Moira Bowman, EMERJ
Movement Building Director
| Moira Bowman lives in Portland, Oregon – ACRJ’s first remote staff member! She joined ACRJ in November 2007 playing a vital role in advancing our work as a member of the EMERJ Strategy Team. Moira has been active in the social justice movement for the last 20 years on issues of economic and racial justice, LGBTQ rights and gender justice. She brings extensive experience in movement building, organizing, political education, and technical assistance. As the Director of the Gender Justice Program at Western States Center, Moira worked to build regional capacity (Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Nevada and Wyoming) to counter the Right's agenda and to build progressive power for low-income families, communities of color and LGBTQ folks. Moira has a B.A. from Reed College. |
Hillary Brooks, Finance and Operations Director
| A former administrative director at Media Alliance, Hillary worked for over a decade as an accounting and Mac consultant to non-profits, small businesses, magazines and individuals. As a long-time activist for reproductive and civil rights, she did grassroots organizing with groups such as Bay Area Coalition for Our Reproductive Rights. She also put her politics into song, primarily in the jazz group Maroon, which she led while living in New York City, where she also curated and performed in the Jazz Against War concert series. Hillary holds a B.S. in communications research with a focus on images of women and people of color in the media and an M.F.A. in jazz performance. She started at ACRJ in January 2009. |
Diana Ip, Communications and Development Director
| Diana is a 1.5 generation Chinese American who has over ten years of experience working with social justice and nonprofit organizations to communicate effectively and strategically. Formerly a Co-director of the SPIN Project and associate at i.e. communications, she’s committed to ensuring that marginalized people such as women of color, immigrants and low-wage workers, get to speak for themselves. A former board member and consultant to ACRJ, Diana holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University, an M.F.A. from Mills College, and is a graduate of the Coro Fellows Program in Public Affairs. She grew up in Hong Kong, Brooklyn and Baltimore, and lives in Oakland. |
Maria Nakae, MPH, Development Manager
| Maria is a first generation Japanese American who joined ACRJ in June 2006 as a New Voices Fellow. She has worked in community-based research, outreach, and program development on a wide range of issues including reproductive health, domestic violence prevention, parenting and child development, and mental health. Maria developed a strong interest in reproductive justice while working with community- and school-based programs to increase access to reproductive health services for youth in low-income immigrant communities and communities of color. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from New York University and a Masters in Public Health from UC Berkeley. |
Tam Nguyen, MSW, Worker Organizer
| Tam has spent the past five years doing community and electoral organizing primarily around issues of racial justice, access to higher education, and domestic violence. Most recently, Tam worked in labor as a union organizer and from there developed a strong interest in organizing workers to advocate for more equitable and healthy workplace environments. Tam holds a B.A. in Political Science and Social Welfare from UC Berkeley and a Masters in Social Work from the University of Michigan. |
Dana Ginn Paredes, Organizing Director
| Dana is China Latina originally from Tucson, Arizona and raised in Hawai'i/the Bay Area. She has worked for social justice organizations for over 12 years as a trainer, national program director and organizer. Dana's previous work to promote racial equity and healthy families within welfare policy led her to develop a strong interest in reproductive justice issues for women and communities of color. She is a fellow with the Women's Policy Institute and serves on the advisory committee for Spirit in Motion and Asian Community Training. Dana joined ACRJ in February 2003 and holds a B.S. in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley. |
Eveline Shen, MPH, Executive Director
| Eveline is a first generation Chinese American and has been with ACRJ for eight years. Over the last 16 years, she has organized extensively with low-income communities of color around issues of social and environmental justice. She has served as the director of multiple countywide projects developing strategies of community organizing, popular education, community-based participatory research, and policy/advocacy. In the last eight years, Eveline has focused her work in the Asian Pacific Islander communities and has written articles, manuals and training curriculum on popular education and community organizing. She holds a Masters in Public Health from UC Berkeley in Community Health Education. |
Amanda Wake, Youth Organizer
| Amanda is yonsei, fourth generation Japanese American and a third generation community organizer. She graduated from UC Santa Cruz in American Studies where she was also an active student organizer and co-director of the Engaging Education Center. She previously worked as a social worker for a mentoring program for children with a parent in the prison system. Amanda loves being part of ACRJ where she can combine two of her passions: community organizing and youth programming. She believes doing work around reproductive justice is important to the empowerment of communities, and especially enjoys doing this work with the young women she works with in SAFIRE. |
Lily Wong, Administrative Coordinator
| Lily is a 1.5 generation Burmese Chinese American raised in San Francisco. She has worked in the HIV, Affirmative Action/EEO, employment law, and education fields over the past 12 years and actively volunteers with a wide array of grassroots organizations that focus on social justice issues such as LGBTQ rights, disability awareness, and women’s self defense. She is highly committed to proactively unlearning and dismantling oppression on all levels. Lily joined ACRJ in August 2008 and believes that reproductive justice is vital for a sustainable future for our global community. Lily holds a B.A. in Ethnic Studies from Mills College and is currently pursuing a teaching credential in art. |
Board
of Directors
Monica Plazola, Chair
Bouapha Toommaly
Destiny Lopez, Treasurer
Lisa Russ, Secretary
Eveline Shen, MPH, Executive Director
National
Advisory Board
Kimberly Aceves, Executive Director, Youth Together
Toni Bond, President, African American Women Evolving
Grace Chang, PhD, Assistant Professor, UCSB Women’s Studies
Sumru Erkut, PhD, Associate Director and Senior Research Scientist,
Wellesley Centers for Women
Marlene Gerber Fried, PhD, Director, Hampshire College Civil
Liberties and Public Policy Program
Mimi Ho, Program Director, Asian Pacific Environmental Network
Edward Lee, Administrative Director, Californians for Justice
Beckie Masaki, Executive Director, Asian Women's Shelter
Kelvin P. Quan, JD MPH, Managed Care Executive, Attorney and
Community Advocate
Tivo Rojas-Cheatham, MPH, Community Participation and Education
Section Chief, Environmental Health Investigations Branch
Loretta Ross, National Coordinator, SisterSong
Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective
Maria Somma, International Organizing Coordinator, United Steelworkers
Health Care Workers Council
Robert Stark, Executive Director, New Mexico Community Foundation