Niila is a passionate and thoughtful community engagement professional who has worked with nonprofit organizations for more than 15 years. Niila carries a zest for developing collective strategies to increase community access, wealth, and opportunities. Niila is highly skilled in creating partnerships and connections through innovative and equitable practices. Niila is a certified volunteer administrator, a trained intercultural development practitioner, a member of the CCVA Exam Committee and has served on the MAVA Board of Directors for 5 years. Niila is a graduate of California State University of Long Beach, majoring in communications and black studies.

Antonio Williams is an author, organizer, and founder of TONE Up. He recently assisted in leading this year’s movement aimed at transforming community safety and policing in Minneapolis. As a person with lived experience with the criminal injustice system, Antonio is passionate about fighting for those still confined and welcoming back those who are returning home. As a father of a 16 year old daughter Antonio prioritizes spending quality time and creating new memories with her whenever he can.

Meghan Casey is the owner of Do Better Content Consulting, a content strategy consultancy that helps organizations do good with better content. In her professional and personal lives, Meghan is committed to prison and police abolition and putting her money, time, and talents to use doing behind-the-scenes abolition-minded work. With a master’s degree in nonprofit administration from Hamline University and a commitment to social justice, she’s invested in leading from the back in solidarity with the people most affected by social and racial justice issues. As such, Meghan also serves on the boards of three other Black, brown, and Indigenous-led organizations, Voices for Racial Justice, Done for DiDi, and Stop Online Violence Against Women.

Eddie Glenn is a graduate from the University of Minnesota Law School and a software engineer. As an engineer, he has built web applications for a wide range of clients from local nonprofits to Microsoft. He has worked for various industries, often operating at the intersection of law and technology, inviting legal practitioners and justice impacted individuals to guide the legal system’s technological change. Eddie’s favorite part of writing software is how it allows him to anonymously make your life easier. Sometimes he grows tired of anonymity and tells you exactly what he thinks in a poem or op-ed. Eddie is an extreme extrovert who loves making new friends, building community, and finding new songs to throw dance parties in the kitchen with his kids.

Lupita is an educator, an active community member, and a lover of Mother Earth. She holds a degree in Anthropology, and Criminal Justice. Currently works at the Legal Rights Center as the community educator, Lupita centers her work in creating more accessible spaces for every person to know their rights, know the law, and be empowered to advocate for themselves and their communities. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota and the Minneapolis based non-profit organization, Until We Are All Free. Lupita has been moved to create a path towards liberation for all, with the guidance and support from the Latinx/Indigenous/and Black women in her life. She is passionate about living in a world where all people work alongside each other to protect one another and protect the Earth.

Minister JaNaé Bates (she/her) is the communications director for Faith in Minnesota and ISAIAH – multi-racial, multi-faith, state-wide vehicles for people and communities of faith, Black owned barbershops and childcare centers. JaNaé specializes in integrating grassroots community organizing and narrative strategy, including the implementation of the “Race Class Gender Narrative” framework in both Minnesota and across the U.S. She was formerly the communications director for the 2021 Yes 4 Minneapolis campaign – an electoral ballot initiative to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with an expanded, holistic, public health-centered Department of Public Safety. JaNaé and her husband Dontez - who is currently, and has been, incarcerated the past 18 years - are launching a storytelling coalition called Liberation Aloud and companion podcast, Recorded and Monitored in Fall 2022. She’s a co-creator and co-writer on the award-winning animated series MINE.