Get to know our organizers, educators, and partners.

Organizers

Naomi Barnett, Program Coordinator (they/them, she/her)

Naomi is a NYC-based writer, editor, and triathlete. They have always been passionate about justice and social change, but never took it upon themself to make it happen on a large scale. Then, earlier this spring, Naomi was co-leading grassroots fundraising for the Let My People Go campaign when camps around the country announced they would not be opening due to the pandemic. As a former Ramah Berkshires camper and recent AVODAH Justice Fellow, Naomi was inspired to create something in its place—and in the process, learn they could use their own skills to create something brand new. They gathered a team of enthusiastic educators and activists, and the idea for Achshav was born.

Sam Goldberg, Education Coordinator (they/them, she/her)

Rachel Mewes, Curriculum Coordinator (she/her, they/them)

Rachel is a curriculum designer with a focus on social justice education.  She is committed to innovative curricula that centers student knowledge and actively challenges injustice and oppression.  Rachel has facilitated a diverse range of programming for youth and adult audiences and designs curriculum for school and extracurricular settings. She was thrilled to have the opportunity to work with her fellow JFREJ members to make this incredible project possible.

Max Goldner, Head Counselor (He/Him)

Steven Cohen (he/him)

Educators

Dr. Mei-Ling Malone – Movement History: BLM

Dr. Mei-Ling Malone (she/her) is a professor of African American studies at California State University, Fullerton. She received her doctorate degree in Urban Education from UCLA and her undergraduate degree in Criminology, Law and Society from UC Irvine. Professor Malone is most passionate about motherhood, human rights and mental and emotional health.  She believes in self-determination, kindness and visionary thinking, and wishes to see a nonviolent world where human needs come first.

Fay Strongin – Fundraising Workshop

Fay Strongin (she/her) envisions an economy that builds racial equity and prioritizes the wellbeing, joy and self determination of people and communities over corporate profit. She is passionate about worker and community ownership and has been a longtime supporter of the cooperative movement. Fay has worked in urban agriculture, as the founder of a queer and women owned urban vegetable farm in Providence, Rhode Island, and more recently as an urban planner and grassroots fundraiser. She first learned relational grassroots fundraising at Bread & Roses Community Fund in Philadelphia and is a proud member and fundraiser with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice and Resource Generation.

Yael Fisher – Communications Workshop

Yael Fisher (she/her) is a Communications Associate at Seneca Strategies, where she builds and executes messaging and press strategy for clients ranging from major political parties to insurgent progressive campaigns. Prior to joining Seneca, Yael worked at HIAS in Washington D.C., where she managed social service referrals and the volunteer program for all asylum-seeking clients. Yael is an alumni and current board member of the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement, and organizes with Never Again Action and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice. A native New Yorker, Yael graduated from Wesleyan University with High Honors from the College of Social Studies. She currently resides in Brooklyn.

Rabbi Miriam Liebman – Movement History: Jewish Social Justice

Rabbi Miriam Liebman (she/her) is a graduate of the rabbinical school at the Jewish Theological Seminary. She served as the Senior Jewish Educator at the University of Maryland Hillel as well as the Rabbinic Intern at the NYU Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life. Miriam spent a summer with Kulanu as a Global Teaching Fellow where she worked with the Jewish community of Uganda. She was previously an Avodah: the Jewish Service Corps member in New Orleans, where she worked as an Outreach Assistant at the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center. She has also worked as a community organizer with low-income tenants and faith-based communities in Detroit. A native Detroiter, she graduated from the University of Michigan where she earned a BA in Middle East and North African Studies and spent a semester at the American University in Cairo, Egypt.

Emma Alabaster – Arts & Culture Workshop

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Emma Alabaster (she/her) works as a musician, composer, cultural organizer, and educator throughout New York City. Emma performs under her name and as decibelists with drummer, Leo Ferguson. She music-directed luminary poet Cornelius Eady’s band, Rough Magic and has worked as a bassist and vocalist for over a decade in collaboration with music, theater and dance artists. Emma is a Teaching Artist in public schools with Brooklyn Arts Council and other organizations, and was a 2017 Lincoln Center Boro-Linc Artist-in-Residence. As a member-leader with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ,) Emma creates cultural work and leads songs in meetings and in the streets that help support and sustain social movements. emmaalabaster.com

Milton Xavier Trujillo – Movement History: Immigration

Milton Xavier Trujillo (he/him) is an undocumented artist and community worker raised in Corona and Jackson Heights, Queens, who migrated 21 years ago from Quito, Ecuador. He organizes and dreams big dreams for radical collective autonomy and solidarity in his neighborhood and beyond with Centro Corona, a local intergenerational and volunteer run community center for and by working class and low income immigrant families of all kinds. When he’s not writing poetry, reading, watching something, talking with people, filming or daydreaming, he’s thinking about connections to land and memory. He has been actively organizing in Corona and with Centro Corona since 2016, taking part of its leadership committees and support of Centro’s fundraising efforts, political education, interpretation, crisis response and intergenerational care work as well as being part of artist collectives.

Sierra C-K Spingarn – Organizing 101

Sierra C-K Spingarn (they/them) is a founding member and team bottom-liner of Mutual Aid NYC, and co-coordinator of the MANYC Hotline. Sierra has been organizing for decades in social justice movements in New York City and California, and is skilled in facilitation and conflict de-escalation, cop- and ICE- watch training and coordination, strategies for accessibility, inclusion and engagement, anti-oppression and anti-racism work within white communities, community safety and security for movements, and direct action tactical planning. Sierra is a white, queer, trans, Jewish activist who was raised working class, and is a member-leader with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ), Never Again Action, and Jews Against White Nationalism. Sierra lives in Harlem with their primary partner and their cat, and enjoys karaoke and culinary anthropology.

Cecilia Lim – Solidarity/Allyship Workshop

Cecilia Lim (she/siya) is a queer Pilipina Chinese care and cultural worker living in Lenapehoking (Jackson Heights, Queens) since 2001. Cecilia has been actively engaged in grassroots social justice work since 2012, starting with supporting young people of Pilipino/a/x heritage and Pilipino/a/x domestic workers, and since 2015 expanding out to work with groups who are directly impacted by economic oppression, racism, homophobia, and xenophobia and anti-Semitism, as well as groups that have been socialized/conditioned to act oppressively toward people that are different from themselves. Having been born in the US to upwardly mobile parents, Cecilia recognizes her class privilege and actively supports others to use their power and influence to create a just society where everyone has a chance to live well.

Amanda Altman – Organizing 101 Workshop

Amanda Altman (she/her) is a popular educator and organizer with over a decade of experience. She uses a people-centered approach to organizing and education. Amanda has worked as a labor and community organizer on issues related to housing, community development, police accountability and workers’ rights. She has developed and run organizing training programing for non-profits, universities, and labor unions. Amanda has an M.A. from the CUNY Graduate Center with a research focus on popular education. To learn more about Amanda, visit her website.

Partners