2018 Andrew Goodman National Civic Leadership Training Summit

Steven Adelson is a Residence Hall Director in the Department of Residential Programs at Stony Brook University, and now also serves as Co-Director of the Center for Civic Justice. Since arriving in 2012, Steven has contributed to the university's transformed commitment to civic and democratic engagement for several years, and he is thrilled about the opportunity to position civic justice as a cornerstone of the student experience. Steven is a two-time alumnus of Stony Brook University: Bachelor of Arts in Political Science (2015) and Master of Arts in Higher Education Administration (2017). In addition, Steven is pursuing his Doctorate in Education at Northeastern University. Steven's research interests include undocumented immigrant identity development and its effects on access to higher education, and college student democratic engagement.

Danielle is a recent graduate of Simpson College, where she served as The Andrew Goodman Foundation's Vote Everywhere Ambassador for one year.

Sophie Bertrand is a student leader taking action addressing the issues of civic engagement and democratic participation. In the past two years, she has utilized campus resources to educate the student body about the significance of their roles in the community, especially in the democratic system. She has actively registered students to vote, hoping to increase overall political engagement on campus and playing a significant role in making Towson University recognized by TurboVote and the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge as a "Silver Seal Campus" with a voting rate of 60.7% - one of TurboVote's top 40 campuses for voter engagement in 2017. In addition to her efforts with the campus student government on an initiative to make voting easier and more convenient for students, she is currently working in concordance with several local universities to host a conference pertaining to the state of democratic participation and civic engagement in the hopes of directly engaging with students and officials to discover what needs to be done and follow through to increase voter turnout, especially pertaining to the rapidly growing population of youth voters.

Kourtney Birks, originally from Fort Worth, TX, is a Criminal Justice major at Dillard University. Post
graduation she plans to attend law school and focus on community relations.

Karen Booth has worked in the civic and community engagement field for more than 20 years. For the past seven years, she has supervised Ramapo College's Civic and Community Engagement Center. The Center houses the Alternative Break Program, Leaders in Service, Student Leadership Programs, New Jersey Campus Compact's Changebuilder Initiative, and other co-curricular community and political engagement efforts. The Center also partners with faculty from time to time on currriculum-based civic involvement efforts. Karen has pursued graduate studies in religion and theology at Drew University Theological School. After studying at Tusculum College in Greeneville, Tennessee and Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, she earned her undergraduate degree from William Paterson University.

Fiona is a senior at Western Carolina University majoring in political science. She is an Ambassador with the AGF's Vote Everywhere program and a member of WCU's Student Democracy Coalition.

Leah is an English Literature major and College Honors minor from Wellsville, NY, who understands what it's like to come from a small town in the middle of who-knows-where. She aspires to expand her horizons and join the Peace Corps, hoping to travel the world while also fulfilling her passion to give aid to those who need it. She has an affinity for elderly people, volunteering at the Teresa House on weekends and interviewing community members for the Geneseo Memories Campaign to hear all about their life stories. She also volunteers at the soup kitchen and works to improve voter registration on campus and is a ​mentor of Geneseo Opportunities for Leadership Development.

Nicole Costa is one of Andrew Goodman Foundation’s Vote Everywhere Program Managers. She graduated from the College of the Holy Cross where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a Peace and Conflict Studies interdisciplinary concentration. As a highly active student leader, Nicole developed a passion for higher education and the power of student engagement on social justice issues. During her senior year, she focused her academics on the intersection of her studies and student leadership work, studying the impact of politico-economic norms on public higher education. Nicole previously worked in Student Services at Seton Hall University where she advised student leaders on campus community development.

Karena Cronin is the Director of Programs at The Andrew Goodman Foundation. Karena has extensive civic engagement experience, having worked domestically and internationally to enable diverse forms of engagement through research, convening, and program development. She spent the last 10 years in South Africa, working with local and international non-profit organizations such as CIVICUS and Charities Aid Foundation Southern Africa to strengthen youth civic service, corporate employee volunteering, and international volunteering in support of development and social change. Prior to her work in South Africa, Karena was a Council of Women World Leaders Fellow and the Associate Director of the Saguaro Seminar: Civic Engagement in America at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. She holds a B.A. cum laude (Political Science and Sociology) from Union College and a Master of International Affairs (Economic and Political Development) from Columbia University.

Emily Curran is the Communications and Development Manager of The Andrew Goodman Foundation. Emily holds a Ph.D. in History and Culture from Drew University, where she focused on twentieth-century American cultural history, culminating in a dissertation entitled, “Natural and Technological Wonders: Embracing Modernity at Carlsbad Caverns National Park.” She received her Bachelor’s degree in History and American Studies from Ramapo College, where she now teaches as an adjunct professor. Prior to joining AGF, she worked as the Visitor Services Coordinator at the Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms, and she remains an active volunteer with the museum.

Dr. Janet Dewart Bell is a lifelong social justice advocate, Civil Rights Movement veteran, and communications expert with a doctorate in Leadership and Change from Antioch University. She has been a key strategist and senior executive at several national organizations, including the National Urban League, PolicyLink, and the Opportunity Agenda. Among her accomplishments are an Emmy® for outstanding individual achievement (CBS-TV affiliate in Washington, DC) and programming for National Public Radio, which was honored with a Peabody award.

Bell is the author of the acclaimed Lighting the Fires of Freedom: African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement, which was a nominee for the NAACP Image Award, and is co-editor of a book of the Derrick Bell Lectures on Race in American Society, the ongoing series she founded in 1995. Her forthcoming book is Blackbirds Singing: Inspiring Black Women’s Speeches from the Civil War to the 21st Century. She chairs the Women’s Media Center and is the founder and president of LEAD InterGenerational Solutions, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing and promoting intergenerational leadership.

Abree Dominguez is a recent graduate of the University of San Francisco, where she served as a Vote Everywhere Team Leader for one year.

Taryn Dwyer is a Program and Fellowship Manager at The Andrew Goodman Foundation. She graduated with her Bachelor of Arts in Social Work from Siena College, in the Capital Region of New York. With multiple organizing, lobbying and advocacy opportunities in Albany, Taryn’s professional interest for student leadership and social justice flourished. She went on to complete her Master of Science in Social Work at Columbia University, where she currently co-lectures on topics of power, race, oppression, and privilege. Taryn has additional experience in clinical therapeutic practice, student leadership, and academic research, and has a strong passion for civic engagement and activism, particularly among students.

Weston Gale is currently a Freshman at Mesa Community College in Mesa, Arizona. He is studying Social Work with an emphasis in Spanish and Arabic. Weston became a part of The Andrew Goodman Foundation because he appreciates the importance of each civilian's duty to vote for the right people and how important it is to be engaged in the community so that there can be positive leadership both in our local communities and the country as a whole. Additionally, he is very compassionate about making a difference in society in any way that he can.

Sylvia Golbin Goodman is the President of The Andrew Goodman Foundation and a member of its Board of Directors. She oversees the Foundation’s long-term planning and strategic direction and originated the Hidden Heroes Awards and the Andrew Goodman Vote Everywhere program. Sylvia served as the Executive Director of AGF from 2007 to 2020 during which time she oversaw the growth of the organization from a small, family foundation to a public, non-profit charity. Under her guidance, AGF developed its current mission and vision as well as becoming a leader in youth voting rights. Before joining AGF, Sylvia was the Director of Corporate Communications for United American Energy Corp. from 1989 to 2001. She is an experienced educator who served for 13 years as a tenured English teacher, guidance counselor and dean for the NYC Board of Education as well as two years as an Adjunct Professor of English at Bergen Community College. In addition, Sylvia is a trained Life Coach and Earth Wisdom Teacher. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the Business Council for Peace. Sylvia earned a B.A. (English) from Connecticut College in 1967, an M.A. (Education) from Syracuse University in 1968 and an M.S. (Counseling) from Fordham University in 1972.

David Goodman is the brother of Andrew Goodman and the Chairman of The Andrew Goodman Foundation’s Board of Directors. Professionally, David is a civil engineer and holds an MBA from Stanford University. He was the founder and CEO of United American Energy Corp., an electric generation and power company operating in 8 states throughout the U.S. David is a member of the Global Leadership Council of the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), member of US Green Building Council, member of American Solar Energy Society, member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, on the Advisory Board of the Natural History Museum of The Adirondacks, and a Trustee Emeritus of the Antioch College Board of Trustees. He brings extensive experience in developing, operating, and expanding organizations.

Corban is a junior at the University of Central Arkansas where he is pursuing a degree in Political Science with a minor in Philosophy. He has always had a strong interest in politics as he has seen the positive change it can make in our country. The opportunities he has had to serve as student council president in high school and intern for a congressman in DC this past summer have only increased his passion to become more politically involved, well-beyond the UCA campus. He is honored to be selected as an ambassador for the Vote Everywhere program on his campus and looks forward to continuing Andrew Goodman's cause.

Ginna Green is the Managing Director for the Democracy Collaborative, where she leads the team working to build a stronger movement for a more representative democracy. She works with leading national organizations, as well as local groups from coast to coast, and her work spans the spectrum from message development to rapid response, from social media mobilization to placing experts in the broadcast media. Most recently, Green managed communications for the California office of the Center for Responsible Lending. She has also worked with Full Court Press Communications, The OpEd Project, the SPIN Academy, at AlterNet, and as a strategist for the Breakthrough Institute. Green edited, with Dr. Julianne Malveaux, The Paradox of Loyalty: An African-American Response to the War on Terrorism.

University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law Class of 2021

Louis recently graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he served as Vote Everywhere Ambassador for two years. Louis will be pursuing a Master's degree in Public Policy from Louisiana State University in the fall.

Stephen is pursing an interdisciplinary degree in Business, Psychology, and Social Justice. He is a member of the University Fellows Experience at the University of Alabama’s Honors College and studies systemic poverty, privilege, and servant leadership through the program. He is from Houston, Texas, and became a Vote Everywhere Ambassador his freshman year. Through Vote Everywhere, he has been able to register thousands of people and simplified the absentee ballot process for out-of-state students. After graduating, Stephen hopes to join Teach For America.

Usjid Hameed works as the Public Affairs Coordinator for the Council on American-Islamic Relations Columbus, Ohio Chapter (CAIR-Columbus) where he is tasked with advocating for American-Muslims, monitoring legislation, conducting outreach, organizing civic engagement activities with the Central Ohio American-Muslim community, and much more. Usjid was born in York, Pennsylvania and raised in Baltimore County, Maryland. His passion for service was kindled at a young age thanks to his parents, Pakistani immigrants, frequently drawing attention to his many privileges, such as growing up in a two-parent home in America. Usjid credits the public school system in Baltimore County for providing him with a profound interest in history and government. Usjid attended Towson University for his undergraduate studies where he served as a Vote Everywhere Ambassador for The Andrew Goodman Foundation and as an editor for the Towson University Journal of International Affairs. In addition, Usjid was the field director for a state delegate campaign during the 2014 election cycle and interned in Congressman John Delaney’s (MD-06) D.C. office. In his junior year, Usjid was awarded the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship for his Summer 2016 study abroad experience in Jordan. He graduated from Towson University with honors in May 2017 after earning a Bachelor of Science in Political Science and was the Spring 2017 Undergraduate Commencement Speaker for the College of Liberal Arts. Upon graduating, Usjid moved to Columbus in June 2017 to begin work with CAIR.

Project Summary:

Expanding the Ballot: Providing Election Assistance to Non-Native English Speakers

Central Ohio is an incredibly diverse region. The city of Columbus alone is home to the country’s largest Bhutanese population, 2nd largest Somali population and 8th largest Arab population. Given this diversity, it is necessary that voters of these populations be given the necessary support to participate fully in the democratic process. Unfortunately, the Franklin County Board of Elections currently has no formal mechanisms in place to assist these non-native speakers on election day.

Expanding the Ballot utilizes on-site and off-site interpreters to ensure that voters who are not proficient in English have the resources necessary to cast their ballot. Through this multi-pronged approach, thousands of voters will more easily be able to be active citizens and have their voice heard.

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Dale Ho is the Director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, and supervises the ACLU’s voting rights litigation nationwide.

Dale has argued two cases before the United States Supreme Court: Trump v. New York, challenging the exclusion of undocumented immigrants from the population count used to apportion the House of Representatives; and Department of Commerce v. New York, successfully challenging the inclusion of a citizenship question on the 2020 Census, and which is featured in the award-winning documentary film The Fight. He also served as lead counsel in Fish v. Kobach, successfully challenging a Kansas law requiring people to show a birth certificate or passport when registering to vote, a case that has been described as “the most significant voting rights case this century.”

Dale has testified on election law issues before Congress, and in various state legislatures around the country. He is also an adjunct clinical professor of law at NYU School of Law. Dale is a frequent commentator on voting rights issues; has written opinion pieces for the New York Times; and is widely published on redistricting and voting rights in law reviews including the Yale Law Journal Forum and the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.

Dale is the recipient of the 2020 Asian Law Alliance Legal Impact Award, and the 2019 National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) President’s Award. In 2018, he was named to the New York City Charter Revision Commission. In 2017, In 2017, Dale was named one of the best Asian American Lawyers under 40 by NAPABA.

Prior to joining the ACLU, Dale was Assistant Counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund; an associate at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP; and a judicial law clerk, first to Judge Barbara S. Jones, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and then to Judge Robert S. Smith, New York Court of Appeals. He is a graduate of Yale Law School and Princeton University.

Clarence B. Jones was a counsel and speechwriter for Martin Luther King, Jr. During his residency at the King Institute, Jones has worked on his memoirs and has published two books: What Would Martin Say? (2008) and Behind the Dream: The Making of the Speech that Transformed a Nation (2012). He has received numerous state and national awards as well as an honorary doctorate in recognition of his significant contributions to American society. In addition to his accomplishments in the civil rights movement, Jones was the first African-American partner in a Wall Street investment banking member firm of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and was selected twice by Fortune Magazine’s as “A Business Man of the Month.”

Jeffery Shaun King is an American writer and civil rights activist. He is noted for his use of social media to promote religious, charitable, and social causes, including the Black Lives Matter movement. He is a columnist for the Intercept.

Justyna Krygowska is the Communications Director of The Andrew Goodman Foundation. In her role, she manages a variety of projects to ensure the Foundation’s brand and programs are reinforced with quality communications. Prior to joining AGF, Justyna worked at Rising Tide Capital where she helped revitalize underserved communities in New Jersey through microenterprise development. In her spare time, Justyna runs her own business, Ladybug Design Studios, volunteers for the Passaic County SPCA, and is a mentor for The Pesce Family Mentoring Institute at William Paterson University. Justyna holds a Bachelor’s degree in Integrated Design with a concentration in Communication Design and Design & Management from Parsons the New School for Design and a Master's degree in Arts and Letters from Drew University.

Maydee Martinez is a graduate of Miami Dade College in Florida, where she studied Political Science. During her time at MDC, Maydee served as a Vote Everywhere Ambassador for The Andrew Goodman Foundation. In 2015, Maydee founded Democracy YOUnited, an educational program that focuses on voter registration, education, and engagement. She also helped found Engage Miami, a non-profit organization with the goal of changing the culture of politics in her hometown of Miami, Florida. Maydee is a 2016 Newman Civic Fellow and recipient of The Andrew Goodman Foundation's 2016 Hidden Hero award for her outstanding achievement as a Vote Everywhere Ambassador. Maydee is currently a junior at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., majoring in Sociology with a minor in Government.

Project Summary:

Democracy YOUnited: Revamping Civic Education

Currently, many civic education curriculums around the country do not include class lectures on how local government is structured, and why local representation is important. This leaves the next generations of voters without access to knowledge that would help them understand how their localities and states function- from who is making decisions on their school boards to who represents their interests at the state level. Without this knowledge, many students face barriers to becoming informed, active citizens.

The Democracy YOUnited project will collaborate with students, teachers, parents, and school board members to create a curriculum that is interesting, informative, and inclusive. The goal of Democracy YOUnited is to help students of all ages understand that the power of local government is within their reach.

Robert Masters is a life-long New Yorker who attended Queens College during the same period as Andrew Goodman. Robert and Andrew drove together from NYC to Oxford, Ohio in June 1964 to participate in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Freedom Summer training to prepare for their volunteer work in Mississippi registering African Americans to vote.

Currently retired, Robert was the Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary of Acadia Realty Trust, a fully-integrated equity real estate investment trust focused on the acquisition, ownership, management and redevelopment of high-quality retail properties located in key street and urban retail corridors as well as suburban locations within high-barrier-to-entry, densely-populated metropolitan areas along the East Coast and in Chicago.

Previously Mr. Masters worked in the banking sector, a private law firm, and the Department of Justice. He also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Togo and Ghana, West Africa. Robert received his Bachelor of Arts from the City University of New York and his Juris Doctorate from New York University Law School. He currently lives with his wife Carla in White Plains, NY. They have three children and five grandchildren.

Ava Mazzye is a student at Bard College where she studies Political Studies and concentrates in Latin American and Iberian Studies. She serves as a member of the Fiscal Committee in student government and in the leadership of Bard Democrats. Ava became interested in the politics of voting after working on the Zephyr Teachout for Congress Campaign and serving as a Poll Worker during the 2016 elections.

Natasha Merle joined the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) in January of 2016. She uses litigation, legislative, policy, and public education strategies to promote racial justice primarily in the areas of criminal justice, political participation and educational opportunities. Natasha is lead counsel in LDF et al. v. Trump et al., an ongoing lawsuit that challenges President Trump’s creation of the racially discriminatory “Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.” Prior to joining LDF, Natasha completed two years at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP as an LDF/Fried Frank Fellow, and worked as an Assistant Federal Public Defender in the Capital Habeas Unit of the Federal Public Defender for the District of Arizona, where she represented death-sentenced individuals in their federal habeas proceedings.

Megan Newsome obtained a B.S. in Astrophysics from the University of Florida in 2017, where she also spent three years as The Andrew Goodman Foundation's Vote Everywhere Team Leader. Her Vote Everywhere team's accomplishments included registering over 2,000 students to vote, providing shuttles to early voting locations, and publicizing voting accessibility issues via local media. Her goal as a Puffin Democracy Fellow is to see Florida lead the South in taking down voting barriers by advocating for college campuses to serve as early voting locations, improving transportation networks to and from polling sites, and strengthening comprehensive civics education. Her work aims to prioritize science and evidence in policy-making. On a clear night, though, don't be surprised if Megan can't be reached - sometimes she just needs a little space. (Get it?)

Project Summary:

STEMocracy: Bridging Civics and Science

Data shows that college students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields vote at lower rates than their peers. At the same time, phrases like “evidence-based” have become controversial in political circles, and legislators, like Governor Rick Scott of Florida, have refused to discuss the gravity of scientifically-backed issues, such as climate change.

This is why we are launching STEMocracy- to ensure science is accounted for in legislation by bringing the ballot to tomorrow’s scientists. By thoroughly researching STEM students’ low voting rate, we will develop and implement the most effective methods that will transform these students into civic leaders. STEMocracy aims to make facts a priority so that policies are made in the best interest of all Americans.

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Duane Oakes’ passion for helping students achieve success is what sets him apart. Colleagues rave about his department, his staff calls their operation a well-oiled machine because of Duane, and students, past and present, know his kindness and generosity of spirit. His commitment to the ideals of service learning, community service, and scholarship are strong but no stronger than his dedication to instilling those ideals in the students he serves. In this, Duane never wavers: students come first.

Mariel Pagan has served as the Director of the Center for Student Involvement since September of 2017. The Center for Student Involvement houses the Office of Civic and Voter Engagement at Montclair State University. Mariel holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education Leadership, Management and Policy from Seton Hall University, an M.A. in Counseling Services from Rider University and a B.S. in Diplomacy & International Relations from Seton Hall University.

Jonian Rafti is an Associate in the Health Care Group at Proskauer Rose LLP.

In 2014, Jonian joined the Andrew Goodman Vote Everywhere program’s inaugural class at Bard College. For his work, he received the Robert Koblitz Human Rights Award in 2015 from Bard. Upon graduating, Jonian joined The Andrew Goodman Foundation as a staff member and worked to expand and refine the Vote Everywhere program. He has since remained involved with AGF in numerous ways, including currently serving on the Foundation's Board of Directors.

As a law student, Jonian refined his election law expertise while working at the Brennan Center for Justice and the NYC Campaign Finance Board. He also worked at the Charities Bureau of the NYS Office of the Attorney General, the state agency that regulates New York not-for-profit corporations.

He holds a B.A. in Economics and History from Bard College, and a J.D. from Fordham Law School, where he was a Stein Scholar for Public Interest and the Business & Articles Editor of the Fordham International Law Journal. Jonian was born in Greece and is fluent in Albanian.

Valencia Richardson is a recent graduate of Georgetown Law School. She is also a certified Distinguished Communicator, recipient of Upper Division Honors from the LSU Honors College, and a Fulbright Scholar.

Valencia graduated magna cum laude from Louisiana State University in 2016, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication, with a concentration in Political Communication and a minor in Spanish. In 2014, Valencia became an Andrew Goodman Vote Everywhere Ambassador at LSU. She also co-founded Geaux Vote LSU, an on-campus student organization aimed at assisting LSU students with registering to vote, voting, and staying up-to-date on upcoming elections. Under her leadership as a Vote Everywhere Team Leader and Geaux Vote LSU President, her team was instrumental in registering hundreds of students to vote, advocating for higher education funding, as well as increasing voter accessibility for college students by leading the charge to change Louisiana’s state law to allow student IDs to become eligible voter IDs.

Valencia continues her research to expand voter accessibility in the South as a Puffin Democracy Fellow. She is also the author of Young and Disaffected, publishing December 2019 by New Degree Press.

Project Summary:

A New Southern Strategy for College Voter Engagement

Access to the polls for young people (18-34) is particularly suppressed in the Southeastern United States. We know that voter suppression, through efforts to prevent access to registration and
voting, depresses overall turnout. Studies show that among other barriers, stricter voter ID laws can depress registration and turnout.

In 2016, Louisiana passed an ID law that will help thousands of college students in Louisiana be able to use their student IDs to vote. Now it is time to look ahead into other states to see how legislation can be created to increase accessibility to college students across the South. Beginning in Fall 2018, we will build a movement around increasing accessibility on college campuses. The first step will be voter ID, where we will aim to promote and promulgate a policy that allows students to use their student ID as voter ID, starting with schools already partnering with AGF in the Southeast.

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Mr. Christopher Romano, Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs, joined Ramapo College in 2007. His portfolio includes leadership of the College’s Strategic Enrollment Management Plan and the recruitment and retention initiatives therein. Mr. Romano oversees the College’s admissions, career and academic advisement, Educational Opportunity Fund, specialized services, financial aid, student activities, student conduct, health and counseling services, marketing and communications, public safety, and residence life operations. Prior to serving as Vice President, Mr. Romano enjoyed roles with Ramapo as Associate Vice President of Enrollment Management and as Special Assistant to the College President. Mr. Romano has presented nationally on strategic enrollment management, student engagement, marketing/branding in the context of enrollment management, and developing institutional models for student success. He earned an Ed.M. in Higher Education Administration from Harvard University and a B.A. in International Relations from Saint Joseph’s University. Mr. Romano’s high energy level is routinely noted by his colleagues– to this end, he is no longer permitted to consume caffeinated beverages during the workday.

Margaret Knehans is the Deputy Executive Director at The Andrew Goodman Foundation. With a career spanning 10 years at civil and voting rights nonprofit organizations, Margaret is a strategic, dedicated, and caring leader with extensive practical experience in both communications and program management. In her role, Margaret manages AGF's daily operations, supporting AGF's talented team to implement our goals and vision.

First joining AGF in 2017, Margaret was most recently the Director of Communications, working to elevate AGF’s brand, including our legacy story, and raise awareness about our organization’s impact through powerful storytelling. Margaret has also served as a Program Manager, guiding Andrew Goodman Ambassadors across the South in the execution of campaigns to increase the student voting rate and voting accessibility on campus, as well as in their personal and professional growth as young civic leaders.

Previously, she worked at Learning for Justice (formerly Teaching Tolerance), a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center that supports equitable school experiences and learning opportunities for all students. As a Research Associate, she developed social justice and anti-bias professional development and curricular resources for K-12 educators.

Margaret is a two-time graduate of the University of Alabama, where she obtained a Bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies, concentrating on gender and race theory, and a Master's degree in American Studies, focusing on American popular music. Born and raised in Montgomery, Alabama, Margaret has a lifelong passion for and commitment to fighting for more inclusive, representative communities for us all. She and her husband Sam live in New Orleans, Louisiana, with their dog Birdie.

Dana Sweeney grew up reading books, telling stories, and dreaming of the world beyond the salt marshes of southeastern Georgia, where he was raised. With the aid of several generous scholarships, he was eventually able to pack his bags and attend school 423 miles away at The University of Alabama. While there, he studied English and continuously pondered how storytelling and language shape the world we live in (and how they might be used to build the world we'd like to live in, too). Today, Dana works as the statewide organizer for the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice, where he continues to spend most of his time listening to peoples' stories and thinking up ways to connect and empower those storytellers as change agents. After serving as The Andrew Goodman Foundation's first Vote Everywhere Ambassador at The University of Alabama, Dana is so excited to continue growing with The AGF as a Puffin Democracy Fellow, and he cannot wait to bring new training, resources, and insights to his work in the Deep South.

Project Summary:

The Rural Restoration Project

More than 286,000 Alabamians have had their voting rights stripped away through felony disenfranchisement—a figure that includes nearly 8% of Alabama's total voting-age population and over 15% of all black men in the state. A law passed in 2017 effectively restored the right to register to vote for many of these citizens, but the state of Alabama has refused to mount any substantial efforts to notify impacted voters that they may now reclaim their voting rights.

The Rural Restoration Project is building grassroots capacity to reach and register these impacted voters. We are focusing on rural communities that may be overlooked by other voting rights restoration efforts to build public understanding of the new law, as well as providing step-by-step training and resources that empower local residents to lead voting rights restoration work in their own communities.

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The Reverend Dr. Liz Theoharis is the Co-Director of the Kairos Center and a Founder and the Coordinator of the Poverty Initiative. She has spent the past two decades organizing amongst the poor in the United States, working with and advising grassroots organizations with significant victories including the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, the Vermont Workers Center, Domestic Workers United, the United Workers Association, the National Union of the Homeless and the Kensington Welfare Rights Union. She has led hundreds of trainings, Bible studies, and leadership development workshops; spoken at dozens of conferences and keynote presentations across the US and globally; and published several articles and book chapters sharing her vision that poverty can be ended and that the poor can be agents of social change. Liz received her BA in Urban Studies from the University of Pennsylvania; her M.Div. from Union Theological Seminary in 2004 where she was the first William Sloane Coffin Scholar; and her Ph.D. from Union in New Testament and Christian Origins. She is the author of Always with Us?: What Jesus Really Said about the Poor (Eerdmans, 2017). Liz is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Dr. Nancy Thomas is the Senior Advisor to the American Association of Colleges & Universities' President for Democracy Initiatives and serves as the Executive Director at the Institute for Democracy and Higher Education (IDHE) at Tufts University’s Tisch College of Civic Life, the nation’s leading applied research center on student political learning and participation in democracy. Her work and scholarship center on higher education’s democratic mission, college student political participation and voting, campus climates for democratic learning and engagement, and dialogue, free speech, inclusion, and academic freedom. She founded and oversees the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement, NSLVE (“n-solve”), a study of student voter participation at nearly 1,200 U.S. colleges and universities nationwide. She is the author or editor of multiple book chapters, papers, articles, and collections on higher education’s role in democracy, including the monograph, Educating for Deliberative Democracy. Dr. Thomas holds a law degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law and a doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Maxim Thorne is the Managing Director of The Andrew Goodman Foundation. Formerly, Maxim was the Senior Vice President and Chief Communications and Development Officer of NAACP, the Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Human Rights Campaign and HRC Foundation, and the Executive Director of NJ Head Start Association. Maxim earned a B.A. cum laude (Econs and PolSci) from Yale College and a J.D. from Yale Law School. Mr. Thorne has taught at Yale University and Rutgers University where he is respectively a Fellow and Lecturer at Yale, and an Eagleton Visiting Associate at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University.He has served on the board of directors of many organizations, including GLAAD, the Board of Governors of Yale University, Executive Committee of The Yale Law School, Yale Black Alumni Association, The North Star Fund, Amistad Research Center, Barnert Hospital Foundation and Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan New Jersey.

Jenna Tingum is a pre-med student at the University of Florida majoring in Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience. Besides being an Andrew Goodman Ambassador, Jenna volunteers at the local hospital and works as a Resident Assistant on campus. After graduation, she hopes to go to medical school to become a Neurologist or Psychiatrist. She is passionate about civic involvement, community service, and mental health advocacy and is very excited to work with The Andrew Goodman Foundation to promote student engagement throughout UF and Gainesville.

Sue Udry’s career in public service spans four decades and includes advocating for peace, civil rights, and economic justice. She is an experienced non-profit administrator and expert on issues related to the intersection of national security, human rights, and civil society. As Executive Director of Defending Rights & Dissent, Udry leads the organization’s advocacy and public education efforts to protect and strengthen civil society and challenge government abuse of First and Fourth Amendment rights. Prior to joining DRAD, Udry was the legislative coordinator for United for Peace and Justice, the Executive Director of the Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights, and an organizer for the Coalition for New Priorities. She is a co-founder of the Montgomery County Civil Rights Coalition.

Mr. Waldman has 50 years of practice experience encompassing casework, supervision, management, policy development, governance and leadership positions in numerous public and private organizations at the local, state and national level. He has served as Commissioner of Human Services for three different New Jersey Governors, served as Director of the NJ Division of Youth and Family Services and Executive Director of the American Public Human Services Association located in Washington, DC. He currently chairs or serves as a member of the Board of several nonprofit human service organizations. His current additional interests include teaching and writing.