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Board
MRG Foundation's board is made up of people from across the state who work with a wide array of organizations and bring decades of experience to the table. The MRG Board provides legal and fiscal oversight and guides our growth as we increase our impact on Oregon's progressive movement.
Elisa is co-director of MRG grantee Community Alliance of Tenants, where she is engaged in policy change work in support of affordable housing, and provides expertise on Oregon’s Residential Landlord Tenant Act. Before her time with CAT, she was an active advocate around youth homelessness, disability rights and domestic violence issues. Elisa was named Best Advocate for Low-Income Tenants by the Willamette Week in 2009.
Ordained as a priest in 1955, Gil soon became connected through his church to helping gang-affected youth in New York City. He worked to bring peace and reconciliation to the youth while responding to the larger community issues of justice and racial equality. He continued his service work in Boston, and became increasingly engaged in the civil rights movement, registering black voters in Mississippi as part of Freedom Summer. Soon after his retirement in 1991 he became active in HIV/AIDS organizations.
Ibrahim is an activist and restaurateur, well known in his community of Eugene for his long-term work on human rights and justice. Ibrahim came to the U.S. at age 18 to attend college in Eugene. Through his work with past MRG-grantee Eugene Middle East Peace Group, he has helped create dialogue between Israelis, Palestinians, Jews and Muslims. His other community leadership work has included a seat on the Eugene Human Rights Commission, serving on the boards of Lane Interfaith Alliance and Willamette World Affairs Council, and co-founding the Eugene Inter-religious Committee for Peace in the Middle East.
Kayse is a founder and executive director of the Center for Intercultural Organizing (CIO), which builds power in immigrant and refugee communities through education, civic engagement, organizing and intergenerational leadership development. CIO was funded early on by MRG Foundation, so Kayse has firsthand experience of the impact of MRG grants on building the movement. Born into a nomadic family in Somalia, Kayse left when the civil war erupted, and finally found sanctuary in Portland.
Arbrella is a retired school district administrator. She is on the Eugene Springfield NAACP board, on the Bethel Temple board, and a member of Beta Phi Beta Sorority. She loves MRG’s social justice movement building initiatives, which have meant so much to many organizations. Her activist background is in civil rights and equity. She became connected with MRG when the Eugene Springfield NAACP received a grant for a youth program to transform negative images of African American youth.
Marcy is active in improving the community of Eugene, with a focus on Native American culture and issues. She has helped with the Lane Community College longhouse project, leads a weekly Native American regalia and craft circle, and is co-chair of the University of Oregon Native American Alumni Group. Marcy is a past chair of the board of Community Alliance of Lane County (an MRG grantee), and has been on the City of Eugene Human Rights Commission.
Suk is director of operations for Northwest Health Foundation. Suk has worked with a range of organizations working for social justice, including an operating foundation engaging young people in the political process, a national youth training intermediary, and a bi-national network of grassroots organizations fighting for environmental and economic justice. Currently, Suk serves on the board of Organizing People, Activating Leaders and Grantmakers of Oregon and Southwest Washington.
Rich is the regional organizer for Oregon Action, a social justice organization working to empower low and moderate income people on basic social justice issues such as living wage jobs, health care access, and affordable housing. Rich has been an organizer in poor communities since 1966, when he was a VISTA volunteer with farmworkers in Central Florida and North Carolina. He continued his organizing work in Idaho, California, Minnesota and various communities in Oregon. Rich is married to a minister, and they have two sons.
Chris received his law degree from University of Michigan Law School. After several years in private practice, he founded Crag Law Center (an MRG grantee), which provides affordable legal assistance to groups working on environmental and natural resource issues. Crag has helped dozens of groups throughout Oregon, Washington and Alaska, including municipal and tribal governments, conservation organizations, citizen groups, recreational clubs and individual activists.
Carole has been a community organizer since 1988. As executive director for the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities, she was involved in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. In Eugene Carole worked with MRG grantee Lane Independent Living Alliance, and helped organize for full access to the Eugene Federal Courthouse. A published artist and photographer as well as a theater writer/performer, she uses her art to further social justice.