About US

Jessica Pierce (she/her)

Jessica is a national leader in civil rights, holding expertise in youth engagement, organizational development, and training. Jessica’s passion for organizing started at UC Santa Cruz where she was elected as Student Union Assembly President for two terms. After graduating, Jessica served as the Organizing Director for the United States Student Association (USSA) where she led campaigns in over 15 states. During her tenure USSA led efforts to pass the College Cost Reduction and Access Act – the largest increase to grant aid since the passing of the G.I. bill in 1944. With leaders of the Generational Alliance (GA), Jessica led efforts to develop Generation Vote, a coalition of 20 organizations invested in building a youth voting bloc that generated over 1 million youth contacts. Jessica then served as the National Training Director for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) where she helped to coordinate national election efforts for the 2012 election to turnout over 1.2 million Black voters and build uniform capacity & training programs for the national, state, and local levels. Most recently, Jessica was the National Chair for Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100) where she focused on capacity-building and sustainability efforts through civic engagement, convenings, and trainings. Outside of organizing, Jessica has committed herself to building power through training, working with organizations such as Wellstone Action, Midwest Academy, and the Center for American Progress. Jessica has been featured in national, state, and local media outlets including Ebony, PBS Newshour, BET, CNN, and Buzzfeed and has won numerous awards including the 21st Century Innovator Award from the Midwest Academy. Throughout her career and to-date, she has personally trained more than 20,000 people.

Bryan Perlmutter (he/him)

Bryan is a national leader in youth engagement holding expertise in organizational development, campaign development, communications, and leadership development. He received his masters in Public Administration, Nonprofit Management, and Policy from NYU Wagner School of Public Service. He is the founder and former Executive Director of Ignite NC/Ignite NC Action Fund as well as part of the founding team of the Southern Vision Alliance. These NC based organizations have become national models for youth engagement including two feature case studies on their best practices for youth civic engagement. Bryan has more than 9 years of grassroots organizing and campaign experience. From 2012-2014 he was the communications and development director for the Youth Organizing Institute – where he was able to help win policy change around school discipline. He was among the first 17 people arrested during the “first Moral Monday” and became a leader in this movement, serving as the youth speaker at many events. In 2015 Bryan served on the campaign team for a successful at large Durham city council campaign, electing the first out LGBTQ POC onto the council. Bryan has also served as consultants for a mayoral campaign and a city council campaign.

Bryan has appeared on Chris Matthews on MSNBC, MTV, and PBS regarding racial justice and voting rights. He was a successful plaintiff in a 2016 lawsuit challenging NC gerrymandering. He was the winner of the 2016 Mario Savio Youth Activist award hosted at Berkeley and was the commencement speaker at the 2014 NC State University graduation for the non-profit studies department. Bryan served for two years on the steering committee of SOLVE (Southern Leaders on Voter Engagement) and on the advisory board of LaunchProgress PAC. He is on the Board for Bull City Safe Schools, Southern Partners Fund, and the Southern Vision Alliance. Bryan is a graduate of NC State University where he received a BS in business administration and a minor in nonprofit studies.