
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.
Kate Scott
Assistant Director, Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action CenterKate 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,...
Get To know KateMoises Serrano
Organizer, El CambioMoises Serrano is a proud Latino, undocumented, and gay man. Having lived in the United States his whole life, he is proud to call himself a Mexican-American. Moises Serrano is a proud Latino, undocumented, and gay man. Having lived in the United States his whole life, he is proud to...
Get To know MoisesSilky Shah
Communications Director, Detention Watch NetworkSilky Shah is the Communications Director of the Detention Watch Network (DWN), a national coalition of organizations and individuals working to reform the U.S. immigration detention and deportation system. Silky has been active in the immigrant rights, anti-war, prison reform and racial justice movements for nearly a decade as an...
Get To know SilkyAlexis Sims
Communication Director, Mothering JusticeAlexis Sims works as communication director for Mothering Justice. She graduated from Michigan State University with a bachelor’s in Sociology. Her background includes work as a creative strategist for businesses in food, technology, beauty, entertainment, and the built-environment industries. Alexis loves to create relationships and narratives for viewers, supporters, and...
Get To know AlexisMary Small
Policy Director, Detention Watch NetworkMary Small is the Policy Director at Detention Watch Network (DWN) where she is responsible for leading DWN's research, policy analysis, litigation, and congressional advocacy in strategic ways to dismantle the United States’ detention industry. Prior to joining DWN, she was a Protection Advisor at the United Nations High Commissioner...
Get To know MaryNour Soubani
Lead Community Organizer, Campaign to Take on HateNour Soubani is the lead community organizer for the Campaign to Take on Hate in Dearborn and Detroit, MI. Through the Campaign, she works on issues of surveillance, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim racism and discrimination, and on building power within these communities to resist systemic racism of all forms. She graduated...
Get To know NourMandy Stark Culbertson
Senior Director of Communications, Caring Across GenerationsMandy Culbertson, Senior Director of Communications at Caring Across Generations, loves shaping narratives that challenge norms, change behavior, and spur others to action. She believes in the power of media and content to tell the stories that matter and the inherent ability of good storytelling to create common ground.
Get To know MandyNailah Summers
Co-Founder and Communications Director, Dream DefendersNailah is a co-founder and the new Communications Director for the Dream Defenders. She attended the University of Florida, where she majored in African American Studies with a minor in Philosophy. She lives in her native Miami with her pit bull and two cats.
Get To know NailahIvy O. Suriyopas
Director, Anti-Trafficking Initiative, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)Ivy O. Suriyopas is the Anti-Trafficking Initiative Director at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF). She provides legal representation, conducts community education, and engages in policy advocacy on human trafficking issues. This legal representation includes immigration assistance, criminal justice advocacy, and civil litigation for claims involving the...
Get To know Ivy O.Caitlin Swain
Executive Director, Forward JusticeCaitlin Swain is the Executive Director of Forward Justice, a law, policy, and strategy center dedicated to civil rights, racial justice, and social and economic change in the South. She previously worked for the Advancement Project as a Skadden Fellow, where she supported grassroots efforts to end the over-criminalization of...
Get To know Caitlin