Executive Committee Officers
President – Alice Carli
Alice Carli learned about community organizing as an ACORN volunteer in the early 1980s, before moving to Rochester to study musicology at Eastman. She has worked for the past 25 years as the scores conservator at Sibley Music Library. In November of 2016 she attended a meeting of Campaign for NY Health - Rochester at Metro Justice, and her old interest in community activism was revived and is now going strong.
Vice President - Luis Torres
Since becoming a Metro Justice member in 2009, Luis has had the fortune to volunteer with campaigns, help with the running of the organization, learning from the old school volunteers, and getting blown away by the new members. He has also been lucky to get the opportunity to work with those making a living in farmwork, hotels, and healthcare. He was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. One way he is growing the movement is by having four kids... Maya, Mateo, Noah and Phoebe.
Past President – Evelyn Evans
Evelyn is president emerita of the Federation of Social Workers; an IUE-CWA local, and currently holds the position of Treasurer. She is a Trustee for the Rochester Chapter of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, and a member of the Rochester Finger Lakes Chapter of Pride At Work.
Treasurer – Darien Lamen
Darien became active in Metro Justice shortly after moving to Rochester in 2017. He currently works in community media and is the founder of the local news outlet Reclaiming the Narrative. Darien first became involved in grassroots organizing during the anti-fracking movement of the 2000s. He was very active in the Fight for $15 and, as an AFT-W member, also helped organize contingent university faculty. In a former career, Darien was a scholar of Latin America, with an interest in Freirean pedagogy and Brazilian liberation theology that survives his time in academia.
Secretary - LaWanda Shipman
LaWanda is Vice President of the Federation of Social Workers.
At Large Council Members
Jake Allen
Jake Allen is a union organizer with SEIU Local 200United. As part of the labor movement, Jake has helped organize more than 350 adjunct faculty at Nazareth College, fought to preserve worker healthcare at the University of Rochester, and helped organize fast food worker strikes during the Fight for $15. Jake has also been active with student, tenant, and prisoner solidarity movements for many years.
Most recently, Jake has been involved in RED as part of the union lobby effort for a public utility, and as a facilitator for strategy and training.
Steve George
Steve is newly retired from more than 4 decades as a labor activist, labor leader, and Federal Mediator, and is a longtime member of Metro Justice. His career in labor activism began with his first job in 1978 as a member of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU). Through collective actions, he and his Union brothers and sisters managed to shut down a machine hulk cleaning operation that was using dangerous chemicals without proper safety equipment or precautions. Unwittingly, a career was born. Steve later went on to spend over 20 years on staff at ACTWU and its successor Unions, UNITE! UNITEHERE and Workers United, where he helped organize hundreds of workers and led nearly 80 contract bargaining campaigns before moving to Chicago to take up the challenge of working for the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) as a Mediator. His role at FMCS brought him into some of the most exciting and important labor fights of the past decade, including the first ever strike in the nation at a Charter School. Now he hopes that with his newly found free time, his experience can be helpful to the mission of Metro Justice and the struggle for a more just and equitable community. In his free time, Steve likes to read, walk, bicycle, cook, and spend time with family and friends. He is passionate about music and is a longtime supporter of the Rochester Public Market, where you can find him most Saturday mornings having an espresso with friends and former Union colleagues.
Michael Harold
Michael is a representative for 1199 SEIU serving the members in perioperative services as chief delegate. He was a part of the 2021 contract negotiating committee that delivered a historic contract securing worker benefits and improving wages. From member political organizing to training sessions, Mike appreciates the opportunities to expand his labor advocacy skills with seasoned organizers and leaders in his union.
Sophia Allie Martinez
Sophia is a volunteer/activist in her community. She has been a member of the Citywide Tenant Union helping tenants organize and fight bad living conditions. She has further been active in the Rochester for Energy Democracy campaign to fight for a public utility that is democratically controlled by its rate-payers with an emphasis on renewable green energy transition. In her professional life she is a paralegal for Empire Justice Center in the Immigration Unit.
Christine Noble
Christine has been a member of Metro Justice since 2017 and a volunteer shortly before that. She attended SUNY Brockport, majoring in philosophy and political science. She continues to volunteer on Metro Justice’s RED campaign for public power.