Millona, Eva A.

Eva A. Millona

Eva A. Millona is Executive Director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA) and co-chair of the National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA). She joined MIRA in 1999, and is one of New England’s most highly quoted immigration experts. Prior she directed the refugee resettlement program in Central Massachusetts, and in her native Albania, she practiced civil and criminal law, serving on Tirana’s District Court as the youngest district judge ever appointed in the nation. Millona is also the co-chair of the MA Governor’s Advisory Council on Refugees and Immigrants and serves on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Matos, Kica

Kica Matos

Kica Matos is the vice president of initiatives at Vera Institute of Justice. Matos joined Vera in 2019 as the director of the Center on Immigration and Justice. Prior to joining Vera, Matos was the director of Immigrant Rights and Racial Justice at the Center for Community Change, an organization whose mission is to empower the people most affected by injustice to lead movements to improve the policies that affect their lives. Matos has been a national advocate for immigration reform and coordinated the work of the Fair Immigration Reform Movement, the nation’s largest network of immigrant rights organizations. She has extensive experience as an advocate, community organizer, and lawyer.

Matos has also headed up the U.S. Reconciliation and Human Rights Program at Atlantic Philanthropies. Before joining Atlantic Philanthropies, she served as deputy mayor in the city of New Haven, where she oversaw the city’s community programs and launched new initiatives including prisoner re-entry, youth and immigrant integration. Matos was previously the executive director of JUNTA, New Haven’s oldest Latino advocacy organization. She also worked as an assistant federal defender for death sentenced inmates and with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and Amnesty International on death penalty and criminal justice issues.

Matos has a BA from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, an MA from the New School and a JD from Cornell Law School. In 2017, she was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Albertus Magnus College.

Martin, Laura

Laura Martin

Laura Martin is the executive director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada and PLAN Action, a statewide organization founded by Nevada activists in 1994 to improve the lives of marginalized communities by promoting leadership, social justice, and fairness.

Lopez, Beatriz

Beatriz Lopez

Beatriz Lopez is the Communication Director of Immigration Hub. She develops and implements messaging and digital strategies on immigration policies to drive a progressive narrative, engage the electorate, and assist campaigns and organizations across the country in their rapid response operations. Previously, Lopez was the Managing Director of Communications for the Center for American Progress (CAP) Action Fund. Prior to her time at CAP, Beatriz was the Assistant Communications Director for the Service Employees International Union’s immigration and Latino vote program, where she played an integral role in launching a new, innovative digital model for the union, called iAmerica and iAmerica Action, to galvanize key voters of color and educate immigrant communities on fundamental policies. Formerly, she led the Latino and labor outreach efforts for the Florida Association of Planned Parenthood and Public Citizen, respectively. Lopez is a graduate of Pace University and former Peace Corps (El Salvador) volunteer and trainer.

Kase, Virginia

Virginia Kase

Virginia Kase is the CEO of the League of Women Voters, where she builds upon her vision of an inclusive democracy where every person in America has the ability and opportunity to participate and advocate for issues that matter to them. Since 2018, Kase has led the 100-year-old organization through a period of rapid transformation and growth focused on building power by engaging in advocacy, legislation, expanded litigation, and organizing efforts to ensure voting rights for all.

Prior to joining LWV sheserved as COO of CASA, an organization at the forefront of the immigrant rights movement, representing nearly 100,000 members. In that leadership role, Kase managed the strategic growth, direction, and operations of the organization and served as a key thought leader on its politics and policy team. Earlier in her career, Kase served in leadership roles at various non-profit organizations where she developed grantmaking and capacity building programs for grassroots nonprofits that addressed issues of urban violence, economic, racial, and social inequality. During that time, she also studied what made these activities effective and used that information to assist groups in deepening their impact and identifying opportunities for cross-sector movement building.

Kase is a leading advocate for participatory elections and democracy. She has testified before Congress on election administration, appeared on various television news programs, and been quoted in news articles including The New York Times, Time Magazine, Glamour, and more. Kase was a recipient of the 2019 Hispanic Heritage Award for Leadership, and in March 2020 she was named to People en Español’s Most Powerful Women of the Year List. She serves on the boards of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the Democracy Initiative, and the National Election Task Force on Election Crises, and she is a steering committee member of Open the Government.

Jumale, Mustafa

Mustafa Jumale

Mustafa Jumale is one of the co-founders of the Black Immigrant Collective and is the co-founder of Khyre Solutions LLC. He was previously the policy manager for the Black Alliance for Just Immigration. Jumale has worked on various policy issues such as remittance issues in Somalia, Human rights, education, female genital cutting, and immigration. He’s a recipient of the 2011 Josie Johnson Human Rights & Social Justice Award at the University of Minnesota. He holds a degree in Sociology and African American & African Studies from the University of Minnesota. He was a Policy Fellow at the Humphrey School of Public Policy.

Hughes, Philippa P.B.

Philippa P.B. Hughes

Philippa P.B. Hughes is a Social Sculptor and Creative Strategist who produces art-fueled projects to spark humanizing and authentic conversations between people who might not normally meet. She has designed and produced hundreds of creative activations since 2007 for curious folks to engage with art and with one another in unconventional and meaningful ways. She leads CuriosityConnects.us, a partner in Looking For America, a national series inviting politically diverse guests to break bread and talk to each other face-to-face using art as a starting point for relationship-building conversations.

Hinojosa, Maria

Maria Hinojosa

Maria Hinojosa is the founder of the Futuro Media Group. As a reporter who was the first Latina in many newsrooms, Hinojosa dreamt of a space where she could create independent, multimedia journalism that explores and gives a critical voice to the diverse American experience. She made that dream a reality in 2010 when she created Futuro Media, an independent, nonprofit newsroom based in Harlem, NYC with the mission to create multimedia content from a POC perspective. Futuro does this in the service of empowering people to navigate the complexities of an increasingly diverse and connected world. 

As the Anchor and Executive Producer of the Peabody Award-winning show Latino USA, distributed by NPR, as well as Co-Host of In The Thick, the Futuro Media’s award-winning political podcast, Hinojosa has informed millions about the changing cultural and political landscape in America and abroad. She is also a contributor to the long-running, award-winning news program CBS Sunday Morning and a frequent guest on MSNBC. 

Hinojosa’s nearly 30-year career as an award-winning journalist includes reporting for PBS, CBS, WNBC, CNN, NPR, and anchoring the Emmy Award winning talk show from WGBH Maria Hinojosa: One-on-One. She is the author of two books and has won dozens of awards, including: four Emmys, the John Chancellor Award, the Studs Terkel Community Media Award, two Robert F. Kennedy Awards, the Edward R. Murrow Award from the Overseas Press Club, and the Ruben Salazar Lifetime Achievement Award from the NAHJ. She has been honored with her own day in October by New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio and has been recognized by People En Español as one of the 25 most powerful Latina women. In 2019, she was named the inaugural Distinguished Journalist in Residence at her Alma Mater, Barnard College. 

Hincapié, Marielena

Marielena Hincapié

Marielena Hincapié is executive director of the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), the nation’s leading organization dedicated to defending and advancing the rights of low-income immigrants in the U.S., and of the NILC Immigrant Justice Fund (IJF). Under her leadership, NILC and the IJF strategically combine litigation, policy, communications, narrative change, and movement-building to effect transformational change. Hincapié began her tenure at NILC in 2000 as a staff attorney leading the organization’s labor and employment rights program. During that time, she successfully litigated law reform and impact-litigation cases dealing with the intersection of immigration laws and employment/labor laws. She then served as NILC’s director of programs from 2004 to 2008, after which she became executive director.

Recognized as a seasoned strategist and bridge-builder, Hincapié has led national initiatives, such as the Immigrant Movement Visioning Process, and policy campaigns, such as the creation and successful implementation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Before joining NILC, Hincapié worked for the Legal Aid Society of San Francisco’s Employment Law Center, where she founded the Center’s Immigrant Workers’ Rights Project. She currently serves as board president of the Indivisible Project and previously served on the boards of Jobs with Justice and the American Bar Association’s Commission on Immigration.

Hincapié has been recognized with numerous awards, including Univision’s Corazón Award, a Stanton Fellowship from the Durfee Foundation, the Latina of Influence award from Hispanic Lifestyle, the National Public Service Award from Stanford Law School, and the Prime Mover Fellowship from the Hunt Alternatives Fund. Hincapié was appointed to serve as co-chair of the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force on Immigration. She was also the Northeastern University School of Law Daynard Distinguished Visiting Fellow and Practitioner-in-Residence at the Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.

Gyamfi, Nana

Nana Gyamfi

Nana Gyamfi is the Executive Director of Black Alliance for Just Immigration, the oldest and largest Black-led social justice organization representing the nearly 10 million Black immigrants, refugees, and families living in the U.S. A movement attorney for the past 25 years, Gyamfi is co-founder of Justice Warriors 4 Black Lives and Human Rights Advocacy, both dedicated to fighting for human rights and Black liberation. She has served as the Executive Director of Black Women's Forum, an organization co-founded by U.S. Representative Maxine Waters. Gyamfi is a former professor in the Pan-African Studies Department at California State University Los Angeles. 

Feliz, Wendy

Wendy Feliz

Wendy Feliz is the founding Director of the Center for Inclusion and Belonging at the American Immigration Council. The Center houses the signature, culture and narrative change programs of the Council. The Center also convenes institutions and individuals nationwide who share the common goal of building a more cohesive America where all people are welcomed and included. Feliz has been with the Council since 2008 and has two decades of experience in public policy/advocacy communications. She also serves as an adjunct communications professor at Georgetown University. Feliz holds an M.A. in Public Communication from the American University, a B.A. in Liberal Arts from the New School University, and an A.A. from East Los Angeles Community College.

Choi, Steven

Steven Choi

Steven Choi was most recently the Executive Director of the New York Immigration Coalition, where he now serves as Senior Advisor. In his time at NYIC, a coalition of over 200 member groups that represents New York State’s immigrant communities, he tripled the organizational budget and doubled the size of the organization’s staff since joining in 2013. He also oversaw the nation’s largest state immigrant rights coalition and served as the chief advocate on immigrant rights, education, civic participation, and health care access on the Federal, state and local levels.

Bhojwani, Sayu

Sayu Bhojwani

Sayu Bhojwani is a political scientist, author and outspoken advocate for shaking up the status quo in our democracy. Since 2010, she has served as the founder and president of New American Leaders. In that capacity, she has recruited, coached and supported over 50 first and second generation Americans who now serve in local, state or federal office. Bhojwani has a PhD in Politics and Education, an M.Ed. in Comparative Education, and an M.A. in English Education, all from Teachers College, Columbia University. She received a B.A. in English from the University of Miami. She serves on the Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship and on the board of America is Better. 

Bhargava, Deepak

Deepak Bhargava

Deepak Bhargava is a distinguished lecturer on Urban Studies at the City University of New York. Bhargava is a policy expert on issues of poverty, economic justice, racial equity, and immigration, and has extensive practical experience in community organizing, leadership development, social movements, progressive strategy, issue campaigns, coalition building and voter mobilization. Prior to joining SLU, he was President and Executive Director of Community Change and Community Change Action for 16 years, two of the premier national organizations supporting grassroots community organizing in low-income communities of color in the United States. He has trained and mentored hundreds of leaders who play key roles in progressive organizations and social justice movements, and worked to establish important labor-community partnerships at the national level on issues such as immigration reform, health care, and fiscal policy.

Arias, Sulma

Sulma Arias

Sulma Arias is Director of the Fair Immigration Reform Movement Campaign at the Center for Community Change. Previously, she was the Executive Director of Sunflower Community Action in Kansas, a multi-racial grassroots organization dealing with issues of racial and economic inequality, and before that the Campaign Director for National People's Action's Immigrant and Worker Justice program.