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Gerald L. Taylor
Gerald L. Taylor is a member of the National Staff and the Southeast Regional Supervisor of the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF). The IAF is the nation's oldest and largest network of democratic citizenship education and institutional development. It has projects in the United States, Canada and Europe. Mr. Taylor has organized with the IAF for over 27 years, nineteen of those years in the Southeast. Mr. Taylor went to Memphis in 1987 to start the IAF's work in the Southeast. Today, the IAF has developed organizations in Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia. The IAF'S Southeastern office is in Durham, North Carolina.
Mr. Taylor was born and raised in New York City. He did his undergraduate study at City College of New York where he majored in economics. He became active in the civil rights movement at the age of 14 working with the Congress of racial Equality and the Harlem NAACP Youth Chapter. At the age of 17, he was elected President of the New York State Youth and College Division of the NAACP becoming the youngest person ever to lead a state conference in the NAACP. Mr. Taylor also organized with the third party of Alabama NDPA in 1970, leading a team in organizing more than 200 Black students in GOTV in Alabama. He also served at the request of Whitney Young on the National Urban League Board of Directors and he was a Resident Civil Rights leader at the Metropolitan Applied Research Center founded by Dr. Kenneth Clarke.
Prior to going to work for the Industrial Areas Foundation, Mr. Taylor served as a consultant to numerous national organizations on citizenship and community organizing including President Jimmy Carter's Commission on Neighborhoods. He has taught economics at the internationally recognized Harlem Prep. School. He has also lectured at a number of universities including Vanderbilt University, The University of Minnesota, the University of Illinois, and Duke University.
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Ana Garcia-Ashley
Ana Garcia-Ashley began her career in Denver in 1981 when she organized first the Concerned Citizens of Westwood and then the Metropolitan Organization for People. After graduating from the University of Colorado in Denver, Ana attended the Iliff School of Theology. She has served for nine years as the Senior Staff Organizer with the Gamaliel Foundation, a multi-faith, multi-racial organizing network of 60 affiliates in 21 states across the U. S. and five provinces of South Africa.
Born in the Dominican Republic, Ana's experiences, both professional and personal, brought a much-needed passion and awareness to her position. Her journey continued as the Lead Organizer of MICAH—the Milwaukee Inner City Congregations Allied for Hope—where her leadership in staffing led to a $500 million dollar reinvestment victory. She later went on to staff the development of the regional organization of WISDOM in Wisconsin, and became a national and international congregation-based leadership trainer. Her concern for social justice continues today, in her work as co-director of the Civil Rights for Immigrants Department of the Gamaliel Foundation, as well as the Director of the Southern Territory. A member of St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church, Ana's faith drives her forward to continue to protect and establish the rights of the voices not always heard.
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Gabriel Pendas
Gabriel Pendas was elected Vice-President of the United States Student Association in August of 2006. USSA is the country's oldest, largest, and most inclusive national student organization. Founded in 1947 under the belief that education is a right, USSA is the student voice on Capitol Hill, in the White House, and in the Department of Education.
Before joining USSA, Gabriel was a student leader on the statewide and campus levels in his home state of Florida. He served as the Student Senate President at the Florida State University and Chair of the Senate Leadership Committee for the Florida Student Association, which represents students in 11 Florida state universities. He also played an instrumental role in founding and developing two campus wide coalitions: the Coalition for Active Voter Education (CAVE), which increased student voting by 97% in the 2004 presidential election, and Fighting for Our Rights Concerning Education (FORCE), which helped to mobilize thousands of students on a statewide level around access to higher education issues.
Gabriel was also a leader in the creation of the Student Coalition for Justice (SCJ), comprised of Tallahassee's two universities and community colleges. This citywide coalition worked to address Florida's juvenile justice issues. After the death of 14 year-old Martin Lee Anderson in a Florida boot camp for juvenile offenders, SCJ led a sit in at the office of Governor Jeb Bush. This action resulted in a $13 million increase in early intervention programs for juvenile offenders; the elimination of the current boot camp system; and the firing of the state's top law enforcement officer, Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Guy Tunnel. Gabriel is a graduate of the Florida State University where he studied Physics.
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