Results:
We are excited to share the voting results from our Member Assembly, which had international and intergenerational participation, and was the first time we used our weighted voting system for those directly impacted by the immigration system! A total of 141 members submitted ballots. Most ballots were submitted anonymously using a 3rd party voting system, which tallied total votes. 20 people voted by paper ballot at our member assembly. These votes were counted and verified by Ivy Hest and David Quituisaca. *Note: Due to the weighted voting system, totals are greater than 141.
| Questions | Yes | No | Abstain |
| Are you directly impacted by the immigration system? | 84 | 57 | -- |
Do you vote for Jenifer Benn as Co-Chair? | 215 | 0 | 10 |
Do you vote for Rio Riera Arbogast as Secretary? | 209 | 0 | 16 |
Do you vote for Shanatia Bygrave on the Board of Directors? | 161 | 0 | 13 |
| Do you vote for Sarah Rogerson on the Board of Directors? | 173 | 0 | 13 |
Amendment 1: Fifty-one percent (51%) of the Members eligible to vote in the Annual Member Assembly shall participate in a vote or election, in-person or via absentee ballot, in order for it to be valid. If fewer than 51% of eligible members vote by the conclusion of the Member Assembly in-person or via absentee ballot, the time for eligible voters to vote must be extended until 51% of members eligible to participate in the Member Assembly have voted. | 211 | 1 | 13 |
Congratulations to our new members of the Board of Directors:
Jenifer Benn, Co-Chair
Jenifer (she/ella) has been a CCSM member for over 5 years. Jenifer is extremely involved in activism, and wears many hats within the community. She has evolved into a leader within the organization, and is committed to the growth and development of CCSM. She has been a part of various committees as well as the Coordinating Committee. She is eager to continue to grow her leadership role within CCSM, and believes she is a good fit because she knows first hand how big of an impact CCSM has on our community.
Jenifer serves on the Coordinating Committee, Personnel Committee, Hiring Committee, Intake Committee, and helped plan our 5th anniversary celebration.
Rio Riera Arbogast, Secretary
Rio (they/them) is Cuban and Irish/Alsatian-American, born in Queens and raised in Greenwich, NY. After living out of state for several years, they were immediately drawn to CCSM’s powerful and beautiful work upon returning. They began their involvement as a volunteer in 2020 and have grown to deeply appreciate the CCSM community. Rio is a member of the Latinx Festival planning committee and Coordinating Committee.
Shanatia Bygrave, Board of Directors
Shanatia “Tia” Bygrave is the Branch Manager of Greylock Federal Credit Union Greenport/Hudson branch. She has nearly 20 years in banking industry and is a certified financial coach with the National Credit Union Association (CUNA), a recent graduate of the AACUC Diversity Equity and Inclusion Leadership academy for financial professionals and a recipient of the 40 under 40 award in 2022. Tia is a Rotarian and also has the role as Treasurer of the Hudson Rotary Club. She is a long standing member of the board and also treasurer of FOHY (Friends of Hudson Youth). Shanatia also sits on the board of Columbia County Chambers and CREATE Council of the Arts.
Shanatia is passionate about financial wellness for all and works with many local organizations to provide seminars for their employees on topics like budgeting, credit, building savings, homeownership and many more. Tia believes that having financial freedom and stability is an important key to a better life. If our low to moderate income families don’t know how to have this, it will continue the cycle of feeling bound to living paycheck to paycheck. She also feels educating our youth at a young age is very important to help break that cycle and will not stop until our youth learn all they need to learn to reach this goal. As Branch Manager, Tia has played an instrumental role in supporting CCSM’s Financial Empowerment programming by co-organizing workshops for members on Opening a Bank Account, Applying for an ITIN, and Owning Your First Home. In addition, her branch recently received the "Juntos Avanzamos" Together We Advance' designation, which is awarded to credit unions committed to serving and empowering Hispanic consumers.
Sarah Rogerson, Board of Directors
Sara Rogerson is a professor of law and director of The Edward P. Swyer Justice Center at Albany Law School. She is also the faculty Director of the Immigration Law Clinic, in which students represent immigrant victims of crime including child abuse and neglect, persecution, domestic violence and sexual assault. Under her supervision, her students also represent wrongfully detained immigrants and regularly participate in legislative advocacy and community outreach initiatives. Before joining the faculty, Professor Rogerson worked as a housing and immigrant rights public interest attorney in Newark, New Jersey and in Dallas, Texas.
Her scholarship addresses flaws in the administration of immigration law and policy, including intersections with domestic violence and international law. She has also been published on current issues such as crisis lawyering, education policy and gun safety, having direct lived experience with each of those topics. Professor Rogerson has been a long-time supporter of CCSM, collaborating with us on numerous Know Your Rights and legal clinics in the Capital Region. Recently, she served as the government liaison for the Capital Region Sanctuary Coalition to support the resettlement of immigrants relocated to the capital region from the southern border and New York City.
We look forward to working with our new and standing members of the board and incredible leaders on our coordinating committee and among our membership.
