arekia Bennett is the executive director of MS Votes, an organization committed to the civic engagement of Mississippians across generations, cultures, identities, inequities, and struggles, with a particular focus on young people. Arekia has been working on addressing voter disenfranchisement, voter ID laws, rural voter turnout, and increasing voter participation in all elections. She also advises political aspirants and candidates seeking office on civic-engagement strategy. Arekia founded GIRL, a Black feminist collective at Jackson State University. She has been critical in developing and nurturing a Black feminist political space and policy agenda with GIRL through MS Votes’ new initiative, “One Girl, One Vote.”

Bianca Avery is a businesswoman, educator, political strategist, and community advocate based out of Dallas, Texas. She is a graduate of Texas A&M University and completed her graduate studies in Leadership and Administration from Texas A&M University-Commerce. Bianca is an active member of the Urban League of Young Professionals, Texas Alliance of Black School Educators, Project 25:40, and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. She is a passionate believer in giving back to the communities she serves, especially as it pertains to the youth and their families. She is married to Derek Avery, Sr., and they are the proud parents of three beautiful children: Derek Jr., Madison, and Bryce.

Devohn Phillips is a formerly incarcerated Black woman and abolitionist who believes that liberation is attainable for Black people living in the United States. Devohn also believes that political change can occur in Black communities, and that Black people will trust the political system when knowledgeable progressive candidates are elected and change policies that are detrimental to Black communities. Devohn feels that organizations working together to empower and educate Black communities is instrumental in the liberation of Black people. She strives to give Black people the opportunity to demonstrate their excellence in their communities through accessibility, economic growth, integrity, and accountability.

Aaron Jamal is a Southern organizer, internationalist, educator, and author who is committed to the unbound praise of Black people. Aaron has ten years of experience in base building, political education, and movement strategy. Aaron has a passion for writing eclectic essays, making melodies, and studying Black freedom struggles.

Alonzo Waheed was born in Chicago, Illinois, and was raised in the Roseland Community. Growing up in the Roseland Community, which was beset with numerous obstacles, created many struggles for a young man full of vigor, but lacking the support, substance, and resources to make a difference. Being raised by a single mother with six siblings, Alonzo was forced by circumstance to shoulder the burden of catering to family needs that his employed mother could not provide.

Alonzo attended North Carolina Military Academy prior to attending Byrd Community Academy. He later transferred to Chicago Vocational High School, where he completed his high-school education. He furthered his education at DeVry Institute of Technology and Robert Morris College, where he studied business management. Alonzo has always had a thirst for knowledge, and he has learned how to apply his intelligence to benefit his community.

Asa Rogers-Shaw is the son of Albert Carl Shaw, Jr. and a native-born Floridian from Fort Lauderdale. He sees himself as an Afrofuturist and a serious lifelong learner. Asa graduated from Florida State University, where he pledged a life of service to the Iota Delta chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha.

Florence J. Alexander’s (she, her, hers) passion in community organizing, policy, and evaluation work stems from inspiration from her family, friends, and home community of Saginaw, Michigan. She is studying Social Policy and Evaluation with a concentration in Community and Social Systems and will receive her MSW in December 2019 from the University of Michigan.

Florence works as a policy and data science specialist with One Love Global in Lansing, Michigan. The organization facilitates racial equity work toward social justice. Florence’s past community organizing experiences include serving with AmeriCorps, researching recidivism and community outreach programs with Project Safe Neighborhoods, working as an after-school coach with Youth First, being a facilitator with Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan, and serving as a My Brother’s Keeper/Girls Equity Network Scholar, with a focus on building youth political power in Black communities across Michigan.

Florence is passionate about bringing communities together, reforming social policies to better serve communities that weren’t previously at the table, continuously learning, and building opportunities for youth to organize around ideas and futures they’re passionate about. Florence’s past and future work aligns with the Electoral Justice Project and the Movement for Black Lives, as she is dedicated to racial justice, equity, amplifying voices that have been historically marginalized, and working toward a transformative society that values all of humanity.

Wendell Paris has a long history of civil-rights engagement in both Alabama and Mississippi. In the 2018 midterm elections, he served as Black Voters Matter Mississippi’s Get Out the Vote Campaign Organizer. This election elevated a record number of Black judges to the bench and mobilized more Blacks to the polls than had voted in the past 40 years.

Wendell has served as the Mississippi Field Director for the NAACP and organized support for legalizing motor voter registration in Mississippi. He directed the A. Philip Randolph Educational Fund’s Worker Training programs for Federal Highway Contracts and also worked with Mississippi Action for Community Education as the director of a fresh food production program in the USDA-declared Mississippi Delta Food Desert to support rural families. In addition, Wendell helped organize the Southeastern Alabama Self Help Association, a 12-county cooperative. He also served as director of the Rural Training and Research Center of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives in Epes, Alabama.

As a student at Tuskegee University, Wendell helped to create the Tuskegee Institute Advancement League (TIAL), an affiliate of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. Through TIAL, he helped to register voters and participated in direct-action campaigns in Alabama and Mississippi. Wendell was elected to the Sumter County Alabama Board of Education in 1980, where he served a six-year term.

Enyer Robles-Martinez is an organizer from Opa-Locka, Florida. As a youth, his experiences with the police, coupled with having an incarcerated guardian, made him a precocious and politically minded individual who was uniquely sensitive to the corruption that depletes community. Enyer came to organizing as a working-class man from a heavily policed working-class community, with the goal of prison abolition. As a Dream Defender, he is currently engaged in efforts toward police divestment and the end of money bail in Opa-Locka and Miami-Dade County at large. It is the hope of liberation for his people, for his city, that motivates him to keep fighting.

Lola Levesque is a formerly incarcerated organizer in South Phoenix who has been working on issues related to mass incarceration since 2003. In 2011, she co-founded Humanities Behind the Walls (HBW), a local collective of organizers, artists, and educators who partnered with ASU’s School of Social Transformation to bring the study of humanities to prisoners and provide them access to grassroots organizations and campaigns. In 2018, Lola joined the Mass Liberation Project, a national decriminalization campaign that seeks to end mass incarceration. In 2019, Lola became a Reimagining Communities Fellow with the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls. Lola approaches her work as an abolitionist, thinker, mother, activist, Black feminist, and Muslim. Lola will continue to prioritize directly impacted, Black-led projects that focus on transformative justice, revolution, and Black joy.

Gicola Lane is an organizer and strategist from Nashville, Tennessee. She has led campaigns for a range of issues, from predatory lending to police accountability. She currently serves as the statewide organizer for Free Hearts, a nonprofit led by formerly incarcerated women helping to support, educate, and advocate for families impacted by incarceration. Gicola is focused on building statewide power in Tennessee, with a concentration on Black communities. She is passionate about getting free and has a deep love for community.