“I hope to gain a deeper understanding of the range of issues and perspectives across our group, which will make me a better leader in my own ecosystem. I hope to gain deep relationships with peers that enable us to lean on and learn from each other as we navigate the challenges of the current moment. I also help to gain skills and resources that support my growth and development as an organizational leader. I also welcome the opportunity to build and strengthen relationships with the funders.”

Jamie Beran is CEO of Bend the Arc, the only national Jewish organization focused exclusively on social change in the U.S., and has been a leader in the Jewish social justice space for 20 years.

“I hope to gain a new perspective on the way diverse social justice organizations across the country are approaching similar issues, and to create another network of leaders who are meaningfully connected to one another and championing each other's work.”

Alia J. Bilal is Chief Executive Director at the Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN), a non-profit community organization headquartered in Chicago that fosters health, wellness and healing in the inner-city by organizing for social change, cultivating the arts, and operating a holistic health center.

“My main goal in being a part of this inaugural cohort of the Solidarity Collaborative is to broaden the reach of my organization's impact, as well as the disability justice movement in general, through expanded partnerships with movement organizations that touch different areas of our progressive landscape. This political climate that we are in will require us to break out of our issue silos and find ways to work and be together to fight for liberation. I want to be able to call on my fellow cohort members, or they call on me, to respond in critical moments and ensure we have a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, cross-disabled and nondisabled coalition leading this fight.”

Dom Kelly is the Co-Founder, President & CEO of New Disabled South, a nonprofit organization fighting for disability rights and disability justice in 14 states.

“Advocacy, legal strategy, and power building campaigns that break through the noise and have durable impact are rooted in trusting and generative relationships. In those relationships, we are free to be ourselves, say the quiet part out loud, and laugh with everything we've got. The Solidarity Collaborative invites cohort participants to lean into our strengths while simultaneously encouraging us to break away from the demands of knowing what to do and submerge into the unexplored possibilities of solidarity.”

Niketa Kumar is the Communications Director at Asian Law Caucus, the nation's first legal and civil rights organization serving low-income, immigrant, and underserved Asian and Pacific Islander communities.

“I hope that we can build a collective movement. One that does not mean any of us lose or change our goals. Rather it means creating a collective narrative that centers systemic barriers to our communities thriving. It also means creating a collective strategy to tackle systems changes. We can each continue to do our current work while clearly articulating the vision for a future when all communities can live with dignity and self determination. I hope that we can articulate how each of us will accomplish systems change.”

Rima Meroueh is an Arab American activist and leader who currently heads the National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC), an institution of Arab Community Center for Economic & Social Services (ACCESS.

"I would love to honor the land that we are in and gain strength from the conversations of cross collaboration and resistance. Also, I would love to have a space to learn more about what each organization or colleague is planning to do, to address this political context (space to share programmatic goals/ highlights for the year)."

Loidymar Duprey González is co-founder and Program Manager of La Tejedora, a project of The Action Lab that provides local youth activists, organizers, and social justice workers with tools to think creatively about their campaigns.

“By bringing racial justice leaders from across issue areas, the collective would be able to deepen participant's - and by extension, their organization's - intersectional analysis, and the their understanding of critical need for solidarity in racial justice work. Through relationship building in the cohort, we are given the opportunity to collaborate and partner so that together we are more strategic in our interventions and are avoiding duplication and replication. In this way, these partnerships could extend capacity and strengthen the infrastructure and ecosystem of the racial justice movement.”

Nikko Viquiera is Deputy Senior Vice President of Programs at Race Forward, a national organization that works to dismantle structural racism by building collective community power and transforming institutions.

“I hope to gain new co-conspirators for the work of solidarity so that we can create exponential change towards a multi-race, multi-faith, gender equitable movement which translates to a more vibrant democracy. I also hope to gain actionable insights and refined wisdom that allows me to integrate solidarity into all aspect of my work and life.”

Rev. Deth Im is Director of Faith Leadership for Faith in Action, the largest grassroots, global faith-based organizing network, working with 1,000 congregations in more than 200 cities and towns.

“Deeper connection and understanding of powerful justice and solidarity struggles that are building and coming together in a moment of heightened criminalization and extremism. I have already learned much from other cohort members and believe the social justice field is stronger because of our knowledge and connection to each other.”

The Reverend Dr. Liz Theoharis is a theologian, pastor, author, anti-poverty and pro-democracy activist, and the Executive Director of Kairos Center for Religions, Rights & Social Justice, a national organization committed to building a movement to end poverty, led by the poor.