our team
Se’Maj
-
Se’Maj is a Portland-raised community organizer with a background in climate and transportation justice, who got their start as a youth organizer in her junior year of high school. From there, she continued collaborating with local organizations to plan and facilitate events with the hopes of bringing together the larger community in their push for collective action and generational change. After experiencing harmful youth programming that was inherently anti-black, exploitative, and actively put youth members in harm's way, this left a lasting impact on Se’Maj. This led her to pursue the creation of their own spaces that were meant for collective healing, knowledge, and uplifting marginalized youth. They are taking the first steps by trusting her own creativity and ability to create the community space she envisions. In their free time they enjoy reading, journaling, reading tarot, and watching animated shows and movies.
-
A more just world is one where people are finally allowed to shed the layers upon layers of oppression, social conditioning, and collective trauma to allow our inner lights to shine true in a way that values authenticity and vulnerability. It looks like doing justice by ourselves and others; operating in the collective while also celebrating the individual spark that lives within all of us. I dream to see healing, reconciliation, and mutual understanding between the people of the world while also reconnecting with the Earth and replenishing what we’ve taken to ensure the stability of future generations. The role I hope to play is extending a hand to show people that this future is attainable and that they don’t have to work toward it alone. I hope to be someone who can help others decipher their emotions and bridge the gaps between groups of people to foster mutual understanding and accountability.
-
EMAIL: SEMAJ@MAPDX.ORG
She/They
Program Coordinator
Kevin
-
A little bit about our program manager, Kevin is a community advocate, storyteller, and student leader based in traditional Kalupuya, Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, and Atfalati lands (Tigard, Oregon). Their work centers around the intersections between their ethnic identity as a Black American and Samoan person and their gender fluidity. Kevin uses their platforms to interrogate systems of power, challenge normalcy, and uplift voices within their communities. Through interpersonal connection, community organizing, poetry, and education, they have found space as an emerging voice for Black, Indigenous, Queer, Trans, and Climate liberation.
-
I often dream of a world that is built on a foundation of love, community, and selflessness. There are so many systems that allow for harm to thrive in our world; I want to liberate people from those systems by increasing their access to knowledge and strategies that can help them dismantle oppression. A more just world would be filled with a thriving Earth and Ocean, trust in the humanity of others, and the strength for each person to hold themselves accountable. A more just world would be centered around the rematriation of land and societies. I want to help youth, and all people, understand that they are not powerless in the creation of this future.
-
EMAIL: KEVIN@MAPDX.ORG
Uses All Pronouns
Program Manager
Imani
-
Imani (she/they) is a queer biracial Black femme, born and raised in Sacramento, CA until moving to Beaverton, OR with her immediate family in 2012 before starting high school. As a youth, they became involved in racial justice and student activism in response to the oppression she faced and witnessed in her community. Imani holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Oregon in Ethnic Studies and a Master’s degree from Brandeis University in Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality studies. Through an abolition-feminist lens, a deep commitment to our collective liberation and transforming our world informs Imani’s personal and professional endeavors; they bring years of experience as a non-profit leader, advocate, organizer, educator, and birthworker. Outside of work, Imani enjoys cooking, crafting, thrift shopping, escaping into a good movie or TV show, and above all, spending quality time with their loved ones and dogs.
-
Care and connection are at the foundation of the more just world I envision. A more just world embraces complexity and upholds autonomy, empowering us all to freely and safely be who we are. A more just world would operate on abundance and resourcefulness, understanding that we have more than enough for everyone and no one should ever go without. It doesn’t feel realistic to think there will be no harm, but what matters is that harm is addressed in a way that honors justice, accountability, and repair, not punishment and incarceration. It is beyond exciting to dream about what is possible when we all feel fully supported. These things we want to build in our more just world are only possible with a healthy, well-cared for planet and on the shared basis that we need each other. I envision myself as a facilitator, healer, and joymaker.
-
EMAIL: IMANI@MAPDX.ORG
Uses She/They
Co-executive Director of Finance, Operations & Development
Ale
-
(Aww-Lay) uses they/them pronouns in English, and in Spanish Le/Elle. They were born in Quito, Ecuador, and have grown up partially in Chicago, and Cornelius Oregon. Ale graduated from the University of Oregon, where they majored in Ethnic Studies, and minored in Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies, and Environmental Studies (hello liberal arts kids). They’ve been organizing professionally and on the streets for 9 years, and have found great joy in community building, critical race theory, and leadership development. In their spare time, they enjoy snuggling cats, writing, painting, tending to plants, paddle boarding, and spending time with their queer loved ones.
-
I hope a just world looks like a green and thriving planet, where all its inhabitants are happy, healthy, and safe. I hope that our future generations won’t know what starvation feels like, won’t know what imprisonment looks like, and won’t be so scared of what could go wrong if they are different. I hope it looks like people are community-centered in which resources are not only shared but mutually tended for. I hope society’s inclination will be to help one another, even if we are strangers. I hope there won’t be gendered, racialized, and ableist notions of hierarchy, but that people are free of expectations to be whoever they want to be, and do so radically, joyfully, and safely. I see my role as a gardener, healer, and hopefully teacher. I want to grow food with people, hold space for big feelings, and have wildly restorative conversations that allow us to be free thinkers and creative problem solvers.
-
EMAIL: ALE@MAPDX.ORG
Uses They/He
Co-executive Director of Programs, Communications & Development