Staff
Executive Directors
For more than twelve years, Jason McKain has been developing outreach tools, processes, communications and organizing actions for a variety of social, environmental, and independent media initiatives. He has organized more than 500 activist-based, community-focused (urban and rural) projects involving more than 10,000 people. In doing so, it has been and will always be his ultimate goal to connect people with critical community work that needs to be done and to make this connection stronger. Jason has spent an equal amount of time creating and implementing fundraising strategies to fund countless projects. Along the way, Jason has developed a comprehensive and effective knowledge base around grassroots organizing, fundraising, logistics, and publicity. In his free time Jason can be found scaling the sides of mountains, wetting a fly line in any number of Colorado streams, or reading newspapers from around the world.
Carlos joined CPC in 2008 and will work with the Campaign for Economic Justice, Southern Colorado, and the Racial Justice & Civil Rights programs. Prior to CPC, Carlos served as the Senior Education Policy Specialist for the National Conference of State Legislatures where he focused on public policy to address education disparities and increase college access for low-income and students of color. He has also served as a Regional Program Manager for the Daniels Fund where he helped to design and implement the Daniels Scholarship, which provides comprehensive financial assistance to hundreds of low-income students every year. Carlos is a Denver native, and received a Bachelor of Arts from Colorado College and a Master of Nonprofit Management from Regis University.
Health Justice Organizing Program
Eva Henry joined CPC in 2008 and works on our Health Justice Team. Eva works on health disparities and is organizing to build a statewide base of activists united for health care for all. For many years Eva struggled as a single mother raising two children without health care and has a great passion for the health care reform movement. Eva believes in community involvement and has engaged in numerous projects. She has been involved in several groups that work on subjects important to working families. These projects concerned issues such as health care reform, education, and veteran's issues. Eva currently is a council member for the city of Thornton. She has a great passion for her community and left her profession, of 18 years as a banker and now serves her community by working with CPC.
Francoise joined CPC in 2004 following receiving her Master's Degree at Arizona State University (her Bachelor's degree is from the American University in Nairobi, Kenya). A native of Uganda of Rwandan descent, Francoise has a wide range of community organizing and direct service activities including working with children suffering from HIV/ AIDS and refugee women through Catholic Charities. Francoise directs CPC's health care organizing and policy campaigns and leads on our health disparities and organizing to build a statewide base of activists united for health care for all.
Civic Engagement Program
Lindsey joined CPC in 2006 and directs our field and community organizing efforts. During her time at CPC, she has helped open our Northern Colorado office in Greeley and now oversees our statewide base building and expansion efforts. Lindsey also helped start the 501c3 Roundtable, a coalition of progressive nonprofits involved in civic engagement work, and now sits on the coalition's steering committee. An experienced grassroots organizer for environmental and social justice and gay and lesbian rights, Lindsey is a graduate of Green Corps' Field School for Environmental Organizing, a year-long fellowship program for advocacy and organizing leaders. She has worked as New Hampshire State Director for Toxics Action Center and on the Sierra Club's staff in the San Francisco Bay area. Lindsey is originally from St. Louis, Missouri.
Shannon joined CPC in September 2007 as an intern during her Master's in Social Work program at the University of Denver. After she graduated with her MSW, Shannon joined CPC as a staff member as the Voter Engagement Organizer working on voter registration, voter education and GOTV. Now Shannon works as the Lead Civic Engagement Organizer in the Denver office. Prior to working at CPC, Shannon did community organizing and youth leadership development with the Bridge Project and DU's Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning the Quigg Newton and South Lincoln Denver Housing Authority sites. She also facilitated conflict management and anger management classes with youth while interning at the Conflict Center. Shannon was an active member in the Graduate School of Social Work's Multicultural Social Justice organization and the Queer Equality Alliance. Prior to moving to Denver for graduate school, Shannon lived in Chicago where she worked with victims and survivors of domestic violence as a counselor and legal advocate.
Racial Justice & Civil Rights Program
Cheyenne joined CPC as a high school junior in 2002. A 2004 graduate of Denver's East H.S. and student at Arapahoe Community College, Cheyenne has conducted health disparity outreach in the African-American community and was a statewide coordinator for CPC's massive 2004 GOTV program. A leader on our 2005 campaign against a $600 million jail, Cheyenne appeared on Dateline NBC spotlighting racial profiling. He is currently building a youth and community base to take on overrepresentation of youth of color in the juvenile justice system and was named USAction's 2007 National Grassroots Activist Honoree of the Year.
Art Way is a native of Denver 's Eastside and Park Hill neighborhoods and a recent law school graduate from Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville, FL. A strong concern for individual rights forged during the misguided "war on drugs" motivated Art to attend law school in an effort to understand the legal landscape concerning police/ community interaction. Art has worked with One Nation Enlightened and Project Pave as a youth mentor and organizer. He is motivated as an organizer with the Colorado Racial Profiling and Police Discrimination Hotline to inform people of their inalienable rights while providing those who have been victims of constitutional violations assistance.
Northern Colorado Organizing Program / CPC Greeley Office
Nicole is a Greeley native who returned to Colorado in 2005 after living for 11 years in Ohio, Michigan, and Washington, DC. An Oberlin College graduate (1998) with majors in African-American Studies and Women's Studies, Nicole joined CPC in 2007 following our first Greeley Chapter Meeting. Nicole brings 13 years of experience working for progressive social change, especially on racial and economic justice and LGBTQ rights issues. For CPC's Northern Colorado regional program, she brings a passion for - and great experience in - coalition-based work to connect issues and communities.
Yolanda is a Greeley native who has been active in her community as an engaged parent and volunteer for many years. After living in California & Illinois for 4 years and returning in 1995, she has worked extensively with Latino and immigrant communities in Greeley and Fort Lupton. Yolanda joins CPC’s staff excited to build upon her experiences with community outreach and empowerment. She brings a heartfelt commitment to fighting racism, engaging new voters, and growing our collective social justice movement in Northern Colorado.
Southern Colorado Organizing Program / CPC Pueblo Office
Theresa is a Pueblo native who returned to Colorado in 2001 after living in Mexico where she worked as Program Director for the Cuernavaca Center for Intercultural Dialogue on Development (CCIDD). There she did "global community-organizing" - building solidarity and inspiring action around the political, social, cultural, and economic realities of Mexico with folks from the U.S. and Canada. She has also been very involved with the Women's Ordination Conference, helped to found the Young Feminist Network, and worked as a freelance English/Spanish translator. Theresa is thrilled to be working in her home community - helping to shape its progressive future - and considers this work her life's vocation.
Administrative Support
Marisela Gonzalez is a recent graduate of Metropolitan State College of Denver with a B.A. in Political Science and a minor in Accounting. In college she participated in many Latino organizations including Pi Lambda Chi Latina Sorority, Inc., where she was the chapter President. Marisela was also a board member of Warren Village, a community of single parents seeking to become self-sufficient. She became involved in grassroots organizing during the 2002 and 2004 elections. She started at Colorado Progressive Coalition as an intern in the Racial Justice program, and through the 2008 Generation Change Fellowship she continued her involvement with CPC with the Civic Engagement program. She is an aspiring law student and in her free time enjoys spending time with her two children, Orlando and Alex, and training for the Denver Marathon.
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Miriam Peña has been leading CPC's fundraising efforts since 2005. A 2007 graduate of the University of Denver, she majored in Public Policy and Communications. Miriam was born in Cd. Juarez, Mexico, coming to the U.S. when she was 6 months old. A graduate of Denver's West H.S., Miriam has been a part of immigrant justice efforts, including CPC's language disparities work where she focused on mono-lingual Spanish speaking immigrant communities. She is a member of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition Steering Committee and serves on the board of Rights for All People. Miriam spends her free time running with her dog Crown Royal, reading and dancing with friends.
Technology Support
Nisar joined CPC in 2003 and directs the organization’s technology support, web development, database management, and internet fundraising efforts. He is a University of Colorado at Denver graduate with a Bachelor's degree in science who wants to become a human rights physician. Nisar is a native of Kabul, Afghanistan, who moved to Denver in 2001.