Executive Director - Judy Meredith

Judy is the founder and executive director of the Public Policy Institute. A veteran lobbyist, Judy has worked for more than thirty years creating change through legislative advocacy.

Judy's lobbying experience in Massachusetts began in 1969 when she became a volunteer lobbyist for her adoptive and foster parent group. After ten years of working as an advocate inside and outside of state government, she founded Meredith and Associates, a political consulting firm known for its work with nonprofits.

Over the years, Judy's lobbying work evolved into a coaching model in which she guides clients through the process of developing their own internal capacity for advocacy by mentoring staff, building leadership skills of volunteers, and helping to broker constructive and positive working partnerships with policy makers.

In addition to her work in Massachusetts and New England, Judy has served as a national consultant to the Service Employees International Union, the AFL-CIO, and the Public Affairs Division of the United Way of America, the ACCESS Project, The Community Health Leader Program, and Community Catalyst.

With her husband Peter Rider she shares the occasional company of 5 patient grown children, 3 good-natured children in law, and eleven perfect-in-every-way grandchildren.

Contact Judy: judy[at]realclout.org | 617-275-2923

Deputy Director - Yawu Miller

Yawu is a community organizer working on One Massachusetts and the Boston Foundation Youth Development Project. He also serves as a senior editor at the Boston Banner, which for 40 years has been Boston's African American newspaper.

Yawu's writing has chronicled the political and social justice movements in the Greater Boston area for the last 16 years, forging relationships with activists from communities in Boston and across the state. Additionally, he is an advisory board member of the Ethnic Media Project, an initiative of UMass Boston's Center for Media and Society aimed at building greater cooperation between news outlets serving the state's communities of color.

A life-long Boston resident, Yawu graduated from Dartmouth College in 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature.

Contact Yawu: yawu[at]realclout.org | 617-275-2918

Director of Operations - Harmony Blakeway

Harmony serves as The Public Policy Institute's Director of Operations, focusing primarily on the ONE Massachusetts and Realclout projects. Harmony earned an MS in Information Systems and an MBA in Public and Nonprofit Management at the Boston University Graduate School of Management, where she consulted for both local nonprofits and socially-responsible corporations, including the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Hasbro's CSR Department, and Recycline, Inc.

Prior to joining PPI, Harmony developed a business plan for the Medical Access Program at the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology (CIMIT). Currently in the process of gathering funding, the organization will bring non-resource-intensive, best-in-class, locally-manufactured neonatal incubators to Sub-Saharan Africa, designed to utilize existing supply chains. The project will bring educational opportunities, local jobs, and medical technology to the region, and serve as a case study of "organic resourcing," solving problems with locally-available resources.

Contact Harmony: harmony[at]realclout.org | 617-275-2883 | Harmony's PPI Blog

Outreach and Communications - Carmen Arce Bowen

Carmen currently works conducting outreach and bilingual training events in communities of color and ethnic communities across the state. Carmen also works in civic engagement initiatives at PPI/ONE Massachusetts working with a range variety of community networks and initiatives including the Civic Education for New Americans initiative, the Ya Es Hora coalition, and MassVote. Her work includes internships at Grassroots International, the Mass State House with Senator Jarrett Barrios, United for a Fair Economy, the Refugee and Immigration Ministry and the National Immigration Institute in Mexico. Carmen graduated with a MALD degree from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy focusing in International Development in Social and Political Change after obtaining an LL.M from Suffolk Law School focusing in Immigration Law and an LL.B from Universidad Panamericana, in Mexico. She serves on the board of Chelsea Collaborative, Emerge Massachusetts and MassVote. She was recently appointed by Governor Patrick to serve on the Commission on the Status of Women. Carmen is also a youth mentor at Excel Academy Charter School in East Boston.

Contact Carmen: carmen[at]realclout.org | 617-275-2833

Hecate

Hecate is a Greek Goddess who served as a guide and coach at the crossroads of Hades, where after crossing the River Styx, Greek souls found themselves facing three choices: the Elysian Fields, abode of the great and heroic; the Fields of Asphodel, for all who had led a blameless but ordinary life; or to Tartarus, a sunless land of punishment for criminals.

Hecate's best known role in Greek mythology was guiding Persephone, the goddess of spring, on her annual journeys between Hades and Earth. In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Hecate is portrayed as a nurturing and protective guide for Persephone on those annual journeys. [Hecate's Blog]

Contact Hecate: hecate[at]realclout.org