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.
Jacinta 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 JacintaHenry Goss
Communications Director, Mississippi VotesHenry Goss is the Communications Director at Mississippi Votes, a 501c3 nonpartisan youth-centered statewide civic engagement organization. In this role, Henry leads the marketing, advertising, and public relations efforts to advance the mission, vision, and values of the organization.
Get To know HenryElayne 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 SameeraJamila Hammami
Executive Director, Queer Detainee Empowerment ProjectJamila is a queer first-generation Tunisian- Arab woman of color community organizer and social worker from the South now based in New York. She is a Founder and Executive Director of the Queer Detainee Empowerment Project. She is a graduate of the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College...
Get To know JamilaSarah Harris
Press Secretary and Deputy Director of Communications, Stand Up AmericaSarah Harris is the Deputy Communications Director and Press Secretary at Stand Up America, helping to highlight Stand Up America’s campaigns for the press and the public. Through her work, she emphasizes the importance and urgency of making sure everyone has access to a democracy that functions for everyone in...
Get To know SarahMyaisha Hayes
Campaign Strategies Director, MediaJusticeMyaisha is the Campaign Strategies Director at MediaJustice. She previously spent two years as the organization’s National Organizer on Criminal Justice & Technology, where she oversaw the launch of the #NoDigitalPrisons and #ProtectBlackDissent campaigns. Myaisha has an organizing background that includes issue areas such as labor, electoral, and mass incarceration.
Get To know Myaisha