Marisa Franco

Bio:

Marisa Franco is a Phoenix-based organizer, writer and strategist. She is the Executive Director and co-founder of Mijente and Mijente Support Committee, a digital and grassroots organizing hub for Latina/o and Chicanx people. In her nearly 20 years of work as an organizer and movement builder, Marisa has helped lead key grassroots organizing campaigns rooted in low-income and communities of color, characterized by their innovation and effectiveness. She led the #Not1More Deportation campaign, recognized in 2014 by the National Organizing Institute as Campaign of the Year and co-authored How We Make Change is Changing, which describes Not1More’s campaign strategy and structure that activated hundreds of organizations across sectors and communities to demand a stop to deportations. As Campaign Director at the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), Marisa helped spearhead the fight against Arizona’s SB1070 and build resistance to copycat laws in the Southeastern region in the United States. In 2012, she organized the ‘No Papers No Fear’ bus tour throughout the South en route to the Democratic National Convention (often referred to as the ‘Undocubus’). Prior to her work in the immigrant rights movement, Marisa helped form the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) and was a Lead Organizer at the Right to the City Alliance in New York. For five years, Marisa organized at People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER) in San Francisco, where she co-authored the book Towards Land, Work and Power. Marisa is a board member for the Marguerite Casey Foundation.

She is a trusted leader across sectors and on issues of campaigns, movement building, and political analysis. Marisa was named a New York Times Visionary in 2018 and has been featured on CNN, Washington Post, New York Times, MSNBC, Univision, Politico, and Democracy Now. When not organizing, Marisa enjoys cooking, DIY projects, a good game of pool, and an old-fashioned debate.

Follow Marisa on Twitter @marisa_franco