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.
Irma Georgina Cruz
Regional Coordinator, Border Network for Human RightsIrma Georgina Cruz was born and raised in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. She is a mother of three and immigrated to the United States in 2002 to provide a better life for her family. In 2006 she was approached and invited to a “know your rights” presentation given by the...
Get To know IrmaJessica Glynn
Senior Director of Law and Policy, YWCA KalamazooJessica Glynn is a human rights attorney with more than 20 years of experience in community organizing and systems change advocacy. As the Senior Director of Law and Policy at the YWCA Kalamazoo, she provides comprehensive representation to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking. She founded the...
Get To know JessicaDeborah Goldberg
Director of Special Projects, National Fair Housing AllianceDeborah 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,...
Get To know DeborahKimberly Gonzalez
Miami Coordinator, Dream DefendersKimberly Gonzalez is a 30-year-old queer Latina and Miami native by way of Cuba and Puerto Rico. She joined the Dream Defenders in July of 2012 and has participated in various campaigns including the 2012 Freedom Fall campaign, the Dream Era campaign that launched on the first day of the...
Get To know KimberlyJacinta Gonzalez
Lead Organizer for the Congress of Day Laborers, New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial JusticeAs lead organizer for the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice Congress of Day Laborers, Jacinta Gonzalez helped establish and maintain a base of day laborers dedicated to building worker power, advancing racial justice, and mobilizing workers across race and industry in post-Katrina New Orleans. She was the lead...
Get To know JacintaElayne Gregg
Member, Indivisible TohonoElayne Gregg is Tohono O'odham, Akimel O'odham and Inupiaq. She currently resides in Coolidge, AZ with her husband and is a mother of five. Her interests include health, personal healing, and cultural preservation in a world moving forward. She also attends Central Arizona Community College near her home. Elayne is...
Get To know ElayneItzel Guillen
Immigration Integration Coordinator, Alliance San DiegoItzel was born in Mexico City and came to the United States at a young age. She is one of the beneficiaries of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) which allows her to work and be protected from deportation in the United States. Itzel began volunteering at a young age...
Get To know ItzelShena Gutierrez
Co-Founding Member, Border Patrol Victims NetworkShena Gutierrez has dedicated her life to advocating for social change and laying the foundation to shift America’s conversation about law enforcement, in particular holding Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the largest law-enforcement agency in the nation, accountable. On March 30, 2011, Shena’s husband, José Gutierrez, was brutally beaten by...
Get To know ShenaJorge Alberto Gutierrez Cortez
Former Project Coordinator, Queer Undocumented Immigrant Project, a project of the United We Dream NetworkJorge Gutierrez is an UndocuQueer activist and organizer born in Nayarit, Mexico, and raised in Southern California. He graduated California State University, Fullerton with a Bachelor’s Degree in English. He began his journey as an undocumented immigrant youth activists with the Orange County Dream Team five years ago and soon...
Get To know Jorge AlbertoSameera Hafiz
Policy Director, Rights Working GroupSameera Hafiz, the Policy Director at the Rights Working Group (RWG), leads and coordinates coalition advocacy efforts and develops strategies to advance RWG's policy agenda. Prior to joining Rights Working Group, Sameera was a Senior Staff Attorney with Legal Momentum’s Immigrant Women Program, where she engaged in national policy advocacy...
Get To know Sameera