“My fellowship at the Area Labor
Federation informed my future
career goals in labor organizing. I
hope to make a difference in people’s
lives through this work by helping
communities build and exercise
power over corporate actors that
drive policies impacting working
people and their many relevant
identities, including class, race, gender,
immigrant status, incarceration
history, and more.”
WORK HIGHLIGHTS
• Assisted SPoT Coffee workers with their union drive through helping establish and train a worker-led Organizing Committee, supporting the authorization card signing process, and planning a community support rally.
• Spearheaded a series of interest meetings around building meaningful community-labor partnerships in Western New York through a process called Bargaining for the Common Good.
• Helped the Area Labor Federation host meetings for union leaders about the Green New Deal and the importance of collaboration between climate justice work and labor organizing.
• Sat in on a collective bargaining session at Kaleida and witnessed negotiations about a contract serving 7,200 workers in hospitals across Buffalo.
BUFFALO HIGHLIGHT
Visiting the Colored Musicians’ Club and learning about the union history associated with founding that radical space. (Also, standing on the same ground Ella Fitzgerald once stood on.)
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHT
Hearing from Aitina Fareed Cooke about the intersection of art and activism, and practicing using spoken word as a tool of movementbuilding and connection.
INTERESTS
Poetry, literature, bluesy rock music, building worker power.
CONVENTIONAL AND UNCONVENTIONAL SKILLS
Community organizing, campaign strategizing, relationship-building, collaborative problem-solving, conducting research.
