Somos organizadores jóvenes y visionarios del Golfo Sur.
We envision regenerative economies where the people have sovereignty over their food and their labor, there are no prisons, and communities’ climate and social justice solutions flourish. We value dignity and self-determination, interdependence, joy, and creativity.
Our organization is non-hierarchical, rooted in collectivist, anti-capitalist, and abolitionist values because we understand that actions speak louder than words. We will assist communities across the Gulf South to create radical local solutions to systemic issues and to communicate transformative stories that reveal new possibilities for the whole world.
We are in a moment where radical alternatives to racist, sexist, capitalist hegemony are on the verge of existence. People’s consciousness of the current system’s contradictions and the possibility of alternatives is higher than ever.
The problem is, the far-right around the world is cooperating to stoke fear and scarcity in order to trap poor people in an endless cycle of exploitation. “Climate doom” is one of their tools to crush the poor. We are in the quietly escalating phase of armies gathering their forces. The climate crisis will unleash this class war. If people and places pit themselves against each other, fascism will win.
The solution is narrative power. Climate doom is not an option, nor is it an accurate picture of the world we’re in. Isolating our issues and each other is a recipe for defeat. Narrative power comes first from infrastructure and capacity – not from messaging and social media views. In other words, the solution is community and popular education.
GulfRoots Collective is “uninventing the wheel.” What if we could deconstruct the systems that shape our lives? What if we could pinpoint the underlying assumptions that make us believe the world can only work one way and not another? And then break them down, take the pieces, and make them into something else? Or let some of them decay and return to the circle of life? By organizing for narrative power, we can.
Preguntas frecuentes
¿Qué nos convierte en un colectivo?
All members are equal participants in a shared endeavor. We share the work and the rewards.
¿Qué es lo que no somos?
We are not consultants because our work is based on real-world relationships, not clients and fees. As active participants in our communities and movements, we do provide strategic advice, facilitation support, and other “services.”
¿Quién son nuestros miembros?
Kathleen Melendez (she/her)
I’m Kathleen, co-founder and member of the GulfRoots Collective. I’m a cis-gendered, able-bodied woman based in Orlando, FL (Seminole, Miccosukee, Mascogo lands.)
It’s my belief, that the revolution starts at home. As the first place of my political journey, I learned so much about the power of storytelling (aka chisme ;)) and the power of community.
I first became involved in this work through student organizing and then worked on campaigns focused on immigration, reproductive justice, labor/farmworker justice, Palestinian liberation, prison/police abolition, and food sovereignty.
I’m a student of the movement, and I’m always finding ways to deepen the ways we are “growing our souls,” as the incredible Grace Lee Boggs says.
In my free time, I love cooking, yoga, and hanging out with my near and dear ones!
Zach Kopkin (he/him)
I’m Zach, co-founder and member of the GulfRoots Collective. I am a creative soul who loves my community and draws inspiration from many places. I have a deep care for people’s self-determination and belonging together. I ground movements in what matters by pausing, creating, and caring.
I’m a cis-gendered, able-bodied man based in Bvlbancha, land of the Houma, Chitimacha, Choctaw, and Biloxi, colonized as New Orleans, LA. My Southern Jewish identity is central to my journey as an organizer. I love that our traditions are steeped in ecology and an intimate relationship to the land and seasons. We forgive debts and honor the importance of rest. We migrate and plant roots where we land.
I love making music, grilling dinner with my partner, and visiting museums!
¿Quién son nuestros asesores?
Dominique Thomas
Pronouns: She/Her
Place: NYC
I am a grassroots organizer, strategist, trainer, and Afrofuturist with years of experience across the climate, racial justice, and public housing movements. My theory of change is centered on Black liberation: creating the material conditions for communities to build power with one another through principled practice and strategizing to dismantle systems of oppression. I believe relationships are essential to successful base-building and being strategic requires organizing from the intersections of climate and other social movements.
Jordan Martinez-Mazurek
Jordan E. Martinez-Mazurek (they/them), I am an autistic, agender, Latine, grassroots organizer, and abolitionist who specializes in building teams and coalitions of ordinary people that win “un-winnable” campaigns. In 2015 I co-founded the Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons, a national collective fighting at the intersections of abolition and environmental justice. Through CFTP I’ve worked with grassroots communities across the South to defeat over $5 billion in new prison construction. I am also currently a 2023 Soros Justice Fellow.
Dayna Reggero
I am an award-winning documentary film director and healing listener. My work started at 19, appearing with animals on television to talk about environmental preservation. I’ve partnered with Discovery Communications on my first film tour about sustainability and collaborated on the Emmy award-winning climate series “Years of Living Dangerously” before starting the Climate Listening Project. The stories I’ve listened to have been elevated in hundreds of places including National Geographic, Univision, PBS, and the Jane Goodall Institute.
Salon.com wrote: “By trade, Dayna Reggero is an environmentalist. Her work ranges from filmmaking to beginning her career as a spokesperson. However, her most skilled work might come in the form of organizing conversations, or simply starting them.” In a print feature, Woman’s Day Magazine showcased me as an “Earth Mother: an Artist Activist who isn’t just fighting for cleaner air and water, but protecting a community’s most precious resources – its people”
Kurt Naquin
Kurt Naquin (they/them), I’m an Indigenous (Houma) environmental justice activist and researcher currently based in Raleigh, North Carolina. I was brought up in Southeast Texas and have deep roots in Southern Louisiana which was at the root of my commitment to bring justice to industrial sacrifice zones and join frontline communities in working towards a just transition away from fossil fuels.
I am currently pursuing a PhD in conservation social science at North Carolina State University, exploring the complex relationships people make with the more-than-human world. My current research focuses on the capacity-building potential of participatory science for communities most vulnerable to climate change and other environmental stressors. In particular, investigating issues of Indigenous data sovereignty and governance in participatory science partnerships between Indigenous groups or collectives and scientific institutions. I’m trained in qualitative research methods and emphasize decolonial and intersectional approaches to my work. Prior to graduate school, I worked in climate justice communications and narrative strategy for Sierra Club’s Texas Chapter and for the Gulf Coast LNG buildout resistance campaign. I hold a double bachelor’s in Geography and Hindi-Urdu from UT Austin.
I also run the Houma Language Project’s youth language internship, which aims to engage Houma youth and Elders in intergenerational language and cultural exchange. I am an advocate for the power of art and storytelling in movement and community building.
Jessi Parfait
I am a lifelong Louisiana resident and member of the United Houma Nation. Growing up in a small bayou community, I was frequently in the swamps, picking wild blackberries, and developing a love for my home that has influenced my work. I’m a graduate of LSU with a master’s degree in anthropology, where I studied the effects of forced migration on my tribe. I’ve worked on a number of projects focusing on the human aspects of coastal planning and I am passionate about efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change on the Louisiana coast. It is my hope that this place my ancestors have called home for thousands of years may continue to be inhabited well into the future.
Bekah Hinojosa
I am an artist and organizer from the Rio Grande Valley. I am currently working with the South Texas Environmental Justice Network to stop the expansion of the fossil fuel industry that threatens low-income communities of color and sacred lands in my home.
Español de México 
English