ICIRR Staff
Joshua Hoyt, Executive Director, ext. 211
Joshua Hoyt has been the director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights since May of 2002. During that time the Coalition has fought vigorously for citizenship for the undocumented and to protect civil liberties in the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001. The Coalition has helped to make Illinois one of the most immigrant friendly states in the U.S.
In 2003 the Coalition led the successful fight for in-state tuition for undocumented students in Illinois and followed this up by sponsoring its own bus and own route across Illinois for the Immigrant Worker Freedom Ride. In 2004 the Coalition won the “New Americans Initiative” in partnership with the State of Illinois, a $9 million three-year effort to assist 60,000 legal immigrants become U.S. citizens. In addition the “New Americans Vote: ‘04” Campaign registered over 27,000 new immigrant voters and turned out 60,000 immigrant voters in 14 different suburban and city communities. In 2005 the Coalition won recognition for the Consular I.D. (Matricula Consular) in Illinois, a strengthened Day Labor Protections Act, as well as a “Charity Without Fear” Resolution calling for the protection of Muslim charitable giving (Zakat). During this time the Coalition has grown from a $1.8 million dollar a year budget to a $5.6 million budget, and increased from 9 to 18 employees.
Josh has worked a total of 28 years as an organizer for social justice in Chicago, Baltimore, and in the countries of Spain, Peru, and Panama. This includes eight years of work in the poorest Latino communities of Chicago; four years as the executive director of the Organization of the NorthEast (O.N.E.), a community organization in the diverse Uptown and Edgewater communities of Chicago; the organizing of low wage workers in Baltimore, Maryland in a campaign that resulted in the first "Living Wage" ordinance in the nation; and organizing as a lay volunteer for the Catholic Church in the highlands of Peru and in the Diocese of Colon, Panama. He served as president of the Citizen's Utility Board of Illinois, the state's largest consumer organization, winning hundreds of millions of dollars in refunds for utility consumers. Most recently he served as the associate director of United Power for Action and Justice, an ambitious metropolitan wide citizen organizing effort that was part of the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) network. Josh was responsible for organizing on the North and Northwest Sides of Chicago, as well as the northern suburbs as well as the Muslim community of Chicago. He was the lead organizer of United Power's Gilead Campaign for the Uninsured, which resulted in the creation of FamilyCare in Illinois, expanding health insurance coverage to 130,000 uninsured adults.
Josh was educated at the University of Illinois and the Universidad Central de Barcelona, Spain, and received his Master's from the University of Chicago. He has testified before Congress; spoken to such national media as the Leher News Hour, the O'Reilly Factor, and the New York Times; written numerous articles; and directed political campaigns. He speaks fluent Spanish and limited Portuguese.
Josh has been married for 21 years, and has two children, ages 18 and 14.
Mehrdad Azemun, Senior Organizer, ext. 214
Mehrdad Azemun works with immigrant and refugee communities around the Chicago metropolitan area on grassroots leadership development and issue campaigns. He was born in Iran and his family immigrated to the US in 1978. He has 10 years of experience in social change organizing. Most recently he was an immigrant and education organizer with Organization of the NorthEast (ONE), a community organization working in Chicago's Uptown, Edgewater and Rogers Park neighborhoods.
.
Lawrence Benito, Associate Director, ext. 237
Lawrence has worked on social justice issues in various communities for the past 14 years. Prior to joining ICIRR, he was the program coordinator for the national Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees. He is also a former Peace Corps Volunteer in Ghana, West Africa, and past board president of the Crossroads Fund in Chicago. Lawrence also served as the Director of Newcomer Initiatives at ICIRR for 3 years prior to working as an organizer in the northwest suburbs. He is married, and has two children ages 3 and 5.
.
Kelli Covey, Development Director, ext. 239
Before joining the coalition in April 2006, Kelli served as the Director of Resource Development at Centro Comunitario Juan Diego, a 12-year-old Latino community center on the southeast side of Chicago. She successfully secured almost $100,000 in new foundation funding for the organization in the year she was there. She was also the Director of Initiatives for Social Good at a local ethnographic research firm, where she established working relationships with the Global AIDS Alliance and the national Keep a Child Alive organization. Prior to joining the nonprofit world, Kelli spent six years as a Senior Information Architect at Fry, Inc, a leading Web design and development company, where she assisted large-scale retailers, universities, and other large organizations to develop strategic, data-driven Web sites. Kelli has a B.A. in English and Theology and completed three years of graduate course work in English and Cultural Studies at the State University of New York.
Diego Bonesatti, Downstate Organizer, ext. 217
Diego Bonesatti is currently working to establish the first central Illinois office of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights as well as doing training and capacity building for area organizations, and community education. Mr. Bonesatti was previously involved in planning and execution of the New Americans Initiative to assist immigrants in achieving naturalization. Prior to the Coalition, Mr. Bonesatti worked at the Midwest Immigrant Rights Center of Heartland Alliance, where he received full accreditation by the Board of Immigration Appeals to represent immigrants in deportation proceedings and other immigration and citizenship matters.
In addition to his duties at the Coalition, Mr. Bonesatti has served as a member on several boards, including, currently, the Latino Advisory Committee of the Cook County Clerk’s Office to identify and eliminate voting problems for the Latino population of the county
Artemio Arreola, Political Director
Bio coming soon...
.
.
.
.
.
Fred Tsao, Policy Director, ext. 213
Fred Tsao is the Policy Director at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. In this position, he provides technical support, trainings, and presentations on immigration-related topics to service providers, immigrant community organizations, and others who work with immigrants. He also provides updates and analysis of changes in immigration policies and procedures to ICIRR members and allies, and assists with the coalition's legislative advocacy efforts. A self-described “recovering attorney,” Fred practiced law at the Rockford office of Prairie State Legal Services, where he worked after receiving his law degree from the University of Michigan. He has also worked with the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, the Chicago Anti-Hunger Federation, and the Missouri Public Interest Research Group. A native of Chicago, Fred is the son of immigrants from China, and has had a lifelong concern with immigration issues.
Maureen Meter, Director of Finance and Administration, ext. 234
Bio coming soon...
.
.
.
.
Ahlam Jbara, Outreach and Interpretation Project Coordinator, ext. 232
Bio coming soon...
.
.
.
.
Karla Avila, New Americans Initiative Director, ext. 215
Born in Mexico City. Bachelors Degree in Economics at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) in Mexico City. From June 2001 to August 2002 she was Chief of Public Policy Planning at the National Women’s Ministry of Mexico, where she established links of collaboration between government and academic agencies to recommend policies, strategies and actions to promote equal opportunities and to prevent discrimination against women.
Since July 2004, she is the Director of the New Americans Initiative at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights where she oversees day-to-day program and contract management and administration of this program, including oversight of grantees and agency compliance with work-plan. The New Americans Initiative (NAI) is an unprecedented state program that provides comprehensive services to help Illinois’ more than 340,000 Legal Permanent Residents become U.S. citizens. NAI provide services ranging from citizenship preparation, assistance in filling out applications, as well as legal screening and assistance. It emphasizes regional outreach and will offer convenient locations for citizenship applicants to receive services.
Luvia Quinones, Citizenship Specialist, ext. 212
Luvia works on the New Americans Initiative as the Citizenship Specialist. Prior to working for the Coalition, she interned and worked at various organizations such as Centro Romero, El Centro de Educacion y Cultura, Erie Neighborhood House and Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Ministries. At these organizations she taught ESL, citizenship classes and coordinated a Spanish Language program for DePaul University. She also conducted ethnographic research studying and tutoring citizenship students to learn the barriers that exist from passing the exam and why some people decide to wait 10-20 years to apply. She is the daughter of Mexican immigrants from Durango, Mexico.
Catherine Salgado, Communications Coordinator, ext. 235
Catherine was born and raised in Quito, Ecuador. She has been at ICIRR since February 2006 and she is interested in immigrant community issues and the effect of media in immigration issues. She has worked in the communications field as a producer for tv commercials, tv programs, and theater. She has a degree in TV Production as well as an Associate in Applied Science in Multimedia Arts and a bachelor’s degree in Communication from Loyola University Chicago.
Lisa Thakkar, Policy Associate, ext. 223
Lisa Thakkar is the Project Coordinator for the New Americans Executive Order Policy Project. The project is the first public-private collaboration in the nation created to develop a comprehensive state policy to integrate immigrants and refugees into American society. Lisa earned a Masters degree in Social Work from Boston University and a degree in law from Loyola University Chicago. She is the daughter of immigrants from Kerala, India.
.
.
Sandra Hoyt, Finance Officer, ext. 222
Sandra Hoyt is the ICIRR Finance Officer and has been with ICIRR since January 2005. She has worked in the non-profit industry for three years providing financial services.
.
.
.
.
.
Ana Guajardo, Outreach Organizer, ext. 216
.
.
.
.
.
.
Jackie Mahendra, E-Advocacy, Web, and Tech Manager, ext. 233
Jackie Mahendra graduated from Brown University with a degree in Science, Technology, and New Media Studies. Her heritage spans three continents, and she has travelled through five. Before coming to ICIRR in March, she worked on digital advocacy and video production in Senegal, West Africa. She manages ICIRR's websites, action alerts, and databases by day and maintains the new ICIRR YouTube channel by night.
.
Veronica Castro, Volunteer and Training Coordinator, ext. 210
Veronica Castro was born and raised in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago. She has a B.A. in Political Science from Northeastern Illinois University.
.
.
.
.
.
Juan Jose Gonzalez, New Americans Democracy Project Associate, ext. 236
Juan Jose Gonzalez is the New Americans Democracy Project Associate. He recently graduated from Princeton University, where he majored in Politics, with certificates in Political Economy and African-American Studies. He was awarded the Princeton Class of 1969 Black Alumni Frederick Douglas Service award for work to improve the lives of racial minorities on campus. He received the award as a result of work done with a group called the Chicano Caucus. As president for several years, his work was to recruit, retain and organize Black and Latino students at the University and in the surrounding community. His goal as Project Associate is to better understand the skills it takes to be an organizer and to mobilize as many new citizens and immigrants to the polls so that they may show their political strength.
Mariana Kim, Outreach and Interpretation Project Associate, ext. 225
Bio coming soon...
.
.
.
.
Nora Garcia, Administrative Assistant, T, ext. 210
Bio coming soon...
.
.
.
.
Ricardo Serrano, NAI Northwest Suburbs Outreach Coordinator
Bio coming soon...
.
.
.
.
Marcela Alvidrez, ext. 226
Bio coming soon...
.
.
.
.
Jenn Kons, Administrative Projects Assistant
Bio coming soon...
.
.
.
.
Fellows
Ricardo Rosas, Fellow
.
.
.
.
Ashley Wooten, Fellow
.
.
.
.
Miguel Angel Cuaya, Fellow
.
.
.
.
The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (Chicago, IL) seeks a Communications Coordinator, with Bachelor's in Communication. Must have experience with intercultural communications methods, use of focus groups to test messages, communications research papers and development and management of web content for communication of messages to both ethnic communities and donors. Send resume to mmeter@icirr.org with CC01 in subject heading. No calls, please.
