Meet our team!

Ash manages For the Many's digital presence, including social media, email, ads, and graphic design. Her political development was highly influenced by witnessing the racial justice movements in St. Louis after the murder of Michael Brown, and she decided to ditch her architecture degree and use her creative skills to support grassroots community organizations. Ash joined our team in 2022 after several years at New Virginia Majority, where she worked on digital campaigns for immigration & housing justice, voting rights, and COVID relief.

In addition to the many issues she works on at For the Many, Ash is passionate about communal living, collective ownership, and transportation/mobility justice. You'll most likely find her working in the garden at her group house in Kingston, drinking seltzer by the river, and exploring the region by bike.

Brahvan is our Political Director. In this role, he works with our partner organizations to help lead our legislative campaigns, develops relationships with elected leaders and their staffs, and works with candidates and volunteers in order to elect progressive champions to office. Brahvan’s passion for organizing stems from his immigrant parents and the values instilled in him by their story: a deep sense of gratitude for the sacrifices made by countless others to afford us this moment, and an understanding that each of us, regardless of where we come from or what we look like, are part of an deeply interconnected community. He believes that when people come together, rooted in these common values, we can transform established systems and build a better world. When he’s not fighting to do just that, Brahvan can be found with friends and family, reading, or spending time outdoors.

Caitlin strengthens our grassroots fundraising program, creates informative and exciting communications, develops a dedicated team of interns and volunteers, and generally keeps the office running. Caitlin fell in love with the everyday work of the office, particularly grassroots fundraising, over the two-and-a-half years she volunteered with For the Many before coming on as a full-time staff person in June 2017. She believes that behind-the-scenes work is critical to building the long-term strength and sustainability of grassroots organizations so that they are able to win meaningful change. Caitlin is driven by the love of her family and friends, the vision of a new and different world, the inspiring victories won by people who come together to fight, and a lot of coffee too.

Dan is our Political Coordinator. In this role, he acts as For the Many's liaison with our allies in office and in other organizations. He also fills in when needed as an emcee, press contact, and comic relief.

Dan grew up the son of a working class single mom who immigrated from the Philippines. He got a job at 15 years old to help her pay the bills. At points in his life he's struggled with lack of healthcare, homelessness, and the crushing cost of college. He was inspired to join the fight for systematic change when he heard about the Bernie 2016 campaign.

Dan is driven by a determination to make sure that future families don't have to suffer the way his family did. As Political Coordinator, he helps push forward transformative bills that will improve the lives of millions of people.When he's not politically coordinating (to the extreme!) he is watching The Simpsons while reading the news.

Diana organizes members across Ulster County. She joined staff after working to establish our membership base in Kingston as a member-leader. Diana has lived in Kingston for 22 years, ever since her family emigrated from Oaxaca, Mexico. Diana was politicized by her experiences of racism, xenophobia, and misogyny as an undocumented girl and then DACA recipient growing up in the Hudson Valley. She got her formal start in organizing as a Community Health Promoter with Planned Parenthood, where she developed the fundamental skills of outreach and education. After attending one of our training series, Diana played a central role in expanding our membership in Kingston, facilitating regular meetings, and planning our Families Belong Together march — the biggest Kingston has ever seen, according to its Mayor. Diana believes in the power of the people and is excited to grow the organization’s membership and the movement for immigration, racial, and gender justice. Diana is a proud wife and mother to three beautiful children, who she hopes will continue to build on her work for justice. 

Dino organizes communities across the Hudson Valley. He was politically activated by Trump’s election and later Bernie’s 2020 campaign. After realizing the ways our system is rigged by the greedy few, he joined Atlanta DSA and became a field organizer for a 2020 Senate campaign in his home state of Georgia.The conversations he had with everyday people about their struggles to afford housing and healthcare made him realize how important it is to organize year-round, not just when there’s an election.

Dino spent most of 2022 organizing in Connecticut before joining us in Hudson Valley. Outside of work, Dino enjoys reading in cozy places, biking, hiking, and tutoring students.

As the Student Organizer, Emma works to recruit and manage student volunteers and interns, and also build community among our student members. She started with For the Many as a fundraiser her freshman year in college, and continued to become more and more involved each semester as she quickly realized the importance and urgency of grassroots organizing work. She’s incredibly excited for this full-circle moment to work with students and help facilitate their personal growth and political consciousness, just as she experienced when first introduced to our work. 

In her free time, Emma loves to hike, explore the beautiful Hudson Valley, cook meals for her loved ones, and teach and practice yoga!

Jairo organizers members across Dutchess County. He was born in Puebla, Mexico and he has lived in Middletown, New York in the Hudson Valley for 23 years. Jairo has seen the problems undocumented people face firsthand through the struggles of his parents and his own experience as a DACA recipient. The fear of deportation, of coming home to parents who were taken away, of being alone in a country with a younger brother to take care of — those fears plagued his mind. But Jairo turned those fears into action. He saw that if we come together and fight, we can pass transformative legislation like Green Light NY which allows undocumented folks to easily get driver’s licenses. Every day, he’s motivated to fight for a better future, not just for himself or his family, but for all. In his free time, Jairo likes to ride motorcycles, go hiking, study the cosmos (astrophysics), watch and play football (he’s a West Ham United supporter).

James organizes members to join and lead our grassroots fundraising team. He joined our staff in July 2021 after volunteering as a grassroots fundraiser for five years. As a member of the Donor Organizing team, he coordinates our bi-annual fundraising drives and supports our volunteer Fundraising Team Leader program. Born and raised in Massachusetts, James moved to the Poughkeepsie to attend college and quickly fell in love with the work of fundraising for social change. He finds joy developing relationships with folks of all ages and backgrounds who are excited about building power to transform New York State. Prior to For the Many, he worked as a Development Associate for a youth organization and an intern for a community education program. Having spent the past two years in New York City, James is excited to be back in the Hudson Valley and relearning all it has to offer.

Jenna is the Tenant Organizer at For the Many. In her role she helps tenants organize together for better conditions, lower rents, and increased protections. Her interest in progressive social action was nurtured at Bard College, where she founded a coalition of students who lived off-campus to advocate for their rights as renters. She spends her free time cooking with friends, making pottery, and reading with her two cats. She believes that housing is a basic human right and that the power belongs to the people.

Jonathan is our Executive Director and a co-founder of For the Many. After graduating from Vassar College in 2014, he became one of the organization’s first paid staff members. Jonathan has helped grow Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson into a multi-issue, bilingual organization, and he guides its continued development. He loves strategy, project management, coffee, and mornings. He is inspired by the millions of people around the world—past and the present—who have struggled for a better society, and he is driven by the belief that the arc of the moral universe bends only where groups of organized people make it.

June Nemon is the Organizing Strategist at For the Many. They hail from Asheville, NC; which, due to an explosion of tourism and collusion between city hall and corporate developers, became one of the most gentrified and over-policed cities in the US over the course of June’s adolescence.

After 5 years of working in local politics to slow some of the worst excesses of the tourism economy, they went on to work on a couple of Congressional races and as the Des Moines Regional Field Director for Bernie Sanders during the 2020 Democratic primary. June is driven by the countless heart-wrenching conversations they’ve had over the course of years of canvassing and phonebanking about the systemic injustices millions of Americans face every single day — and they believe that the only way out is by building an organized multiracial working class.

They now live in Poughkeepsie, and when they’re not working they can be found getting into passionate debates with their cat about meal sizes, religiously listening to history podcasts, and cooking the same 3 meals with rotating sets of vegetables.

Lissa joined the staff with years of experience supporting social justice organizations behind the scenes. Born and raised in the Hudson Valley, she’s so proud to be contributing to her home community as a member of this powerful team. She fell in love with the work of For the Many while participating in a grassroots fundraising drive, and has been hooked ever since. Her path has taken her through many types of work and life experience, from urban gardening with the food justice organization People’s Grocery in Oakland, vegetable farming at Soul Fire Farm, helping to run a social justice retreat center in the Hudson Valley, founding the NYC chapter of the anti-racist political education group White Noise Collective, and most recently, traveling to Poland to connect with her family’s homeland. If you want to make her smile, take her on a trip to the ocean, or invite her to your favorite dance party!

Molly started out at For the Many as a volunteer leader organizing students while attending college in the Hudson Valley. For the Many became an instant family that she simply could not leave…so she didn’t! When she graduated college in May 2020, Molly joined staff as the campus organizer to organize For the Many's student base. Now, she directs our student and online organizing programs. Molly is inspired every day by all the young people she works with who are willing to do the uncomfortable and (sometimes) mundane work of organizing to win the world that we all deserve! It is so easy to feel defeated by the powerful oppressive systems that we live under, but working as part of a collective at For the Many has made Molly believe in the regular folks who dare to envision something different — and who will put in the work to win it! Other than an undying love for For the Many, Molly’s passions include trashy British reality TV, sandwiches, and playing with data.

A long-time donor, volunteer, and fundraising team leader, Paul joined our staff after playing a big role in our grassroots fundraising work. Paul identifies For the Many as a political home where he’s experienced how he can be most effective, as a white person with class privilege, in taking action and exercising leadership in a movement for justice. He believes that folks with social privilege have a stake in ending oppression, and a responsibility to harness their power with passion and accountability to the communities who experience the most harm. Paul is driven by the fact that there is enough for everyone and is excited to partner with more allies knowing that transformational change is possible when we all come together. If you want to know more about how, email Paul! He also welcomes cat GIFs and tips on your favorite hiking spot.

Rene organizes members across Newburgh and Beacon and their surrounding areas. As a member-leader, Rene played a crucial role in our Newburgh work: building our membership, organizing a forum with 650 attendees, and winning our 5th Municipal ID. Rene grew up in Newburgh with an immigrant family and a constant fear of being separated from them. As an interpreter for the Poughkeepsie School District, and then a case manager with Family Services, Rene saw that same fear in the children he worked with. Now, as a community organizer, Rene is fighting to make sure that no one has to grow up in fear of their families being deported. Rene’s side passions are trying new food and seeing opera and broadway shows!

Vanessa organizes members across Orange and Sullivan counties. She joined our staff at the age of 21 after having previously been a member-leader in the organization, playing a critical role in our municipal ID campaign in Middletown. She’s a former alderman of Middletown’s Fourth Ward, a position she held as a working college student. While Vanessa was born and raised in the Hudson Valley, her roots are Mexican, and her mother’s leadership within local community organizing inspired Vanessa to take an active role in social change work. Vanessa is fighting for an end to racism and a world where immigrants no longer have to live in the shadows. She is also a talented musician and once placed second in a New York State flute competition in the third grade.

Margaret Kwateng is the National Green New Deal Organizer at Grassroots Global Justice, where she is working with members to build toward a regenerative feminist economy. Prior to joining GGJ, Margaret worked for years as a community and labor organizer in working class communities of color and with rank and file nurses. In 2014, she co-founded Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson, a multi-issue community organization in upstate New York. As a former member of GGJ’s sister alliance, Right to the City, Margaret’s became plugged into GGJ activities such as the CJA conference in 2015, the ITR People’s Caravan in 2016, as well as local and broader actions throughout 2017. She currently lives in Brooklyn, where she was born and raised, though her time in the Hudson Valley led her to an unexpected appreciation of the outdoors and uncommon CSA vegetables.

Spencer Resnick is a co-founder of For the Many, which was first known as the anti-eviction and foreclosure working group of Occupy Poughkeepsie, and later as Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson. Since leaving the Hudson Valley, Spencer has organized warehouse and hospitality industry workers in Baltimore and Southern California. He lives in Los Angeles and is training to be a public-school teacher.

Giselle Martinez is a life-long City of Newburgh resident, first generation American, and proud daughter of Mexican immigrant parents. Like many working families, she grew up watching her parents work double shifts to put food on the table. Her early experiences of hardship inspired her to get involved with her community and become a fierce advocate for women and immigrant rights, racial equity in education, and environmental justice.

For the past decade, Martinez has been an active community leader. She began her journey at the age of 14, volunteering with several local non-profit organizations. While in college, she had the opportunity to gain experience working for the New York state government and currently, still works for the State Assembly. She is the secretary of the Newburgh City Democratic Committee and the Vice President of the Young Democrats of Orange County.

Megan Deichler is the Executive Director of the Catskill-Hudson Area Health Education Center (CHAHEC), an organization focused on supporting the healthcare workforce through providing educational opportunities for youth, students, and existing health professionals.  Megan holds a Master of Public Health degree in International and Community Health from NYU and a bachelor’s degree from Manhattanville College. She volunteers with the Dutchess-Orange region United Way and is a member of its community impact council. Megan lives in the City of Poughkeepsie with her husband and their dog. 

James Lopez is the Executive Director of Power U Center for Social Change in Miami, Florida. An Afro-Latino native of Rochester, New York, James has made a commitment to developing and working with as many leaders as possible to build strong organizations of everyday working people after the Ferguson Uprising. A graduate of University of Buffalo, he began organizing through various organizations in the city of Buffalo. He was a former Organizer with VOICE-Buffalo,  where he organized with residents and faith-based institutions in order to push for policies on policing reform and alternatives to mass incarceration. He also helped build Black Love Resist in the Rust (BLRR), which was an organization that is committed to transformative organizing and Direct Action in Buffalo. James has also consulted and trained dozens of young organizers in his role as a Trainer with BOLD (Black Organizers For Leadership and Dignity) and The Midwest Academy.

Ben Malley is the political director at Tides Advocacy, a progressive nonprofit organization based in San Francisco that identifies, connects and fuels movements for social justice and the health of our democracy.