Elvis Mendez

At the dawn of the Great Recession, Elvis experienced his first brief glimpses of the possibility of a world liberated from corporate tyranny. As a new organizer apprentice fresh off a door-knocking shift, he watched as people danced in the street because of organized people power, electing a new president in the hopes of combating inequality and righting historical wrongs. A month later, a group of courageous workers, that Elvis would later work with, shocked the world by occupying their factory to fight against corporate greed. The magic, joy, and unfulfilled promise of those moments committed him to building the power of working people in the hopes of extending those fleeting moments of possibility into the everyday reality all people deserve. Along the way he fell in love with the spirit, kinship, and beautiful rhythms of movement work.
Elvis has held many roles across the social movement sector. He served as the Organizing Director and Executive Director of Neighbor to Neighbor Massachusetts, a statewide power building organization advancing the interests of working people. He also held leadership roles at the National Guestworker Alliance (now Resilience Force), which organized seafood supply chain workers, and the Immigrant Worker Center Collaborative, which built a diverse coalition of community-based organizations advocating for workers’ rights. His passion for getting people to believe in themselves and the power of collective action is something he’s carried with him throughout his career.

As an immigrant growing up between two worlds, a working class community in Massachusetts and summers with his extended family in the Dominican Republic, Elvis saw firsthand how transnational corporations take advantage of and profit from Global South communities in the U.S. and abroad. “Corporate Accountability’s history of confronting concentrated power resonates with me strongly,” he says. “Being a part of this work, and organizing to build a better world, is my way of loving my community, ancestors, and future generations.”

At Corporate Accountability, Elvis supports the campaigns teams, ensuring that we’re building power to protect people and the planet above corporate interests.

He studied Social Thought and Political Economy at UMASS Amherst, went on to earn a masters in public policy at the School of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy at Tufts University, and is finishing a Masters of Science in Labor Studies at UMASS Amherst. He lives in Chicago with his family, and is an avid fan of basketball, stand-up comedy, and pasta.