ALISON NIHART
Co-Chair (VT)

Alison began volunteering with Rights & Democracy in 2016 and quickly felt that she had found her “political home.” In addition to her role on the board, she also serves as a member of the Vermont Leadership Committee and the Vermont Movement Politics Committee (which leads electoral strategy and candidate endorsement processes). She is passionate about building accessible and transparent systems that facilitate broad democratic participation in RAD’s work, and enjoys the process of figuring out how to design and maintain those systems. (Term: 2020-2021)

SHARLENE LABORE
Co-Chair (NH)

Sharlene was born in Keene, NH and has lived in New Hampshire her whole life. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of New Hampshire and later worked at the US Postal Service-where she retired recently after roughly 30 years. For approximately 22 years she was a steward for the NPMHU (National Postal Mail Handler Union), and served on the NH AFL CIO Executive Board for about 20 years. During her time with the NH AFL-CIO, I experienced and learned a tremendous amount about politics, social justice and reform, and grassroots organizing. She stepped down from the board after her retirement, and I has been looking for a place to land and continue fighting the good fight. She heard about RAD from other union activists, and more than a year ago she started to volunteer, as well as attend events and meetings for Rights & Democracy. The principles that RAD extols are precisely the same as the principles a union works to promote. (Term: 2020-2021)

ERIC RASMUSSEN
Secretary (NH)

During the 2016 election season, Eric had a political “awakening”, and became more than just a voter. He started canvassing, hosting volunteers, baking cookies, and more for the Bernie Sanders campaign. After the election, he joined the Francestown Democratic Committee, where he is now the vice-chair, worked to re-establish, strengthen, and coordinate with other town Democratic committees across Hillsborough county as part of the D38 Alliance, started volunteering for Rights & Democracy, and have continued to canvass for candidates throughout 2017 and 2018. He believes strongly in the issues championed by Rights & Democracy and is leveraging his decades of experience in the non-profit world to help shepherd RAD’s growth during the critical time leading up to the 2020 elections. (Term: 2019-2020)

SCOTT GARREN
Treasurer (VT)

Scott has been a lifelong activist for social and economic justice starting with the civil rights and anti-war movements. He is a founding member of RAD, Facilitator of the Vermont Leadership Committee and is on the Movement Politics Committee, and Treasurer of the Vermont Political Revolution PAC. He is the founder of Vermont Acts, to get money out of politics, and has been active in the Vermont Workers Center, Castleton Indivisibles, and the Rutland Area NAACP. He also serves as the Rutland County Treasurer & State Committeeman for the Vermont Democratic Party. He is a Data Scientist and a member of the Analyst Institute, a clearinghouse for evidence on voter contact and engagement programs that makes evidence-based recommendations to the progressive community. His commitment to fighting for social, economic and environmental justice is informed by a grandmother who fled czarist Russia because of persecution for her union organizing and his own Quaker upbringing. (Term: 2020-2021)

CLAUDE DELUCIA
Treasurer (VT)

Claude is a retired accountant who volunteers at his local public access television station in Bennington, VT, and is interested in social justice issues. He is an active member of RAD’s Bennington Organizing Team. (Term: 2019-2020)

SEBASTIAN FUENTES
(NH)

Sebastian, an immigrant from Peru, landed in NH right after 9/11. During those hard times, Sebastian started to understand the meaning of being an American and what it represents. In 2016 he became a U.S Citizen and started to being passionate about issues that affect him directly like Immigration and Racism. By studying those issues Sebastian realized all other issues were interconnected. Criminal Justice, Economic Justice are some of them. He joined the Occupy Inauguration Team with the Equality Coalition out of Philadelphia protesting the Donald Trump Inauguration in D.C. Came back to Northern NH and together with a group of local progressive activists they started a Community group called For the People by the People. They organized rallies and marches across northern NH.  Sebastian also volunteers for the ACLU and goes around to give an Ask an Immigrant Anything discussion where people of all areas ask questions regarding his personal experience. He joined Rights & Democracy because they were the only organization to went up to the North Country and listened. RAD has the tools and the people to truly give us a voice. (Term: 2019-2020)

AMY HATHAWAY
(NH)

Amy comes to this work with early experiences with activism at home. She grew up in a liberal Quaker Meeting in CT, and observed her mother’s deep involvement in the Sanctuary movement of the 1970’s and 80’s. She moved to New Hampshire in 1980 to attend a small Quaker school built on active and intentional community, focused on integrating farming, communal living and progressive education. She has been inspired by RAD and has grown into a leadership role over the last two years, and she is excited to continue my learning as an organizer and be an active part of making decisions that feed RAD’s vision and goals. Above all, she values building community and collaboration. (Term: 2019-2020)

KRISTEN LAINE
(At-Large)

Kristen comes to RAD through the New Hampshire Progress Alliance, which she co-founded in 2017. NHPA made some of its early investments RAD as a way to strengthen NH’s progressive political infrastructure. As she’s continued to serve on NHPA’s board, she has been drawn to RAD’s vision and commitment to organizing and mobilizing at the grassroots level and officially joined RAD in 2019. She hopes to bring to a working role on RAD’s board: skills from a career as a writer and communicator; board experience on community nonprofits and advocacy organizations in New Hampshire and Washington State; strategic understanding of community organizing. She moved to NH in 1995 when she married writer, editor, and Granite State native Jim Collins; they have two school-age children. In 2012 they relocated to Seattle but return regularly to New Hampshire for work and family. (Term: 2020-2022)

MICHELLE MCCORD
(NH)

Michelle McCord, of Concord, NH, is currently the UniServ Director for the National Education Association of New Hampshire (NEA/NH). Her region includes the North Country of NH, the largest geographic region but the least populated and often forgotten in the eyes of the NH Legislature. She has yet to find a coordinated group or organization that she can encourage people to participate in for advocating on important issues (other than education), and she thinks RAD has a lot of potential for the North Country. During her 15 years with the State Employees Association of NH, SEIU Local 1984, among representation and negotiation work, I was part of a team that facilitated internal and external organizing drives, including the Community College System of NH adjunct professors union, the first one of its kind in New England before the big adjunct organizing movement in Boston. (Term: 2020-2021)

MIA SCHULTZ
(VT)

Mia has been a member and leader in the Bennington chapter of Rights & Democracy chapter since 2016. She serves on the chapter’s water and the racial justice work groups, which have led to significant movement and change in the community. Mia is committed to finding and supporting progressive political candidates. It is important to me to contribute my time and effort toward bettering the lives of others by working for social, political and economic change. (Term: 2020-2021)

GRIFFIN SINCLAIR-WINGATE
(NH)

During the 2016 elections Griffin pressured presidential candidates to take stronger stances on climate through birddogging, banner drops, and disruptions. While working for 350 Action in the 2016 primaries, Griffin learned how to engage with candidates in order to change the national narrative. During his time at 350NH he’s learned an incredible amount about what it takes to organize community volunteers. Similar to RAD, 350NH is an organization driven by volunteers. He’s learned how to craft a strategy that incorporates the broad range of ideas volunteers bring to the table. (Term: 2020-2021)