The four incredible people below were PACA’s 2020-21 Co-op Developer Fellows. From July 2020 – February 2021, the Fellows worked closely with PACA’s staff to:

• Deepen their knowledge about cooperatively-owned businesses, including how they form, ownership structures, operations and governance within co-ops, and the unique challenges and opportunities co-ops face;
• Cultivate and strengthen research, facilitation, leadership, and outreach skills; and
• Deliver services and information to PACA co-op members, co-op leaders, and the general public.

 

The Co-op Developer Fellowship was funded by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.

Miguel Andrade

Miguel E. Andrade (he/him) was born in Buga, Colombia and is a queer immigrant communications freelancer based out of Philadelphia, PA. His work has been featured in various outlets such as Democracy Now!, The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, and Al Punto con Jorge Ramos. He got his start in Philadelphia’s Latinx-Immigrant community in late 2008 after getting involved in community activism at the age of 17, since then becoming one of Philadelphia’s leading voices for immigrant rights. 

From producing and hosting a TV news & analysis program (MMPTV) on Philly’s Public Access Station (PhillyCAM) to co-founding one of Philadelphia’s only Latino-immigrant youth leadership programs and helping turn Philadelphia into a “Sanctuary City” during his tenure at Juntos, a local immigrant rights organization, latinx representation has been the backbone of his work. As a communicator, his goal has always been to ensure that the voices and stories of the latinx community are accurately represented in mainstream media.

Lauren Horner

Lauren Horner (she/her) is her ancestor’s wildest dreams. As a healer and owner of Sacred Serenity Space, LLC., she uses her soul to guide, transform and direct the mind, body, and spirit to healing through spiritual and energetic exercises utilizing meditation. Lauren is an advocate for collective healing and communal building. She believes that bringing spiritual healing and wellness to social justice movements is the core of leading the charge to creating change. Lauren has experience in activism and advocating for social justice issues and community engagement and empowerment through her leadership in outreach, teaching, mutual aid support as well as one-on-one direct technical assistance. As a community organizer, program manager, coordinator, instructor, she has always been open to learning and gaining more knowledge and experience to tie in the interests and intersections of her work to serve and lead others to their higher selves and feeling empowered. Lauren has spent time researching, working and studying abroad in Senegal, Cuba, and much of Eastern Europe. She is curious and passionate about the world around her.

Michaela Pommells

Michaela Pommells (she/her) has over a decade of experience working on issues related to social justice from an intersectional and multi-issue perspective. Her work includes political education development, racial identity development and facilitating capacity building workshops for achieving gender and racial justice. She has worked at the grassroots, national, and international levels to engage and support directly impacted communities in using anti-racist mechanisms to advance justice. She is Director of Organizing & Social Justice Initiatives at The Village of Arts & Humanities and is a co-founder of the Coalition for Racial Justice, a consulting collaborative organized to eliminate race-based disparities in Philadelphia and beyond via program evaluation, group facilitation, community engagement, strategic planning, and training and curriculum development and implementation. 

Jay Scott

Jalen Scott-Davis (he/him) is a Philadelphia native from the Germantown section of the city. He currently resides in Logan with his Mother, older sister, and younger brother. Jalen is currently a rising senior at Lincoln University of Pennsylvania where he is majoring in Finance. While on campus, when Jalen was not busy studying, he worked as a Resident Advisor for the past two years mentoring freshman male students and finding new ways to build community amongst building residents. He encouraged his residents to take advantage of all opportunities that Lincoln offered because we must be engaged in our environment in order to grow. Jalen views the Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance (PACA) as a new opportunity to grow and put all of his skills developed at Lincoln into the wonderful work that PACA does for cooperatives in Philadelphia.