Executive Director Rights for All People Lisa Durán 2011 Colorado Faculty Member

Lisa Durán has served since 2003 as the founding Executive Director for Rights for All People, an organizing project that brings the voices of immigrants to the struggle for justice for all Coloradans.  She has also led the establishment and development of the Aurora Human Rights Center, a collaborative space founded in October of 2010 with the participation of RAP, El Centro Humanitario, the Somali Community Center, the Lowry Family Center and the Strengthening Neighborhoods program of the Denver Foundation.  A veteran of 33+ years of local and national movement-building work, Lisa first started organizing with the Labor/Community Strategy Center in the late 1980’s in Los Angeles.  Lisa is a co-founder of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, for which RAP also served as fiscal sponsor, and she represents RAP nationally at National People’s Action.  Her previous experience with nonprofits includes serving as the first executive director of the Clínica Tepeyac in Denver, and providing leadership to the Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training, the Building Movement Project and the Highlander Center in Knoxville, TN.  She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Immigrant Liberty Award from the Colorado Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the Ralph L. Carr Award from the Colorado ACLU and the Cesar E. Chavez Award from the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement.  She has a master’s degree in political science from the University of California at Riverside and will shortly receive her Master of Public Affairs Degree from the University of Colorado at Denver.