2009 steering committee

Steering Committee meets in Immokalee, FL, Feb. 26 - Mar. 1, 2009

Stephanie Bates (25, Minneapolis, MN) is currently the Program Coordinator for the Resource Center of the Americas. The Resource Center is a 25-year-old organization that informs, educates and organizes to promote human rights, economic justice, democratic participation, and cross-cultural understanding in the context of globalization in the Americas. She has been organizing locally with Fair Food Twin Cities for about 3 years. Fair Food Twin Cities is a community-based group that organizes in solidarity with the CIW whose activities have included classroom presentations, fair food dinners, concerts, and critical masses, all to bring attention to the Campaign for Fair Food in the Twin Cities. She is looking forward to her second year as a steering committee member and bringing the Campaign for Fair Food to the food service and supermarket industries. Contact Stephanie: stephanie (at) sfalliance.org

Alyssa Cundari (22, Miami, FL) is originally from the outskirts of Chicago and is a fourth-year student at the University of Miami, studying history and political science. She currently lives in Fort Lauderdale and is exploring different forms of activism north of her Miami base. She is dedicated to social and economic justice, community development and solidarity, building grassroots power and fighting patriarchy, white supremacy, racism, sexism, homphobia, capitalism and all forms of oppression. At UM she is a leader of Students Towards a New Democracy (STAND), an organization that led the fight in a successful campaign to help unionize the service workers on her campus, and chair of OUTspoken, the political GLBTQ group on her campus, who conducted a huge campaign against FL Amendment 2. She is also involved with United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), and serves on their national coordinating committee. She has also worked with community organizations such as Domestic Workers United and the Miami Workers Center, and upon graduation hopes to become a community organizer. She is really excited to start her second year on the SFA steering committee and help transition local groups into campaigns against food service providers on college campuses! Contact Alyssa: alyssa (at) sfalliance.org

Erica Dodt (23, Carbondale, IL) is soon to be graduate of Southern Illinois Univerity-Carbondale where she is creating her own major in Social Justice with a Women's Studies minor. Erica was introduced to CIW during the Boot the Bell campaign at her high school and became better acquainted with CIW in college during the McDonald's campaign. She looks forward to her first year working on the SFA steering committee! Erica also works with Students for a Democractic Society and a local feminist organization that she co-founded. She is interested in praxis, particpatory democracy, solidarity econmics and a redefinition/reclamaition of "student." She enjoys meshing creativity with the movement and is currently working to learn media/film skills to better bridge understandings of democracy, capitalism, globalization and neoliberalism. Contact Erica: erica (at) sfalliance.org

Jolene Elberth (21, Sarasota, FL) currently attends New College of Florida in Sarasota and is putting the finishing touches on her senior thesis about horizontal organizing. She plans to graduate in May 2009 with a degree in Sociology and Latin American Language and Cultural Studies. Jolene first became involved with the CIW during the lead up to the McDonald’s victory in ‘07 and has continued to draw inspiration and motivation from the campaign since. She has turned around and invested this energy in her own community working on building alliances and organizing around local issues, as well as on SFA campaigns. Jolene is deeply committed to change from the bottom up and community self-empowerment. She is looking forward to another powerful and inspiring year with SFA. Contact Jolene: jolene (at) sfalliance.org

Angelica Franco (27, Denver, CO) is currently a senior at Metropolitan State College of Denver, pursuing a Chicano Studies degree. Originally raised in Pueblo, Colorado, she relocated to Denver after obtaining an Associate of Arts degree from Pueblo Community College. Education, especially in the area of liberal arts, is very important to Angelica, who hopes to pursue a Chicano Studies masters/doctorate program in California, possibly at UCLA. Angelica is drawn to social justice and equality and has been involved in M.E.Ch.A (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan), a national organization that is both campus- and community-based. Angelica holds an officer position for the UMAS MEChA de Auraria chapter and is also a MEChA regional representative for Calpulli Montanas del Norte. She is also a mentor at Denver North High School and advisory council member for the program Journey Through Our Heritage. Angelica is also involved in actions and organizations that promote the advancement and education of young people. As a daughter of a migrant worker, whose entire family worked the fields, Angelica strongly identifies with the struggle the Immokalee workers face. She feels that in working through the Denver Fair Food Commitee with the CIW and SFA, she is not only fighting for what is right, but also honoring her family who endured some of the same hardships and injustices that workers in Florida's fields face today. Contact Angelica: angelica (at) sfalliance.org

Kate Kelly (17, Austin, TX) is a junior at The Khabele School in Austin, Texas. As a freshman she worked with Youth Activists of Austin (YAA), a local coalition focused on limiting military recruiters' access to students in schools. After a year-long campaign, YAA succeeded in developing a set of guidelines for recruiters with the local school district, making AISD the first district in the state to adopt such a policy. During her sophomore year, Kate traveled with her local chapter of SFA to the April, 2007 mobilization in Chicago to celebrate the victory in the McDonald's campaign. Over the course of that weekend, Kate fell in love with the CIW/SFA's movement and the people and has been focusing on laborer's rights in Immokalee, as well as in Texas, ever since. She focuses on brand-image analysis and media projects, specifically photography and journalism. In Austin, she is a jaranera with Son Armado, a local Son Jarocho group. This is Kate's second year serving on the Steering Committee. Contact Kate: kate (at) sfalliance.org

Patrick Kelsall (22, Boulder, CO), originally from Lafayette, Colorado, is nearing the end of his undergraduate career at the University of Colorado. He is studying sociology and plans to stick around the Denver/Boulder region once he graduates in May. Being on the Steering Committee over the past year has been a tremendous learning and empowering experience for him. He is inspired and humbled to serve on the SC for another year and to be an ally in the Fair Food movement. As his life and the campaign both enter new phases, he is ready to take on new challenges with his dear comrades. Contact Patrick: patrick (at) sfalliance.org

Joe Parker (20, Washington, DC) hails from Dewitt, MI. He credits his dad for inspiring in him an interest in labor activism. As a student in DC, Joe joined the Georgetown Solidarity Committee, and his interest quickly became a passion. For the past three years, he has drawn sustenance from the incredible wisdom and strength of student and worker friends alike. Joe's involvement with the CIW/SFA came just around the dawn of the Burger King campaign. He continues to be challenged and inspired by the work of both organizations, and is honored to have the chance to work as a part of the SC. Currently, Joe is pursing a degree in Culture and Politics: a decidedly ambiguous major. In his free time, he loves dancing, chillin' with friends, and devouring copious amounts of chocolate. Contact Joe: joe (at) sfalliance.org

Jorge Facio Rodriguez (28, Madison, WI) is a Chicano, son of immigrant parents raised in Santa Ana, CA. Jorge now resides in Madison WI. were he is completing a Ph.D in Education under Curriculum and Instruction. His interests lie in bottom-up and horizontal movements that use culture and that which is popular to create change. He uses the cultural arts as a medium to create spaces for organizing. Jorge has participated in the creation and development of strong cultural, political, and economic groups by the name of El Centro Cultural de Mexico de Santa Ana, Son del Centro de Santa Ana, and Son Mudanza de Madison, these groups participate locally via grassroots methods using the cultural arts and Son Jarocho, traditional music from Veracruz, Mexico as a means to recreate reality through art expression, poetry, dance, and music. Jorge has been organizing with the CIW/SFA since 2003 under the Taco Bell Boycott, and since then continues to grow alongside its success. Contact Jorge: jorge (at) sfalliance.org

Juan Ruiz (22, Anaheim CA) is a student at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, a pre-medical student majoring in Music and Biology. For the last four years, he has been volunteering at El Centro Cultural de Mexico in Santa Ana, the community space that introduced him to the SFA/CIW. El Centro has been an alternative space that supports community activism by providing volunteers and workspace to the different struggles in the Orange County area. He is a member of Son Del Centro that uses the traditional music of Veracruz, Mexico to preserve their traditions and revive the culture that many youth learn to forget living in the United States. Juan is also a part of the national Chicano organization M.E.Ch.A (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicana/o de Aztlan). Contact Juan: juan (at) sfalliance.org

Marina Sáenz-Luna (25, Baltimore, MD) is a Tejaztlana mujerista, originally from el Valle de Tejas, now living in Baltimas (Baltimore). Although not new to Immokalee or SFA (a former SFA intern), she is serving on the SC for the very first time! Marina is on staff with Just Harvest USA in an effort to advance farmworker rights by drawing attention and commitment to human and labor rights, especially through the sustainable food movement. Just Harvest USA generates national awareness of farmworkers' struggles for justice among people who are concerned with local, healthy, non-corporate food and agriculture; and mobilizes this sector in effective campaigns for living wages and safe and dignified working conditions for farmworkers. Marina also spends time writing short stories, singing and playing son jarocho music and studying natural herbal remedies. Contact Marina: marina (at) justharvestusa.org

Vicktoria Siempre (20, Edinburg, TX) was born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas, where she poses as a university student and works odd jobs, specializing in radical child-care. During her schooling years, Vicky was labeled as intelligent, a trouble maker, and a radical/anarchist by her teachers for questioning the status quo, and it was after dropping out of high school did she find the time to learn and grow into the kind of person she wanted to be (which, incidentally, is an intelligent, trouble-making radical anarchist). It was around this time that Vix and some friends started the World Peace Alliance, a diverse, creative, youth-administrated group fighting for social justice in the RGV, and one of the first major things they did was bring the Fight for Fair Food to the Valley, with the campaign against McDonald's. The WPA has since been super-tight with the CIW and the SFA, sending representatives to every mobilization they could, organizing film showings and actions in solidarity, and putting up lots of flyers. When Vicky isn't 'working', you can find her jamming with her punkass riot folk band Avocado Hand Grenade or listening to corridos and tejano in the kitchen. Vix is really excited to be part of the 2009 Steering Committee, but more excited to meet her babi in March. Contact Vicky: vicktoria (at) sfalliance.org

John-Michael Torres (25, Mission, TX) is a long-time resident of the Rio Grande Valley and recent graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. His initial involvement with CIW and SFA came through work with the Campus Greens and MEChA on the Boot the Bell Campaign at UT. Before graduating and moving back home he was pleasantly surprised to find folks already working on CIW solidarity efforts in the Valley and eagerly joined them. As a current member of the World Peace Alliance, he works on various issues facing the Valley’s livelihood including the border wall, domestic violence, and labor organizing. John-Michael enjoys tocando jarana, learning about community organizing, and making art with silk screens and stencils. Contact John-Michael: johnmchael (at) sfalliance.org

Visual representation of the SFA network from 2001 - 2009 made by Steering Committee members.

Kandace Vallejo (25, Carbondale, IL) is a Xicana and a graduating senior at Southern Illinois University, majoring in History but focusing her studies and research on education as a tool for liberation. She's worked with SFA since 2005, and has served on the SC since 2006, but has been a fan since long before, and during her days working with the Student Environmental Action Coalition, helped to build a stronger bridge of solidarity between the youth environmental justice movement and the CIW and SFA. After spending some time studying political economy in Brazil with the MST (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra, a 25 year-old Brazilian agrarian reform organization that is over 100,000 strong), and building relationships with other students/organizers in her program from around Latin America, Kandace has come to learn that although the struggle against capitalism and neoliberalism is the same struggle everywhere, it has many different faces and manifestations throughout the world. She knows that while all of our struggles intersect, that they are also quite different, and thinks that finding and uncovering the intersections between our struggles is critical to our success as a movement. Kandace is currently working with media and various fundraising projects to find ways to build stronger bridges of solidarity between the North and the South, and understands that the only way to fight capitalism is through creativity and solidarity, with a constant process of critically questioning, acting, and reflecting on the world around us. Contact Kandace: kandace (at) sfalliance.org

Aramie Victoria (28, Louisville, KY), is a former SFA intern and returning 3rd term SC member. She's a double-major in Biological Anthropology and Spanish at UofL, concentrating in genetics. During the Taco Bell boycott organizing days in Louisville she was impressed by the right-on analysis and effectiveness of the youth solidarity movement with farmworkers and set out to build her own efficient skills with the beautiful rad comp@s of SFA and CIW. She is active in her local food community and also organizes around mountaintop removal issues and elder resistor support on the Diné reservation. Other interests include horses, farming, dancing, playing mandolin & fiddle, critical analysis and community viability -- from growing food to natural medicine to building homes with dirt and straw -- independent of the capitalist system. Aramie was adopted, and is of mixed Tsa-la-gi and European descent. Contact Aramie: aramie (at) sfalliance.org

Zach Wilborn (22, Hattiesburg, MS) is a student at the University of Southern Mississippi majoring in Spanish and Religion. Zach has been most actively involved with SFA since the beginning of the McDonald's campaign in 2006 after attending the SFA '06 Encuentro and having a chance to interact with the amazing people of the CIW and SFA. Zach is consistently impressed and encouraged by the work of this dynamic group of hardworking people. Zach has applied his skills learned from SFA in his work with MPOWER (Mississippi Poultry Workers for Equality and Respect), on campus with United Students Against Sweatshops of USM, and in community organizing, especially in response to the Howard Industries immigration raid in August 2008. When he's not fighting the good fight or writing papers for classes, Zach likes to ride horses, get lost in abstract thoughts and play with his two dogs, Johnny and Baxter. Zach affectionately attributes his tenacity and stubbornness to his mama, his closest friends and his working-class Irish and Muskogee family. Contact Zach: zach (at) sfalliance.org