Janay Cauthen is a second-generation Jamacian-American woman who has made New York City her home and community. Since childhood, Janay has wanted to work with and meet the needs of underrepresented minorities across the country, and was able to start doing so by earning a BA in Liberal Arts and Social Work.

Although she faced many immigration-related challenges throughout her life, including losing her former husband to deportation during Trump’s administration in 2018, Janay has always strived to support and empower others facing similar issues as she personally believes in the equality of all people. Janay fought effortlessly against the broken system and was able to assist with her former spouse receiving a pardon in 2021 which made him eligible to return to the US and be reunited with their children.Once she joined Families For Freedom in 2005, Janay was able to express this passion of social justice and welfare by advocating for immigrants around America struggling with the broken immigration system. Starting out as just an intern, by representing Families For Freedom for many years at national press conferences, rallies, and justice movements, she now serves as the Executive Director of the organization’s staff and board.

As Families For Freedom’s current chairman, Janay has been able to extend the organization’s goal of providing freedom to migrants to individuals of all races, ethnicities, and genders, as well as grow its small support group into a nationwide community. At the same time, as the co-founder of New York’s New Sanctuary Movements, she has provided direct services to immigrant families caught in the unjust detention/deportation system and developed immigrant awareness across the New York City Area. Through all of these simultaneous efforts, Janay has proven to show her deep dedication to the liberation of all people and dismantling of the cruel immigration system.

Janiah Heard has been apart of FFF since 2005. Janiah is the daughter of deported immigrant rights activist Jean Montrevil. She grew up watching her parents fight the system to keep her father free for over 13 years. Sadly he was unjustly deported during Trumps administration on January 16, 2018. Which turned her family upside down. Her parents are both Co-Founders of New York’s New Sanctuary Movements. Janiah has a love for business development and fighting for people who are treated unjust . She has a BA in Business Admin and is currently in Grad School to receive her MBA. She has goals of becoming a immigration lawyer; to fight for the families who can’t fight for themselves.

Mishell Lovato was born in Latacunga, Ecuador and migrated to the United States with her mother and older sister back in 2010, looking for new opportunities, and a better life like millions of others.

Being raised by a loving single mother, and having an absent father, resulted in economic hardship. If Mishell and her family would have stayed in Ecuador, there would have been no chance to succeed, and neither Mishell or her sister would have been able to continue their education past high school. With the support of her mother’s family who lived in the U.S. they were able to migrate to the U.S and started a new life in New York City.

She is currently a senior, attending John Jay College of Criminal Justice, majoring in Criminology. She joined Families for Freedom in the beginning of 2023, because she understands what it’s like to leave your country and family behind, fighting for a better future.

She knows what struggle looks like, and understands why millions of immigrants put their life at risk every year, with the hope of attaining a better life. This country is built on the back of Immigrants, and fighting for their rights and protection is the right thing to do. She aspires to help as many individuals as she can, and being part of FFF allows her to do just that.

Dyuani Heard has been a part of Families For Freedom for the last two years. She grew up around and was raised in a minority community by both immigrants and victims of unjust criminal systems.

Growing up in a single-mother household, Dyuani has grown to become a strong-minded, intelligent, and driven young lady. Her passion for political, economic, and criminal justice has led her to pursue a career in law, as she is currently studying political science as an undergrad. She plans to attend law school in the future and hopes to be a symbol of change in her community for future generations.

Carla became a member of Families for Freedom after her husband was deported to the Dominican Republic and is Chair of the Families For Freedom board. She is a School Social Worker at a High School in the Bronx and has served as a Field Instructor for Social Work Interns for the past decade. In joining the Board, she hopes to return the support that the people, families and organization of Families for Freedom gave to her and to help FFF build bridges to the larger community.

Kathleen is a longtime activist involved in issues spanning from environmental justice to immigrant rights. She joined FFF in 2004, after her partner was deported to Jamaica. She was a graduate of the first FFF Organizing Fellows Class. Kathy has worked tirelessly to develop FFF’s campaigns and community outreach. Born and raised in Brooklyn, and with a background in art and design, Kathy now lives in Brooklyn with her son Joshua, one of FFF’s youth members.

Marissa is a third-generation Mexican-US American / Chicanx / Latinx woman who has originally come from southern California but has now made New York City and the tri-state area her home. Since she was a teenager, Marissa has actively been involved in social justice and human rights movements, with a specific focus on immigration, mass incarceration, and detention. She currently serves as the Founder and Executive Director of Art and Resistance Through Education (ARTE), a grassroots nonprofit organization that mobilizes young people of color to take action for human rights change using the visual arts, and also works as an Artist-in-Residence at the Initiative for a Just Society (IJS), supporting the development of a curriculum focusing on racial justice and abolition democracy.

In all of this work, Marissa is deeply dedicated to the freedom and liberation of all people, especially those who are facing and fighting deportation across our communities. She deeply admires Families for Freedom, as the community has worked for over 20 years to support families who have been directly impacted by an unjust immigration system, while simultaneously working to dismantle the system through advocacy and grassroots campaigns.

As a Board Member, Marissa hopes to contribute to Families For Freedom by supporting the strengthening of its existing infrastructure and helping build the youth leadership of the organization, to ensure the sustainability of the organization until all people are free from the cruel system of detention.

Ms. Antoinette “Toni” Callistro, MBA, MAWLP

Antoniette L. Callistro is a long time employee in the non-profit sector that has been involved in supporting underprivileged communities across the New York state for a long time. With over 25 years of experience in business, including accounting, financial reporting, analysis, budget management, payroll processing, taxing filings, and regulatory compliance, Ms. Antoinette aims to bring these skills to Families For Freedom to provide added transparency and value to the organization.

In addition to business experience, she is also familiar with project development and has become proficient in analytical/quantitative skills, staff training, and the management of professional/technical employees, which are all key factors in maintaining a community-oriented organization. Through all of this civil service and public work, Ms. Antoinette has been able to hone her sense of community-welfare and provide families facing serious issues with the direct care that they need. She profoundly respects Families For Freedom, as it has worked for more than 20 years to ensure the protection of families being affected by the unjust immigration system, and wishes to take part in its goal of dismantling this system through advocacy and interactive outreach efforts.

Nick Rodrigo is a researcher and Sociology Lecturer at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, with over 10 years of experience in the Palestine liberation movement, migrant rights campaigns and the anti-war movement in the UK, Palestine, South Africa and the US.

After moving to New York in 2016 to conduct his PhD research, Nick was drawn to the treatment and condition of migrants during the Trump administration, soon learning that criminalization of migrant life through borders, policing, detention and surveillance is as American as apple pie. He also found out that what is equally as American is the history of resistance to these oppressive processes from migrant communities and their allies. For Nick, the work that Families For Freedom has done and continues to do is emblematic of the long history of migrant and racial justice-oriented organizing in New York City. He feels passionately about contributing to FFF’s intersectional approach to immigrant rights and ensuring their mission and mandate reaches as many people as possible with total liberation as the end goal.

Alejandra Pablos is a reproductive justice organizer and storyteller at the intersections of mass incarceration and immigration. She shares her incarceration and abortion story as an act of resistance to fight stigma and bring awareness to abolition and racial justice. Alejandra works as a Field Coordinator for the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, where she organizes to raise the voices of Latinas across the East Coast for policy change at all levels of government on issues that impact women’s healthcare and social justice.

In addition, she is a member of Mijente, which is a national political Latinx organization, and has worked with many immigrant rights and prison abolition organizers across the country to ensure that migrants and their families are protected from the unjust immigration system. She believes in the Families For Freedom mission and looks forward to this next chapter as a proud board member.

Vineeth R. Vaidyula is a migrant health advocate and a first-generation South Asian American. Having worked with resettlement agencies and anti-detention groups, Vineeth has witnessed the poor social determinants of health migrants face due to their citizenship and intercultural identities. He believes that Families for Freedom’s work in bringing migrant narratives to the public eye has been paramount in bridging cultural ties between migrant and native communities and building safe spaces where migrants can access the resources they need, health or otherwise. Vineeth is big on hands-on public awareness and education, serving as the Founder and Director of the Richmond Refugee Health Partners (RRHP) program to both address the unmet health education needs of Richmond-based refugees and strengthen the cross-cultural, person-centered care abilities of pre-health college students at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Vineeth also serves as the Founder and President of Students Together Assisting Refugees at VCU (STAR@VCU), which focuses on campus-wide awareness of migrant issues through different media: exhibits, simulations, book clubs, guest speakers, and more.

By joining the Board, Vineeth hopes to dismantle migrant health disparities by supporting FFF’s education outreach to better inform the next generation of professionals in cultural sensitivity, trauma-informed advocacy, and knowledge of the very barriers that disenfranchise migrants. He also hopes to facilitate health self-sufficiency education among immigrant families in New York. Planning to serve migrants as a physician in the future, Vineeth will matriculate at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in 2024