Ella Baker Center Staff & Board

Jakada became Ella Baker Center's Executive Director in 2007, after serving as a lead strategist and chief team member on some of Ella Baker Center's most high profile campaigns for eight years.

Most recently, Jakada directed Books Not Bars, taking the ongoing campaign to replace California's abusive youth prisons with effective rehabilitation programs to ever-increasing heights. Before that, Jakada helped lead the successful "Stop the Super Jail Campaign," a two-year effort to stop Alameda County from building a massive, expensive and remote juvenile hall that it didn't need. He was a leader in the "Justice for Moreno and Pacheco Campaign," the successful fight to free two wrongly convicted Latino boys in Solano County. And he ran Ella Baker Center's youth organizing project, Third Eye Movement, during the "No on 21" campaign to educate voters about the dangers of Proposition 21, a draconian ballot measure aimed at putting 14-year-olds in adult courts and 16-year-olds in adult prisons.

Before joining Ella Baker Center staff, Jakada was a Constituent Liaison for Oakland City Councilwoman Nancy Nadel. He helped launch or lead a number of important Bay Area organizations, including Empowered Youth Educating Society (EYES), Rising Youth for Social Equality (RYSE) and Underground Railroad (an artist collective).

Born and raised in Oakland, California, Jakada is the father of three powerful and creative young girls.

Shemika Skipworth joins Ella Baker Center as the Director of Finance and Operations with ten years of accounting experience and five years of human resources experience. She's worked in the nonprofit sector for seven years, at Family Builders by Adoption and New Connections. In her free time, Shemika enjoys spending time with her son and her younger sister.

As associate director, Kris works with our program staff to ensure the fulfillment and longevity of our work. Prior to joining the Ella Baker Center in 2006, Kris worked independently as a grant writer, communications consultant and lobbyist in Sacramento, with clients such as the Drug Policy Alliance, Coalition for Effective Public Safety, Californians United for a Responsible Budget, Critical Resistance, California Bicycle Coalition and the International Association of Skateboard Companies. Kris has also worked in nonprofit development and administration with environmental advocacy groups such as Friends of the River and the Planning and Conservation League.
As a former federal prisoner of the war on drugs, Kris has experienced first-hand the waste and futility of our society's over-reliance upon incarceration. He draws from his experience an untiring commitment to justice and a passion to promote opportunity-based alternatives to imprisonment and violence.

Jessica comes to the Ella Baker Center, having started her fundraising career in 1997 at the University of Chicago Law School.  Since then, she has worked at various Bay Area organizations serving underrepresented youth of color in education at places such as Outward Bound, the Level Playing Field Institute and Juma Ventures.  She is excited to broaden her scope of work at the Ella Baker Center, where numerous strategies are used to make lasting change in low-income communities through policy, activism, youth engagement and leadership development.

Jessica received her Masters in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago and her Bachelors degree from UCLA.  Originally, she expected to become a professor of Art History but decided her work and passion was really in increasing the opportunities for youth to succeed. Growing up in Los Angeles and having made it successfully through what was then the thriving public school system, she has seen the decline of education and the impact it has had on students in underserved communities.  Jessica lives with her husband, Ken, in Emeryville. In their spare time, they can be found at Point Isabel with their beloved pup, Kumba, or riding their bikes in the East Bay hills.

Kristin has been a community organizer for roughly 10 years, when she started working at the Women's Resource Center on her college campus. After earning a BA in Feminist Activism for the 21st Century (an interdisciplinary degree focused on women's studies, political science and sociology) and a visual arts minor from the University of Northern Colorado, she put her skills to use by fundraising for a Congressional campaign and serving as a counselor and volunteer coordinator at a battered women's shelter. Kristin relocated to the Bay Area in 2001 to work as the public affairs manager at a large Planned Parenthood affiliate, where her work building the online advocacy program was recognized at the state and national level. Most recently, Kristin was thrilled to merge her activism and her artistic eye to help create and launch campaigns as the design and production director for Donordigital, the premiere online fundraising, marketing and advocacy firm serving progressive nonprofits including Amnesty International, the Humane Society of the United States, NARAL Pro-Choice America, Earthjustice, SEIU, and the Human Rights Campaign. After hours, Kristin works with her husband to build their production company, or lets off steam by singing in their family band, hip hop dancing, traveling, and knitting. She lives in Oakland with her husband, Gary, and two cats, Alice and Rita.

Zachary is the Director for the Books Not Bars campaign. Schooled at one of the top organizing programs in the country — the Los Angeles-based Labor/Community Strategy Center, a cutting edge "Think Tank/Act Tank" — Zachary has been instrumental in building Families for Books Not Bars - California's only statewide network of families with children in California youth prisons. As an attorney, Zachary served as a law clerk for Equal Justice Initiative, where he prepared a post-conviction petition to Alabama courts on behalf of a capital defendant. He is also a Board Member of Witness for Peace, a national organization working for peace, justice and sustainable economies in the Americas.

Sumayyah leads Books Not Bars policy work, crafting and tracking legislation and conducting extensive research to support the campaign's effort to reform the California juvenile justice system. After working at the Family Violence Law Center and Equal Rights Advocates during law school, Sumayyah came to the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights on a fellowship after graduating. When her fellowship expired, EBC was thrilled to add her to its team as a grassroots organizer. She served as one of the primary people responsible for leading Families for Books Not Bars, the only statewide network of families whose children are locked away in California youth prisons. After nearly a year in that role, Sumayyah put her law degree for work as the Books Not Bars Policy Advocate.

Joyce is a Families Organizer with Books Not Bars. Before becoming paid staff, she worked tirelessly as a Families for Books Not Bars member, getting other parents who have incarcerated family members involved in the campaign to reform the notorious California Youth Authority. She is an anchor for other working families in the Richmond community where she lives. She has eight years experience working with children in both school and daycare settings and extensive experience as a teacher's assistant and elderly care provider. She utilizes her experience as a community activist and care provider in her work organizing families to fight for justice in the juvenile system.

Lourdes is a Families Organizer with Books Not Bars. She is a founding member of Families for Books Not Bars and assisted in growing the membership from 10 members to over 400 members. She has spoken extensively on the issue of juvenile justice reform in both the English and Spanish media. She is a former member of Coleman Advocates for Youth and she continues to fight for juvenile justice reform locally in San Francisco where she is from and at the state level. She has worked previously as a sales person for various telephone companies and as a childcare provider. These experiences and her experience fighting for justice for her own son have proved invaluable for her as a families organizer.

As a Books Not Bars Associate, Jennifer combines her extensive policy work experience with her exceptional organizing skills to further the goals of the Books Not Bars campaign. After graduating from UCLA with a B.A. in English and a B.A. in Korean, Jennifer pursued her interest in the criminal justice system at the University of San Francisco, School of Law. Her course of study has focused on Children's Rights and Juvenile Law. As a pending recipient of the School's Public Interest Certificate, she has had past experience working with organizations such as Learning for Life and Habitat for Humanity. It was during her internship with Books Not Bars as a policy intern when she committed herself to reforming California's juvenile justice system. When she isn't advocating for the rights of youth, you can find her sipping British high tea or cheering at a Giants game.

While in college, Kevin co-founded 826 Boston, a youth center dedicated to supporting students with their writing,  After graduating, Kevin returned home to the Bay Area to begin a fifteen-month public service fellowship at the Ella Baker Center. Over the course of his fellowship, Kevin coordinated research efforts to defeat Proposition 6 and worked with Books Not Bars' organizers to develop leadership training for families of incarcerated youth. While he pursues his master's degree in city planning, Kevin continues to provide research support to Books Not Bars. If he had more time, Kevin would also like to be a park ranger and a poet.

Ian Kim works at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights as Director of the Green-Collar Jobs Campaign. He advocates for policies in the city of Oakland and statewide in California to create "green-collar" jobs (quality, career-track, manual labor jobs in industries like renewable energy, water and energy efficiency, and green building), especially for low-income young adults and those with barriers to employment. Ian is a co-convenor of Oakland Mayor Ron Dellum's Green Economy Task Force, and served as Vice-Chair of the Oakland Oil Independence by 2020 Task Force. Ian holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management. Ian and his wife, Sunjung, are often laughing at the antics of their two-year-old daughter, Minju.
The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights runs cutting-edge, solutions-driven campaigns for justice, peace and opportunity in our cities. The nationally-renowned Green-Collar Jobs Campaign works to leverage the explosive growth of the new green economy to create meaningful career opportunities for poor people and people of color. In Oakland, the Campaign anchors a multi-sector coalition called the Oakland Apollo Alliance and spearheads a local demonstration project — the Oakland Green Jobs Corps — to showcase job training that can provide "green pathways out of poverty." Statewide, the Campaign advocates for green-collar policy solutions for California, in partnership with major labor, environmental, business, and education institutions, that can create many thousands of good jobs as well as a strong infrastructure for green workforce development. Nationally, the Campaign played a central role in the passage of the federal Green Jobs Act of 2007, which authorizes 5 million annually for green job training, with million specifically allocated to "pathways out of poverty" programs.

Emily Kirsch works at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights as the Lead Organizer for the Green-Collar Jobs Campaign. Emily is building cross-sector partnerships between green businesses, labor, environmental and community based organizations to create local partnerships, policies and pilot programs that create green-collar jobs for low-income people, people of color and women. Emily convenes the Oakland Climate Action Coalition, the Oakland Apollo Alliance and in on the Steering Committee of the Local Clean Energy Alliance. With a BA from San Francisco State University in Urban Health & Sustainability Emily is passionate about creating solutions that save both lives and our planet. After work, Emily enjoys training the Brazilian martial art of Capoeira.

Before joining the Green-Collar Jobs Campaign, he interned for the United States Department of Health in Washington, D.C. and worked for Goodwill Industries of San Francisco and Glide Memorial Church where he served as a Community Liaison/Job Developer for a youth education and job training program. He's also a union member with Teamsters Union Local 85. Currently, Chris is the Statewide Organizer for the Green-Collar Jobs Campaign, where he connects leaders, facilitators and advocates to create an equitable and sustainable future for California.

A third-generation San Francisco native, Chris served four years in the United States Air Force. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology with a Minor in Criminal Justice and recently earned his Masters in Public Administration with an emphasis in Community and Economic Development. In his free time, he loves to coach boys and girls basketball for Mission Dolores Elementary School.

As a jock-turned-activist, Nwamaka grew up as a jazz-loving trumpet player who could run really fast. As a first generation Nigerian, Nwamaka did not actively begin pursuing her interest in civil rights and social justice issues until college. When not in the weight room, on the track, in the library, or at work, Nwamaka spent the rest of her time editing the African American magazine or organizing the Pan-African Student Organization on campus. As a double major in Sociology and African American Studies, she realized her passion is working to solve social justice issues and her future career would be a civil rights lawyer. After moving to the Bay Area, Nwamaka began volunteering at the Ella Baker Center because she believed in the mission of the organization and its commitment to peace, justice and opportunity. Nwamaka is passionately committed to the work of the Green Collar Jobs Campaign because she believes that the pressing environmental justice concerns are the civil rights movement of her generation.
Nwamaka is also an active member of Ella's Daughters, a new national networking organization focused on connecting women activists and organizers from across the nation around issues affecting our communities in memory of Ella Baker. During the weekend she can also be found steaming creamy lattes, flipping waffles and working on her DJ skills at Guerilla Cafe in North Berkeley.

Crystallee takes the reins of Ella Baker Center's newest campaign with a wealth of experience. For the past three years, she has been a professor of Sociology at a number of community colleges and universities in Michigan and recently finished a Visiting Instructor position at Lake Superior State University. Besides being an experienced community organizer, campaign manager, grant writer and project developer, she's also been a freelance journalist for the last 10 years and a strong advocate for racial justice, economic opportunity, LGBT rights and equality.

A native of Flint, Michigan, Crystallee holds a B.S. in Political Science from Northern Michigan University and an M.A. in Social Sciences from Eastern Michigan University.

As the Development Associate, Madelein is the primary grant writer and foundation contact for Ella Baker Center where she reports on the successes of our four campaigns in creating justice in the system, opportunity in our cities and peace on our streets. Prior to joining the Ella Baker Center, Madelein worked with various private law firms, the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California researching police brutality cases and the Legal Aid Society of NYC advocating for prisoner's rights.

In her free time, Madelein loves reading feminist theory & science fiction, drinking coffee with friends and exploring the various vegan restaurants in the Bay Area.

Maya Garza graduated from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland with a degree in Political Science. She spent the last two years working for a city councilman providing constituent services and community outreach to residents in Southeast Baltimore. Having worked one-on-one with diverse community members, she was inspired to seek out an organization that makes a difference in the lives of local residents. She is very excited to have the opportunity to be part of the work being done at the Ella Baker Center.

Hayes has been providing invaluable technological support to progressive non-profits in the San Francisco Bay Area for almost ten years. He started soon after earning his undergraduate degree, working at a childcare center in West Oakland. Not only did he provide the center with ongoing technical support (like maintaining workstations, servers, and printers), he also developed a state-of-the-art database system to help the center manage complex reporting and attendance requirements. Seeing that non-profits needed help making better use of technology, Hayes joined Techsperience, a small Oakland-based consultancy, in 2000. That was where he first encountered Ella Baker Center, one of the many non-profits he has helped to improve their use and management of technology resources. After helping repair and upgrade the PoliceWatch database, Hayes spent the next five years providing Ella Baker Center with emergency technical support. In 2005, Ella Baker Center decided that Hayes had become too valuable to remain a consultant and brought him on staff as Director of Information Technology. Since then, he has transformed the agency's entire technology framework. Hayes resides in East Oakland with his brother, his dog, two goats, three chickens, and four cars (one biodiesel, another with no engine).

Abel Habtegeorgis has been working around issues of social justice for more than 10 years. He has advocated for better recruitment and retention for people of color on college campuses, immigrant’s rights, and a greater investment in education for our disenfranchised youth. He has used his knowledge of public relations to highlight issues around discrimination and social justice while working in the areas of media communication and outreach strategy development for the Mosaic Cross Cultural Center and the Cesar Chavez Community Action Center. Abel has also spoken at the Tommie Smith and John Carlos “Fists of Freedom” ceremony, Young Leaders Summit, and The Conference of Indigenous Peoples. He is also a graduate of the NCCJ Leadership Today program, the Center for Third World Organizing, and has been inducted into the Associated Students “A.S. 55 Club” for his work in student activism. Abel has also participated in a PBS Documentary Series in the summer of 2006 entitled "“Roadtrip Nation".”

Laura Nasca graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2004 with a Social Psychology and Politics degree, focused on the U.S. Prison System. After volunteering for Ella Baker Center in August 2007, we brought her on as the Campaign Coordinator in January 2008. We're happy that she joined Ella Baker Center, and is applying her education, experience and skills toward grassroots organizing and community empowerment. Laura is currently studying Western Herbalism and Traditional Tibetan Medicine. She hopes to one day teach and practice community medicine.

Kalani is very passionate about making change in the world. A native of San Francisco, she moved to Oakland when she was 8. She was introduced to Ella Baker Center by her uncle and learned more about it through her high school friends who participate in Ella Baker Center's Silence the Violence campaign. She knew then that she'd like to get involved and started as a volunteer answering the phones. Kalani hopes to one day run an organization helping young mothers. When she's not holding Ella Baker Center together, she enjoys participating in plays and fashion shows and spending time with her children, Morin and Leialoha.

Belvie is a writer, educator and executive producer of Watts Up! Demaria's Journey from Watts to the Frontiers of Consciousness, featuring Edgar Mitchell, Lynn Twist, Archbisop Desmond Tutu and other global visionaries. She was writer and producer for Courage, a series hosted by Danny Glover that was selected in 2000 by TV Guide as one of the "Top Ten" inspirational shows on television. She is currently Vice President of Special Projects at Carrie Productions.

Diana is a founding member of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, and has remained the behind the scenes support that makes the Center's work possible. Diana has proudly supported the organization's growth from a small-scale operation of one full-time staff into a grassroots powerhouse. Diana received her B.A. in Social Welfare and her J.D. at Hastings College of Law. While she is not focused on the Ella Baker Center, she is operating a private community criminal defense practice, and serving on the boards of Bay Area non-profits Machen Center and TURF (Together United Recommitted Forever.) This San Francisco native is also a real estate broker, supporting activists and other members of her community to empower themselves through homeownership.

Glenn Backes is an independent researcher and public policy consultant, specializing in public health and criminal justice policies. In addition to extensive work in the California State Capitol, Glenn has worked on initiative campaigns to Fix 3 Strikes, and in opposition to the Runner Initiative, which would have spent billions more on prison building, and would have made more young people vulnerable to prosecution as adults Glenn was senior staff at the Drug Policy Alliance for eight years, leading their policy reform efforts in the California from 2000 until 2005. In his previous position as the Director of the Soros Foundation’s International Harm Reduction Development Program, Glenn helped establish drug treatment and HIV prevention projects throughout Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. He previously worked for five years as a counselor and outreach worker at the Streetwork Project in New York City, where he helped homeless youth develop plans to rebuild their lives. Glenn has consulted for the World Bank, Unicef and the United Nations Programme on AIDS. Mr. Backes holds Masters Degrees in Social Work and Public Health from the University of North Carolina, and lives in Sacramento with his wife and two daughters.