Abbas, son of Denise Armstong and Akil Khalid, is an Oakland born melanated organizer with roots in Opelousas, LA, Mississippi, and Alabama. He is a loving father to his beautiful son A’mazi, a supportive partner and a dedicated collective member to MG. He began organizing at the age of 15 with Youth Together in the wake of the murder of Oscar Grant. During his sophomore year at SFSU, he took on the lead organizer role at his former school, Castlemont High in East Oakland, mobilizing young people to make shifts in the Oakland Unified School District. In 2015, he began working at the Ryse Center in Richmond as a Youth Success Counselor to support at risk youth transitioning out of Contra Costa Juvenile Halls. Abbas has also been a lead on projects through Movement for Black Lives, The Black Land and Liberation Initiative, Alliance for Educational Justice, and The Brotherhood of Elders Network. Outside of movement work, he is a loving brother, family member, artist, photographer, and event planner.

Angela is a neurodiverse mama, bestie, healing arts practitioner, writer, researcher, and facilitator. She is an Indigenous Xicana with lineage rooted in N’de and Dine lands of New Mexico and Arizona, and Jalisco, Mexico and she comes to Oakland/Huichin, Ohlone Lands by way of Tongva Lands.

Angela’s change work is grounded in sexual and reproductive justice as ecological justice. She is a traditional life transition worker supporting families with a trauma/grief/healing-informed practice. Angela accompanies survivors of childhood sexual abuse and assault and systems-impacted people to heal our inner children, reclaim our power and curiosity, and reconnect to land. She also organizes families and communities around the intersection of birth and intergenerational healing and the ecological implications embedded in Indigenized birth work.

Angela is an alum of Indigenous Permaculture’s Green Community Leader program, an ethnic studies practitioner with an M.A. in Ethnic Studies, and a community health researcher with a Masters in Public Health. She is also an alum of East Bay Meditation Center’s Practice in Transformative Action. Since 2014, Angela has organized with the Healing Clinic Collective as a practitioner and core member and has served in an advisory role with the Freedom Community Clinic. Angela is honored to continue her life work by deepening into cultural strategy for ecological justice as an MG collective member.

Aspen is a queer mom and white anti-racist who believes whole heartedly in the power of transformative organizing. She brings over two decades of experience building and strengthening grassroots social justice organizations, with a focus on administration, fundraising and financial management. She grew up in Seattle and has built a vibrant life in the Bay Area over the last seventeen years, but often longs for the Pacific Northwest forests. When she’s not immersed in movement work, she loves hiking, collage and painting and art projects with her two kids.

Aspen led a community-directed research program with EDUCA in Oaxaca, Mexico before moving to San Francisco and joining People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER) in 2005 as the Fundraising and Finance Director. A decade later, POWER merged with Causa Justa Just Cause and Aspen became the Finance and Administration Director for CJJC, and then served as co-Deputy Director from 2019-2021. She also has served as board treasurer of The Data Center and recently supported fundraising efforts for Seed the Vote. She’s thrilled to join Movement Generation and have the opportunity to learn from and contribute to MG’s inspiring strategies for ecological justice and Just Transition.

Crosby is a student of life who centers and uplifts the importance of deepening relationships to self, community, ancestors, nature, and spirit as we shatter toxic myths of separation and remember our way forward together.

Crosby has served on the boards of the National Peace Academy and as board Co-Chair at East Bay Meditation Center in downtown Oakland. Crosby received certification as a secular Mindfulness Facilitator in 2019 from UCLA’s Mindfulness Awareness Research Center after having been an educator for ten years, having primarily taught Life Science in San Francisco.

Between 2015 – 2018, Crosby was a core organizer in local Bay Area organizing spaces such as The Last 3 Percent, Black Land and Liberation Initiative, and People’s Education Movement. Crosby is also a graduate of several local programs including Movement Generation’s Justice and Ecology Retreat 2017, Greenpeace Action Camp, Earth Activist Training’s Permaculture Design Program, East Point Peace Academy Kingian Nonviolence Trainings, Generative Somatics School of Embodied Leadership, and East Bay Meditation Center’s Practice in Transformative Action.

Crosby holds a BA from Olivet College with an Independent Major in Economic Development and an MA in Curriculum & Instruction from UNLV.

Dana is a daughter, sister, auntie, wife, and relative. Born on the island of Luzon in the Philippines, she is a descendant of Tagalog healers, farmers, and revolutionaries.

She spent the early part of her professional life writing and producing features and photo editorials for international magazines. As a travel journalist, she came to understand the impacts of colonialism, capitalism, and imperialism on local communities, cultures, and ecosystems around the globe. These experiences ultimately set her on a path of decolonizing herself and her work.

Prior to joining Movement Generation, she was the storyteller for Save the Redwoods, working to protect, restore, and connect people with California’s iconic redwood and sequoia forests. One highlight was collaborating with colleagues and representatives of the InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council to tell the story of the rematriation of the land called Tc'ih-Léh-Dûñ in Sinkyone territory. Dana is honored to manifest with MG our shared vision of ecological justice.

Now living on Karkin and Lisjan Ohlone lands, Dana volunteers with local organizations that focus on various forms of connection, healing, and justice, including Skate Like a Girl, Brown Girl Surf, and Sogorea Te’ Land Trust. She’s also the singer of a political indie rock band called Wavebreaker.

Deseree grew up between Southwest Louisiana and the Los Angeles area where she began her movement building journey as a student organizer working on queer and trans liberation struggles in 2008. After almost a decade of working within the LGBTQ movement, Deseree shifted her focus towards land-based work as a scholar, activist and farmer. In 2015 she became a co-organizer of the People of Color Sustainable Housing Network and in 2016 she co-founded the Queer Eco-Justice Project, organizing at the intersection of ecological justice and queer liberation. Deseree loves queering ecological education. She is also on the board of Shelterwood Collective and Sustainable Economies Law Center. Deseree holds an interdisciplinary MA in Social Transformation focused on African-diasporic spiritual traditions, ecology and land-based movements. Deseree is also an alumna of the ecological farming apprenticeship at the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems. She enjoys growing food and medicine, eating spicy foods, and nerding out about cats, movies and books. As a descendant of three generations of rural Louisiana sharecroppers, Deseree is committed to strengthening movements for black land, healing and liberation.

Isaac has worked, volunteered, and educated in queer and non-traditional relationship spaces, community building, and information technology for over 15 years. They have volunteered in roles from street medic and crisis advocate to volunteer coordination and event infrastructure. Their most recent project has been the formation of a technology worker cooperative to help build more equitable and stable economies. A history major dropout with an eye for early and ‘classical’ societies, they have recently returned to school for an IT degree to augment their career experience and empower them to leverage the latest technologies in their community work. It is a passion of theirs to educate others on the most expedient and ethical uses of tech. Isaac also advocates for the cultivation of resilient chosen families and is focused on developing non-violent communication and de-escalation skills in every space they inhabit. They also hope you are having an excellent week because you are worthy and deserving.

Mateo is one of the co-founders of the Movement Generation Justice & Ecology Project. He was born and grew up in La Paz, Bolivia. Since moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, he has worked in the labor, environmental justice and international solidarity movements. Mateo is the son of Barbara, fortunate father of Hayden and Nilo, and blessed to be partnered with Effie. He is a member of the Latin rock band Los Nadies. Mateo is also national co-chair of the Climate Justice Alliance and is the co-chair of the Justice Funders’ Board of Directors.

Quinton Sankofa is a change agent, activist, organizer, planner and non-profit management consultant. He was born and raised on the east side of Cleveland, Ohio. A strong work ethic with a loving and supportive family helped him navigate the challenges of racism and poverty. He studied Urban and Regional Planning at Michigan State University and received an M.A in Community Development and Planning from Clark University. Determined to continue his social justice work, Quinton and his soul mate moved to Oakland in 2009. Since then the Town has become the place they call home and the birthplace of their first child. Now, with over 20 years of community-based social justice experience, Quinton brings an array of skills to his work, such as community organizing, organizational development, strategic planning, meeting facilitation, and fundraising.

Cinthya Muñoz Ramos organizes with working class communities of color to contest for power and win. She started organizing as a student in Sacramento leading efforts to fight the criminalization of young people of color. From 2007-2015, Cinthya led the immigrant rights organizing work for Causa Justa :: Just Cause. Cinthya led CJJC’s coalition work at the local, state and national level and was instrumental in the founding and coordinating of ACUDIR: Alameda County United In Defense of Immigrant Rights and SFIRDC: The San Francisco Immigrant Rights Defense Committee.

From 2015-2021 she was the Legislative Director for Alameda County District 2. She is currently the Chief of Staff for Oakland City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas.

Cinthya is an alumna of the Women’s Policy Institute and the School of Unity & Liberation (SOUL) Summer School for youth organizers. She is a recipient of the Fellowship for a New California and serves on the Board of Directors for CURYJ (Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice). Cinthya is a member of the Bay Area Coordinating Committee of LeftRoots.

Cinthya is a mama, birth worker and translator. She loves to spend time by the ocean and walk through the oak woodlands and redwood forests.

Dave is a co-founder and the Executive Director of the Occidental Arts & Ecology Center, a collective-ran organic farm, eco-justice education and retreat center, and intentional community in Sonoma County, CA. With a background in environmental science, sociology and law, Dave has worked for 40 years within the social and environmental justice movements, including with the Abalone Alliance, Environmental Project on Central America, the Highlander Research and Education Center, the National Toxics Campaign, and Greenpeace International, as well as co-founded the Program on Corporations, Law, and Democracy, the Wild Farm Alliance, the Genetic Engineering Action Network, Californians for GE-Free Agriculture, California Climate and Agriculture Network, and other projects. Dave has also worked in 30 countries and all over the U.S as a social movement strategic planning facilitator and consultant, most recently with the Hawaii SEED movement, the Pollinator Protection Network, Californians for Pesticide Reform, the Agroecology Advocacy Network, the GAIA global alliance, and the BreakFreeFromPlastics global movement.

Gopal has been involved in working for social, economic, environmental and racial justice through organizing & campaigning, teaching, writing, speaking and direct action since the late 1980’s. He is a co-founder of Movement Generation: Justice and Ecology Project.

Currently, Gopal supports movement building through his work with organizations including The Climate Justice Alliance, ETCgroup, the Center for Story-based Strategy, NDN Collective and People’s Solar Energy Fund. He is also a Fellow with the Center for Economic Democracy. Gopal teaches Race, Activism and Climate Justice and Asian Americans and Environmental Justice at San Francisco State University in the Race and Resistance Studies and Asian American Studies Departments. Gopal also teaches Ecological Systems Thinking, Social Justice Frameworks for Sustainability and Science and Systems Thinking in the Masters of Arts in Urban Sustainability program as well as Climate Justice and Environmental Justice in the undergraduate program at Antioch University in Los Angeles. Gopal is involved in Climate Justice curriculum development for multiple organizations and universities.

Gopal is a trainer with the The Ruckus Society and The Center for Story-based Strategy and is a member of Asians4Black Lives. Currently, he serves on the boards of Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, The People’s Solar Energy Fund, Frontline Catalyst, Friends of ETC Group and Cooperation Richmond. He has recently served on the boards of The ETC group, The Center for Story-based Strategy and The Working World. He is also on the advisory boards of the Catalyst Project and The Sustainable Economies Law Center. Gopal works at the intersection of ecology, economy and extractivism.

Michelle has worked for the last 25 years building movement vehicles for frontline communities to move a shared vision and strategy. She was on the MG staff collective and MG planning committee from 2008-2021 and is currently Senior Program Officer of the Environmental Justice Resourcing Collective at the Kataly Foundation.

As an MG collective member, Michelle played critical roles in MG’s Just Transition curriculum development & training, strategic planning & organizational development, and funder engagement. She was a founding co-chair of the Climate Justice Alliance and helped to launch Reinvest in Our Power which works to reinvest stolen wealth into community controlled economic transition. On behalf of MG, she also co-founded the Reclaim Our Power Utility Justice Campaign to demand a safe, reliable, community-and-worker-owned energy system that benefits all Californians, especially the people most harmed by PG&E.

In the 1990s, Michelle helped cultivate the farm-to-school movement and was instrumental in setting up some of the first farm-to-school programs in the country, including the launch of the National Farm to School Initiative. Michelle is a Kellogg Food Policy Fellow and Ashoka Fellow Alum. Michelle served as Co-Director of the School of Unity and Liberation (SOUL) from 2005-2008 before joining MG.

Born and raised in Southern California, Michelle has nurtured a growing family in the Bay Area over the last 20+ years. She is in the teacher training program of generative somatics actively working to heal from individual and collective trauma as part of collective social change.

Sammie is an enthusiastic organizer passionate about supporting people in reclaiming their inherent power and dignity. Growing up in a hustling class immigrant household, their political journey started with witnessing xenophobia against their family, fighting budget cuts in public schools, and learning about trans Pilipinos fighting colonization. Most recently, Sammie was the Executive Director of Lavender Phoenix (formerly known as APIENC), a grassroots organization building power for transgender and queer Asian and Pacific Islander people, where they originally started as a youth Summer Organizer. In their role, Sammie supported hundreds of community members to organize for rights, build intergenerational connections, and heal for trans justice.

During their time at Lavender Phoenix, Sammie worked alongside members to publish “Up to Us,” a groundbreaking report and strategy brief on the needs of transgender and non-binary API people in the Bay Area. Sammie has served as a fellow for the Trans Justice Funding Project and has been honored by the Mario Savio Young Activist Award. Joining the Movement Generation family in 2016, Sammie is honored to grow a just transition free from extraction, binaries, and false solutions. Alongside their organizing work, Sammie is a death doula and community archivist.

Sara has been Director of Grantmaking and Advocacy at Grassroots International since 2010. She works to build and maintain long-term relationships with partner organizations and social movements led by peasants, Indigenous Peoples, Afrodescendant communities, women and youth in the Global South. Sara also coordinates Grassroots’ social action work, collaborating with other allies in the US and internationally. Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Sara has spent the majority of her life in the United States and brings years of experience connecting local community organizing (such as with Direct Action for Rights & Equality in Providence, RI) with broader movement building efforts. She is part of Movement Family Farm, a Black collective growing food and connecting with the earth together on an organic farm in New Hampshire. Sara is a mama and lives with her family in Roxbury (a neighborhood of Boston) on unceded Wampanoag and Massachusett territory.

Mateo is one of the co-founders of the Movement Generation Justice & Ecology Project. He was born and grew up in La Paz, Bolivia. Since moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, he has worked in the labor, environmental justice and international solidarity movements. Mateo is the son of Barbara, fortunate father of Hayden and Nilo, and blessed to be partnered with Effie. He is a member of the Latin rock band Los Nadies. Mateo is also national co-chair of the Climate Justice Alliance and is the co-chair of the Justice Funders’ Board of Directors.