Staff

Over the last 15 years, Jess has played almost every role at the Rural Organizing Project, first as a human dignity group leader, then on the Board of Directors, she joined the staff as an organizer in 2011, then became Organizing Director, Co-Director, and now serves as ROP’s Executive Director. Not knowing at the time that it was called organizing, Jess began organizing with her peers in high school to launch a successful campaign to end mandatory viewing of Channel One, which launched an ongoing student group that led campaigns on immigrant rights and interrupting the poverty draft. As an ROP organizer, Jess worked with some of the most rural communities in Oregon to fight for the commons from post offices to libraries, to organize and counter organize in frontline communities reeling from vigilante and state violence and white nationalist organizing, and to advance experimental campaigns at the intersections of racial, economic, and social justice. Mobilizations of paramilitaries in rural Oregon and beyond led her to research and publish analysis on Oregon’s far-right organizing, including co-authoring Up in Arms: A Guide to Oregon’s Patriot Movement. Jess has had the privilege to keynote local, statewide, national, and international movement gatherings like the Citizen Participation University in Kunbábony, Hungary, and has shown up at the invitation of organizers looking for emergency strategic organizing support in the border zone, in rural Appalachia, and beyond. Under Jess’ leadership, ROP’s model has evolved to include a rural, decentralized staff team to better organize, support, and collaborate with our members. Send Jess an email at jess@rop.org.

Emma joined the ROP staff team in Spring 2019 after doing multiple years of organizing internships, including documenting rapid response networks built to support undocumented Oregonians so that local organizers could reflect on their work, learn from each other and make connections with peers across the state. Born and raised in Salem, Emma started organizing in her first year of college, focusing mostly on climate justice issues through a campus-based fossil fuel divestment campaign, fighting the Vermont Fracked Gas Pipeline, and more. Later her focus shifted to participating in performance activism against campus rape culture and helping shut down a lecture by white nationalist Charles Murray. Now based in Deschutes County, Emma can usually be found on the back roads, digging in with group leaders across rural and frontier Oregon about how to build stronger and more powerful groups. Send Emma an email at emma@rop.org.

Monica (she/her) joined ROP in February 2020 as the Development Director to lead fundraising initiatives to sustain our organizing across Oregon for the long haul. Monica is from both urban (Portland) and rural (Newport) Oregon, where Monica grew up and stays connected to her family and community. For the past 10 years, she has worked to fight the criminalization of poverty and homelessness, serving on the board and then as the Development Director for the Western Regional Advocacy Project. She also served as the Executive Director of Sisters of the Road in Portland for 12 years and was Station Co-Manager at KBOO Community Radio. Send Monica an email at monicab@rop.org.

Kate joined the ROP staff team in November 2020 as the organization’s first archivist and makes sure ROP’s administrative systems are singing! Originally from Iowa, Kate also spent several years in Texas where she completed master’s degrees in archiving and gender studies at the University of Texas at Austin and worked and volunteered for several archives. She combines her passions for history, education, and preservation with a background in organizing against sexual assault and in support of people in jail. Now based out of the Community Building Center in Cottage Grove, Kate is working to process and raise awareness about ROP’s amazing archival collections so that everyone interested in stories about rural community organizing can learn from and appreciate them. Send Kate an email at kate@rop.org.

Monica Pearson joined ROP staff in March 2021 after serving three years on the Board of Directors. She moved to rural Oregon in 2016 and was a founding member of Indivisible North Coast Oregon (INCO) and North Coast Progressive Action. She led the INCO Oppose Bigotry team and founded the ongoing Happy Hour for Equity. She worked closely with Consejo Hispano and did lots of work on the No on 105 campaign where she coordinated canvassing teams to talk with local business, city, and county leaders about upholding Oregon’s sanctuary law and the importance of them speaking out about it publicly. Before her move to Oregon, she focused most of her work on equal access to reproductive options and the right to reproductive self-determination. Her passion is organizing to build a more just world where all community members can participate fully in society. Send Monica an email at monicap@rop.org!

Emily (she/her) joined Rural Organizing Project in July to expand the pantry program at ROP. Before joining ROP, Emily worked with children and families in a number of social services settings, including medical clinics, schools, and community programs for asylum seekers. Emily graduated from the University of Oregon in 2010 with a bachelor of arts in Psychology, minoring in World Religions. When Emily isn’t in the pantry, she loves cooking delicious meals, getting outside to hike and enjoy hot springs, and playing with her sidekick Frida the dog. Send Emily an email at emily@rop.org.

Abelio first worked with ROP when he interpreted a letter from a local police chief that explained that the department will not work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement into Mam, an Indigenous Guatemalan language that is only spoken. For the last year, Abelio has worked at ROP’s food pantry and resource-share in Cottage Grove, interpreting between English, Spanish, and Mam and expanding the ability for the pantry to serve migrant and asylum-seeking community members. Since he joined ROP staff full-time in October as a Community Resource Organizer, Abelio has served as one of the few Mam speakers in the entire state who are supporting migrants and asylum-seekers to access the Oregon Worker Relief Fund. When he isn’t busy keeping the ROP pantry running smoothly and supporting families accessing community resources, Abelio enjoys traveling the state playing soccer, drawing, and spending time with his family. You can email Abelio at ableio@rop.org