The Virginia Organizing Project : VOP Staff

VOP Staff

Sally Bastian, Grassroots Fundraising Coordinator
Charlottesville

Sally Bastian began working with VOP in 2006, as the Grassroots Fundraising Coordinator. In the past she has worked in education, housing, and in community development. She is also a Spanish speaker. Sally is excited about VOP because for those Virginians who are discouraged about jobs, housing, health care and other quality of life and civil rights issues, VOP offers real hope of real change.

Nik Belanger, Southside Apprentice Organizer
Danville

Nik joined the staff of VOP in January 2010 as the Danville/Southside organizer. He was active in the Williamsburg and William & Mary VOP chapters throughout his time living in Williamsburg and spent the summer of 2009 knocking on doors for VOP in Virginia Beach. A native of southern Louisiana, Nik now lives in downtown Danville. "At some level, I think we can all recognize unfairness. The challenge, however, is not in recognizing unfairness but in doing something about it. The Virginia Organizing Project gave legs to the concerns that existed in my mind and empowered me to act on them, and it's doing the same thing for Virginians across the commonwealth today."

Julie Blust, Communications Director
Charlottesville

Julie Blust joined VOP in 2009. Julie’s responsibilities include media outreach and external communications for the organization. Prior to joining VOP, Julie worked as Press Secretary for a progressive organization, Americans United for Change. Her past work also includes several years with the AFL-CIO’s community affiliate, Working America, and numerous issue advocacy and political campaigns. She received a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and American Studies from Temple University. Her primary concern is that the public becomes aware of VOP’s work. “I believe it is important that we get VOP’s message out there, not only about the issues but about regular people from the community speaking out and making their voices heard. If people understand that there are people who are out there making change, it will empower others to do the same.”

Harold Folley, Charlottesville Organizer
Charlottesville

Harold Folley is a man who has a desire to obtain as much knowledge as possible, and to pass it on to the youth that he assists. He is a determined individual who seeks new pathways to help others. Harold believes that he can make a difference in his community by educating individuals about their choices and rights. He also has a great interest in working with the youth to ensure that they understand that education is the key to success. Harold began working at VOP as an apprentice organizer in January 2007.

Ben Greenberg, Legislative Director
Charlottesville/Richmond

Ben Greenberg joined the Virginia Organizing Project as its Legislative Director in 2006. Ben's responsibilities relate primarily to advocating for VOP's priority public policy issues at the annual session of the Virginia General Assembly and working with diverse coalitions on behalf of these issues. Ben is a native Virginian who has worked on behalf of human services, social justice and reproductive rights throughout his career in state and local government and with statewide non-profit organizations, more than thirty years of which have involved state legislative advocacy. Ben is married to Connie Jorgensen, Director of Community Relations for the Building Goodness Foundation in Charlottesville. Ben has two grown sons, a stepson, three granddaughters and a grandson. Ben is also an accomplished landscape photographer. "I am delighted to be part of such a wonderful organization as VOP. The organization, its staff and volunteers and the causes for which it advocates are exemplary and consistent with my life's commitment to make a real difference on behalf of the well-being of Virginians."

Cynthia Hurst, Major Gifts Coordinator
Charlottesville

Cynthia Hurst joined VOP in June 2009. She graduated from James Madison University with a BA in English and French and did graduate work at Virginia Tech focusing on public administration and nonprofit management. Cynthia has worked with non-profit and educational organizations since 1985, first teaching French and then working as a grassroots organizer with Clean Water Action, where she eventually ran offices in Baltimore, Dallas and Miami. To help others benefit from her extensive professional non-profit experience with such well-known organizations as Clean Water Action, PBS and the Wildlife Center of Virginia, Cynthia created Butterflies in Progress, L.L.C. in 2006. Butterflies in Progress helps non-profits position themselves for and achieve fundraising success. In addition to consulting with non-profit organizations, Cynthia teaches fundraising courses at the University of Virginia as part of their non-profit certification program. She is happy to be back in the grassroots realm and being a part of a great team of people.

Brian Johns, Southwest Virginia Organizer
Abingdon

Brian Johns first came to the Virginia Organizing Project as an intern in 2000, and then worked as a community organizer from 2001-2005. He spent two years in Pennsylvania doing community organizing with a labor union, and returned to VOP in 2007. He is currently the organizer for far Southwest Virginia, covering from Pulaski to the Kentucky border. Brian grew up just south of Richmond in the Petersburg area and worked with the Petersburg and Williamsburg VOP chapters, also helping open the Williamsburg office, before leaving in 2005. He is now based out of Abingdon, with his wife Paige and their daughters Lea and Susanna. "VOP builds power in local communities and around Virginia by building relationships within those communities. I believe this is an incredibly effective way to bring about change, and I'm excited to be organizing in Southwest Virginia."

Chad Martin, Southern Virginia Apprentice Organizer
Axton

Chad Martin worked as a VOP intern with the Civic Engagement Project in the summer of 2009 and joined the VOP staff in September. Chad is a native of Southside Virginia and a graduate student from Shaw Divinity School. Quoting from Voltaire, "So long as the people fail to exercise their rights of freedom those who wish to tyrannize will do so, for tyrants are active and ardent and devote themselves in the name of many gods, religious or otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men." Chad says that the Virginia Organizing Project is that mechanism to wake men and women up to how much power they have.

Michele Mattioli, Special Projects Coordinator
Charlottesville

Michele served as Development Director for VOP from 1999 to 2008 and now serves as Special Projects Coordinator. Previously she directed a Montessori school for 17 years. Michele has lived in Charlottesville since 1980, where she has been a community activist around issues of race, education, peace and justice and the environment. She and her husband enjoy developing their small organic farm. "Working with VOP is a privilege. I am optimistic for the future because every day I see the quiet groundwork being laid for a more just and peaceful society. As our grassroots work grows, power is shifting."

Tammi Nichols-Lambert, Petersburg Apprentice Organizer
Petersburg

Tammi Nichols joined the staff of Virginia Organizing Project in 2009, having formerly volunteered with the VOP Petersburg Chapter. Tammi holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Administration from Central Michigan University and is a veteran of the U. S. Army and of Operation Iraqi Freedom. She has a background in non-profit administration and management, with a focus on affordable housing. In the aftermath of Katrina, Tammi was hired as the Special Projects Coordinator for the Mississippi State Conference NAACP where she oversaw several initiatives that supported the Mississippi State Conference and the National NAACP and their efforts to support and aid in the recovery, rebuilding and renewal of the Gulf Coast.

Laura Ramirez, Director of Finance and Administration
Charlottesville

Laura Ramirez began working at VOP in 1998 and is responsible for the financial management of the organization; database administration; desktop publishing of the VOP news magazine and other documents; administration of benefits and insurance policies; developing, implementing and maintaining a technology strategy that includes needs assessment, purchase and maintenance of hardware and software, training and security for the organization. Whew! Laura came to VOP with extensive administrative experience and technological skills.

Kevin Simowitz, Northern Virginia Organizer
Charlottesville

Kevin Simowitz interned with the Virginia Organizing Project for three years while he was a student at the University of Virginia. After graduating in 2008, Kevin began working with VOP as the Northern Virginia Organizer. "I'm excited to work for VOP as an organizer - building community power is the most effective way, in my experience, to help people make concrete change in their own lives and work for the common good of all Virginians."

Teresa Stanley, South Hampton Roads Organizer
Virginia Beach

Teresa Stanley has worked in faith-based community organizing since 1985. Prior to joining VOP in August of 2009, Teresa was the coordinator of social justice ministry for St. Nicholas Catholic Parish in Virginia Beach and Holy Redeemer in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina and served as the Office of Justice and Peace Tidewater Liaison for the Catholic Diocese of Richmond. Teresa helped to found the Tidewater Sowers of Justice, a network of social justice advocates and the Voices that Challenge, a youth and young adult social justice movement. As a trained mediator, she implemented a restorative justice victim/offender mediation program for youth in Dare County Teen Court and facilitates conflict resolution and mediations trainings. She has an undergraduate degree from Old Dominion University and Masters from Loyola University, New Orleans. “I am excited to see what I can contribute to the network of relationships that VOP is building throughout the state in which all might have a voice to effect change for the common good of the Commonwealth. It is an honor to be part of a social justice organization that works for systemic transformation through grassroots empowerment.”

Joe Szakos, Executive Director
Charlottesville

Joe Szakos has been the executive director of the Virginia Organizing Project since 1994. He was the founding coordinator of Kentuckians For The Commonwealth and has also done community organizing in Chicago and Hungary. Joe has a Masters degree from the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration and is co-author, with his wife, Kristin Layng Szakos, of We Make Change: Community Organizers Talk About What They Do—and Why, published by Vanderbilt University Press in 2007. Joe and Kristin also edited Lessons From the Field: Organizing in Rural Communities, published by the American Institute for Social Justice/Social Policy Magazine in 2008. "Being a community organizer allows me to work with groups of people to make specific, tangible changes in their communities while helping individuals learn important leadership skills. I love having the opportunity—every day with the Virginia Organizing Project—to help people raise their voices about the concerns they have, especially when it leads to major systemic changes."

Ben Thacker-Gwaltney, Peninsula Organizer
Williamsburg

Ben Thacker-Gwaltney has been a community organizer for the Virginia Organizing Project since 1998. He has responsibilities for organizing on the Peninsula as well as economics education. A native Virginian, Ben worked with the Lynchburg and Amherst County VOP chapters previous to moving to Williamsburg in 2004. His two children, Amos and Sophie, are growing quickly, and his wife Susan teaches early-childhood Reading Education for UVA. "The thing I like about VOP is our work for long-term change. We are building solid local organizations across Virginia in the hope of changing this state for everyone who gets pushed around and cut out of the possibility of a good life here. That’s a goal worth working for."

Cathy Woodson, Central Virginia Organizer
Richmond

Cathy Woodson is a Virginia native and she has worked with VOP since 1997. Her VOP work began as a volunteer, facilitating Dismantling Racism workshops for more than a year before joining the staff. She is the organizer working the central Virginia area and she works out of Richmond. Other responsibilities include coordinating and facilitating Dismantling Racism workshops around the state, and coordinating the Leadership Institute. Working with other VOP organizers, she coordinates constituent meetings at the Virginia General Assembly.

Larry Yates, Shenandoah Valley Organizer
Winchester

Larry Yates has been active for social justice since 1966, when he marched against housing segregation in Arlington, Virginia. He has been the Shenandoah Valley organizer for VOP since 2003. He previously served as Field Director of the National Low Income Housing Coalition and Grassroots Organizing Mentor at the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, and was founding Executive Director of the Virginia Housing Coalition. He wrote a chapter on the history of housing organizing for A Right to Housing: Foundation for a New Social Agenda, published in 2006 by Temple Press. He and his wife Carol moved to Winchester in 2009 and previously lived in Arlington, Shenandoah County, Richmond and Fairfax. "I have supported VOP since I first heard about it. When I worked for the Virginia Housing Coalition, I learned that no issue could be won in Virginia without cooperation across different regions of the Commonwealth. However, building that cooperation, especially on a wide range of issues, is a tough and delicate job, and needed the deliberate, fair and strategic approach that VOP has brought to it."

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