Staff & Board of Directors

Miriam is originally from Guatemala and loves working with and for her community. She arrived in Alabama in 2005. She previously volunteered at La Casita, and then worked at the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama for several years. “For me it is a lovely experience to be able to show my community what one day other people taught me. Now I have the great opportunity to work at Adelante and continue to be involved with the community, which is the work I have always loved to do,” explains Miriam.

Resha first arrived in Alabama in 2015 to attend the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Social Work and Bachelor of Arts in Spanish. Her professional background is in intercultural relations, victim services, and policy analysis. Before beginning as a full-time staff member at Adelante, Resha served as the organizer for Shut Down Etowah, where she used her social work background to advocate for prison abolition. Resha’s work is informed by her own experiences as a black woman in the South and in Latinx spaces. She is extremely interested in how organizations can use policy as an organizing tool and strengthening the alliances between brown and black folks through strategic communication.

Jessica moved to Birmingham in 2013 to help launch Adelante with the support of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. She received her J.D. from Yale Law School in 2013. Jessica’s work is guided by a law and organizing approach, using creative, high-quality litigation, legal representation and strategy to support organized community efforts to hold government actors, employers, and other authorities accountable for unjust practices. Jessica is licensed to practice law in Alabama and California.

Richard Gabriel first came to Adelante as Organizing Fellow for the Shut Down Etowah campaign. Their first taste of organizing began when they fought against Amendment 1, an anti-LGBTQ constitutional amendment proposed in North Carolina. This passion for organizing developed into advocacy opposing HB2 (anti-Trans bill in North Carolina), pressuring decision makers to make Wake Forest University a Sanctuary Campus for undocumented students, and educating peers in organizing and power building. Continuing to push for justice, they are incredibly excited to be directly addressing immigration detention and mass incarceration with this amazing group of people, both in Adelante and the Shut Down Etowah campaign.