Farewell and thank you to Lily, our Outgoing Co-Executive Director!

Farewell and Thank you to Lily, our Outgojng Co-Executive Director!

On behalf of the Massachusetts Jobs with Justice Executive Committee, we are writing to you to inform you of the bittersweet news that Lily, one of our Co-Executive Directors, will be transitioning out of the organization on May 30, 2025. We have been working with the Mass JWJ team on this transition since September of last year. We are confident in this next period for Mass JWJ and the leadership of Mass Jobs With Justice.

Lily joined Mass JwJ as an Organizer in 2012, became Co-Executive Director in 2017 and has completed 13 years at our organization. She helped the organization expand its geographic reach and develop educators, parents, and students into movement leaders.

When a local Worcester school was being taken over by the state, Lily trained public high school students in organizing skills and political education in order to take action. Along with educators of color and immigrant parents and students, Lily led a winning campaign to implement bilingual education in Spanish and Portuguese for newcomers in Framingham's Fuller Middle School. With the Mass JWJ staff and leaders in the community, Lily organized the first civil disobedience in front of the Suffolk Detention Center where labor leaders, such as Peter Knowlton of the UE, Gladys Vega of the Colaborativa, migrant dairy worker leaders from Justicia Migrante, and many others participated in the direct action in 2014. In 2016, Lily played a key role in the "No on Question 2" victory to stop the charter school industry's privatization agenda in Massachusetts. One of Lily’s most memorable coalitions and campaigns was to Stop Francisco’s deportation, an MIT custodial worker and SEIU 32BJ member– community, labor, students and faith came together to successfully stop Francisco’s deportation. When the Trump administration separated families at the US-Mexico Border at even a higher rate than previous administrations, Lily, her mentor Jose Palma of the Mass TPS Committee, and the Mass JWJ team facilitated a rally with almost 10,000 people in the Boston Common and ensured local immigrant leaders and leaders of color were front and center. Most recently, Lily and the Mass JWJ team launched Mass UndocuFund which raised over $2million for undocumented immigrants impacted by Covid19 and distributed funds to almost 5,000 workers and their families across every county in Massachusetts. We are so proud of our past and we are so excited for the future.

The organization is in good hands – Alicia has been Co-Executive Director with Lily since 2020. At Mass JWJ we have robust infrastructure, solid systems, and an ear to the ground thanks to the leadership of our coalition members and movement partners. During Alicia and Lily’s Co-Executive leadership, they shared responsibilities and work and as such, Alicia has an equal and deep understanding and fluency of our organization. In essence, Alicia and Lily’s time together has been a long transition to what Mass Jobs with Justice is today. Please join us and donate here to support Mass Jobs with Justice today: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/thankyoulilyandmajwj

Lily’s deep commitment to organizing, campaigning, and winning real meaningful change in working people’s lives strengthened our organization from Boston to Fall River, Fitchburg, Haverhill, and beyond. Her passion and energy brought in new coalition members, built our base, and developed leaders in our movement. She helped scale our organization to new heights and depths. Lily will be deeply missed at Mass Jobs with Justice, but you will see her and her growing family in her next political home and in the streets.

Please join us in sending Lily all your best by writing on her Kudoboard: https://www.kudoboard.com/boards/Tq2mTwwc and please donate here to thank her for her leadership and to invest in the future of Mass Jobs with Justice: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/thankyoulilyandmajwj

Sincerely,

Mass Jobs with Justice Executive Committee