For all general inquiries or to start a YDS chapter, contact:
Erik Rosenberg, YDS National Organizer
75 Maiden Lane, Suite 505
New York City, NY 10038
Phone: 212 727 8610 ext. 4
erik@dsausa.org

YDS Coordinating Committee, Chapters, and Organizing Committees. Scroll down to see if one is near you!

Click here to read more about how our elected leadership works and what each Coordinating Committee member is responsible for.

Name: Erik Rosenberg

Position: National Organizer

College: Wesleyan Univeristy

Email: erik@dsausa.org

My past political activism has centered primarily on peace. As a high school student at the Walworth Barbour American International School in Israel, I co-organized a conflict resolution committee that brought together Palestinians, Israelis, Israeli-Arabs, and Americans to discuss the conflict in the Holy Land. After graduating, I returned to the United States to attend Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut where I earned my B.A. in Government, graduating in 2008. Throughout college I continued my work as a peace activist. I co-founded Students for Ending the War in Iraq (SEWI) which I helped develop into one of the most prominent activist organizations on campus. I also connected SEWI with larger networks such as Connecticut Opposes the War (COW) and the Campus Anti-War Network (CAN). I have interned with Brooklyn For Peace (formerly Brooklyn Parents For Peace), United For Peace and Justice, and served on the Steering Committee of United For Peace and Justice.

Outside of the political realm I enjoy playing the guitar and the piano, gardening, squash, and yoga.

Name:  Tatiana Guerrero

Position: Co-Chair

Chapter: William Paterson

Email: guerrero0988(at)hotmail.com

I am from Union, NJ and currently an undergraduate student at William Paterson University double majoring in political science and economics. I’ve been actively involved in raising awareness to our time’s social problems since high school. Since the fall of 2007, I have been involved in bringing up our YDS chapter at WPU, and since, I have been its secretary. In my free time, I enjoy reading, exercising, discussing politics and philosophy, and spending time with my friends and family. I am also a first generation immigrant from Peru, due to this experience and thanks to my family, I have first hand knowledge of what it means to be an immigrant in this great country. I hope my experience can help open doors for others.

Name: Mike McCabe

Position: Co-Chair

Chapter: William Paterson

Email: michael.patrick.mccabe(at)gmail.com

I am an undergraduate student at William Paterson University in New Jersey, studying political science and philosophy with a focus on political and economic theory. My early political activism revolved around militarism and US foreign policy and has since branched out to include issues such as labor, student debt, and basic economic rights. I am currently working with a number of labor unions and labor councils to establish strong student/labor solidarity within the New York Metropolitan area. Upon graduating, I hope to work as a labor organizer before returning to school to further my studies in political economy.

Name: Chris Hicks

Position: Coalitions Coordinator

Chapter: Wichita State University

Email: chris.n.hicks(at)gmail.com

I have been active in politics for three and a half years now, with a special emphasis on labor, student debt and immigration. Over the past 3 years, I’ve organized closely around all three of these topics, showing students how they are effected by all of them. I’m also active in Student/Farmworker Alliance, Student Labor Action Project, and Campus Progress. My goal is to become a community/youth organizer once I graduate from college. From 2007-2008 I served as Corresponding Secretary for YDS nationally, 2008-2009 the National Organizing Committee Facilitator and am currently the President for Wichita State Democratic Socialists. At Wichita State University, I am a triple major in Economics, Political Science and Sociology and am currently scheduled to graduate May 2010.

Name: Sarah Gollwitzer

Position: Corresponding Secretary

Chapter: College of Wooster (2006-2009)

Email: dsmr204(at)yahoo.com

My name is Sarah Gollwitzer and I am a recent graduate of the College of Wooster with a degree in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology.  I have been interested in social justice since high school and became involved on a campus-wide level beginning my freshman year of college. My activism interests include everything from fair trade to environmentalism (which my senior thesis related to) but have a specific interest in LGBT rights and I spent a summer interning for the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland.  I am from Lakewood, Ohio and will be spending this year with the City Year program, tutoring inner city school kids in the Cleveland public school system. Something else to know about me you say? I always have with me either a) a book or b) my knitting. Usually it’s b).

Name: Kat Brausch

Position: Feminist Issues Coordinator

Chapter: Boston Democratic Socialists of America, College of Wooster (2006-2009)

Email: kcbrausch(at)gmail.com

Kat Brausch is living in Boston and is active in the Boston chapter of the DSA. She just graduated from the College of Wooster with a degree in History and Art History, studying the way propaganda art is used to present a radical organization’s ideology. She was the president of the Wooster chapter for a year and a half, and a co-leader of her campus feminist group for a year. Currently she is looking for a job and idly considering her options for grad school.

Name: Axel Chacon

Position: Anti-Racist Coordinator

Chapter: Wichita State University

Email: aechacon(at)gmail.com

When I was four years old my family emigrated from Guatemala to the United States. I believe this helped me become more exposed to social and political issues, because I experienced first hand the life of working class immigrants. In 2007, I became a member of YDS at Wichita State University chapter located in Kansas. Ever since then, I have continued to become more involved with this great organization.

Name: Chris Maisano

Position: The Activist Editor

Chapter: New York City Democratic Socialists of America

Email: cgmaisano(at)yahoo.com

Chris Maisano is an activist and public librarian who lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He studied Political Science and History at Rutgers University as an undergraduate, and recently received his Masters degree in Library Science from Drexel University in Philadelphia. He has been a member of YDS for about 10 years, and has also worked as a union organizer and community organizer. He is an inveterate Yankees hater and sort of knows how to play the ukulele.

Name: Andrew Porter

Position: National Organizing Committee Facilitator

Chapter: College of Wooster (2006-2009)

Email: andrewporter2009(at)gmail.com

This is my third term on the Coordinating Committee, with two years spent in the at large position. I was the co-founder and co-leader of the Wooster Democratic Socialists, which is the YDS chapter on the campus of Wooster. I graduated in 2009 with a political science major and a minor in economics. I am currently working for Greencorp.

Name: Tara

Position: At-large

Chapter: William Paterson

Email: tdbielenda(at)gmail.com

Tara Dawn Bielenda currently resides in North Jersey and is active in the William Paterson University chapter of YDS.  Her focus within YDS is primarily on feminist issues, but she has an extreme interest and passion for environmental and LGBT issues and international relations.  She will be graduating from William Paterson University in January with two degrees, one in Philosophy and the other in Communications.  Post-graduation plans include seeking employment with a news media company and preparing for graduate school.

Name: Jackie Sewell

Position: At-large

Chapter: Wichita State University

Email: jsewell08(at)gmail.com

Jaclyn (Jackie) Sewell lives in Wichita, Kansas and is attending Wichita State University where she is attempting a major in Spanish with minors in Political Science and German.  She has been the Vice President of the WSU YDS chapter since the end of the Fall 2008 semester.

Name: Amber Frost

Position: At-large

Chapter: Indiana University

Email: amberyds(at)gmail.com

Amber Frost is the president of her local YDS chapter in Bloomington, Indiana, which she started last year.  She recently graduated from Indiana University with a degree in English Literature, where she focused on the America Novela nd it’s cultural and political implications.  She is a non-profit, but hopes to return to school in order to become a more effective organizer for progressive change.

Name: Julian Geraci

Position: At-large

School: Florida International University

Email: jgera003(at)fiu.org

Julian Geraci is a third-year law student at Florida International University in Miami and is interested in practicing public interest law, including immigration and environmental law.  Julian a is a new memebr of YDs is not associated with a local chapter as one does not exist at FIU, though he hopes to change that in the upcoming year.  His hobbies include playing guitar, reading random books, watching cartoons, and drinking Guinness.

Name: Sean Monaghan

Position: At-large

Chapter: Philadelphia Democratic Socialists of America, College of Wooster (2006-2009)

Email: sean.yds(at)gmail.com

Sean Monaghan is a recent graduate of the College of Wooster, and now does full-time community service with impoverished neighborhoods of his hometown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Having co-founded the Wooster Democratic Socialists in 2006, Sean has had a long interest in radical democracy and progressive change.  He is currently working with the Philadelphia DSA and coordinating with progressive student groups in the region.

School: Allison Voglesong

Position: At-large

Chapter: Michigan State University

Email: outpaki.standing(at)gmail.com

From Royal Oak, MI, I’m an MSU International Relations senior and I bring exuberance to all my experiences because I believe personal responsibility is necessary to promote cooperation and dialogue. I am helping found/revive a housing cooperative, I bond with my community at monthly skill shares, and think online networking is an unfathomable asset to peace and justice work. I love doing Critical Mass bike rides, hate my work (in a parking booth) and spent the summer of 2009 with a bunch of postulants from the Episcopal Church. I’m the logistical facilitator of MSU’s YDS chapter and want YDS to take an environmental focus.

CHAPTERS

Wooster College (Wooster, OH)

Dan Buckler dbuckler(at)wooster.edu

Matt Porter mporter12(at)wooster.edu

New York City YDS

Chris Maisano cgmaisano(at)yahoo.com

David Yap davidlyap(at)gmail.com

Maria Svart marisvart(at)gmail.com

Wichita State University (Wichita, KS)

Axel Chacon aechacon(at)gmail.com

Jackie Sewell jsewell08(at)gmail.com

William Paterson University (Wayne, NJ)

Mike McCabe mike362(at)optonline.net

Tati Guerrero guerrero0988(at)hotmail.com

Michigan State (East Lansing, MI)

Allison Voglesong outpaki.standing(at)gmail.com

Ryan Wyreth wyethrya(at)msu.edu

Indiana University - Bloomington

Amber Frost aafrost(at)iupui.edu

UC Berkeley

Aris Grigoriadis thgrigoriadis(at)berkeley.edu/yds.cal(at)gmail.com

Temple University (Philadelphia, PA)

Don Hopkins theoreticalcake(at)gmail.com

ORGANIZING
COMMITTEES

Littleton High School (Denver, CO)

Nina Sugar ninsug(at)gmail.com

Lehigh Carbon Community College

George Cedeno virtuousmind89(at)gmail.com

University of Pittsburgh

Maria Spadaro mariaspadaro(at)hotmail.com

George Washington University (Washington, D.C.)

Bhaksar Sunkara bhaskar.sunkara(at)gmail.com

Perry Landman-Hopman perryh13(at)gwu.edu

AFFILIATES
Anoke Ramsey Community College: College Democrats and Progressives

Stephan Peter stephan.peter(at)stribmail.com