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Grassroots Campaigns, Inc. On-the-Ground StaffClick here to meet canvass leadership staff Click here to meet field leadership staff Click here to meet national leadership staff Click here to meet some distinguished alumni Mary Bogus Mary Bogus grew
up on the mean streets of Riverton, WY where the guns are a plenty,
people are few, and politics are sparse. Upon leaving the “Equality
State” for college at Colorado State University, to study political
science, women’s studies and ethnic studies, she began to understand
that the politics of Wyoming were not so equal. Mary realized the good
people of Wyoming, a historically red state, were being misled into
supporting policies that took what they claimed to give. Upset by this,
Mary was determined to create community empowerment and mobilization
through grassroots organizing. Driven by her passion for grassroots
community change, Mary began working for Grassroots Campaigns in
February 2009 as a Field Manager. Quickly asserting herself as a
crucial member of the team, Mary became an Assistant Director where she
specialized in recruitment. Currently, Mary is leading a campaign for
sustainable, community-based solutions to poverty on behalf of Save the
Children as Canvass Director in Denver. David Zeller David began his career at Grassroots Campaigns in the Summer of 2008 after graduating from the University of Minnesota cum laude with a degree in Sociology. Before that he had volunteered for several leaders within Minnesota’s Democratic Farmer-Laborer Party, like Senator Paul Wellstone, U.S. Representative Martin Olav Sabo, and U.S. Representative Keith Ellison. David had also made a name for himself in the Minnesota Pro-Choice community by organizing lobbying events. In joining
Grassroots Campaigns David wanted to make a wider ranging impact, and
he has been afforded that opportunity by working on a myriad of
campaigns in the Minneapolis office including Save the Children, League
of Conservation Voters, and Amnesty International. Midwest Regional
Director, David Hackman, says, "David took on the Minneapolis office
early in 2009. A few short months later he ran the most
successful summer campaign season we've had in the Twin Cities since
2004." David looks forward to running an even more successful office
this winter and looks forward to the 2010 election. Christopher Baker Christopher was
born and raised in Central Illinois and attended Illinois State
University. While there, he became passionate about human rights and
progressive politics. After graduating with a degree in Political
Science in 2008, Christopher moved to Seattle, Washington and it was
there he joined Grassroots Campaigns, Inc. as an Assistant Director.
After his brief stint in Seattle, Christopher moved on to San
Francisco, California to become that office’s head Canvass Director.
During the summer of 2009, he led his team of activists to raise nearly
$400,000 for progressive organizations including the ACLU, Save the
Children, The Sierra Club, Amnesty International, and Equality
California. Christopher now heads the Washington, DC canvass office,
where he is excited to further build the progressive movement and
prepare the nation for the 2010 midterm elections. Tristan Placone After graduating
from UC-Santa Cruz in 2008, Tristan began working in Grassroots
Campaigns’ Santa Cruz office on behalf of the Democratic National
Committee. The people he met, and the experiences he had doing
this type of field work gave him little choice but to continue working
with Grassroots Campaigns after the election. Amanda Van Kessel Amanda thought she did her part in 2004. She voted. And we lost. The country re-elected the worst president in our nation’s history, because all she did, and, all MOST people did was vote- which just wasn't enough. After graduating from UW-Madison in 2007, Amanda swore she would find a way to get involved and influence the next presidential election. Either way, she would have no regrets- Amanda was going to make sure that everybody either voted with their time or voted with their dollars, and then they voted in the voting booth, because that is what it takes to win, and we could not afford to lose. That is why Amanda started working for Grassroots Campaigns Dec '07, and since then she has worked to turn a swing state blue in Albuquerque New Mexico, spread awareness on Prop 8 with the ACLU in Seattle WA, and eventually worked her way east, running Denver, Boston , DC and presently, our Manhattan Street office. She did her part in 2008. She’s still doing her part in 2009, because the progressive movement has only just begun-we are now left with not just a mission, but a responsibility. Vijay Bangalore Vijay came to
Grassroots Campaigns without much of a background in political
organizing (rumor is he had never actually voted before!). He
graduated from Calvin College with a B.A. in economics in May '07.
He served a brief stint as a Financial Advisor before quitting to
spend more time in music. Having spent some time in Kenya and
India, Vijay became interested in activism when he heard about
opportunities to fundraise for Save the Children. He started as a
canvasser in our Chicago office Feb '08. He is now the
lead
canvass director there and has fundraised for not only Save the
Children, but also the Democratic National Committee, the American
Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, League of
Conservation Voters and the American Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals (and we know for a fact that he is now a proud
voter!) Nicole Edwards Nicole Edwards
is Grassroots Campaigns’ Roving Recruiter for the Western states.
Before this position she worked with Grassroots Campaigns in the
Berkeley and San Francisco offices directing campaigns for Amnesty
International, the Democratic National Committee and Barack Obama, the
American Civil Liberties Union, Equality California and Save the
Children. Prior to her work with Grassroots Campaigns she worked with
the South African Education and Environment Program, developing after
school programs that utilized spoken word poetry and theatre to build
confidence in township students and give them creative outlets in
learning. Her time spent in South Africa opened her eyes to the
injustices the state can bring to its people and inspired her to get
involved with her own Democratic state, leading her to join Grassroots
Campaigns in the National elections of 2008. She holds a B.A. in
Literature from the University of California at Santa Cruz. Megan Hanten Megan graduated
from DePaul in 2008 with a degree in political science. After
graduating and working at her first job, she realized she wanted to do
something with more meaning and spent three months working for Obama
for America and the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party in Minnesota. After
the election she returned to Chicago and started as an Assistant
Director in the Chicago Door office. After four months she became a
canvass director in Chicago, working on campaigns for Save the
Children, League of Conservation Voters, and Planned Parenthood Action
Fund. Now, she is moving to work in Grassroots Campaigns Portland
office. Chaseray Griffin Chaseray
graduated from Loyola University New Orleans in December 2008. After
witnessing the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina, he decided
that he could no longer sit back and watch a large section of his
country suffer due to the actions of politicians. Jeff Jablonski Jeff graduated
from Pomona College in 2007 with a degree in computer science. He then
returned to his hometown of Seattle, WA, where he served with
AmeriCorps, teaching environmental education in local elementary
schools. After spending time teaching and learning about the problems
facing our world, Jeff started looking for a way to affect positive
change. He began as a field manager in Grassroots Campaigns' Seattle
office in early 2009, and soon became an assistant canvass director. __________________________________________________________________________ |
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