Justin Nick | Eastern Shore Organizer
Justin grew up in Southeast Maryland. He attended Albright College in Reading, PA for undergrad and Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC for his Masters in Divinity with a specialization in African American Church Studies. He came to th ...
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Elisabeth Chaves | Climate Equity Policy Fellow
Before becoming Virginia Organizing’s first Climate Equity Policy Fellow in 2022, Elisabeth was a member of the New River Valley chapter for four years. She first moved to Blacksburg in 2002 to study urban planning. After getting her degree, she volu ...
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Karen Valdez | Harrisonburg/ Rockingham County Organizer
Karen became the Harrisonburg/Rockingham Organizer in the summer of 2022. Before that she had lived in Rockingham County for 13 years. Karen comes from a Hispanic/Latino household, has four sisters, and is newly married. She graduated from Eastern Me ...
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Terran Young | Wise County Organizer
Terran became the Wise County Organizer in 2022. She spent her early childhood in Wise County, moved to Middletown, Ohio, and then returned home as a young adult after college. She took her first position at the Highlander Center as an Appalachian Tr ...
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Rachel Hefner | Richmond Area Organizer
Rachel Hefner became the Richmond Organizer in 2022. She grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina and went to Meredith College where she studied social work and Spanish. While she was still an undergraduate, she started working in community organizing w ...
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Sunny Hawkins | Development Director
Sunny discovered Virginia Organizing as a student when she was assigned to cover an event for a writing class where she heard Suffolk Organizer Tony Jones speak. She began volunteering with Virginia Organizing the next month, then interning in 2021. ...
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Rachel Campbell | Pulaski Organizer
Rachel Campbell became the Pulaski Organizer in October of 2021. She grew up in Hanover County and then lived in the Richmond Area for a number of years before moving to Pulaski in 2020. “I am so happy I made that decision,” she says. “The region has ...
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Glenda Crockett-Eans | Wythe County Organizer
Glenda grew up in Wytheville, where she and her family returned 17 years ago, and has worked as an elementary school teacher for 16 years. She went to college at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro NC, where she obtained her BS degr ...
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Sarah Miller | Newport News/Hampton Organizer
Sarah grew up in the Midwest and has a background in the military, which brought her to the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. In 2014 she got involved with the Norfolk Chapter. She worked on expansion of light rail in Virginia Beach, flooding in Norfol ...
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Amanda Dameron | Waynesboro Organizer
Amanda Dameron grew up in rural Franklin County, but after she moved to Harrisonburg for college she decided to stay in the Valley. Amanda lost her father very early in life, and as a result felt drawn to a major in psychology. She wanted to become a ...
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Eric Olson-Getty | Director of Programs
Eric Olson-Getty grew up in Vermont and came to Virginia via North Carolina in 2014. He moved to Harrisonburg when his wife got a new job, but arrived looking for opportunities to get involved in grassroots organizing work. The local Virginia Organiz ...
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Jorge Mendez | Fredericksburg Organizer
Jorge Mendez joined Virginia Organizing as the Fredericksburg Organizer in June of 2019. He grew up in El Salvador, where he began to work for human rights and political and social rights at the age of 13. It was a time of civil war and depriv ...
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Rosemary Gould | Director of Communications
Rosemary joined Virginia Organizing in May, 2017 as the Director of Communications. She grew up near Chicago but has lived in Charlottesville since 1989 when she came here to be a doctoral student in UVA's English Department. She has a husband and th ...
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Tony Jones | Suffolk Organizer
Tony Jones joined Virginia Organizing when the Portsmouth Chapter was just getting started. He became the Suffolk Organizer in April of 2018. A native of Portsmouth, Tony knows first-hand the kinds of discrimination that students of color face in are ...
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Meghan McNamara | Portsmouth/Norfolk Organizer
Meghan McNamara is a community and labor organizer who joined Virginia Organizing in January 2016. Prior to joining the organization, Meghan worked on various social justice campaigns in Washington, D.C., Richmond, Chicago, and Hampton Roads. She beg ...
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Ben Thacker-Gwaltney | Database Manager
Ben Thacker-Gwaltney is the Database Manager for Virginia Organizing. A native Virginian, Ben began working as an organizer in 1998 with the Lynchburg and Amherst County Virginia Organizing chapters before moving to Williamsburg in 2004. He the ...
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Laura Ramirez | Director of Finance and Administration
Laura Ramirez began working at Virginia Organizing in 1998 and is responsible for the financial management of the organization; administration of benefits and insurance policies; developing, implementing and maintaining a technology strategy that inc ...
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Sally Bastian | Grassroots Fundraising Coordinator
Sally Bastian began working with Virginia Organizing in 2006, as the Grassroots Fundraising Coordinator. In the past she has worked in education, housing, and in community development. She is also a Spanish speaker. Sally is excited about Virginia Or ...
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Brian Johns | Executive Director
Brian Johns currently serves as the executive director of Virginia Organizing. He first came to Virginia Organizing as an intern in 2000 and then worked as a community organizer from 2001-2005. He spent two years in Pennsylvania doing community organ ...
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Nik Belanger | Organizing Director
Nik Belanger serves as the Organizing Director of Virginia Organizing. In 2010, Nik joined the staff of Virginia Organizing as the Southside Organizer and worked to build local chapters in Danville and Martinsville/Henry County. A native of Louisiana ...
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