Aramie (26, Louisville, KY) was adopted at a young age and is of mixed European and Native American descent. With a history of troublemaking, she remembers getting into trouble for passing out petitions in middle school. Aramie has been involved with the CIW since 2004 with the campaign and draws constant inspiration from its organizing philosophy. Having left school for a four month SFA internship in Fall 2005, she continued to live and work in the Immokalee community for several months before joining the Real Rights Tour in 2006. Aramie has a lifelong love of riding horses and a newfound love of playing mandolin and was most recently employed as an organizer by Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KFTC) where she lived in an Appalachian mountain community in eastern KY. She is currently involved in root cause resistance of mountaintop removal. Future plans include traveling out west to resist and help document the forced relocation of the Dineh people, and spreading word about the CIW. Rodolfo Cortinas (25, Austin, TX), is a queer chicano from the borderlands of Tamaulipas and Tejas. He is currently a senior at the University of Texas and will be receiving his degree in Mexican American Studies. While in Austin, he helped found the Youth Liberation Network, a non-profit dedicated to youth of color aged 11-18 and to the promotion of community building and a positive self-image through the exploration of theatre, video, publishing, and radio workshops. He has also worked with Teatro Liberacion - Liberation Theatre (TL-LT), MEChA de Tejaztlan, Queer People of Color, Community Labor Action Project (CLAP) and is a DJ for KPWR - a web-based community radio. His involvement with the SFA and the CIW is rooted in his family's history and his own personal conviction to organize against corporations and institutions that violate basic human rights. Currently he is also working with Communties in Schools, as a mentor for youth in middle school, and the Theatre Action Project as a guest artist. Contact Rodolfo: rodolfo (at) sfalliance.org
Luis Fernando (26, Chicago) has been working with different social justice movements since his early twenties. He first work that he was involved with was the issues of the tomato pickers in Southwest Florida. While in school, he gave speeches to inform people of the struggles in Immokalee and the surrounding areas. Later, he became involved with Fair Trade issues. He began selling products in his neighborhood from co-ops in Chiapas, Mexico. Contact Luis: luis (at) sfalliance.org Guadalupe Gomez (22, East Chicago, IN) is a senior at the University of Notre Dame and is double majoring in Philosophy and Anthropology. She is a Chicana and proud of it. Currently, she is Co-Chair of MEChA de Notre Dame, works at the Center for Social Concerns as the Diversity Enrichment student assistant and at the Snite Museum of Art giving tours and educating guests about the immigration issue. She loves her family, the CIW’s and SFA’s organizing philosophy, and DANCING!! Contact Lupe: lupe (at) sfalliance.org Alexis Herrera (21, Austin, TX) is a queer Chicana activist from Texas. She is currently an undergraduate in Mexican-American Studies at the University of Texas, Austin. She works with MEChA, the Community Labor Action Project, The Youth Liberation Network, Austin Indymedia and KPWR. She has loved working with the CIW and the SFA since participating in the Boot the Bell campaign at UT. She lives for graphic design, photography, teatro, and social justice. Contact Alexis: alexis (at) sfalliance.org Robert McGoey (24, Albuquerque, NM)
was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He gained a political consciousness through his involvement with Young Religious Unitarian Universalists and became active in radical politics and local community organizing while attending the University of New Mexico. He graduated in 2005 with a degree in African American, Women´s and American Studies. He has worked on a wide variety of social justice issues including anti-police brutality, environmental justice and anti-racist organizing. He became involved with the SFA and CIW during the Taco Bell Boycott and was an intern in Immokalee with Interfaith Action during the spring of 2006. He enjoys cooking, eating spicy Natasha Noriega-Goodwin (21, Santa Cruz, CA) worked at the volunteer- run Centro Cultural de México in Santa Ana tackling alienation through popular art/arte de pueblo for 3 years. El Centro's musical ensemble Son del Centro plays the folkloric music of Veracruz to support social justice actions with rhythm. This folk music, Son Jarocho, comes from a history of campesino resistance to hegemony & exploitation during the colonial era and to this day--similar to the New Song movement born in the '60s against imperialism in Chile, her second homeland. Natasha transferred to UC Santa Cruz in fall 2006 to study sustainable agriculture & development. If you're in the Bay Area and working on human rights or Fair Food & trade,contact her: natasha (at) sfalliance.org
Brian Payne (33, Minneapolis, MN). After graduating from the University of Florida in 2000, Brian started working with a handful of students across the state of Florida to form the Student/Farmworker Alliance. From 2000-2004 he worked in Immokalee, coordinating student solidarity with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. Currently Brian lives in Minneapolis volunteering his time with Witness for Peace UpperMidwest and the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Coalition. Contact Brian: brianpayneyvp (at) gmail.com Brent Perdue (23, Austin, TX) is an active volunteer editor and producer at the community news outlet the Austin Independent Media Center. Austin IMC maintains an online news site, trains and equips individuals and community groups with media skills and equipment, and assists in the production of local print, radio, and film media projects. Austin IMC helped chronicle the Taco Bell Truth Tour, produced a touring feature-length film about the Coalition's victory, and continues documenting the CIW's current struggle against McDonald's. Brent currently resides in Immokalee working as an independent researcher and SFA member. Contact Brent: brent (at) sfalliance.org Brie Phillips (23, Washington DC), of Russian Jewish decent, graduated from Central Michigan University in May of 2005. After working with her local Student/Farmworker Alliance chapter for 2 years, and participating in the 2004 Taco Bell Truth Tour, she came to Immokalee to work as an intern during the summer of 2004. She returned to Immokalee in Spring 2005 to take a short-term staff position for the SFA, where she remained until November of the same year. She currently works for the Living Wage Action Coalition. Contact Brie: brie (at) sfalliance.org Gerardo Reyes-Chávez (29, Immokalee, FL) has worked in the fields since age 11, first as a peasant farmer in Zacatecas, Mexico and then in the fields of Florida picking oranges, tomatoes, and watermelon. He joined the Coalition of Immokalee Workers shortly after his arrival in the United States in 2000. Since then Gerardo has been an active member of the CIW, leading national actions including Root Cause, the grassroots and people of color response to the FTAA ministerial in Miami in 2003. Gerardo also helps to run Radio Conciencia, the new low-power community radio station through which the CIW is creating a space to share the diversity of cultures, languages, and experiences that make up Immokalee. Contact Gerardo: gerardo (at) ciw-online.org Cruz Salucio Perez (22, Immokalee, FL) is the newest and youngest CIW staff member. He is a native of Guatemala where he worked in the fields with his family, harvesting coffee, corn, and beans. He came to Immokalee in January 2005 to work as a farmworker and became involved with the CIW´s low-power community radio station, Radio Conciencia, and shortly after became an active member of the CIW, participating in meetings, actions, and other events. In Spring 2006, he was part of the organizing team in Chicago that helped to prepare for the 2006 McDonald´s Truth Tour, doing presentations and outreach in Chicago and the suburbs. Cruz also speaks popti´, a Mayan indigenous language. Contact Cruz: cruz (at) ciw-online.org Sean Sellers (25, Immokalee, FL) grew up in Texas and has served as SFA staff since graduating from the University of Texas at Austin in 2004. While living in Austin, he became involved in the antiwar and global justice movements. During that time, Sean served on the steering committee of United for Peace & Justice and helped organize campus efforts around the Taco Bell boycott, the November 2003 FTAA mobilization in Miami, and direct action responses to the US invasion of Iraq. Sean spent the past two summers anticipating the Dallas Cowboys' upcoming seasons while harvesting watermelons in Florida, Georgia, and Missouri. Contact Sean at sean(at)sfalliance.org Tiffany Ten Eyck (27, Detroit, MI) works as a writer and organizer for Labor Notes. Tiffany organized with the Student/Farmworker Alliance in Immokalee, Florida for a year, doing national tour organizing and outreach around the 2004 and 2005 Taco Bell Boycott actions. A former SEIU intern, anti-war agitator, and student labor activist, Tiffany is looking forward to working with the SFA steering committee on organizational structure and campaign strategy, among other things. Contact Tiffany: tiffany (at) sfalliance.org Kandace Vallejo (23, Carbondale, IL) is currently studying high school history education at Southern Illinois Candelario Vasquez (24, Immokalee, FL) is a queer Chicano activist and aspiring Son Jarochero. He grew up in a migrant farmworking family whose struggles developed a great passion for social justice. He is dedicated to his community and continually promotes culture as a form of resistance. Cancer from pesticide exposure ended his father's life at a young age; personal and community histories led him to actively participate with the CIW from Immokalee's first direct action to the many recent Truth Tours. Participation in the Coalition of Immokalee Workers has led to an internship with the SFA/CIW and a chance to organize with them on many occasions at the community and university level. Cande recently graduated Florida State University and currently lives in Immokalee, where he plans to teach. Contact Cande: candelario (at) sfalliance.org |
PO Box 603, Immokalee, FL 34143 :: (239) 657-8311 :: organize (at) sfalliance.org
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Arabella Daniels (20, Hattiesburg, MS) is a queer student/activist from south Louisiana. Arabella is in her 3rd year at the University of Southern Mississippi majoring in Spanish with a double minor in Human Rights and Visual Arts. Arabella is a founding member of her campus chapter of United Students Against Sweatshops, as well as a member of Amnesty International. Arabella was a participant in the Taco Bell boycott and has been a member of SFA for about two years. After experiencing and seeing the effects of an incredible amount of suffering, discrimination, and destruction that huge corporations have had on her local communities in regards to the rebuilding efforts in the wake of hurricane Katrina, Arabella has been motivated to take a more active and aggressive stance towards corporate accountability and social responsibility. In the future Arabella hopes to move to Central America and learn a thing or two from the people about grassroots organizing. Arabella also enjoys learning about U.S. foreign and economic policy, labor and gender issues in Central America, social movements, traveling, and dancing. Contact Arabella: arabella (at) sfalliance.org
Charlene Obernauer (18, Stony Brook, NY) is an undergraduate student at Stony Brook University and is majoring in religious studies and women's studies. She organizes with her campus activist group, the Social Justice Alliance (SJA), the campaign coordinator for the Sweat-Free Campus Campaign (USAS), and is the editor of SJA's biannual Activist Guidebook. Charlene also serves on the Jobs with Justice (Long Island) Workers' Rights Board and works with local churches on Long Island as a Peer Minister of SBU's Protestant Campus Ministries. Contact Charlene: humanrightssbu (at) aol.com