Dani Bernstein (They/them) | Board Member
Dani Bernstein brings more than a decade of experience in advocacy, volunteer management and philanthropy to their work on the board. Dani is currently the Executive Director of Multnomah County’s Office of Community Involvement. Their career began working as field staff for marriage equality campaigns, organizing in California, New Jersey and Oregon to build strong volunteer bases to advocate for marriage equality and LGBTQ justice. In 2010, Dani moved to Oregon permanently and started working for the Oregon Bus Project, a youth civic engagement nonprofit. Before joining Multnomah County, Dani served as the Acting Executive Director of the Equity Foundation, a local LGBTQ community foundation.They live in NE Portland with their wife, Rachel, and dog, Asher.
Ryan Curren (He/him) | Board Treasurer
Ryan Curren joined the board in April, 2018 to work through MRG to support groups around the state working for racial justice and beloved community. His job is with the City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability where he is leading the development of the SW Corridor Equitable Housing Strategy. His work focuses on where affordable housing policy intersects with land use, economic development, and transit policy. Prior to this position he worked for the Portland Office of Equity and Human Rights leading the city-wide effort to develop racial equity plans for all City bureaus. Before moving to Portland he was a Senior Community Development Specialist for the Seattle Office of Housing where he managed an anti-displacement strategy in Southeast Seattle and worked with the City’s Race and Social Justice Initiative to co-develop the City’s Equitable Development Initiative.
Liz Fouther-Branch (She/her) | Board Member
Liz Fouther-Branch, is a retired educator turned consultant that has spent more than 40 years working and volunteering for arts and youth development organizations. The last 20 years have been spent consulting on arts education programming and development, social justice, capacity building and advocacy. Liz has served on several local committees: City Club’s Homelessness Advocacy Committee, Regional Arts and Culture Council’s Mural Committee, McKenzie River Gathering “Justice Within Reach!” and Grantmaking committees, Social Venture Partners, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion committee and Multnomah County Citizens Involvement Committee (CIC) as well as the CIC-Non-Departmental Budget Committee. She is also a registered Yoga instructor, recently certified as an Accessible Yoga Ambassador and is seeking her “Yoga For All” certification. In her spare time, she enjoys researching family ancestry and crochet.
Ricardo Luján-Valerio (He/him) | Board Member
Ricardo Luján-Valerio is Portland City Commissioner Carmen Rubio’s Transition Liaison and Policy Director. Ricardo’s background covers immigration, education, election, and criminal justice policy. He previously served as Director of Advocacy at Latino Network, Policy Associate for the ACLU of Oregon, and as Legislative Director for the Oregon Student Association.
Ricardo has been a leader in the passage of various state legislative priorities, such as HB 2015 (Driver Licenses for All) and SB 1008 (Youth Sentencing Reform). Most recently, he was a co-architect of the Oregon Worker Relief Fund, a multi-million-dollar disaster relief program for Oregon’s immigrant community. He previously served as Vice Chair of the City of Portland’s Open and Accountable Elections Commission. He was born in Nezahualcoyotl, Mexico, and graduated from Southern Oregon University with a BS in Business and a certificate in nonprofit management. .
Lizzie Martinez (She/her) | Board Chair
Lizzie Martinez was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah; and identifies as a person of Mexican and Spanish descent. She first became interested in issues of social justice while volunteering on an Alternative Spring Break program in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Since then, she has dedicated her career to fundraising for social justice organizations, including national service advocacy and Latino communities in Portland. She currently works as Director of Development and Communications for Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon and serves on the board of Willamette Valley Development Officers where she co-leads a Fundraisers of Color group.
Ana Molina (She/her) | Board Member, Grantmaking Committee Board Liaison
Ana Molina joined MRG’s Board in April 2019, having worked through the MRG Capacity Building Initiative as part of Beyond Toxics. She is the Statewide Environmental Justice Liaison for Beyond Toxics where she advocates for environmental justice, climate justice, protections from toxic chemicals and pollinator protection – ensuring the voices of the people most impacted are at the forefront and leading our conversations. Ana lives in Eugene but grew up in South Lake Tahoe, California. Ana moved to Oregon after she graduated from Humboldt State University in Arcata, CA where she was involved with student organizing with and for undocumented students on campus and in the community. Ana has a love for both the environment and people because we are resilient, strong and imaginative, and we can come up with solutions when we work collectively centering our communities. On her downtime Ana likes to hike, backpack, read and check out thrift stores.
Oblio Stroyman (They/them) | Board Member
Oblio is a former family therapist who turned social justice activist when they decided to follow their heart. Oblio holds a B.S. in Sociology and Women and Gender Studies, and a M.Ed. in Couples and Family Therapy.
Oblio is the Interim Executive Director, Grant and Training Director of the non-profit TransPonder, a support, resource hub and training organization based in Eugene, Oregon that works on issues of gender diversity. Oblio gives presentations all over the country on topics of gender, sexuality, sexual health, intersectionality, LGBTQIA+ communities, addiction, power and privilege, consent, couples’ therapy, alternative relationship models, and healthy communication. Oblio consults with numerous organizations to assess their environment regarding unconscious bias and conscious inclusion in policies and procedures, materials, infostructure, and physical space.
Oblio is the founder of Gender Camp, a week-long camp for intra and interpersonal growth and community building and is on the organizing committee of the International Gender Odyssey conference. They founded the Rainbow Village at the Oregon Country Fair, a LGBTQIA dedicated space and resource booth and The Rainbow Connection, an LGBTQIA+ affinity space. They also co-created the Queer Sanctuary at Beloved Festival and work in tandem allyship for the TBIPOC Sanctuaries at both festivals. Oblio teaches regularly for Lost Valley Educational Center and the University of Oregon on topics of identity, community building, and communication.
Jaylyn Suppah (She/her) | Board Member/Since Time Immemorial Fund Grantmaker
Jaylyn is a mother, educator, advocate for social justice and a member of the Confederated Tribe of Warm Springs (CTWS). She was raised in Simnasho, Oregon and is a traditional food gatherer for her Tribe. She is a mother of two beautiful children. Her Indian name is Alish (Ah-lish) which was given to her from her namesake; Margaret Suppah, her grandmother who raised her. Her passion is decolonizing education for herself, her children, her community, and always looks for ways to incorporate her culture into her home, classroom and programming.
Jaylyn works for the CTWS as the Community Planner for the Health & Human Services branch advocating and advancing health equity practices and policies. She currently serves on the Oregon Indian Education Association board where she uses her voice to work towards equitable education for all students. She developed the Papalaxsimisha program which incorporates historical trauma, healing, self-identity, cultural awareness, high school readiness, college and career readiness in a curriculum she and two other native teachers developed. Her background includes Cultural Awareness trainer, Traditional Health Worker, youth mentor, historical trauma facilitator, curriculum development and youth program development.
Esperanza Tervalon-Garrett (She/her; They/them) | Board Member
Esperanza Tervalon-Garrett is a queer, Afro-Puerto Rican woman, and a native daughter of Oakland, California. She is the founder and CEO of Dancing Hearts Consulting, LLC, a progressive consulting firm that curates innovative ideas, programs, and campaigns to challenge the status quo and test emerging strategies that change the political game to win long-term change for the people most impacted by systemic oppression. Esperanza was the first woman of color to lead a 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4) & PAC collaborative civic engagement formation focused on mobilizing progressive voters of color in the United States. Her ability to build grassroots power in neighborhoods, at the ballot box, and at City Hall has earned her a solid reputation as a savvy electoral strategist, a seasoned political organizer, and a power-building innovator among Social Justice activists and philanthropic leaders.
Esperanza is the co-chair of the Funders Committee for Civic Participation, a network of civic engagement institutions that move $170 million to the field each year. She is also serving as the Statewide Campaign Manager for the Oregon Hard to Count Census Campaign that aims to engage one million people.
Esperanza is married to wife Christine and her proudest accomplishment is her brilliant and tenacious son, Santiago. They live at Dancing Hearts Ranch, a 16-acre ranch in the Cascade Mountains of Southern Oregon.
Kim Thomas (She/her) | Board Secretary
Kim Thomas works as a consultant providing strategic advising and support for nonprofits and philanthropy. From 2006-2015, she was a program officer for Meyer Memorial Trust (MMT), where her personal interests were in seeding authentic funder collaborations and helping break down the barriers between philanthropy and the nonprofits and communities they serve. Prior to her work for MMT, Kim worked for 16 years at Oregon Food Bank (OFB), leading OFB’s advocacy and public policy work to address the root causes of hunger as well as supervising relationships with 18 regional food banks and over 800 local member programs across Oregon and Southwest Washington.