Our Fellows
The Opportunity Agenda’s Communications Institute Fellows are media-ready experts on some of the country’s most urgent challenges, coming largely from communities most affected by those challenges. For journalists seeking voices with a grassroots perspective that links economic opportunity, criminal justice, immigrant opportunity, and racial justice issues to the lived experiences of Americans, Communications Fellows are ideal spokespeople.
Queen Adesuyi
Policy Coordinator, Drug Policy Alliance’s Office of National AffairsQueen Adesuyi is a policy coordinator at the Drug Policy Alliance’s (DPA) Office of National Affairs in Washington, D.C., where she works to advance DPA’s federal and local District of Columbia legislative agenda. Her areas of focus include marijuana legalization with a racial justice focus, collateral consequences, housing, and overdose prevention. Queen, who...
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Mizue Aizeki
Deputy Director, Immigrant Defense ProjectMizue Aizeki is Deputy Director at the Immigrant Defense Project where she focuses on ending injustices related to the entanglement of the criminal and immigration systems, including criminalization, imprisonment, and exile due to criminal convictions. Mizue has organized around racial justice, workers’ rights, and the policing and deportation of immigrants...
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Alex Albadree
Alex Albadree is a BIPOC queer immigrant creating art for social change. Applying an intersectional approach, Alex highlights the ways that oppressive systems rooted in white supremacy and capitalism degrade our empathy, dignity, and environment.
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Nando Alvarez
Nando Alvarez is an Ecuadorian artist based in Washington DC. As a Latinx immigrant, he tries to connect a wide range of experiences and traditions into an always developing language to talk about the profound crisis we are in, trying to put the human being at the center of his narrative. His...
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Graciela Aponte
Senior Legislative Analyst, National Council of La RazaGraciela 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...
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Miriam Aukerman
Staff Attorney, ACLU of MichiganMiriam Aukerman is a senior staff attorney with the ACLU of Michigan. She also manages the ACLU’s West Michigan Regional Office. Miriam litigates high-impact cases on a broad range of civil liberties issues, with a particular focus on immigrant rights, poverty, and criminal justice. Miriam also promotes constitutional rights through...
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Algernon Austin
Director of the Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy Program, Economic Policy InstituteAlgernon 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...
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Nikitra Bailey
Executive Vice President, Center for Responsible LendingNikitra 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....
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Dante Barry
Executive Director, Million Hoodies Movement for JusticeDante Barry is a grassroots organizer, digital campaigner, and the Executive Director of Million Hoodies Movement for Justice. Previously, Dante ran campaigns, organizing, and leadership development programs for national progressive organizations including the Center for Media Justice, the Roosevelt Institute, School Based Health Alliance, and the Political Development Group, LLC....
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Lawrence Benito
Chief Executive Officer, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee RightsRecently, Lawrence Benito transitioned from Deputy Director to Chief Executive Officer/Executive Director of ICIRR. In his new role he will be responsible for running all facets of the organization. Lawrence has a proven executive track record and over 20 years of experience working with nonprofit organizations. As the Deputy Director...
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