Abbey Clements
Abbey Clements is a survivor teacher of the Sandy Hook School tragedy in 2012, and was an elementary school teacher for 32 years. Clements has been a gun violence prevention activist for over a decade. She is a strategic consultant on gun violence issues for the American Federation of Teachers and a member of the Brady Pac National Advisory Council. Clements has been featured in various publications and documentaries, including Newtown, If I Don’t Make It, I Love You, Bullets Into Bells, Marie Claire, AFT Voices, USA Today, among others.
Dara Sicherman Salett
Dara Sicherman Salett is a Brooklyn-based gun violence prevention activist. For 15 years, Dara worked in various NYC museums and art history departments at area colleges and universities in an effort to make art more accessible. In December 2012, after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Dara helped launch Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, the grassroots force of Everytown for Gun Safety. After working on chapter development for several years, Dara organically began to merge her passion for GVP work with her background in education to help design a training program to provide Everytown volunteers and survivors with organizing skills to work more effectively and efficiently through a trauma-informed lens. Dara worked with the Be SMART for Kids program helping to launch trainings in Spanish and monthly calls that host hundreds of participants as well. Dara is thrilled to have an opportunity to bring her experience in the GVP movement and interest in learning development to support educators on the frontline at Teachers Unify. Teachers are leaders and our students shouldn’t have to navigate a path through this on their own.
Dr. Sonali Rajan
Dr. Sonali Rajan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Studies & Applied Educational Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University. She also holds a secondary faculty appointment in the Department of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health. She is currently the Senior Associate Director for Research of the Edmund W. Gordon Institute for Urban and Minority Education. And she is also the Inaugural President of the Research Society for Firearm-Related Harms. Dr. Rajan is a school violence prevention researcher, studying gun violence, school safety, and adverse childhood experiences. She is co-leading research in these areas funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Her work prioritizes the needs for schools and communities to collectively attend to the well-being of children, while keeping them safe, reducing their exposure to violence, and ensuring opportunities for them to thrive.
Angie Pati
Angie Pati (she/her) is honored to serve as the Founding Treasurer of Teachers Unify to End Gun Violence Action. A proud "Zillennial," she wholeheartedly believes that gun violence is one of the most pressing concerns facing her generation. She has watched firsthand as it has had reverberating effects in communities both in the United States and internationally through her work as a Fulbright Fellow in South Africa and Investigator in Washington, D.C. for a legal justice nonprofit. Over the past few years, Angie has led the charge for leading gun violence prevention movements to gain supporters and funding through her position as Executive Director of Nonprofits at Grassroots Analytics as well as through her personal work. Now the Director of Strategic Partnerships at National Journal, Angie continues to bolster her political and policy know-how. She is thrilled to empower educators to lead the conversation around gun violence prevention through political action.
Ashlei Blue
Ashlei Blue is a passionate grassroots organizer. A native of Fayetteville, NC and UNC - Charlotte alumna, Ashlei began as a campus volunteer with Obama for America in 2008. She has continued working in electoral politics across her home state where she currently serves as North Carolina State Director at America Votes. She focuses her work on defeating voter suppression and gerrymandering as well as uplifting qualified candidates and skilled staffers throughout the South.
Ashlei is a proud graduate of the Congressional Black Caucus bootcamp as well as the New Leaders Council. Ashlei has also provided consulting services through Blue Strategies NC and commits her skills to Southern campaigns and organizations. These experiences inform her trainings with organizations like Arena and statewide grassroots programs across the country.
In her spare time, she is an avid songwriter, amateur storm chaser (#KashDoppler) and snack connoisseur.