Civic Leaders Hub
The Civic Leaders Hub (CLH) Fall Cohort is a 6-week leadership and organizing program, sponsored by the Ella Baker Center Action Fund (EBCAF) and the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights (EBC). Running from September 2, 2026, to October 13, 2026, bringing together local system-impacted leaders who are ready to build political power in their communities.
Through hands-on training and real-world practice, participants will gain the tools, skills, and political education needed to move people into action and win change. By the program’s conclusion, members will understand the core principles of issue-based campaigns and electoral organizing, and how both strategies work together to build lasting community power. Participants will meet weekly, receive voter outreach and organizing training, and engage directly in outreach activities, including canvassing and grassroots strategy development.
The Civic Leaders Hub is grounded in three pillars: Leadership Development, Voter Education, and Community Engagement — strengthening the capacity of our collective movement to build political, narrative, and modeling power.
Participants who successfully complete the program will receive a $800 stipend in recognition of their time, leadership, and commitment. The program follows a hybrid evening schedule designed to support working leaders and caregivers, with sessions held twice weekly (Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4 hours total per week) and two weekend convenings (4 hours each). In-person gatherings, outreach events, and canvassing activities will take place in Oakland.
Participant Requirements
- Alignment with the core values of the Ella Baker Center
• Formerly incarcerated individuals, or those who have supported an immediate family member through incarceration
• Access to Zoom for virtual sessions
• Availability to participate in weekly Tuesday & Thursday evening sessions (4 hours total per week)
• Ability to attend in-person Oakland meetings, outreach events, and canvassing days
• A strong interest in community organizing, base-building, voter engagement, and electoral movement work
Sign-Up for Updates
Thank you for your interest in our Civic Leader’s Hub. Please fill out the form below to be notified when our application opens.
FALL 2026 CIVIC LEADERS
Derek Methu (Pronunciation: Meth-oo) is the inaugural Civic Leader Fellow at the Ella Baker Center Action Fund (EBCAF) and an alum of the 2025 Civic Leader Hub. Grounded in the principle that lasting systemic change is built from the block up, Derek organizes at the intersection of narrative strategy, grassroots political education, and restorative justice.
His path spans two decades of building collective capacity—organizing student voters at San Diego State, analyzing institutional systems over ten years in strategic communications at The Washington Post, promoting community literacy solidarity in Guyana with the Peace Corps, and deepening restorative accountability with Community Works in Oakland. At EBCAF, Derek focuses on turning shared neighborhood values into durable civic leverage—organizing alongside returning citizens and working-class communities to challenge systemic disinvestment and build self-determined political power. (Pronunciation: Meth-oo)
ReNisha Gates is a recent UC Berkeley graduate with a B.A. in African American Studies, community organizer, and civic leader committed to creating change through advocacy, education, and community power. While at UC Berkeley, ReNisha was deeply involved with Berkeley Underground Scholars, supporting formerly incarcerated and system-impacted students and building community around education, reentry, and social justice.
ReNisha currently serves as a communications intern with the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, where they contribute to community organizing and advocacy centered on people directly impacted by incarceration and the criminal legal system. They are also a dedicated community volunteer and Civic Leader Hub Leader, helping connect people to resources, leadership opportunities, and opportunities for civic engagement.
ReNisha’s work is grounded in community organizing, education, and the belief that people directly impacted by systems of inequality should have a voice in creating solutions. They are passionate about building community power, developing future leaders, and using education and organizing as tools for liberation and lasting social change.
Alicia‘s lived experience with incarceration and recent participation in the Ella Baker Center Action Fund Civic Leader’s Hub have deeply shaped her commitment to community advocacy and leadership. She is dedicated to using her voice to create opportunities, support others in rebuilding their lives, and demonstrate that our past does not define our future.
She looks forward to continuing this work and making a meaningful impact together.
KB Bethany is a mother, wife, community advocate, and policy advocate from Richmond, California, whose commitment to justice began at a young age. KB made the decision to skip middle school to protest at San Quentin State Prison in support of abolishing the death penalty. What began as an act of conviction grew into a lifelong commitment to challenging systems that separate families, harm communities, and deny people opportunities for healing and transformation.
KB’s advocacy is deeply personal. With her father, husband, and brother incarcerated, she has experienced firsthand the ways the carceral prison system impacts families and communities.
Today, KB works as a policy advocate and community leader, using her lived experience to help create meaningful change. Her work is rooted in the belief that people closest to the harm and the systems being challenged must have a voice in creating solutions. Through The Change Parallel Project, KB believes that lasting change runs on a parallel track: as people do the inner work of identity, accountability, and healing, they simultaneously build the outer skills—communication, leadership, systems thinking, and advocacy to carry that change into their families, communities, and future.
For KB, advocacy is not just something she does it is part of who she is. She continues to turn lived experience into policy, pain into purpose, and community into collective power.
Clara Garcia was raised in Oakland, California, and is a proud wife and mother of two. She has dedicated the past 18 years to working for the Oakland Housing Authority, where she has had the opportunity to serve and support individuals and families in her community.
Clara has a strong passion for helping others. Her professional and personal experiences, including having a husband who is serving a life sentence, have given her firsthand insight into the challenges families and communities face within the criminal justice system.
These experiences have strengthened Clara’s commitment to advocacy, service, and creating positive change. She believes in listening, learning from others, and continually expanding her knowledge so she can better advocate for those who need a voice and make a greater impact in her community.
Carlos Ornelas is a 38 year old from Modesto California. Born to two immigrant parents, struggle was the norm. Due to constant resource scarcity and growing up around constant gang pressures and incarceration, criminal behavior seemed almost inevitable. He found community with others that shared the same struggles as them and found solace in the chaos.
Through many years of being in and out of incarceration and constant struggles that come along with it, Carlos found their way back to school. Carlos is currently working on their Bachelors degree majoring in Anthropology and minoring in Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. There, they are an active member of the Underground Scholars program that advocates and helps build community for formerly incarcerated or justice impacted students. Throughout their life they have been continuously involved in programs like Barrios Unidos in Santa Cruz, which helps folks coming home with resources for re-entering into the community through housing support and job training. They have also worked with The Hub for Sustainable Living in Santa Cruz providing harm reduction resources and essential needs supplies for folks struggling with houselessness. Their end goal is to continue to use my voice and resources to help the flourishing of our disenfranchised, marginalized communities.
Trancita Ponce is a fierce, dedicated advocate and mentor to systems impacted people as she is formerly incarcerated. She fights to end extreme sentences, Solitary confinement and mass incarcerations whose goal is to tear down, dehumanize and erase people.Trancita was released from incarceration 11/22/24 after serving 25 consecutive years. It was while serving her 25 year sentence she began her leadership and advocacy role fighting while on the inside for the populations rights, writing curriculum, workshops, creating a Podcast and Documentaries.
Since her release Trancita has mentored, supported, and given opportunities to several returning citizens, worked endlessly on ending solitary confinement, and has offered court support. Trancita Holds Certificates in Restorative justice, Trauma Informed care, Gang intervention, Beyond Violence, and adverse childhood effects. Currently working with Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition as a Bay Area Ambassador leading chapter meetings, building community, working on reentry and organizing people to build power and drive social change.
Trancita has turned her pain into power and purpose and will continue to fight Injustices of the most marginalized communities and the most vulnerable people.
“The tragedy of life is not death but actually what dies inside of you while you are still living”
Jamie Battle is a Bay Area native originally from Richmond, California. Her mother was a Black Panther, who always taught her to speak up for what’s right and also led them into a life of activism. Being previously incarcerated opened their eyes up to so many areas, the required change and the empowerment lacked throughout our community and within ourselves. Her goal is to educate her people as well as herself. To learn and get the information needed to pass on to the people so that we can continue to grow together. I feel like there’s no greater service to this world then to be the part of the change that betters all.
Brandi McMahon is an advocate, community organizer, and justice reform leader whose work is grounded in lived experience with incarceration. Through her own experiences, She has come to understand both the personal cost of incarceration and the power that comes from turning that pain into action.
Brandi is an Outside Organizer with Initiate Justice and serves on the board of Initiate Justice Action, where she works alongside those directly impacted by incarceration to advocate for meaningful justice reform and policy change. She is also an Essie Sister and graduate of Essie Justice Group’s Healing to Advocacy program. This community reminded her that her story is not something to hide or move beyond but is a source of strength, connection, and power.
Today, Brandi is committed to using her lived experience to create change for others who have been affected by incarceration. She hopes to help create communities where people feel seen and are empowered to use their own experiences to advocate for change. What once left her feeling powerless has become the foundation of her purpose.
Jocelyn is a passionate community advocate committed to transforming California’s criminal legal system and uplifting the voices of incarcerated people and their families. As the wife of a man serving a life sentence in California, she has experienced firsthand the profound impact that long-term incarceration has on individuals, families, and communities. Rather than allowing those experiences to silence her, Jocelyn has turned them into a driving force for advocacy, education, and change.
Her leadership journey includes graduating from the Initiate Justice Impacted Leaders program and participating in advocacy and leadership development through Essie Justice Group. At the heart of Jocelyn’s advocacy is a simple belief: people should not be defined forever by the worst moment of their lives.
Precious’ life has been shaped by challenges, growth, recovery, and a strong belief that her past does not have to determine her future. She became a mother at a young age and did not graduate from high school on time. As she moved through adulthood, she experienced difficult periods that included homelessness, addiction, incarceration, and the loss of people she loved. A major turning point came when she began her recovery and developed a greater sense of self-awareness, accountability, responsibility, and purpose. Recovery taught her that change takes time, progress happens one step at a time, and the challenges she experienced could eventually become part of something meaningful.
Her experiences led her toward a career focused on helping others. She currently serves as a SUD Program Manager with Men and Women of Purpose, supporting women and families navigating substance use, recovery, incarceration, and family reunification. She also serves as a Senior Leadership Development Coordinator with the Safe Return Project, where she participates in leadership development, healing, organizing, and community-building efforts. She returned to school to continue developing personally and professionally while studying psychology. Her experiences have taught her that success is not about having a perfect past, but about learning from it, continuing to grow, and using what she has learned to support others
