GRACIELA APONTE
Senior Legislative Analyst, National Council of La Raza

Graciela Aponte provides legislative analysis and advocacy on affordable homeownership, foreclosure prevention, and credit scoring for the National Council of La Raza, the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States. Aponte’s expertise is in housing policy, housing counseling, barriers to Latino homeownership, predatory lending, credit scoring, and foreclosure prevention.

Aponte has a bachelor’s degree in government and politics from the University of Maryland, College Park and a citation in Spanish language and culture. Aponte was previously a Bilingual Housing Counselor at the Housing Initiative Partnership in Prince George’s County, Maryland, Director of Grants and Appropriations to Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez of New York, and Community Liaison to Congressman Albert Wynn of Maryland.

ALGERNON AUSTIN
Director of the Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy Program, Economic Policy Institute

Algernon Austin directs the Economic Policy Institute’s program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy (PREE). PREE works to advance policies that enable people of color to participate fully in the American economy and to benefit equally from gains in prosperity. As Director of PREE, Austin oversees reports and policy analyses on the economic condition of America’s people of color.

Prior to joining the Economic Policy Institute, Austin was a Senior Fellow at the Demos think tank and Assistant Director of Research at the Foundation Center. From 2001 to 2005, he served on the faculty of Wesleyan University. He received his Ph.D. in Sociology from Northwestern University.

NIKITRA BAILEY
Executive Vice President, Center for Responsible Lending

Nikitra Bailey directs the Center for Responsible Lending’s outreach and educational efforts to national and locally based organizations and provides technical assistance to policymakers on state and federal anti-predatory lending initiatives. Bailey originally joined the CRL as a policy associate after graduating from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

While in law school, Bailey interned at the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. Bailey is also a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University. She has published several articles on the impact of abusive lending practices on communities of color.

 

FLOZELL DANIELS, JR.
President and CEO, Foundation for Louisiana

Flozell Daniels, Jr. has served as the President and CEO of the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation (LDRF), now the Foundation for Louisiana, since December 2007. Its mission is to invest in people and practices that work to reduce vulnerability and build stronger, more sustainable communities statewide.

Prior to LDRF, Daniels served as the Executive Director of State and Local Affairs of Tulane University, after doing a stint as an Urban Policy Specialist for the City of New Orleans. Daniels currently serves as Board Chairman of the Urban League of Greater New Orleans, Chairman of the Orleans Public Education Network, is a Mayoral appointed commissioner on the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority, and serves as Co-Chair of the Reentry Program Committee for the Mayor’s Working Group on Criminal Justice Reform. He is an alumnus of Tulane University’s MBA program and earned a B.A. in Biology from the University of New Orleans.

A New Orleans native, Daniels resides in New Orleans with his wife and two teenage children.

JANE DUONG
Housing Program Manager, National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development

Jane Duong is currently the National Housing Program Manager for the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (CAPACD). At National CAPACD, Duong directed the development and implementation of the first HUD-approved comprehensive housing, foreclosure and financial education network focused on the needs of low- and moderate-income Asian American and Pacific Islander communities across the country.

Previously, Duong served as the Housing Program Manager for the Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA) in San Francisco, California, where she was responsible for the day-to-day activities of MEDA’s comprehensive housing counseling program. Duong graduated from University of California, Berkeley in Sociology and received her Master of Public Administration from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service.

JORDAN ESTEVAO
Campaign Director, National People's Action

Jordan Estevao is the Director of National People's Action's Bank Accountability Campaign, a national effort to mobilize communities throughout the country in the fight to hold banks accountable. He was the lead organizer of the 2009 Showdown in Chicago that included three days of direct action targeting the American Bankers Association; the 2010 Showdown on K Street where 3,000 marched against bank lobbyist efforts to weaken the financial reform bill; and the recent Showdown in Ohio where JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was forced to apologize for Chase’s foreclosure record.

Estevao has been an organizer for 12 years, organizing campaigns to advance community development, affordable housing, community benefit agreements, and immigrant rights in United States and in England.

ANA GARCIA-ASHLEY
Executive Director, Gamaliel Foundation

Born in the Dominican Republic, Garcia-Ashley was just four years old when she began canvassing in a rural village as part of a public safety campaign headed by her grandmother, a neighborhood activist. After the assassination of Rafael Trujillo, she and her family fled the political violence in the Dominican Republic and settled in New York.

Garcia-Ashley began organizing after graduating from the University of Colorado in Denver. Deeply interested in the intersection of politics and faith, she attended the Iliff School of Theology and joined Gamaliel in 1992 as the lead organizer of MICAH in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Garcia-Ashley led one of the most successful campaigns in Gamaliel’s history: winning a $500 million commitment from local banks to invest in affordable housing. As a result, 7,000 low-income families in Milwaukee were able to buy homes. Garcia-Ashley also founded Gamaliel’s statewide Wisconsin affiliate, WISDOM.

Garcia-Ashley splits her home life between Franklin, Wisconsin, and Atlanta, Georgia. She is married, has two daughters attending college, and is a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Atlanta.

DEBORAH GOLDBERG
Director of Special Projects, National Fair Housing Alliance

Deborah Goldberg is a Special Project Director with the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA). Since 2005, she has led NFHA’s work on equitable rebuilding of the Gulf Coast region in the aftermath of the 2005 hurricanes. Goldberg has also been involved in NFHA’s public policy work on financial services issues, playing a lead role in efforts around foreclosure prevention and housing finance reform.

Previously, she worked at the Center for Community Change, providing training, technical assistance and public policy support to community groups seeking to increase access to sustainable financial services in low-income communities and communities of color.

 

SARAH LUDWIG
Founder, Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project (NEDAP)

Sarah Ludwig founded NEDAP in 1995 and has worked with hundreds of grassroots groups to organize and advocate for community equity and financial justice. In 2000, she co-founded the coalition, New Yorkers for Responsible Lending, which has secured major policy reforms in the financial justice and foreclosure prevention arenas. Ludwig is a frequent speaker at community forums and has testified at numerous public hearings, on such topics as financial reform, fair lending, foreclosure prevention, and the impact of foreclosure on communities.

Ludwig recently completed a term on the Federal Reserve Board's Consumer Advisory Council, and serves on the boards of directors of the Center for Responsible Lending, Consumer Federation of America, and North Star Fund. An adjunct professor at NYU's Wagner School of Urban Planning since 2003, Ludwig just completed a Revson Fellowship at Columbia University.

C. NICOLE MASON
Executive Director, Women of Color Policy Network

C. Nicole Mason has worked in advocacy and public education at the local, state and national levels with a special focus on women and underserved communities for the last 13 years. In her research and writing, she continues to investigate the intersections of race, class, gender, ethnicity, and other markers of difference and their impact on rights and public policy outcomes at the local, state, and national levels.

Mason has served as the Director for Research and Policy Initiatives at the National Council for Research on Women, where she remains a Senior Research Fellow. She is also the Founder and former Executive Director of the National Women's Alliance, a multi-issue human rights and advocacy organization focusing on the needs of women and girls of color. She has taught at the Institute for Policy Studies' Social Justice and Leadership School for Activists and in the Department of Political Science at Howard University.

PAHEADRA ROBINSON
Director, Consumer Legal Resource Center, Mississippi Center for Justice

Jackson-native Paheadra Robinson directs the Consumer Legal Resource Center of the Mississippi Center for Justice. She is a graduate of Tougaloo College and the University of Mississippi School of Law. In addition to private practice, Robinson has also served as legislative counsel to three House committees: Conservation and Water Management, Juvenile Justice, and Municipalities. Her knowledge of the Legislature and its players has helped MCJ open important doors at the Capitol.

Robinson co-founded the Mississippi-based Fresh Start Foundation to provide direct financial aid to victims of Hurricane Katrina. Recognized for her commitment to community activism, she was recently selected to attend Jackson’s Parents for Public Schools’ Leadership Institute. Robinson and her husband, also an attorney, live in Jackson with their two young sons.

CHRISTY ROGERS
Senior Researcher, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity

Christy Rogers is a Senior Researcher at the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, where she has worked since 2004. She focuses on equitable neighborhood revitalization and federal housing policy, particularly housing finance reform. Rogers holds a B.A. in English, an M.A. in English, a MLA in Landscape Architecture, and a Ph.D. in Geography.

Rogers volunteers for the HOME Impact Council of the United Way of Central Ohio, and for the Housing Subcommittee of the Near Eastside (Columbus) Redevelopment Partnership. She also teaches an urban design studio each fall, as Visiting Lecturer for the Knowlton School of Architecture.

 

KALIMA ROSE
Senior Director and Director of PolicyLink Center for Infrastructure Equity, PolicyLink

Kalima Rose, Senior Director and Director of the PolicyLink Center for Infrastructure Equity, works with the infrastructure team to steer resources for transportation, housing, and key amenities to communities of opportunity. Rose helps local and statewide groups implement economic stimulus funds for greater workforce participation and new investments in underserved communities. Since 2005, Rose has led the organization’s Gulf Coast recovery work, collaborating with community organizations to shape the equitable rebuilding of New Orleans and Louisiana. With a decade of housing and land use policy expertise, Rose created the PolicyLink Equitable Development Toolkit, an online resource that highlights best social equity practices. Rose has a degree in narratives and culture from the University of California, Berkeley, and serves on the boards of many organizations, including Housing California and First Peoples Fund.

KATE SCOTT
Assistant Director, Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center

Kate Scott has served as Assistant Director of the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center (GNOFHAC) since April of 2010. Kate began working with GNOFHAC as an undergraduate intern in January 2004 and has served in a variety of different roles with the organization since then, including administrative assistant, Coordinator of Outreach and Development, and Interim Co-Director.

Scott has more than eight years of social justice and civil rights related experience and serves on the board of the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond. She graduated summa cum laude with a B.A .in Sociology and Africana Studies from Loyola University of New Orleans.

 

JESSE VAN TOL
Director of Communications, National Community Reinvestment Coalition

Jesse Van Tol is Director of Communications for the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. In that capacity, he is responsible for implementing comprehensive communications and outreach strategies that highlight the organization’s membership, public policy positions and programs. Van Tol oversees a department of three communications staff, who are responsible for producing creative and content for newsletters and publications, press materials, web and electronic communications and other collateral.

Van Tol has regularly placed NCRC’s expert commentary in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Associated Press, Bloomberg, Reuters and in hundreds of other outlets. In his time at NCRC, the organization has appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, CSPAN, PBS, CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox Business News, NPR and on TV and radio programs across the country.

Van Tol received his B.A. in History and International Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

PREETI VISSA
Director, Community Reinvestment Program, Greenlining Institute

Preeti Vissa is the Director of Greenlining’s Community Reinvestment Program, which focuses on building wealth and economic sustainability in communities of color. Vissa works on a holistic set of wealth-building issues including homeownership, small business development, supplier diversity, financial services, and job creation. She also leads Greenlining’s efforts to ensure that the country’s largest financial institutions serve the needs of diverse communities. In this capacity, she meets regularly with CEOs from major Fortune 100 companies.

Vissa has published reports on issues of homeownership, small business entrepreneurship, supplier diversity, and regulatory reform. She has presented and testified in numerous panels and hearings. She is a graduate of Greenlining’s Leadership Academy.