Nancy was a longtime teacher in several areas of special education, including high school students with reading and writing difficulties. She worked closely with the high school vocational career counselor, and they were the recipients of an Innovation Grant to combine reading and vocational education in the classroom. 

She has authored two books published by Rowman and Littlefield: Misguided Education Reform: Debating the Impact on Students and Losing America’s Schools: The Fight to Reclaim Public Education. And she co-authored a third book with Diane Ravitch EdSpeak and Doubletalk: A Glossary to Decipher Hypocrisy and Save Public Schooling. 

Nancy can be found blogging about public schools on her blog nancyebailey.com, 10 years running, where she also maintains a website of information that may be helpful for teaching and parenting.

Jeff Bryant is writing fellow and chief correspondent for Our Schools, a project of the Independent Media Institute, and the lead fellow of The Progressive magazine’s Public Schools Advocate project.

Courtney Champion is a passionate advocate for gun violence prevention through legislative action, community organizing, and public education. She is a mother of two and joined the violence prevention movement after her oldest child experienced traumatic lockdown drills in elementary school.

In her various leadership roles with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, Courtney led a team of volunteers in political action, spearheaded public education campaigns, and supported fellow advocates through mentorship and training. Courtney is most committed to addressing the impact of gun violence on youth. Due to her advocacy, Virginia law now requires school systems to inform guardians when drills are scheduled. She is currently focused on lobbying her local school board to support secure firearm storage education and legislation.

Courtney’s relentless advocacy is matched only by her avid baking, and she can often be found in the kitchen making her signature cookies when the news cycle is too much to bear.

Breanna Diaz (she/they) is a queer, Latinx person whose lived experience deeply informs their advocacy. She received her law degree from American University, Washington College of Law. Breanna currently serves as Policy & Legislative Counsel for ACLU of Virginia, where they work on LGBTQ rights, reproductive freedom and First Amendment issues. Prior to joining ACLU-VA, Breanna served as Policy Director of Positive Women’s Network-USA advocating for the rights of women and people of transgender experience living with HIV, focusing on the intersection of public health and criminalization. Breanna currently resides in Richmond, Virginia, but will forever be a proud Texan.

Laura Goren serves as the Director of Research and Education Policy at The Commonwealth Institute. This includes leading TCI's analysis on education funding, supporting community-based partners in their education advocacy work, and making sure the strongest analysis is being brought to bear on key issues facing communities of color and low-income families. Additionally, Laura's work includes analyzing macroeconomic conditions in Virginia and safety net programs. Outside of paid work, Laura has worked on grassroots social and economic justice campaigns, including successful campus living wage and inclusionary zoning campaigns. Laura previously served as a research assistant at the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, conducting research on housing finance issues.

Morgan Hamm (they/them) is a high school student in Chesterfield County

Dr. Ghazala Hashmi immigrated to the U.S. from India as a young child. Growing up in a small college town in Georgia, she saw firsthand how community-building and  dialogue can bridge cultural, racial, and socioeconomic divisions. As an experienced educator who spent nearly 30 years working within Virginia’s colleges and universities, she has presented numerous papers on literature, the scholarship of teaching and learning, online education, faculty development, and the role of community colleges. She has also published book chapters, articles, and essays on a variety of topics. Dr. Hashmi served as the Founding Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning (CETL) at Reynolds Community College. She earned her PhD in English from Emory University in Atlanta and her BA in English, with minors in Philosophy and International Studies, from Georgia Southern University.

Senior Pastor Ralph Steven Hodge was born in Washington D.C.; however, he spent most of his formative years in Fort Washington, Maryland.

He was born-again during the summer of 1979 and accepted his call to the ministry in 1989 while attending Howard University. It was during his time at Howard University that Reverend Hodge really began to live a spirit-filled life. He was active in Campus Crusade for Christ on Howard’s campus and served the Fort Washington Baptist Church as an ordained deacon before becoming an ordained minister.

He graduated from Howard University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and Applied Science in 1992 and, subsequently, received his Masters in Divinity degree from Virginia Union University in 1995. During the winter of 2002, he answered the call to become the pastor of the Second Baptist Church of South Richmond. His installation celebration was held on April 26, 2003.

Pastor Hodge is the former Co-President of Richmonders Involved to Strengthen Our Communities (RISC)  for many years and worked on healthcare, housing, and gun violence. 

Pastor Hodge is married to the former Kassandra Elder, and together they are raising four sons: Tyrone, Samuel, Isaiah, and Steven.

Michael Karabinos is a parent and advocate from Chesterfield County.  Michael introduced the "Watch D.O.G.S." Parent volunteer program to his children's elementary school and ran the program for 7 years.  He has been a Cubmaster, assistant Scout Master, Religious education assistant, and coached multiple youth sports.  

Michael has been motivated into advocacy to protect the education and opportunities within Virginia from deliberate disinformation campaigns designed to dismantle our established institutions. 

Peggy Lavinder is a parent volunteer and advocate for Hanover County Public Schools serving five years on the Mechnicsville High School PTSO Board. Before disbanding, she served for four years on the Hanover Schools Community Equity Advisory Committee. Peggy is the Secretary for the Hanover County Branch NAACP and has actively supported their program for Education Equity, access and inclusion for minority groups and their history. She joined the Hanover NAACP’s decades-long effort to change the former Lee Davis High School and Stonewall Jackson Middle School names. Peggy has served as board member of Mechanicsville Branch Library /Pamunkey Regional Library for seventeen years and is an ardent supporter of libraries. 

Rachel Levy is a nationally recognized public education advocate, writer, educator, and parent. She has served as a leader of the group Friends of Hanover Schools, as a local PTA unit and booster club leader, on several committees of the local school districts in her area, on then Governor-elect Ralph Northam’s PK-12 policy council, as a local Education Association president, and on the Education Committee at her synagogue. She has a PhD in educational leadership and policy from Virginia Commonwealth University. You can find her on facebook and Instagram at @rachelfordelegate and on twitter at @rachelannelevy.

Deirdra McAfee has taught in the US and the Marshall Islands, in public and private schools, and at every level from elementary through college and adult education. In the Richmond area, she taught American literature at the Governor’s School and taught eleventh-grade American literature at Henrico High School, as well as World Literature and Theory of Knowledge in HHS’s International Baccalaureate Programme.

Deirdra’s award-winning short fiction has been widely published and has earned her artist’s residencies at MacDowell and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, among others, as well as in France and Germany.

Deirdra also taught adult creative writers for many years at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond and in private seminars. She and a student, BettyJoyce Nash, edited and contributed to Lock & Load: Armed Fiction (University of New Mexico Press, 2017), a groundbreaking anthology of great American stories with guns in them, designed to spark fruitful conversations about American attitudes toward firearms.

Dr. Cassandra Newby-Alexander, is the Endowed  Professor of Virginia Black History and Culture at Norfolk State University. She is the former Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and the Emeritus Director and Founder of the Joseph Jenkins Roberts Center for African Diaspora Studies. Newby-Alexander is the author of numerous articles  including Dr. Sarah Garland Jones; Beyond Race and Gender in Late 19th Century Virginia"  that won the William M. E. Rachal Award for Outstanding Article in the Virginia Magainze of History and Biography in 2019.  Newby-Alexander is the author of Virginia Waterways and the Underground Railroad (2019), An African American History of the Civil War in Hampton Roads (2010), co-author of Black America Series: Portsmouth (2003), and Hampton Roads: Remembering Our Schools (2009). Newby-Alexander co-Edited Voices from within The Veil: African Americans and the Experience of Democracy (2008).  Dr. Newby-Alexander has appeared on numerous national programs and documentaries including PBS's Many Rivers to Cross, the History Channel's Race, Slavery, and the Civil War, and C-SPAN's broadcasts on history, including the American History Lecture. 

Newby-Alexander was the Co-Chair of the Virginia Commission on African American History Education in the Commonwealth

Wyatt Rolla is the Senior Transgender Rights Attorney for the ACLU of Virginia. They work alongside trans people across the Commonwealth, deploying litigation, policy, and community lawyering tools. Previously, Wyatt worked for nine years with Virginia’s Legal Aid Justice Center, initially focused on housing law, then shifting to combat criminalization of the poor, people of color, and far too many Virginians.   Outside of work, Wyatt is the co-founder of the National Lawyers Guild Central Virginia Chapter and serves on the Advisory Council for the Charlottesville Public Housing Association of Residents and the board of the Virginia Equality Bar Association (VEBA). Wyatt was recognized by Equality Virginia as an “OUTstanding Virginian” (as a VEBA board member) in 2020 and an “Up and Coming Lawyer” by Virginia Lawyers Weekly in 2018. They earned their B.A. from the College of William and Mary and their law degree from the University of Virginia.

Nathan Sekinger is a National Board Certified Teacher and middle school Librarian in Virginia. He was the Virginia Association of School Librarians State Librarian of the Year and a district finalist for Teacher of the Year in Stafford County in 2017. He is the current President of the Virginia Association of School Librarians and a recent recipient of AASL’s STEM Special Event Grant to expand 3D printing service projects at his middle school.

Vanessa Hall is a co-founder of 4publiceducation.org where she blogs to support Title IX, equity, LGBTQIA rights, gun control, truth in history, and school safety. She is known as an expert on dark money and astroturfed forces behind attacks on our public schools. At school board meetings, Vanessa stands as witness to and speaks out against those who descend on Fairfax County to create chaos, silence opposition, and attack families and educators. Before attacks on parents, educators, and community leaders triggered her to monitor and push back against extremism and dark money in Northern Virginia, Vanessa Hall was merely a full-time volunteer and mom. She continues to teach Sunday School, lead a scout troop, and is always ready to volunteer to support her community.