Amanda Barnett cares deeply about the intersection of people and place, and works to mitigate the effects of oppression on communities and the environment. A native of New York City, Amanda celebrates the vibrancy of livable cities and natural spaces alike. In her current work as a civil engineer with Seattle Public Utilities, her passions include ecological restoration, low impact development, and engineering policy that articulates an equitable lens. She has also served as a restoration practitioner with EarthCorps and continues to practice and teach yoga as a way to connect meaningfully with others and herself. ​

Hodan Hassan is a Somali immigrant with a passion to save the world from racism, climate disasters and all institutionalized oppressions that plague us. Hodan has a Political Science degree from the University of Washington with a minor in Law, Societies and Justice. She began organizing last summer with The Washington Bus as a Washington Bus Fellow where she learned all the skills of political organizer. She then moved on to work as a Campus Organizer for fall 2014 where she worked with students from 6 college/university campuses on civic engagement on campus. After leaving The Bus she did a brief stint as a labor organizer. Right now, she is working with Got Green? as their Climate Justice Organizer. ​

Eliab Sisay is a Business Development Manager at Porch.com, a data driven-home services network for homeowners & home improvement professionals. As a member of the Business Development team at Porch, Eliab is responsible for company growth through the launch and execution of strategic partnerships. A graduate of the University of Washington with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Eliab has also served on alumni advisory boards for the University of Washington, as a Big Brother for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound, and as a member of local Toastmasters clubs. ​

Alma Villegas has over ten years of experience developing, implementing, and evaluating programs focused on community engagement, leadership development and systems advocacy for low income, immigrant and refugee populations across King County. Alma has worked collaboratively with agencies and communities in South King County on program development and implementation, including conducting service assessments, partnership coordination, coalition-building and providing technical assistance to grassroots organizations with grant writing and reporting. ​

Ryan Haskell is currently serving as the AmeriCorps Team Leader for AmeriCorps serving at Seattle Food Banks. He moved to Seattle over 18 months ago after graduating with a Bachelor of Arts from Northern Michigan University in 2013. While in college Ryan studied abroad for a year in Prague and was very active in local politics and campus activities. In Seattle he has continued to be involved in the fight for social and economic justice.

Dania Nuno is an active community member. She has been a youth volunteer with OneAmerica, getting involved with advocating for communities of color - immigrants and refugees and also of low income - and for equity in education. Speaking with legislators and testifying for bills and at Council meetings.

As activities, Zamzam Mohamed works closely with community partners to eliminate inequities in the early learning system which deeply affect our East African children’s growth, development, and academic performances. She is also Co-founder and Chief Executive Director of Non-profit Organization called Voices of Tomorrow. She has more than 8 years of experiences working in the Early Childhood Education and advocates for social justice and community equity. She believes a child’s race and/or faith should not be a risk predictor. ​

G. Odessa Gonzalez Benson earned her undergraduate degree from the University of the Philippines and MSW from Arizona State University and is currently pursuing doctoral studies in Social Welfare at the University of Washington. Odessa is researching the intersections of refugee resettlement, social policy and labor. Among some of Odessa’s diverse work experience includes: reporting/writing for newspapers in San Diego, California and Guam; teaching English in South Korea; serving in active duty military mental health and family advocacy in Phoenix, Arizona; and supervising a treatment team for at-risk youth and their families in rural North Carolina. ​

Debbie Carlsen is the founder and executive director of LGBTQ Allyship. She has been working in the Seattle social justice community for over 15 years. Some of her professional experiences have been as an organizer at Washington State Jobs with Justice, Field Director at King County Labor Council, Union organizer at Unite HERE local 8, development staff at Washington Toxic Coalition and Seattle Counseling Service and Community Relations Lead at Opal Eating Disorder Clinic. Debbie is a public speaker, political rouser and drag and film artist.​

As the Employment Specialist at Friends of Youth, Isis Lara Fernandez works with community businesses in creating job opportunities for homeless young adults. She is a recent LSU graduate with her Masters of Science in Nonprofit Administration. In her free time she serves on the Board of Directors at Bellevue LifeSpring for the strengthening and self-sufficiency of low-income Bellevue families. Isis comes to us having participated in AmeriCorps for three years with a key focus on youth and education. She also has over five years of experience working with neglected youth, aiding historically underrepresented groups, and supporting the advancement of people of color.​

Idabelle Fosse, MSW is the Community Living Connections/Information and Assistance Program Manager at Senior Services. Idabelle has done many years of direct service work with high risk populations, and has dedicated her career to fighting for racial and gender equity; and social, economic and reproductive justice for all people. She knows that as a bilingual and multicultural woman coming from a background of poverty, and as a first generation American born Puerto Rican woman, that she brings a wealth of personal and professional experience to her advocacy work. Idabelle has experience doing case management; housing; health, mental health and HIV policy; program development, implementation and management work. ​

Rokea Jones is a Seattle native, with a special connection to the central area where most of her roots and family roots are in this city. Rokea is chef/ entrepreneur by trade; she created her own company, Diaspora, to house all of her professional endeavors. Rokea is also a birth doula and shamanic herbalist, and her hope is to expand her education in these areas possibly in midwifery or nutrition. Rokea has also been working with youth and families in the Seattle area, focusing on issues of food justice and food literacy. Rokea is soon to be a new mom, yet another inspiration for her passion of creating community with equity, equality, safety and innovation. ​

Eduardo Torres was born in a small town Mexico. He studied until the age of 10 then immigrated to the United in January 2000. With little to no English his story begins in Tukwila. Learning how to speak and read English was a long process for Eduardo but this struggle made him realize a huge issue in this country, which is the lack of equity for immigrants. He enjoys watching Futbol on the weekend, hiking and tutoring students in public schools.​

Tam Huynh is an Intake Manager with Fair Work Center. Tam relocated from CO where he has a degree in Business. He previously worked as an Employment Case Manager working with refugee and immigrants with job assistance. His past experience includes at-risk teens, people with developmental disabilities, homeless, refugee and immigrants and currently working in advocating for workers’ rights. Before moving to Seattle, Tam ran group homes for children in Foster care. He is devoted in advocating for affordable housing, climate justice and workforce equity for People of Color communities.

Patrice Thomas is currently the Community and Economic Development Assistant at Southeast Effective Development (SEED). She has been an active Committee Member of Rainier Beach Action Coalition for the last three years, and proud founding member of South Seattle Communities Organizing for Racial/Regional Equity (SCORE), allowing her to create and foster unique multi sector relationships in the Valley that are deeply rooted in creating vibrant, sustainable communities. Her work at SEED is a culmination of community building through arts, civic engagement and community driven economic development. ​

Abdirahman Yussuf graduated from (2015) the University of Washington with Law and Pollicy major and minor in Human Rights. Abdirahman is interested in the issues of peace and diplomacy, human rights, refugee rights and development in the underdeveloped regions of the world. As a refugee from Somalia, Abdirahman is passionate about refugee rights, housing rights, advancing new Americans’ political participation, and the importance of minorities and immigrants owning their narratives.

Emanuel da Silva is his name, but he goes by Mano. He was born in Namibia, but he grew up in St. Louis after moving to the US at age 6. Recently he was hired on at The Freedom Project as their Investments and Partnership Coordinator, specializing in donor relations. Mano recently earned a MSW from UW and has been volunteering at Got Green with Young Leaders. Mano’s passions outside of social justice work include soccer and science fiction (they balance each other out pretty well).​

Laurie Torres is a community organizer with GABRIELA Seattle, a collective of Pin@ys who do cultural and political education work around labor issues impacting Filipino migrant workers. She is also an active member of Got Green's Young Workers in the Green Movement. Her work with social justice began when she moved to Seattle in 2013 for a yearlong service fellowship with Puget Sound Sage. She has done work around environmental, economic, racial and transformative justice in the community. In her free time she loves to sing, dance, and teach a community self-defense and wellness class for queer and trans people of color. ​

Nimco Bulale is an Education Organizer at OneAmerica, where she provides support to parents in South King County to build leadership skills and advocate for an early learning and K-12 education system that is more responsive to and inclusive of immigrant and refugee communities. Nimco is also a consultant, working with the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs at the City of Seattle. Nimco received her Master’s in Public Administration with a focus on nonprofit leadership and local government administration from Seattle University. She attended the University of Washington where she earned her BA in International Studies with a focus on foreign policy, diplomacy, peace, and security.

Nourah Yonous identifies as constantly evolving individual: unlearning and re-learning; tree hugger; social justice agent; a global south feminist. Born and raised in East Africa, she grew up in Dar –Es-Salaam, Tanzania. She is an alumna of the University of California Santa Cruz where she triple majored in Political Science, Feminist Theory, and Legal Studies/Pre-Law. Nourah connects her passion for a just world with her line of work; for example, she worked with OneAmerica on advancing equitable education and promoting racial equity in school systems in Greater Seattle. ​

Julio Sanchez has worked with homeless, low income, immigrant and sexual minority and POC communities. He has also worked in with mental health patients and chemically dependent groups. His work has been focused on advocacy, empowerment, communications, organizing, facilitation and training. Some of the organizations he has worked with are, El Centro de la Raza, LELO, Got Green, Social Justice Fund North West, Working Washington, Entre Hermanos, SEIU 775, Puget Sound Clean Air and KC. ​