Brienne Colston (they/she) is a queer and genderqueer Black feminist, musician, guest lecturer, and community healer hailing from the South Bronx. In addition to serving as USDAC Co-Director, Brienne is the founder and executive director of Brown Girl Recovery, a Black and queer-led healing justice practice space. Brienne serves as a social justice consultant for an array of organizations, including the NYC Department of Mental Health & Hygiene, The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, The Indianapolis Public School District, Columbia University School of Social Work, and others.

Brienne attended Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin as a Posse Foundation scholar, graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Gender Studies and History. A proud alum of the Young People For Social Justice Fellowship, Brienne received the 2019 YP4 Innovation Award for her activist work with Brown Girl Recovery, and the George B. Walter ‘36 Service to Society Award.

When Carol Zou was growing up in subsidized university housing as the child of first-generation Chinese immigrants, they read The Fledgling by Jane Langton and convinced the rest of the children in the apartment complex that if they practiced hard enough, they could collectively learn how to fly. Carol is still a professional dreamer, interlocutor, writer, organizer, educator, provocateur, and systems architect around issues of public space, imagination, and liberation from structural oppression. Collaborative endeavors include Yarn Bombing Los Angeles, Michelada Think Tank, Trans.lation Vickery Meadow, and Asian Arts Initiative.

Carol received their BFA from Cornell University with minors in Urban Planning and Gender Studies, and their MFA in Public Practice from Otis College of Art and Design. They have participated in fellowships and residencies from Intercultural Leadership Institute, National Art Strategies, Women's Center for Creative Work, Common Field, University of Chicago Place Lab-Rebuild Foundation, and University of Houston College of the Arts-Project Row Houses.

Kelly Baker (she/any) is an artist, facilitator, fundraiser, and nonprofit consultant. She specializes in supporting movement organizations to be more effective, sustainable, and values-aligned. Her clients include a wide variety of movement organizations fighting for change at the local and national level, including Power Shift Network, Little Sis, Pa’lante Restorative Justice, and more.  Kelly currently develops and facilitates virtual workshops and classes for movement fundraisers through her work with Resource Organizing Project.

Before launching her consulting practice, she was the Co-Director of the New Economy Coalition, a U.S.-based national network supporting a just transition to a regenerative economy by building the scale and power of the solidarity economy movement. She has also worked with Boston-area youth development organizations such as Science Club for Girls and ZUMIX.  Kelly lives in her hometown of Boston, the ancestral and unceded lands of the Massachusett people.

Jackie Old-Coyote is Apsáalooke, a Whistling Water clan member, and child of the Whistling Water. She is mindful to be a granddaughter, daughter, sister, wife, mother, and grandmother. She has resided nationally and internationally, currently living on On^yote a•ká territory with her husband. She serves as a consultant for educational models; philanthropic engagements; strategic planning; leadership and executive education; and non-profit organizing; with an emphasis on Indigenous scenarios.

Prior positions include the Director of Education and Outreach for the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development and visiting administrative fellow for Harvard University Native American Program. She has served in various roles at Colgate University; Oneida Indian Nation Recreation; Blue Stone Strategy Group; and Oneida Indian Nation Enterprises.

Jordan Seaberry is a painter, organizer, legislative advocate and educator. Born and raised on the Southside of Chicago, Jordan first came to Providence to attend Rhode Island School of Design. Alongside his art, he built a career as a grassroots organizer, helping to fight for and pass multiple criminal justice reform milestones, including The Community-Police Relationship Act, the Unshackling Pregnant Prisoners Bill, and helping lay the groundwork for the “Ban the Box” movement in Rhode Island.

Jordan has worked as an educator with the Center for Dynamic Learning, as the Prisoners Rights Organizer with Direct Action for Rights and Equality and most recently as the Director of Public Policy and Advocacy at the Nonviolence Institute. He serves as a Board Member at New Urban Arts in Providence, and Protect Families First, working on community-oriented drug policy reform. He has received fellowships from the Art Matters Foundation, the Rhode Island Foundation, among others. He currently serves as the Community Leader Fellow at Roger Williams University School of Law and maintains a painting studio in Providence.