NESRI: National Economic & Social Rights Initiative

	NESRI STAFF
	Catherine Albisa Executive Director Ms. Albisa is a constitutional and human rights lawyer with a background on the right to health. Ms. Albisa also has significant experience working in partnership with community organizers in the use of human rights standards to strengthen advocacy in the United States. She co-founded NESRI along with Sharda Sekaran and Liz Sullivan in order to build legitimacy for human rights in general, and economic and social rights in particular, in the United States. She is committed to a community-centered and participatory human rights approach that is locally anchored, but universal and global in its vision. Ms. Albisa clerked for the Honorable Mitchell Cohen in the District of New Jersey. She received a BA from the University of Miami and is a graduate of Columbia Law School.
	Katherine L. Caldwell Human Right to Work with Dignity Program Director Ms. Caldwell has a background in human rights advocacy and U.S. litigation. Her work at NESRI currently focuses on supporting the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and its Fair Food Campaign aimed at transforming human rights conditions in the agricultural sector. Ms. Caldwell was formerly a consulting attorney at the Human Rights Institute at Columbia Law School, where she continues to serve as an adjunct faculty member. Ms. Caldwell is a former associate of the law firm Allen & Overy LLP and a former law clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and for the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Ms. Caldwell received a BA from Brown University, a Masters in History from the University of Chicago, and a JD from Columbia Law School.
	Tiffany M. Gardner Human Right to Housing Program Director Ms. Gardner has a background in human rights advocacy and corporate law. She has worked on human rights issues and grassroots organizing throughout Africa, Southeast Asia and the United States. Ms. Gardner has published several articles on issues of social justice and global inclusion. Her most recent publication is an article entitled "Human Rights Based Approaches in State Development Programming" in Education and Poverty in an International Context that was published by Columbia University Teachers College She serves as an independent expert on the UN Advisory Group on Forced Evictions. She is a former associate at the New York law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. She received a BA from Yale University, a JD from New York University School of Law and a LL.M. in human rights law from Columbia University Law School.
	Laura Gosa Development and Resource Network Director Ms. Gosa develops a broad base of support for NESRI working with our foundation partners and individual supporters. Ms. Gosa joined NESRI soon after its founding, and has been integral to its growth. Ms. Gosa has extensive experience with event planning and donor education, as well as a substantive background on economic and social rights issues, in particular with regard to Haiti. Before joining NESRI, Ms. Gosa also interned at Human Rights Watch in the Americas Division, and provided support to the HIV/AIDS and Children’s Rights Divisions. During that time she successfully wrote a Hellman-Hammett grant for a persecuted Haitian radio journalist. Her previous internship experience includes a position at the National Coalition for Haitian Rights. She holds a BA in French and European Studies and a Masters in International Studies, both from the University of Kansas.
	Anja Rudiger Human Right to Health Program Director (A joint program run by NESRI and the National Health Law Program.) Ms. Rudiger works with state-based coalitions to develop human rights approaches and tools for health care reform efforts. She is an expert on human rights and equality, specializing in policy analysis of disparities in the exercise of civic, economic and social rights. She has extensive experience integrating a rights-based approach to policymaking at local, national and international level. Previously, Ms. Rudiger carried out consultancies for governmental and non-governmental organizations, led the research department at the British Refugee Council in London, and managed the UK Secretariat of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia. She received her Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Kiel in Germany.
	Liz Sullivan Human Right to Education Program Director Ms. Sullivan works with parents and advocates to promote policy change in public education to guarantee students’ right to dignity and a quality education. She has carried out research projects to document human rights violations in U.S. public schools, and has provided trainings to parents, youth and organizers about how to incorporate human rights standards and strategies into their advocacy. She has worked as a consultant with Human Rights Education Associates and as Project Coordinator at the Center for Economic and Social Rights, where she authored the report Civil Society and School Accountability: A Human Rights Approach to Parent and Community Participation in NYC Schools. She holds a BA from Brown University and a Masters degree in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
	Meredith Vatsek Program Assistant Ms. Vatsek provides support for each of NESRI’s programs. Since 2005 she has dedicated her career to social justice and human rights. She worked on anti-racism instruction in Germany and refugee resettlement and women's rights in Seattle before coming to NESRI. She received her BA in Germanic Languages from the University of Kansas. Outside of work she enjoys disco, DJing and writing about current social justice issues.
	Phil Wider Communications Director Mr. Wider coordinates NESRI’s media and communications efforts. Prior to coming to NESRI he was a community and movement organizer in Philadelphia for over fifteen years where he worked with community organizations fighting for affordable housing, welfare rights, tenant’s rights, jobs at living wages, universal healthcare and quality education. Mr. Wider is a co-founder and current board member of the Media Mobilizing Project in Philadelphia. He is also on the board of the Philadelphia Student Union. Mr. Wider serves as a curriculum consultant with various national anti-poverty efforts including the University of the Poor and the Poverty Initiative at Union Theological Seminary. He received a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MA in Development Sociology from Cornell University.

	NESRI INTERNS
	Margarita Dimova Communications Intern Ms. Dimova is an intern for NESRI’s Communications Department, where she works with Phil Wider on various content, design and multimedia projects. A recent graduate of the American University in Bulgaria, she holds a double BA in political science and journalism. After enriching her hands-on experience in the field of human rights at NESRI, she will continue her academic endeavors with an MA program in Conflict Studies and Human Rights in the fall of 2009. She is passionate about traveling, exploration, and of course - human rights issues.
	Victoria Grant Human Right to Health Intern Ms. Grant is an intern for NESRI's Human Right to Health program. She is working with Anja Rudiger toward helping a progressive county in Montana create a universal health care program. Prior to coming to NESRI Ms. Grant worked as a registered nurse in emergency departments in Australia, New Zealand and the UK, and she is currently working toward a communications degree. Ms Grant's interest in the human right to health care stems from her background as a health provider and her interest in humanitarian issues.
	Madeleine Milan Communications Intern Ms. Milan is an intern for NESRI’s Communications Department, where she works with Phil Wider. She assists Mr. Wider with media outreach and planning, and other communications activity. She is currently a student in NYU’s Master’s in Public Relations and Corporate Communications program, and her interest in human rights stems from her undergraduate studies in Politics and Philosophy at the University of Sheffield. Before joining NESRI as an intern, Ms. Milan worked in communications at a UK government-spending watchdog.
	Julian Ross Human Right to Housing Program Intern Mr. Ross is an intern for NESRI’s Human Right to Housing program. He assists Ms. Tiffany Gardner with fighting for the Human Right to Housing, mainly through advertising. He attends the Horace Mann School, and participates in Spring and Winter track and field there.
	Tim SYme Human Right to Health Program Intern Mr. Syme is an intern for NESRI’s Human Right to Health program. He is working with Anja Rudiger on assisting state and local partners and also at the national level in relation to the health care reform bill currently under discussion in Congress. He has just completed his first year in a philosophy PhD program at Brown University where he focuses on political philosophy and issues of democracy, rights and justice. He hopes to expand on this abstract knowledge by learning more about the practical role these ideas can play in effective political advocacy.
	Jennifer Veloz Human Right to Housing Program Intern Ms. Veloz is an intern for the Right to Housing Program. She assists Ms. Gardner in drafting reports and organizing events. She is a rising senior at Wesleyan University and is working towards a Bachelor’s Degree in sociology. After college, she hopes to work towards housing rights in a non-profit organization or in the government and earn a Master’s in public policy.
	NESRI ADVISOR
	Sharda Sekaran Ms. Sekaran co-founded NESRI and served as the Associate Director 2004-2007. She worked with staff to define NESRI’s mission, vision, structure, planning, governance, key program areas, and partnership model. In particular, she was instrumental in launching the Human Right to Health Program and the Special Project on the Rights of Hurricane Survivors. Previously, she worked at the Center for Economic and Social Rights as the U.S. Program Fellow, where she researched a human rights approach to reforming health care financing in the United States. She also developed policy and public education materials and provided trainings on social and economic rights in the United States. Ms. Sekaran comes from a background of connecting grassroots constituencies with public policy advocacy as Associate Director of Public Policy and Community Outreach at the Drug Policy Alliance, a national organization promoting treatment and health-based alternatives to incarceration for non-violent drug offenders. Prior to that, she was a public relations and events consultant, and a Program Associate in the Arms Division of Human Rights Watch. Sharda holds a BA in International Relations from Pomona College and is pursing a MBA at The Roberto C. Goizueta Business School at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. She currently serves as an advisor to NESRI.