WFP NATIONAL DIRECTOR MAURICE MITCHELL
Maurice Mitchell is a nationally recognized social movement strategist, a visionary
leader in the Movement for Black Lives, and National Director of the Working Families
Party.
Born and raised in New York to Caribbean working-class parents, Maurice began
organizing as a teenager—and never stopped. As a high school student, he served as
a leader for the Long Island Student Coalition for Peace and Justice. At Howard
University, after a classmate was killed by police officers, Maurice led organizing
efforts against police brutality and for divestment from private prisons. He went on to
work as an organizer for the Long Island Progressive Coalition, downstate organizing
director for Citizen Action of NY, and Director of the NY State Civic Engagement Table.
Two tragedies changed the course of Maurice’s life. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy
destroyed his home in Long Beach, NY and left him living in hotels for months.
Eighteen months later, after Mike Brown was killed by police in Missouri, Maurice
relocated to Ferguson to support organizers on the ground. Seeing the need for an
anchor organization to provide strategic support and guidance to Movement for
Black Lives activists across the country, he co-founded and managed Blackbird.
Maurice was a key organizer of the Movement for Black Lives convention in Cleveland
in 2015.
In 2018, Maurice took the helm of the Working Families Party as National Director
where he is applying his passion and experience to make WFP the political home for
a multi-racial working-class movement.