Staff

Gihan Perera is co-founder and Executive Director of the Miami Workers Center. Gihan is also one of the co-founders of the Right to the City – a national alliance of over 30 grassroots organizations, legal service providers, academics and policy groups seeking alternatives to gentrification and urban displacement of poor and working class communities of color. He is a nationally recognized progressive movement leader, organizer, and strategist. He frequently speaks at conferences and on the radio, and he has been published in both local and national media outlets. Gihan sits on the Board of Directors of MWC, Gihan worked in the labor movement as a lead organizer throughout the South with ACTWO and as the recruitment director for the AFL-CIO’s Organizing Institute.

Badili Jones joined the MWC staff in 2008. As Leadership & Development Coordinator, he oversees leadership development and training programs at all levels within the organization. Born in Newark, New Jersey, he has worked within the labor, gay rights, and black liberation movements throughout his life. Within the labor movement he worked as an organizer with UNITE and more recently as a service specialist and hearing officer for the Georgia Department of Labor. He is a founding member of In the Life Atlanta, the largest Black LGBTQ pride celebration in the United States. Badili has also worked extensively within the non-profit and for-profit sectors, specifically with the Brisbane Institute/Southern Center for Labor Education and Organizing in Atlanta.

Joseph Phelan joined the Miami Workers Center staff as a Communications Assistant after graduating from the 2005 Intensive Organizers Training Program. Born and raised in Long Island, New York, Joseph came to MWC after several years with SLAM (Student Liberation Action Movement) organizing students around a myriad of issues including better access to college education for low-income people of color in New York City. Joseph is also an artist and published writer with pieces appearing in ZNet, Race Wire, Color Lines, Left Turn, and People's Tribune. Joseph was a 2008 Taproots Fellow with the Movement Vision Lab and currently sits on the board of SmartMeme.

Lori Danley joined the Miami Workers Center in June 2010 as a Communications Associate. Lori comes to MWC with an extensive background in sales, and web and graphic design. She is currently enrolled in an interdisciplinary political/social science program at FSU, and has studied at Howard University and the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale.··Originally from St. Petersburg, Lori has also lived in Michigan, Washington D.C., New York, and Chicago. A self-professed linguaphile, she can speak some form of five languages. Recently, she canvassed for the U.S. Census in Palm Beach County.

Saraí Portillo joined the staff of the Miami Workers Center in October 2005. A native of Mexico, she is building grassroots membership and leadership in Wynwood as an organizer with Miami en Accion. Saraí came to MWC with organizing experiences in Mexico, including extensive work in Chiapas, and with PCUN (Pineros y Campesions Unidos del Noroeste) in Oregon. Sarai is a graduate of the Center's summer 2005 Organizers Training Program. Saraí is also a regular writer and contributer to several publications on issues of immigration and gloabalization.

Hashim is currently working with the MWC grassroots project LIFFT (Low-Income Families Fighting Together). He is currently organizing tenant unions for a Renter's Rights campaign. He is graduate of Florida International University, where he earned a BA in Sociology/Anthropology and an undergraduate certificate in Women's Studies. He has also represented MWC in numerous green and climate change conferences nationally, including the 2007 Bioneers Conference.