EPISODE SUMMARY
In Alamance County, at the intersection of Plantation and Corporation boulevards, Down Home North Carolina has been building a multi-racial grassroots movement against white supremacy. George talks to Brigid Flaherty, co-founder of Down Home North Carolina; Sugelema Lynch, a Latina mother; Pat Rogers, a young white engineer; and Dreama Caldwell, who’s running to serve as an Alamance County’s first Black woman Commissioner.
For all of them, meeting the left-behind where they are is key to transforming the landscape. And it’s creating a new common identity that Alamance County can be proud of.
GUEST BIOS
Brigid Flaherty
Brigid Flaherty is the co-founder of Down Home North Carolina. She was the Organizing Director of ALIGN, where she led winning policy campaigns at the city level that strengthened standards for 4,000 commercial sanitation workers as well as improving public health for three overburdened low-income and people of color districts; drove labor-community coalition mobilizations around Fight for 15 and various Wall Street actions. Prior to ALIGN, she worked for seven years at the Pushback Network (PBN) where she eventually served as Executive Director. At Pushback, she worked with the Board to drive strategic planning and fundraising for a national network of eight states that were building power with people of color and low-income community organizations through state-based integrated civic engagement programs.
Dreama Caldwell
Dreama is a native of Alamance County, NC. She spent 25 years in education until changing to work in hospitality. She is one of the Democratic Candidates seeking 3 available seats as an Alamance County Commissioner. She wants to ensure that Alamance County government is fair, equitable and inclusive to all county residents and works to fully fund schools for all children. She seeks to make sure children have equal access to resources and facilities and engage in social justice reform. She would be the first Black woman elected to the board.
Learn more: Second Chance Alamance
Pat Rogers
Pat is an engineer with experience in the defense and manufacturing industries. He volunteers with Down Home North Carolina.
Sugelema Lynch
The daughter of undocumented immigrants, Sugelema is an educator in the Alamance-Burlington School System as well as a Digital Media Producer. She is the first point of contact for anyone who wants to get involved with Down Home’s Alamance County chapter.
Follow her on Twitter.
GET INVOLVED
The groundbreaking organizing work featured in To See Each Other is reaching millions of voters and reshaping politics in communities across the country–and we need you to join us.