Meet Cohort Five

Aisha Davis

Mobile Area Interfaith Alliance
Mobile, Alabama
Ashlyn Preaux

Palmetto State Abortion Fund
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Bonnie W Dobson

Down Home North Carolina
Mebane, North Carolina
Cortney King

SOWEGA Rising
Leesburg, Georgia
Cory Roroya

Healthy and Free Tennessee
Old Hickory, Tennessee
Dominique Charlie Oquendo

Intentional Data
Austin, Texas
Shakiethia Wheeler

Southern Women in Motion
Fairburn, Georgia
Ida Gary

Black Voters Matter
Warner Robins, Georgia
Jan Rogers

Birth Workers of Color Collective
Daytona Beach, Florida
Jean-Luc Rivera

Latino Community Fund
Atlanta, Georgia
Kathy Sykes

Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance
Jackson, Mississippi
Kristen Baker

Feminist Center for Reproductive Liberation
Atlanta, Georgia
Kristen Hopkins-Vincent

Black Social Emotional Learning [SEL]
Durham, North Carolina
LaToysha Brown

The Freedom Project Network
Sunflower, Mississippi
Letty Ortega

Mi Familia en Accion
Houston, Texas
Maria Juarez

Student Action with Farmworkers
Raleigh, North Carolina
Michael Mireles

La Unión del Pueblo Entero
Alton, Texas
Paige Polk

Dogwood Alliance
Durham, North Carolina
Qiairra Broomfield

Community Change
Union City, Georgia
Rhyane Wagner

Alabama Values
Washington, DC
Robert "Kool Black" Horton

New Economic Justice Project
New Orleans, Louisiana
Roy Vaughn

Arkansas Education Association
Alexander, Arkansas
Tari Williams

Greater Birmingham Ministries
Birmingham, Alabama
Teresa Robinson

Mississippi Association of Educators
Jackson, Mississippi
Tryll Williams

InheritaNCe
Greensboro, North Carolina

Big Ideas,
Real Impact.

Meet the Team

Naima Savage

PROGRAM DIRECTOR
A true child of the South, Naima was raised in Greenville, North Carolina and currently lives in New Orleans, Louisiana. Naima organized working people for the UAW, Fight for $15, and United for Respect, and served as political coordinator for Color of Change, before co-founding Ignite the South. She now serves as the Executive Director of Ignite the South. Her proudest accomplishment is her two boys, ages 4 and 6.
Tony Bennae Richard

PROGRAM FACULTY
Tony Bennae Richard is a disabled veteran who served in the United States Navy as a hospital corpsman, healthcare administrator, and organization development consultant. While still on active duty, he imagined a world absent of injustice, wars, fragmented relationships, broken bodies, and wasted human capital. He has chosen to focus his work in the areas of labor, non-profits, and social justice entities.
Allison Porter

PROGRAM PARTNER
Allison was a union organizer in North Carolina in the 80s, and Director of the AFL-CIO Organizing Institute, which helped train thousands of union organizers. She is deeply committed to supporting the next generation of social justice leaders as a partner in the consultant firm Imagine Us. She lives in Washington, DC. .
Robye Wallace

PROGRAM MANAGER
Robye was raised in Alabama and moved to New York City, where she ran a nonprofit. Robye returned to Alabama with her husband and daughter, and now serves as the program manager for Ignite the South, where she juggles all the details and makes sure that program participants are cared for and heard.