June 2009

Lisa Marie Alatorre is coming on as the National Campaign and Projects Director. Lisa has most recently been working in Chicago as a youth organizer with homeless/street-based and LGBTQIA young people at various youth programs and drop-in centers. While in Chicago, she had the honor of being a founding member of the Transformative Justice Law Project of Illinois (TJLP), a collective of radical lawyers, social workers, and organizers providing legal services and organizing support to transgender and gender non-conforming folks either currently imprisoned or being targeted by the PIC. Before living in Chicago, Lisa was a youth worker and community organizer in Seattle, WA, mostly working on homeless rights and anti-oppression work. She also just recently completed her masters in social service administration at the University of Chicago.

Helia Rasti will enter into a new staff position, National Media and Communications Director.  Helia may be familiar to some of you who have been working with CR for awhile.  She is an Iranian immigrant who has lived in California since 1990. She has been a member of Critical Resistance Oakland for the past two years, and has worked as a video director, campaign press coordinator, and grassroots organizer with groups such as Direct Action to Stop the War, Campaign to Shut Down the PG&E Power Plant, and the Environmental Justice Climate Change Initiative.  She enjoys cooking and eating soup, reading, and shaking it on the dance floor.

We are so excited to welcome them both to the national staff.  Both Lisa and Helia will begin working full time from the National/Oakland Office beginning on June 22nd.  They will send more detailed introduction messages when they get settled, but in the mean time, please help us welcome them to their new roles with Critical Resistance.