Moderators

• Indie Lens Pop-Up

  Indie Lens Pop-Up is a neighborhood series that brings people together for virtual film screenings and community-driven conversations. Featuring documentaries seen on PBS's Independent Lens, Indie Lens Pop-Up draws local residents, leaders and organizations to discuss what matters most, from newsworthy topics and social issues, to family and community relationships.

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  Zoe

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  Zoe

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  Beatriz

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  MoverstreetOVEE

Participants

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  Adriana Alvarez

  Panelist

  Adriana Alvarez is a 28-year-old working mother from Cicero. She’s been a crew member at McDonald’s for 10 years. She’s a single mom, raising her 8-year-old son Manny. She depends on public transportation and public assistance to help with transportation and medical costs. She often struggles to pay for Manny’s school necessities. She lives in a basement apartment that frequently floods and she desperately wants to move out. Adriana is a leader on the Fight for $15 and a Union nationally, and is also the leader for her store in Cicero. She’s helped her store get several raises by her organizing efforts. She's had countless meetings in her home with her co-workers to create a strong worker committee. These efforts have led to various store-wide raises. Contextually, most of the workers in this McDonald's haven’t gotten raises in the multiple years they’ve worked there. Adriana has been invited to speak at several venues nationally and internationally to share her stories of struggle about making poverty wages as a McDonald’s fast food worker and the efforts of the Fight for $15 and a Union movement.

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  Valarie Long

  Panelist

  Valarie Long is an International Executive Vice President of the Service Employees International Union, leading SEIU’s unionwide member engagement work through Together We Rise. Long brings more than 30 years of organizing and leadership development experience to her role. As a State of Ohio office worker, she organized her own worksite and went on to join the 9 to 5 movement as part of the team that worked to organize the University of Cincinnati with District 925. Long then worked on the joint AFL-CIO / 9 to 5 effort to organize Blue Cross/Blue Shield office workers. After learning the craft of organizing with District 925, Long went on to become one of the pioneers of the Justice for Janitors organizing model.

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  Karen Nussbaum

  Panelist

  Karen Nussbaum has been an organizer for more than 50 years. She was the founding director of 9to5, the national organization of working women; District 925, SEIU; and Working America, the community organizing arm of the AFL-CIO. Nussbaum served as the director of the U.S. Department of Labor Women’s Bureau, the highest seat in the federal government devoted to women. She is the co-author of two books and writes about women, labor, politics and culture. Nussbaum is on the board of Working America.

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  Elizabeth H. Shuler

  Panelist

  Elizabeth H. Shuler is the AFL-CIO’s Secretary-Treasurer, its second ranking officer, the first woman elected to the position, and the youngest woman ever on the federation’s Executive Council. First elected in 2009, she is the federation’s chief financial officer and oversees its operations.

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  Jennie Lay

  Panelist

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  Jody Shiroma

  Panelist

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  Lindsey Foat - Kansas City Public Library

  Panelist

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  Jody Shiroma

  Panelist

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  Tiffany Bender

  Panelist

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  Jody Shiroma

  Panelist

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  Jody Shiroma

  Panelist

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  Jody Shiroma

  Panelist

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  Jody Shiroma

  Panelist

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  Jennie Lay

  Panelist

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  Jody Shiroma

  Panelist

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  Meaningful Movies Project

  Panelist

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  Drew Ambrogi

  Panelist

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  Drew Ambrogi

  Panelist

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  Meaningful Movies Project

  Panelist

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  Lane Windham

  Panelist

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  sheila maddali (she/her)

  Panelist