Charles
Executive Director
he/him
Charles Douglas was an on-and-off volunteer before leaving a 13 year career at Starbucks in marketing and ecommerce to create Common Power as a formal political organization. While at Starbucks, Charles helped found the Black employee affinity group and expand it across the nation, and brings much of that experience to this next phase of Common Power. Now as a family of organizations that interact with politics in different ways, Charles leads the hybrid PAC and 501c4 bodies of work focused on direct election impacts and education as an on-ramp to civic engagement.
Charles continues to prioritize solving for the largest opportunities he sees for the org and our country: including more young people of color in the process, and building Common Power and the progressive political effort as an enduring movement that contributes to lasting democratic change in this country.
David
Associate Director for Organizational Support
He/him
At CP David focuses on Voter Fieldwork and Policy Advocacy, Education, and Donor Relations, while supporting the org in a variety of ways. He worked as a journalist for several newspapers in the 1980s and early 1990s before earning a PhD in 1996. He is a Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Washington. His research has focused on communication, politics, and public opinion in the United States, and in recent years David has worked closely with several organizations on communication and civic action. In 2002 he received the University of Washington’s Distinguished Teaching Award. In 2006, he was named the Washington state Professor of the Year by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He can eat more than two dozen chocolate chip cookies in one sitting.
Leads: Common Power, Domke Lectures
Larcy
Director of Common Power Future
She/her
Larcy manages the day to day operations behind the scenes and leads the CPFuture community creating programs carefully designed to meet the needs of young people to get excited about their civic responsibilities. Her passion to work with youth and young people spans over a decade of leading organizations and programs dedicated to empowering and helping them become stronger leaders of themselves and others. As a systems thinker, she is ready to take on any important role to develop systems to improve the day to day functions of an organization carefully finding the balance between efficiency and effectiveness. She is currently leading efforts to submit the application for Common Power Future to be considered a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization. She immigrated to the United States as a child with her mother and is a UW alum making her the first in her family to attend and graduate from an American College.
Leads: https://cpfuture.org/
Wole
Sr. Program Manager
He/him
Wole helps lead the CPNXT millennial initiative and manages the Next Up Program, a new program for BIPOC millennials to learn about the intersection of civic and community organizing and how to get involved. Before CP, Wole worked with Milli Agency as a Digital Content Strategist and Program Manager for four years. Outside of work Wole is committed to working with Black/African communities in Washington and throughout the African Diaspora. He does this through several platforms including the Africa Now Association, a group he co-founded in 2017 at the University of Washington. A common theme you can find throughout Wole’s work is a commitment to youth empowerment and expanding access to resources for underserved communities.
Manages: CP Next
Vanna
Finance & Business Operations Manager
She/They
Operating (mostly) in the back, Vanna brings her talents to tracking the ins & outs of CP’s finances as well as covering the day to day business operations. For an organization with a variety of programming and activities, she is an asset in making sure what is reported to the Federal Election Committee matches what comes through on the bank statements. Her prior experience in managing digital and in-person Customer Service departments at Amazon & Filson gave her opportunities to both grow her technical leadership skills and to learn the process of building and testing functioning systems. At both roles, Vanna started entry level. But through her work ethic, leadership and drive for excellence, she quickly rose in rank and both companies created new leadership positions for which she developed the foundational framework & day-to-day operations.. Now she’s applying her skills to CP finances. If there is a way to make something more efficient, Vanna is willing to work on it to find it! In 2020, she also initiated Squads, an online volunteer team framework in which folks met virtually with a handful of friends on a regular basis to participate in weekly fieldwork opportunities. When Vanna isn’t juggling spreadsheets, she can be found enjoying movement and music. She’s a first generation Filipinx-American dancer in the Seattle street & club freestyle dance community and loves to lose it in the music.
Maria “MJ”
Poder Común Program Manager
She/her
Maria began her journey at CP in 2019 as Community Manager, supporting planning of events, connecting with the CP community through social media and every day support to volunteers. In 2020 she co-led the Florida team and is founded Poder Común, a Spanish-speaking team of volunteers. Poder Común team drives work to support and amplify the voices of voters in the Latinx community in Washington State and other key CP states of engagement. Prior to joining CP, Maria worked as a Campaign Manager in Sea-Tac supporting four candidates, two of whom were elected to the City Council. Maria has always had a passion for grassroots work and has worked with organizations like El Centro de La Raza to create change in her community. In 2019 she earned her Masters of Social Work at the University of Washington and hopes to one day lead her own organization to continue supporting her family and community.
Leads: Poder Común
Kylie
Partnerships Coordinator
she/they
Kylie identifies, vets, and builds partnerships with key community-based organizations, campaigns, and coalitions around the nation. Kylie brings experience from her previous roles at CP which include Administrative Coordinator, North Carolina Team co-Lead, and Fieldwork Associate. Before CP, Kylie held several leadership positions at the University of Washington where she currently studies Political Science, Law, Societies, and Justice, and Human Rights. When she isn’t at CP or university, Kylie can be found outdoors and near water (weather permitting!). Her favorite things to eat are cherry tomatoes and fresh Dungeness crab.
Binh
Sr. Program Manager, Fieldwork
she/her, they/them
As a graduate of the first Action Academy cohort in 2020, Binh uses their experience to plan and coordinate programs within CP Future. This includes working with Larcy Douglas to craft the curriculum of future Action Academy cohorts and working to establish CPFuture as a 501(c)(3) organization. Before CP and getting into civic work, Binh was on a Fulbright Scholarship to Austria as an English Teaching Assistant and guest researcher at the University of Salzburg. Binh immigrated from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to Tacoma, WA so they love the ocean and have never been away from it. Therefore, Binh desperately wishes to have strong swimming skills, but alas, their body is more dispositioned towards reading, napping, cooking, and eating.