![]() Researching the Right for Progressive Changemakers |
|||
Chair: Supriya Pillai (chair) is executive director of the Funders' Collaborative on Youth Organizing, a network of grantmakers and youth organizers dedicated to advancing social justice through youth development and organizing. She previously served as program officer for Asia at the International Women’s Health Coalition, where she worked with local partners in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Turkey to offer funds and technical assistance to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights. While working with the social marketing organization Population Services International (PSI) and in Cambodia, she led the introduction of several new products, including a female condom, emergency contraception, and a new male condom marketed to women in trusting relationships. She also worked on microfinance in Guinea.
Board: Emelia Rallapalli (secretary) is vice president of brand strategy at Greenberg, Inc., a research and brand consultancy based in the San Francisco Bay area. She specializes in helping companies speak with hard-to-reach audiences through marketing and communications. She has served as coproducer and host of Essencia, a public radio program focused on women’s issues. In addition to PRA's board, she currently serves on the board of directors for her family’s charitable foundation. Surina Khan is Vice President of Programs for the Women’s Foundation of California, a statewide public foundation that is known for working across issues to bridge disparate social justice movements. Surina’s programs support social justice organizations that are innovative, policy advocacy leaders, and building broad-based social justice movements. She previously worked as the executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, and, from 1995-2000, as a research analyst with Political Research Associates. Surina is also a journalist and a member of The Public Eye magazine editorial board. She is currently on the Board of Directors of the Funders Network for Population, Reproductive Health, and Rights; and the Astraea Foundation. Marcy Westerling is a nationally recognized leader in organizing Pacific Northwest rural communities to respond to violence, bigotry, and injustice. In 1992, she founded the Rural Organizing Project, which helps local grassroots groups overcome their isolation, pool resources, and acquire skills to achieve lasting social change. The ROP is noted for linking issues through transformational organizing and an appreciation for the long-term nature of justice work. As a 2010 Open Society Fellow, Marcy is mapping progressive infrastructure in rural localities in four states as a means of identifying potential allies for social change organizing. She credits PRA with developing an analysis of the Right that was formative to the ROP’s approach to political education. She lives in the woods outside of Scappoose, Oregon. Pardis Mahdavi, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of anthropology at Pomona College [www.pomona.edu]. Her research interests include sexuality, human rights, transnational feminism, and public health in the context of changing global and political structures. She is currently an editor for Rahavard Quarterly, a journal devoted to contemporary social issues in Iran and amongst the Iranian diaspora. Her book, Passionate Uprisings: Iran’s Sexual Revolution was published in 2008 by Stanford University Press. Her current reseach on migrant labor, sex trafficking, and the state in Dubai is supported with a fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies.
Catherine Brady (bookkeeper) has been crunching numbers since it was done with pencil and ledger paper. She took an eight-year break from numbers to engage in grassroots organizing and fundraising in the 1980s and early 90s with INFACT, leader of the Nestle boycott. One of her first activist experiences was protesting a Denver presentation by the anti-gay Anita Bryant in 1978. Catherine has held positions ranging from part-time bookkeeper to Director of Finance and Administration with many small progressive non-profits in the Boston area.
Amy Parker (Development Director) began working with PRA in September 2009. She has over twenty years of fundraising and communications experience in nonprofit settings. She has an expertise in foundation and corporate fundraising but has worked in every area of development from launching capital campaigns to organizing development offices for small and start-up non-profits. Before joining PRA, she was the COO and Development Director at Women of Means, a healthcare organization providing free medical care to homeless women and children in the Boston metro area. Her past affiliations include the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center, the New England Aquarium and several human service agencies. She has a background in visual arts, in dance, holds a Master’s degree in history and has a particular interest in programming that support issues of concern to women.
Cindy Savage-King (operations manager) is responsible for the day-to-day administrative functions that keep PRA running smoothly. A native of Raleigh, N.C., Ms. King is an ordained Southern Baptist minister. She has worked as an associate pastor, as a chaplain in the U.S. Army Reserves, and as a police chaplain with the Raleigh Police Department. In the past, Cindy has been the president of Voices Rising, a Boston-based women’s chorus, and chair of the Pride Interfaith Coalition of Boston.
Maria Planansky (communications and development assistant) is a recent graduate from Beloit College in Wisconsin, where she studied political science and philosophy. Before joining PRA as a staff member, she served as an editorial intern, assisting with The Public Eye. In addition to her work in Somerville, she runs with her dogs each morning and studies the piano.
PRA's Founder and President Emerita
|
More on PRA:
Spotlight On
Explore
Political Research Associates
PRA is an affiliate of: Copyright Information, Terms, and Conditions Please read our Terms and Conditions for copyright information regarding downloading, copying, printing, and linking material on this site; our disclaimer about links present on this website; and our privacy policy. |
||
Unless otherwise noted, all material on this website is copyright 2008, Political Research Associates.
Home | Magazine | Press | Multimedia | About | Donate | Site Guide
Political Research Associates • 1310 Broadway, Suite 201 • Somerville, MA 02144
Voice: 617.666.5300 • Fax: 617.666.6622 • pra@publiceye.org