We have some exciting news to share. As part of year two of the New Economies Report Project, the New Economy Coalition is proud to announce our 2018 Movement Voices fellows!
Adrien Salazar, Demos
Anh-Thu Nguyen, Democracy at Work Institute
Francisco Perez, Center for Popular Economics
Hnin Hnin, Cooperative Food Empowerment Directive (CoFED)
Iimay Ho, Resource Generation
India Walton, Cooperation Buffalo, Fruit Belt Community Land Trust
Juleon Robinson, New Economy Project
Nia K. Evans, Boston Ujima Project
Rebecca Kemble, City of Madison Alderperson, Union Cab Cooperative
Tim Lampkin, Higher Purpose Co.
Congratulations to this incredible cohort of new economy leaders! You can learn more about them and read their full bios here.
The program kicked off in June at CommonBound, where fellows participated in a one-day intensive media training with Laura Flanders. Taking place with a professional interviewer, in front of a camera, the training gave participants an in-depth, firsthand look at what it takes to represent themselves and their work to modern media. The day culminated in a press conference with journalists from NEC’s Climate Solutions reporting fellowship. It was a beautiful experience that enabled the Movement Voices fellows to put their new skills to the test.
Over the next few months, NEC staff and lead trainer Laura Flanders will continue work closely with the fellows to support their development as media communicators. The fellows will participate in a second in-person training later this fall, as well as multiple virtual check-ins with NEC throughout the year. Along the way, NEC staff will work with fellows on their individualized goals, helping to support them however we can.
This is the pilot year of the Movement Voices program and we couldn’t be more excited to work with this powerful group of fellows. Thank you to the New Visions Foundation, the Park Foundation, and all of NEC’s donors and supporters for making it possible!
2018 Movement Voices Fellows
ADRIEN SALAZAR | Demos
Adrien Salazar is an organizer, political ecologist, and writer who advocates for just and regenerative visions of our economies and environment led by communities. He is a Campaign Strategist with Dēmos, where he supports advancing climate change policy that centers racial and economic equity with local, state, and national movement partners. Adrien has supported campaigns, research, and policy advocacy at the local to transnational level with organizations including the Filipino American Coalition for Environmental Solidarity, Green for All, the Sierra Club, and the Sustainable Economies Law Center. Adrien is committed to environmental solutions that protect commons and community-ownership of natural resources. His research on the global carbon benefit of indigenous land management practices contributed to the Indigenous People’s Land Management chapter of ‘Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever to Reverse Global Warming’ (2017, Penguin Press). Adrien is from San Jose, California and Kalibo, Aklan, Philippines. He enjoys hiking, running, gardening, and visiting the sacred places of the earth.
ANH-THU NGUYEN | Democracy at Work Institute
Anh-Thu Nguyen is Director of Special Projects for the Democracy at Work Institute. She focuses on developing transparent, ethical, and cooperative-led value chains and building markets for cooperative businesses, and supports development of the worker cooperative ecosystem in NYC. Born and raised in Tampa Bay, Florida to Vietnamese refugee parents, Anh-Thu’s diverse work experience has included marketing and business development within luxury and artisan beauty/fashion spaces; international humanitarian law and transitional justice; and dental laboratory technology.
FRANCISCO PEREZ | Center for Popular Economics
Francisco Perez is a solidarity economy activist and researcher. He has worked on social and economic development projects in Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Guinea, Senegal, Sierra Leone, the US and Venezuela. Francisco is currently pursuing a PhD in economics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He studies international political economy with a focus on monetary policy in West Africa. He holds a BA from Harvard University and a Master’s in Public Administration from Princeton University.
HNIN HNIN | Cooperative Food Empowerment Directive (CoFED)
Hnin is a poet, educator, facilitator, and current Executive Director of CoFED, a national organization that works with young people of color to build solidarity economies. Their work is guided by the ancestors, mother earth, and a multidisciplinary analysis that forefronts race, class, and gender. They are called to heal, love, and educate for collective liberation. Prior to CoFED, Hnin worked with World Learning as a global human rights educator and with Slow Food USA and ROC United, building power to transform the food system. They hold a BA in Political Economy, with a concentration in International Studies, from Williams College.
Iimay Ho | Resource Generation
Iimay (she/her, they/them) joined the Resource Generation staff as Associate Director in August 2014 and became the Executive Director in January of 2017. Born and raised in North Carolina, Iimay was politicized through interning with Southerners on New Ground (SONG), which builds, sustains, and connects a Southern regional base of LGBTQ people in order to transform the region. She moved to the Washington, DC area in 2008 to work for OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates where she led programming for student leadership development. Iimay is an active member of the DC queer Asian American community and helped organize the Rainbow Dragon Fund, the region’s first grassroots queer Asian American giving circle. She got involved with Resource Generation through the DC chapter by joining a praxis group in 2013 and then organized the first DC people of color praxis group in 2014. Iimay is currently on the board of the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice.
INDIA WALTON | Cooperation Buffalo, Fruit Belt Community Land Trust
India Walton is a native and lifelong resident of the “city she loves,” Buffalo, N.Y. She is the proud mother of four awesome sons. Walton graduated from Buffalo Public Schools, Erie Community College and is pursuing a master’s degree in nursing leadership and informatics. Her toolkit having been enriched by AFL- CIO organizer training, Community Health Worker Network of Buffalo Training, Open Buffalo’s Emerging Leaders program, and Leadership, Organizing, and Action at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. India has grown into a fierce advocate for labor and community, working diligently with the Community First Alliance, Fruit Belt Advisory Council, and a broad coalition of partners in Buffalo’s historic Fruit Belt neighborhood to establish the first of its kind residential parking permit system in Buffalo and incorporate the FB Community Land Trust. Currently, India serves on the steering committee for Cooperation Buffalo. India is the First Vice-President of the Fruit Belt Advisory Council and was recently appointed to the Board of Directors of Locust Street Art and the newly elected Board of Directors of the FB Community Land Trust.
JULEON ROBINSON | New Economy Project
Juleon has worked at New Economy Project since 2016, contributing across the organization’s work. He conducts research to support campaigns, facilitates community education workshops, and participates in legislative advocacy. Juleon also co-produces and hosts New Economy Project’s podcast, Let’s be Real, which introduces listeners to the people, places, and organizations at the forefront of the movement for justice in NYC. Born and raised outside of Atlanta, he moved to the northeast to attend Amherst College, graduating in 2015 with a B.A. in Anthropology. He now lives in Brooklyn with his two cats, and spends all his free time playing ultimate frisbee and eating donuts.
NIA K. EVANS | Boston Ujima Project
Nia K. Evans is the Director of the Boston Ujima Project. Her educational background is in the areas of labor relations, education leadership, and policy. Her advocacy includes a focus on eliminating barriers between analysts and people with lived experiences as well as increasing acknowledgement of the value of diverse types of expertise in policy. She is a co-creator of Frames Debate Project, a multimedia policy debate project that explores the intersection between drug policy, mental health services and incarceration in the state of Massachusetts. Ms. Evans has a B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University and a Master of Arts in Education Leadership, with a course of study in Leadership, Policy, and Politics from Teachers College at Columbia University. She also studied abroad at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, where she focused on International Labor Relations.
REBECCA KEMBLE | City of Madison Alderperson, Union Cab Cooperative
Rebecca Kemble is a worker-owner at Union Cab Cooperative where she drives taxi on the weekend night shift. She is the past President of the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives and serves on the Executive Board of CICOPA worldwide. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Madison Mutual Aid Network and HUMANS, the global network of Mutual Aid Networks. In 2015 Rebecca was elected to the Madison Common Council and was reelected in 2017. She serves on the Common Council Executive Committee, as well as numerous other standing committees, and is currently on a work group developing a City policy on purchase and use of surveillance technology, as well as a task force conducting a comprehensive review of city government structures and processes. Rebecca earned a PhD (a.b.d.) in Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and lives with her extended family in Madison, WI.
TIM LAMPKIN | Higher Purpose Co.
Tim Lampkin is the CEO of Higher Purpose Co., a nonprofit social impact agency based in Clarksdale, MS. He helps build community wealth in underserved areas across the Mississippi Delta by supporting the ownership of businesses, land, and culture. Tim previously worked for one of the largest rural development CDFI’s in the South and helped secure over a million dollars for community initiatives. He has advised several NGO’s, government agencies, universities, and businesses across the country. Lampkin has a B.S. in Business Administration from Mississippi Valley State University, MBA from Delta State University, and a M.S. in Organizational Performance from Bellevue University. Tim has completed executive education at Harvard Kennedy School of Government and currently finishing his Doctorate of Education at the University of Arkansas. He has been featured by the Huffington Post, Daily Yonder, Dakota Fire, and was included on Magic Johnson’s 32 under 32 list. Tim currently serves on the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Community Development Advisory Council and was recently named a 2018 BALLE Local Economy Fellow.