• Helped boost funding for Department of Public Health by over $18 million

Senior Lecturer, Suffolk University, 2005

• Developed and taught urban politics class
  
  

Political Consultant and Writer, 2003 - Present

• Organized and raised money for political campaigns and union organizing drive

  • Helped elect first Latino to the Boston City Council
• Developed and conducted lobbying, organizing, media relations, and public speaking trainings at Boston University and other schools
• Published articles in numerous publications

Organizing Director, Citizens for Participation in Political Action (CPPAX), Boston, 2000-2003

• Coordinated lobbying, organizing, outreach, electoral efforts, and media

  •  Helped elect five state legislators

  • Generated over 300 news stories about CPPAX’s activities

• Co-founded the United for Justice with Peace Coalition

  • Organized one of the largest rallies in New England history
  • Assisted local groups with organizing vigils, forums, and other activities
• Spearheaded the Campaign for Democracy in the State House
  • Managed development of web site and other campaign materials
  • Organized rallies, media events and other public education activities
  • Led petition-drive to place a question on the ballot in 18 legislative districts
  • Directed successful campaign to pass all 18 ballot questions
   

Intern, State Representative Jarrett Barrios, Boston, 1999 – 2000  

• Conducted research on Charles River cleanup, voting rights, and disaster relief
• Helped build coalition in support of living wage bill

Program Director, Toxics Action Center, Boston, 1995 – 1999

• Wrote successful foundation proposals, raising more than $125,000
• Assisted dozens of grassroots groups opposing local environmental hazards
• Coordinated annual activist conferences
• Coordinated annual “Dirty Dozen Awards”
• Directed project on medical waste
  • Closed nearly all of the state’s medical waste incinerators
    

Staff Associate, Center for the Study of Responsive Law, Washington, DC, 1990 – 1993

• Co-authored Congressional testimony on green government purchasing
• Advised federal, state and local officials on green government purchasing

EDUCATION

Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts  
M.A.: Urban & Environmental Policy, 1997
Thesis: Environmentally-Sound Community Economic Development

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
B.A.: Creative Writing, 1989

 

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS  

• “Is a Coalition Possible?” (Organizing Across Racial/Ethnic Lines) New York Amsterdam News, February 3, 2005 (article)
• “What Progressives Should Do,” with Paul Lachelier, Independent Politics News, Winter 2005 (op/ed)
•  “Media Relations,” Roots to Power: A Manual for Grassroots Organizing, Lee Staples, 2004 (book chapter)
• "Ella Baker: Civil rights organizer and visionary," New York Amsterdam News, December 16, 2004 (article)
• "Ten Ways to Help Beat Bush,” West Side Spirit, October 14, 2004 (op/ed)
• "Mission Possible: Progressive Organizing in the Suburbs," Whats Up Magazine, July 2004 (article)
• “Progressive Victories in 2004,” Cambridge Chronicle, January 15, 2004 (op/ed)
• “Accountability would aid the parties,” with Paul Lachelier, Patriot Ledger, June 7, 2003 (op/ed)
• “Toward a Living Democracy,” with Paul Lachelier, Boston Globe, July 6, 2002 (op/ed)
• "The 'Natural' Economy," Boston Book Review, April 2000 (book review)
• “Here Comes the Sun: Whatever Happened to Renewable Energy?,” In These Times, February 7, 2000 (article)
• “Military Spending vs. Everything Else,” Dollars and Sense, January/February 2000 (article)
• Preventable Poisons: A Prescription for Reducing Medical Waste in Massachusetts, with Ted Schettler, Toxics Action Center, March 1997 (report)
• A Citizens Guide to the Massachusetts Contingency Plan, Toxics Action Center, September 1995 (report)
• "The Chlorine-Breast Cancer Link," Multinational Monitor, January/February 1994 (article)
• “Shopping for Innovation: The Government as Smart Consumer,” with Ralph Nader and Eleanor Lewis, The American Prospect, Fall 1992 (article)
• Forty Ways to Make Government Purchasing Green, with Eleanor Lewis, Center for Study for Responsive Law, 1992 (report)

SELECTED ACTIVITIES

• Host, "Local Heroes," civic affairs program on cable access television
• Affirmative Action & Outreach Advisor, Cambridge Ward Six Democratic Committee
• Treasurer, Progressive Democrats of Cambridge