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Meet Make the Road's Leadership

(L to R) Javier H. Valdés, Co-Executive Director of Make the Road NY, (not pictured Deb Axt, Co-Executive Director of Make the Road NY), Maegan Llerena, Director of Make the Road PA, Barbara López, Director and co-founder of Make the Road CT, Sara Cullinane, Director and co-founder of Make the Road NJ, and Leo Murrieta, founding Director of Make the Road NV.

Five years ago, [Make the Road New York]([link removed]) (MRNY) and the [Center for Popular Democracy]([link removed]) (CPD) began replicating MRNY’s successful model. There are now powerful Make the Road organizations in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Nevada.

We are thrilled to announce new leadership at Make the Road Pennsylvania, and wanted to take the opportunity to introduce the other Make the Road directors as well.  

Maegan Llerena is the new Director of [Make the Road Pennsylvania]([link removed]), which runs organizing centers in Reading, Allentown, and Philadelphia, PA. Maegan joined MRPA in 2017; that year, she helped get the Allentown organizing center off the ground. In 2018, she led a successful police accountability campaign after Joey Santos, an unarmed Latino man, was killed by a police officer. As Deputy Director, she oversaw MRPA’s three organizing centers. Maegan was born in New York, the child of immigrants from Peru. Like many first generation oldest siblings, she helped raise her younger siblings while her parents worked multiple jobs. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Cedar Crest College and lives in the Lehigh Valley of PA.

Sara Cullinane is the Director and co-founder of [Make the Road New Jersey]([link removed]), which runs organizing centers in Elizabeth and Passaic, NJ. This past year, MRNJ won five state level organizing campaigns for pro-immigrant and worker policies, led the resistance against Trump’s attacks on immigrants in New Jersey, and provided legal services, ESOL and youth development services to more than 5,000 immigrant families. Before co-founding MRNJ, Sara was a labor organizer in the Midwest and worked at Make the Road NY, first as an organizer and health advocate and then as a staff attorney and Equal Justice Works fellow. She holds a JD from NYU School of Law, where she was a Root-Tilden-Kern public service scholar.  She is a commissioner on the New Jersey Census Complete Count Commission and was Co-Chair of Governor-Elect Phil Murphy’s Transition Team’s Law and Justice Committee. She lives in Newark, NJ.  

 

Barbara López is the Director and co-founder of [Make the Road Connecticut]([link removed]), which runs organizing centers in Bridgeport and Hartford, CT. This past year, MRCT’s youth leaders in Bridgeport won a campaign for safer routes to school, and MRCT helped pass statewide legislation to expand immigrant and workers’ rights. Barbara is originally from California and is a first generation Guatemalan American. Barbara has a BA in Sociology from the University of California, Santa Barbara and an MS in Labor Studies from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Prior to MRCT, Barbara was a labor organizer, where she mobilized thousands of health care workers, homecare workers and childcare providers to form unions and secure contracts to improve their workplace conditions. Barbara’s own journey motivates her to mentor the next generation of Latinx leaders in CT.


Leo Murrieta is the founding Director of [Make the Road Nevada]([link removed]), located in Las Vegas, NV. Founded less than two years ago, MRNV has already made a big impact – this past year, MRNV helped pass a number of statewide laws that guarantee paid sick days, raise the minimum wage, and expand immigrant rights. Leo arrived in the United States as an infant. He grew up in Las Vegas, where he and his family organized immigrant families while doing outreach for his father’s church. His mother was a housekeeper and member organizer with the Culinary Union Local 226. Having been involved with youth, Latinx, LGBTQ, and education public policy and advocacy for over 12 years, Leo brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to Make the Road NV. He is also the favorite uncle to eight wonderful nieces, husband to an amazing human, and proud dog dad.

 

Please join us in welcoming Maegan to the Make the Road family and CPD Network! We are so thrilled to have these inspiring individuals help to lead the Make the Road family and continue building the power of immigrant and working class communities to achieve dignity and justice. Sí se puede!
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