Maya Wiley
Executive Director

Maya Wiley is the founder and Director of the Center for Social Inclusion, a national policy advocacy intermediary organization which works to dismantle structural racism. A civil rights attorney and policy advocate, Ms. Wiley graduated from Columbia University School of Law in 1989. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth College in 1986. She has litigated, lobbied the US Congress and developed programs to transform structural racism in the US and in South Africa.

Prior to founding the Center for Social Inclusion, Ms. Wiley was a senior advisor on race and poverty to the Director of U.S. Programs of the Open Society Institute, and helped develop and implement the Open Society Foundation -- South Africa’s Criminal Justice Initiative. She has worked for the American Civil Liberties Union National Legal Department, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. in the Poverty and Justice Program and the Civil Division of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. She currently serves as Vice Chair of the Tides Network Board and has previously served on the Boards of the Institute on Race and Poverty at the University of Minnesota School of Law, Human Rights Watch and the Council on Foreign Relations.

She was a contributing author to the National Urban League's 2006 State of Black America, and authored a chapter on Race, Equity and Land Use Planning in Columbia, South Carolina recently published in Growing Smarter: Achieving Livable Communities, Environmental Justice and Regional Equity , R. Bullard, ed. The MIT Press: Cambridge, MA (2007).  

To view Maya Wiley Electronic Press Kit

Devon Kearney
Associate Director

Devon comes to CSI with a background in fundraising and organizational development.  He was previously Director of Development for the National Lawyers Guild and Associate Director of Development at the Center for Constitutional Rights.  At CCR, he had primary responsibility for foundation fundraising, doubling grants income over three years.  Working with CCR staff, foundation partners, prisoners’ rights experts and others, he helped create the New York Campaign for Telephone Justice, a multi-pronged advocacy effort that recently ended a prison telephone contract that cost inmates’ loved ones hundreds of dollars per month to stay in touch, while netting the state over $175 million in profits.

A feminist from his pre-teen years, Devon began his nonprofit career working for the Center for Prostitution Alternatives in Portland Oregon, a feminist social service/social change agency providing comprehensive services to women escaping the sex industry.  He has also worked as a development consultant for non-profit/non-governmental organizations in the U.S. and the developing world, including the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative; Brooklyn Community Housing and Services; the Public Interest Law Firm in N’Djamena, Chad; and the Civil Association for Equality and Justice (ACIJ) in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  He holds a B.A. in philosophy from Reed College and an M.A. from Rutgers University, where his studies focused on the philosophy of psychology and ethics.

Cassandra Welchlin
Director of Southern Programs

A native Mississippian now living in Jackson, Mississippi, Cassandra Welchlin brings leadership and policy/advocacy experience to CSI.  Most recently she worked as Director of Public Affairs for the MS Youth Justice Project, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, where she developed and executed organizing, outreach, and policy strategies to Mississippi communities affected by the school-to-prison pipeline.  Cassandra has worked as a legislative advocate at Congregations for Children, developing legislative and lobbying strategies to improve the well-being of poor children in Mississippi. Previously, Cassandra worked at Southern Echo as the Resource Developer. Through this work, she developed fundraising plans to build capacity for black-led, black-based grassroots organizations in the MS Delta who engage in community organizing work. Cassandra holds her Masters in Sustainable International Development from Brandeis University and her Bachelors from Jackson State University. She has consulted with local, regional and national organizations including the Children's Defense Fund, Southern Rural Black Women's Initiative, Oxfam America, MS NAACP, and the Center for Social Inclusion. She is a licensed Social Worker in the state of Mississippi.  Cassandra holds a Masters in Sustainable International Development from Brandeis University and a Bachelors of Social Work from Jackson State University. 

Madeleine Adamson
Project Coordinator

Madeleine Adamson has been Coordinator of the Alston/Bannerman Fellowship Program since it was created in 1988 to support organizers of color with the resources to take sabbaticals for reflection and renewal. In the 1970s Madeleine worked for the National Welfare Rights Organization, was Research Director of the Movement for Economic Justice and editor of Just Economics, the leading publication reporting on community organizing.  Subsequently she served as Publications Director and National Representative of ACORN; as editor of Minority Trendsletter, a publication of the Center for Third World Organizing; and as a freelance writer and designer for community and labor organizations.   Madeleine is co-author with Seth Borgos of This Mighty Dream: Social Protest Movements in the United States, published by Routlegde, Kegan & Paul in 1985.  She received a Bachelor’s degree in International Studies from American University.

Brittny Saunders                                                                                               

Senior Advocate

Brittny Saunders is a graduate of Harvard Law School where she worked with a number of racial justice and civil rights organizations including the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment and the ACLU Racial Justice Program.  While in law school, Brittny was an editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Journal and served on the boards of the Harvard Black Law Students Association and the Harvard Law School Democrats.  Brittny's work at CSI focuses primarily on BRIC, an effort to design and build a movement in support of federal grant programs that support a public health approach to disaster preparedness.  She will also monitor and develop recommendations with respect to implementation of the stimulus package. Prior to joining CSI, Brittny worked as Policy Counsel at Be the Change, Inc., helping to develop and implement strategies to support the expansion of opportunities for voluntary community and national service. Before enrolling in law school, Brittny taught second and third grade at a public elementary school in the Hunts Point neighborhood of the Bronx.  She holds a Masters degree in education from Fordham University and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology at Harvard College.

Jacob Faber
Researcher

Lynda Turet
Project Associate

Lynda comes to us with a background in research and policy analysis on racial equity issues, including immigrant rights. She formerly coordinated  Coro New York Leadership Center’s Immigrant Civic Leadership Program and served as Legislative Director to New York City Council Member Daniel Garodnick. Lynda currently serves on the leadership team for Swirl, Inc., a national multi-ethnic, grassroots organization that aims to challenge society's notions of race through community building, members-led educational events, and a leadership training program for racial justice action. She was a 2006 fellow for the Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs, a premier leadership development program, where she further developed her skills in community and stakeholder analysis and is a graduate of Tufts University where she majored in Peace & Justice Studies and American Studies.

Natalie Almonte
Office Manager

Natalie previously worked as the Programs Assistant and Office Administrator for the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health. She formally worked as the Administrative Assistant at North Star Fund. Her areas of social justice work experience include Reproductive Health & Rights, Immigrant Rights, Nationwide and Local Organizing and Policy & Advocacy.

Natalie obtained her Bachelors degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from New York Institute of Technology, with a minor in Writing and Psychology.  She is a proud Latina Feminist and Activist from Washington Heights, where she helped found Washington Height’s Fresh Youth Initiative’s Mentor Program. She is also a volunteer member for Upper Washington Heights’s Police Athletic League and NYC’s Latina Advocacy Network.

Yesenia Bran
Administrative Assistant 

Yesenia previously worked with a community-based organization, Asociacion Tepeyac in Corona, Queens as an activity specialist for its after school program. She formally worked for Tepeyac as a head counselor for their after school program and an ESL instructor for their adult education program. Prior to Tepeyac, she worked for NYRA (New York Racing Association) in Belmont Raceway as an ESL instructor for their workers.

As a college student, she volunteered for a progressive community-based organization, Centro Hispano “Cuzcatlan” in NY that works on immigrant and tenants’ rights, and related community issues.

Yesenia is bi-lingual and has volunteered her language and translation skills to help community-based organizations that work with Spanish speaking communities. Yesenia obtained a Bachelors degree at St. John’s University in Spanish and History with a concentration in Latin American Studies.