Meet Our Team
Staff
Ta’LannaMonique, is a community organizer, educator, and Executive Director of Citywide Youth Coalition, committed to advancing youth leadership, healing justice, and collective liberation. She joined CWYC in October 2018 and has helped guide the organization through growth, COVID, and key advocacy wins. Ta’LannaMonique is the founder of Neighborhood Freedom School, supporting grassroots organizations and movement leaders with culture change, collective care and systems transformation. She serves as Co-Chair of Structural Competency for Health Equity at Yale School of Psychology and sits on the Haymarket Board of Directors. With a background in mental health, reentry, and youth development, she brings a holistic, people-centered approach to leadership.
Alyssa-Marie Cajigas-Ortiz
(she, her, hers)
BEACON Member
Director of Programming
Alyssa-Marie Cajigas Rivera Ortiz is a 25-year-old Afro-Boricua organizer, trainer, and consultant rooted in anti-bias, anti-racist practice. With over a decade of experience, she has led efforts in LGBTQ+ justice, juvenile justice reform, and educational equity. Alyssa-Marie is the Co-founder of The Children of Marsha P. Johnson, a grassroots collective dedicated to building power with Black and Brown trans and queer youth. She has held leadership roles including Director of Community Organizing, Producer, Strategy Council Member, and Board Trustee. Deeply committed to collective liberation, she represents a rising generation of politically grounded professionals working at the intersection of culture, care, and systemic change.
Youth Leaders
Imani Okech
(she/Her)
BEACON Member
Communications Intern
Imani is a student at Bard College in upstate New York, and is a committed political organizer from New Haven County. She did an Organizing Bootcamp at CityWide in her Freshman Year of highschool, which inspried her to commit to a plethora of organizing projects in the Mid-Hudson Valley. Imani now works as an intern at CityWide to help manage and support the new changes at the organization, carrying out CityWide’s priciples to move toward a new equal and loving world, all starting in her home town, as well as growing as an organizer and political activist by growing closer with her own community.
L . I . T Member
Khloé Lawson-Stewart
(She/Her)
L . I . T Member
Brandon Daley
(He/Him)
Office Support
Julien Carrion
(He/Him)
Lead Youth Facilitator
TJ Samuel-Gonzalez
(He/They/She)
TJ Samuel-Gonzalez is a scholar of anti-racism and social justice. He focuses on program facilitation and community engagement. Currently a student at Siena University, TJ hopes to continue his mission in combating inequities by starting a non-profit that teaches financial literacy to youth in marginalized communities.
Board of Directors
Board Chair
Rosana Farraro
Board Chair
Bio Coming Soon!
Board of Directors
Adrian Hue They/Them
Adrian Huq (they/them) is a graduate student at the Yale School of the Environment, pursuing a Master of Environmental Management and a certificate in Public Humanities, and a 2024 graduate of Tufts University, where they earned a B.A. in Applied Environmental Studies. Adrian is a cohort member of the Nonprofit Management Program for Emerging Leaders of Color at The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.
Since 2018, they have worked as a community organizer and educator for multiple environmental initiatives under the New Haven/León Sister City Project (NHLSCP), a binational nonprofit that supports resident-led, community-based sustainable development work in Nicaragua and leads climate-focused initiatives in New Haven. Most notably, Adrian serves as cofounder of the New Haven Climate Movement’s (NHCM) Youth Action Team, which advocates for bold climate policy change on the city level and conducts public education on the climate crisis. Adrian has co-facilitated several of NHCM's high school internship programs over the years, including serving as Youth Coordinator for the Climate Health Education Project, which focused on advancing youth-led climate education in New Haven area schools. They currently coordinate the Climate Justice Schools Initiative, a city-funded program between NHCM and New Haven Public Schools. In addition to CWYC, they serve on the Board of Directors for the Greater New Haven Green Fund, NHLSCP, Sustainable CT, and the New Haven Urban Resources Initiative. Adrian is also a subcommittee member of the Connecticut Equity and Environmental Justice Advisory Council and was formerly a member of the Connecticut Climate Education Advisory Committee. Adrian is also engaged in the arts and media community, named an Arts Awardee by the Greater New Haven Arts Council in 2023. A public speaker on topics ranging from climate justice to community engagement, Adrian has spoken at over 65 events in the region. As a seven-time participant in the Connecticut Black and Brown Queer Camp and a recipient of the Trailblazer Award from The Children of Marsha P. Johnson, Adrian is passionate about CWYC’s work to equip youth with skills to become agents of change and to build a more liberated world for LGBTQ+ people of color.
