MEET THE AIAWJ STAFF:

Rev. Trina Zelle

is the founding director of Arizona Interfaith Alliance for Worker Justice, Arizona's only worker rights center.  In addition to serving churches in Connecticut, Minnesota, Hawaii, Texas, and Arizona, Rev. Zelle worked for ten years as a community organizer in partnership with immigrant women living along the Texas/New Mexico/Mexico border. 

Cristina Sanidad 

is from San Jose, California, and moved to Arizona in August 2008 to serve as a Jesuit Volunteer at the worker rights center. She is also a student at Arizona State University in the Social Justice and Human Rights Masters Program. Her research focus is on worker justice and immigrants’ rights as well as community organizing on the border.

Nicolas de la Fuente

spent two years in rural Guatemala in a Kiche Maya village working on food security, community development projects such as building wood stoves and teaching "migration safety" courses in local elementary schools.  He then worked in the micrant unit of California rural Legal Assistance in Stockton, CA where he monitored agricultural fields to make sure farm workers had access to shade, water and safety equipment and that growers were complying with wage and hour law.  Nic came to AIAWJ in September of 2009.  He looks forward to building the worker committee and hopes that eventually the Worker Rights Center will tackle the larger issues that create the individual injustices that we see on a daily basis.   

Maria Alva                                    Maria is from Durango, Mexico. She currently serves at AIAWJ as a VISTA Volunteer.  Previously Maria worked for many years in California as a nurse, and as the manager of a bakery in a Phoenix grocery chain.  Since Maria has always been active in her community, it is no surprise that Maria has excelled at her current position as an advocate, organizer, and leader of the womens support group. Maria's goal is to build a group that will simultaneously deal with the immediate problems of discrimination and subordination of women as well as seeking alternative forms of womens independence and empowerment.