Stories

Advocacy

  • Bill Kopsky: Long-Term Change

    Bill Kopsky became Executive Director of the Arkansas Public Policy Panel in 1999.

    The Panel helps Arkansans improve their communities and develop policy solutions by taking collective action and building coalitions. In 1998, it organized the Arkansas Citizens First Congress, a coalition of 58 community organizations advocating for progressive policy change in Arkansas. The...

  • Ashley Shelton: Leadership

    Ashley Shelton launched the Louisiana office of One Voice, an organization created in response to housing, education, civil rights, and policy advocacy needs in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. One Voice fosters public engagement, provides access to data for policy analysis and builds alliances with partners and supporters committed to building a strong, informed electorate.

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  • Mayra Rangel: Challenges of Being a Leader

    At age 16, Mayra Rangel walked through the desert for six days to escape poverty and find a job to support her family back in Mexico. Her activism began in 2011 when the Alabama legislature passed HB56, the nation’s strictest immigration law. She helped the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice defeat many parts of the bill. Since then, she has continued to volunteer, organize, register...

  • John Littles: Youth Training and Vision for the Future

    Since 2000, John Littles has been Executive Director of McIntosh SEED (Sustainable Environment and Economic Development), a grassroots organization that fosters quality education, housing, recreational facilities, business opportunities and environmental protection for McIntosh County, Georgia, through community development, organizing and advocacy.

    Littles provides technical...

  • Hollis Watkins: Advice to Young Organizers, Generational Transition

    A veteran of the civil rights movement, Hollis Watkins founded Southern Echo, a leadership development, education and training organization working to develop effective, accountable grassroots leadership in rural Mississippi and the surrounding region.

    Watkins and Southern Echo have been instrumental in challenging redistricting in Mississippi, protecting communities from landfills and...