About Us: MIRA Staff & Consultants
Directory
Eva Millona
Executive Director
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(617) 350-5480 ext. 211
Flet shqiptare; Μιλάει ελληνικά
Eva has been with MIRA for over ten years, working as the director of Policy and Advocacy and as Deputy Director before becoming Executive Director in December 2008. Prior to joining MIRA in July 1999, Eva directed the resettlement program in central MA. In her native Albania, she practiced civil and criminal law and from 1989-1992 served as a judge in Tirana’s District Court. Outside of MIRA, Eva is the co-chair of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Refugees and Immigrants and also serves on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Eva is a graduate of Clark University and of Tirana University, School of Law. She is the recipient of the 2009 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service’s Outstanding American by Choice Award, the 2007 Political Asylum Immigration Representation Project (PAIR) Detention Attorney Award, and the 2007 National Lawyers Guild Legal Professional Award. Most recently, Wainwright Bank awarded her the prestigious 2010 Social Justice Award. She is a frequent speaker on immigration policy and immigrant integration.
Cristina Aguilera
Campaign Organizer
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(617) 350-5480 ext. 206
Habla español
Born in the U.S. and raised in Venezuela, Cristina received her bachelor’s at Venezuela’s University of Carabobo, where she co-funded a student movement to defend the autonomy of public universities. After graduating, she moved to the U.S. to pursue union campaigns in Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina and New York City. In May 2008, she moved to Singapore to earn a Public Administration master’s at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. In 2010, Cristina settled in Boston and joined MIRA to continue the fight for minority and worker rights.
Marcony Almeida
Organizing Director
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(617) 350-5480 ext. 205
Fala português
Besides organizing and training MIRA’s 140-plus member organizations, Marcony maintains ties to his fellow Brazilian immigrants by co-editing the Brazilian Magazine, a statewide bilingual publication. Before joining MIRA, Marcony worked at the Brazilian Immigrant Center, where he was a Public Relations Specialist and then rose to the position of Assistant Director, continuing with his media, policy and organizing work. In 2004 the Mayor’s Office of New Bostonians presented him with the New Bostonian of the Year Award. In 2010, he was named one of the city’s most influential Latinos by El Planeta newspaper.
Angela M. Amell
Business Manager
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(617) 350-5480 ext. 210
Habla español
Originally from Colombia, Angela has worked with First Literacy, the Quincy Community Action Program, Catalina Marketing and the Adult Literacy Resource Institute. In December, 2007, she joined MIRA, where she runs daily business operations. 
Eva Castillo
New Hampshire Immigrant Project Organizer
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(603) 661-2873
Habla español
A native of Caracas, Venezuela, Eva Castillo has a long history of working with and advocating for immigrants. She came to the States in 1975 to study at Western Michigan University, and she began her career at the nearby Hispanic American Council. In 1984, Eva moved to New Hampshire, where she worked first at the NE Farm Workers Council, and later at the Latin American Center in Manchester. She joined MIRA as the organizer for our project "NH Alliance for Immigrants and Refugees" in 2007.
Renato Castelo
Field Organizer
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(617) 350-5480 ext. 217
Habla español
Renato arrived at MIRA in March of 2012 after working as an immigrant rights advocate and project coordinator for the Welcoming Idaho Initiative. Originally from Ecuador, Renato earned a B.A. in Communications with a minor in Psychology from the University Of San Francisco De Quito; in the summer of 2009, he participated at the Babson College Entrepreneurship Program in Wellesley, MA. Being a first generation immigrant, Renato is passionate about advancing the rights of immigrants and refugees as well as other social justice issues.
Liz Chaves 
Director of Finance and Operations
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(617) 350-5480 ext. 201
Fala português
Liz came to MIRA in August 2009 with over 14 years experience in the nonprofit sector and a strong background in financial management, including several positions as Finance Director. Most recently she served for five years as Director of Finance & Operations at the Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers (MAPS). She holds a B.S. in Accountancy from Bentley University, continues to serve on the Board of Directors of MAPS as Treasurer, and is a Certified Nonprofit Accounting Professional (CNAP).
Jenna DiCocco
Project Director, New Americans Integration Institute
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(617) 350-5480 ext. 208
Akamba CiNyanja
Born and raised in the Boston-area, Jenna joined MIRA in September 2011 to direct the Immigrant Entrepreneurship initiative of our Integration Institute. She is an attorney and entrepreneur who has worked and volunteered in the non-profit and advocacy fields for over 15 years. Her experience ranges from consulting in corporate patent law, to founding a Washington D.C. non-profit that worked internationally with women refugees from East Africa. She earned her Bachelor's degree from Boston University and her JD from the University of Iowa, where she developed immigrants' rights workshops and legal clinics. Outside MIRA, Jenna is a Visiting Scholar at Northeastern University.
Shannon Erwin
State Policy Director
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(617) 350-5480 ext. 222
تتكلم العربية
Shannon joined MIRA in August, 2011, following work as a policy advocate with the Immigrants Protection Project of Massachusetts Law Reform Institute. Originally from Rochester, New York, she earned her bachelor's from the University of Pennsylvania and her J.D. from Harvard Law School, where her studies focused on asylum law and immigrants' rights and included work in the West Bank with a Palestinian refugee advocacy NGO. Outside of MIRA, Shannon serves on the Board of Directors of the New England Muslim Bar Association.
Elsa Gomes
Director of Development
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( 617 ) 350 - 5480 ext. 218
Elsa arrived at MIRA after two and a half years at Tufts University, where she was responsible for multi-year major gifts fundraising. She also spent seven years working at the Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers (MAPS), advocating for the advancement of people from Portuguese speaking countries. Born to a Cape Verdean family and raised in Portugal, Elsa has also been a Portuguese language instructor, a translation consultant, and has worked with language learning software development. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Intercultural Studies with a Communications Minor from Fresno Pacific University in Fresno, CA and a Management Certificate in Health and Human Services from Suffolk University.
Claudia Green
Director of Workforce Development and English for New Bostonians
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(617) 350-5480 ext. 203
Habla español
As MIRA’s lead advocate for ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages), Claudia directs the English Works campaign, which promotes public-private ESOL collaborations for immigrant workers, and English for New Bostonians, which supports adult ESOL programs in Boston. Before joining MIRA in 2006, Claudia directed the Center for Community Economic Development at UMass Boston, and held other employment training positions in municipalities and nonprofits. Claudia originally moved to Greater Boston from New Jersey to earn a master's in city planning at MIT.
Lee Haller
English for New Bostonians Program Manager
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(617) 350-5480 ext. 207
Habla español; fala português
Lee manages the grant-making and technical assistance for ENB's 23 adult English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) programs. Before joining ENB and MIRA in 2008, she directed the Adult Learning Program of Jamaica Plain Community Centers for 5 years; before that, she worked as an adult ESOL teacher, program manager, and trainer. Originally from Ithaca, NY, Lee holds a BA in Medieval Studies from Brown University and a Master’s in TESOL from Rhode Island College.
Franklin Peralta
Campaign Organizer
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(617) 350-5480 ext. 219
Habla español
Before joining MIRA as an organizer for the English Works program in December 2010, Franklin worked for almost four years as the Student Support Coordinator at the Adult Learning Program of Jamaica Plain Community Centers. Before that, he worked in the research department of Centro Cultural Poveda, an educational think tank in the Dominican Republic. Franklin holds a bachelor’s in philosophy from Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo, and a master’s in Educational Research from Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo.
Lauren Powers
Development and Communications Associate
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(617) 350-5480 ext. 202
Lauren graduated magna cum laude from Boston University in 2008 with a bachelor’s in cultural anthropology, which included the completion of an International Development Program in Niamey, Niger. Lauren first came to MIRA as a development intern in the fall of 2009 and then returned as a special events consultant in February 2010. She now works full-time in the development and communications departments.
Sarang Sekhavat
Federal Policy Director
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(617) 350-5480 ext. 212
Prior to joining MIRA in April 2008, Sarang was an immigrant rights advocate in New York City. There he designed a legal training program for the Center for the Integration and Advancement of New Americans, and he served as the Interim-Director for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee’s New York Office. Sarang received his J.D. from Brooklyn Law School in 2005, his master's. in International Relations from Boston University in 2004, and his bachelor's from Tufts in 1998.
Franklin Soults
Communication Director 
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(617) 350-5480 ext. 204
Habla español
Frank and his siblings were raised speaking both Spanish and English in Syracuse, New York, by their Chilean immigrant mom. After completing his bachelor’s at the University of Chicago, Frank worked as an adult ESOL teacher and as a music journalist and editor, winning three statewide journalism awards in the early 2000s. In May 2008 Frank earned a master’s in journalism at Columbia University, and in April 2009 he joined MIRA as a spokesperson and strategic communications planner.
Samuel Tsoi
Policy Associate
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(617) 350-5480 ext. 216
说广东话
After emigrating from Hong Kong in 1993 and growing up in Boston's Mission Hill neighborhood, Sam went on to study International Affairs at Gordon College in Wenham, Mass, and at Peking University in Beijing, China. Sam has worked in the field of corporate social responsibility, interned at the State House, and also covered the Chinatown community as a reporter. In February 2010 he joined MIRA, where he focuses on state and federal policy research and advocacy.
Alejandro Urrutia
Health Profession Opportunity Project (HPOP) Consultant
New Hampshire Alliance for Immigrants and Refugees (NHAIR)
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(603) 321-1291
Habla español
Alejandro studied medicine in his native Mexico, specializing in cardiology and conducting research into electro-physiology of the heart. Besides working with NHAIR as consultant for HPOP, he is also a Senior Health and Safety officer of the American Red Cross, Vice Chair of the New Hampshire Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, member of the New Hampshire Governor’s Commission on Latino Affairs, and President of Latinos Unidos of NH and of Vision Hispana of NH. He is also former president and founding member of the Central American Emergency Committee of Massachusetts.
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