Jamila Martin

As a State Advisor, Jamila helps craft a winning funding strategy in Michigan.

She spends time getting to know the many organizing groups across the state, learning about their work, their strengths, and their challenges. Where our movement needs more organizing capacity, Jamila encourages and supports existing groups to begin or increase their electoral work. She also looks for opportunities to improve the organizing ecosystem through collaboration with groups or other funders on special projects. It really is a pleasure and a privilege to get the bird’s eye view of the hard work of thousands of organizers and member leaders.

Before coming to Movement Voter Project, Jamila was an organizer for about 15 years, first as a campus organizer, then with SEIU, and then as an education-focused community organizer. Together with many other partners, Jamila helped found 482Forward, an education organizing network in Detroit, and was a co-director until 2019. She’s proud to be part of successful campaigns to repeal punitive school closure legislation and to restore hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to the local school district.

She currently lives in Hamtramck, Michigan, and has a passion for pizza and her tiny, senior dogs.