Aimee Allison is the founder and president of She the People, a national organization that elevates the voice and power of women of color as leaders of a new political and cultural era. She organized and moderated the nation’s first presidential forum for women of color in 2019. Allison’s expert political insight has been featured across national and international media outlets from Politico to the New York Times and PBS to MSNBC. Allison holds a B.A. and M.A. from Stanford University.

Amir Badat serves as Manager of the Voting Rights Defender and Prepared to Vote Projects (VRD/PTV) and Voting Special Counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. As Manager of VRD/PTV, Amir leads LDF’s year-round election protection and voter education efforts, using legal, organizing, and advocacy tools to ensure that Black voters across the South have open access to the ballot box. As Voting Special Counsel, Amir uses litigation, legislative, and public education strategies to promote racial justice in area of political participation. Amir is part of the litigation team in Houston Area Urban League v. Abbott, a case challenging Texas’s enactment of an omnibus voter suppression bill following the historic participation of Black voters in the 2020 general election.

Prior to LDF, Amir was an associate at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, LLP, where he focused on complex commercial litigation and maintained an active pro bono practice, representing clients seeking asylum in the United States, restoration of their right to work, and access to police bodycam footage. At Patterson, Amir represented multiple cross-faith coalitions of religious entities submitting amicus briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court and other federal courts combating religious discrimination, challenging attempts to repeal DACA, supporting protections for LGBTQ+ individuals against employment discrimination, and opposing the diversion of funds to build a border wall.

Amir has extensive experience in the voting rights and voter protection space. He has led state-wide voter protection programs and coordinated voter protection efforts for national campaigns.

Amir served as a law clerk to the Honorable Vernon S. Broderick on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. A native of Meridian, MS, Amir received his J.D., cum laude, from New York University School of Law and his B.A. from Stanford University with honors in International Relations. He is a member of the New York State Bar.

Isaiah is a managing director in Arabella’s Washington, DC office, where he partners with foundations, corporations, families, and individuals to advance social change. Isaiah takes great pride in partnering with donors, investors, and social entrepreneurs to turn ideas into impactful programs and projects for social change. Isaiah is especially passionate about democracy and civic life, environmental justice, and criminal justice and policing reform.

Isaiah’s background combines his experience as General Counsel with the fundraising skills he gained on the campaign trail. For four years, Isaiah was General Counsel and secretary at Democracy Fund, a private foundation working to protect and strengthen US democracy, and its affiliated (c)(4), Democracy Fund Voice. As General Counsel, Isaiah provided legal and strategic guidance for the foundation’s program development, compliance, and grant-making processes. Previously, Isaiah was Counsel for the Bolder Advocacy Program at Alliance for Justice, where he advised nonprofits and foundations on strategies to maximize their advocacy capacity and led workshops on federal nonprofit tax and campaign finance law.

Before practicing law, Isaiah was deputy finance director for the Musgrove for United States Senate Campaign, north regional finance director for the Alex Sink for Governor Campaign in Florida, and finance director and Counsel for the Progress for Mississippi PAC and Bill Luckett for Mississippi gubernatorial campaign. In these roles, Isaiah executed robust fundraising plans and gained a wealth of knowledge in state and federal campaign finance law.

Isaiah serves on the boards of Sojourners and the Voter Registration Project, a national voter registration and civic engagement organization. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Tougaloo College and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from Mississippi College School of Law.

Angela is a Senior Program Officer at The JPB Foundation. JPB’s mission is to advance opportunity and justice in the US by reducing poverty, sustaining and enriching our environments, and furthering breakthrough medical research. Angela manages the Democracy portfolio, which seeks to ensure that all Americans, regardless of their socioeconomic and immigration status, can participate fully in our democracy. JPB’s grantmaking seeks to increase the voice and power of traditionally disenfranchised communities by expanding voting rights and access, encouraging civic engagement, and protecting and advancing the rights of immigrants. Angela joined JPB in 2016 with experience in social justice philanthropy, nonprofit technical assistance, and development. Previously, Angela was a Grants Manager at NYU School of Law. She also worked at Fund for the City of New York, Open Society Foundations, and Lawyers Alliance for New York. Angela holds a Master’s in Public Administration from the NYU Wagner School of Public Service and a Bachelor’s in Politics from NYU. Angela is an immigrant from Taiwan.

Erin Dale McClellan (she/her) is the executive director of The Partnership Funds, a c3/c4 funder collaborative that has defined the practice of grantmaking to advance community & independent political power. Erin brings over 22 years of experience in successful coalition work on campaigns including increasing the minimum wage, public financing of judicial campaigns and same-day voter registration. She is a mother, healer, community activist, political strategist and cultural worker in Raleigh, North Carolina. She was raised in a military family with deep roots in the south.

As former Executive Director of Blueprint NC—a collaborative of 58 progressive organizations working for a fairer, more just North Carolina, and a member of the State Voices national network—Erin pursued work about which she is passionate: organizational capacity building with an emphasis on culture, civic engagement, basebuilding, organizing, strategic planning, communication and evaluation.

Erin is a founding member and the President of the Fertile Ground Food Cooperative in Southeast Raleigh and a community driven effort to start a community owned cooperative grocery store and gathering space. She is also on the board of State Voices, the Ohio Transformation Fund and a member of the Southern Partners Fund. She has been awarded the SiStars Award from the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, William C. Friday Fellowship for Human Relations, Local Hero Citizen of the Year in 2015 from Indy Week magazine, the Community Leader of the Year award from the North Carolina A. Philip Randolph Institute and most recently the Cooperative Champion Award from Up and Coming and the Indiana Cooperative Development.

Erin started her journey to heal her family and community ancestral wounds in 2017 and was renamed denai sankofa in 2019. She practices southern hoodoo and apprentices as medicine carrier of the pachakuti mesa tradition. Her healing and cultural work as denai focus on holistic healing, tool making, art and alignment alchemy.

Erin is most proud of her accomplishment as a mother. She has a degree in Sociology from the College of William and Mary.

Scott Edmonds manages Foundation relationships and grant portfolios in Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi. Prior to joining the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, Scott served as a program manager at MDC, Inc., a research, analysis and advisory organization. There, he was author of multiple reports and publications including MDC’s flagship State of the South. He also led project design and management of various health, economic security, and education initiatives. Scott has provided strategic consulting for several philanthropic foundations as part of MDC’s Passing Gear Philanthropy work.

Scott holds a bachelor’s degree in political science (cum laude) from the University of Missouri and a Master of Public Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In his personal time, Scott enjoys cooking, international travel, live music, being outdoors and spending time with his wife and young sons.

Matthew L. Evans is the Senior Director of Public Policy for United Philanthropy Forum, the largest, most diverse organization in American philanthropy. The Forum’s public policy work helps the organization lead and advocate on behalf of the sector, address racial inequities, and identify practical public policy solutions that catalyze a just and equitable society where all can participate and prosper.

Matthew brings to the Forum more than 15 years of public policy, government relations, and external affairs experience. Prior to joining the Forum, he was Director of Public Policy & Special Projects for the Southeastern Council on Foundations (now Philanthropy Southeast), where he worked to ensure the legislative and regulatory success of the philanthropic sector in the South.

Before he began leading advocacy efforts on behalf of the philanthropic sector, Matthew worked as Senior Manager of Government Relations for SmithBucklin in Washington, D.C., where he directed the legislative and regulatory affairs efforts of multiple clients from a diverse group of industry sectors. Most of Matthew’s professional career has been shaped in Washington, D.C., having held multiple positions that gave him direct experience in working with elected officials, corporations, and associations, leading advocacy efforts for several national organizations.

Matthew has served on the public policy committees of Independent Sector and the Council on Foundations, and currently serves as the staff lead for the Forum Public Policy Committee. He also is a member of the Nonprofit VOTE Board of Directors and National Leadership Council. Matthew holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Tennessee State University, an HBCU in Nashville, Tennessee.

Charmel Gaulden is a lawyer and philanthropic executive with over 15 years of experience in nonprofit administration, program design, and strategic advocacy. She previously served as the Vice President of Public Safety Grants at Baptist Community Ministries and chair of the Greater New Orleans Funders Network (GNOFN) Criminal Justice action table, a collection of seven local and national funders working to support equity and justice in the Greater New Orleans region. Charmel is known for her innovative grantmaking and thought leadership in reducing violence and accelerating criminal legal reform, and for being a talented convener across sectors toward solving our most intransigent challenges. Licensed in both Georgia and Louisiana, Charmel has practiced law in both state and federal courts. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Xavier University of Louisiana and her Juris Doctorate from the University of Georgia.