Carlos Saavedra migrated to Boston, MA at the age of 12 with his parents as an undocumented student. At age 16, he became active in the immigrant rights movement fighting for equal access to higher education for undocumented youth and in 2005 became a co-founder of the Student Immigrant Movement of Massachusetts.

Carlos became the national coordinator for the United We Dream Network in 2009, the first immigrant youth national organization. He led the organizing and campaign efforts that took the network from a loose coalition of 7 organizations to 52 member organizations. After the intense 2009-2010 Dream Act campaign, Carlos was chosen as the 2010 Progressive Activist of the Year by Nation Magazine. He was key in organizing the End Our Pain and Right to Dream Campaigns (2011-2012) that led to the victory of legal relief called DACA.

In 2013, Carlos founded the Ayni Institute to provide training, coaching and incubation of new projects towards social change. Since then, the Institute has trained over 12,000 people in movement building, political education and organizational development. Carlos is also a co-author of the Funding Social Movements Guide, you can contact Carlos at carlos@ayni.institute

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2023 Family Philanthropy Leadership Retreat

Posted on April 19, 2023 by Susan Stamerjohn, Michelle Tremillo, Alejandro Foung, Dr. Jason Franklin, Jonathan Brack, Sandra Fluke, Tonya Allen, Diego Zegarra, Sue Banerjee, Catherine Maddox Walton

Save the Date 2023 Family Philanthropy Leadership Retreat
Thank you so much for your interest in the Leadership Retreat. The event is sold out, and we are no longer accepting names for the waitlist, due to the unlikelihood of accommodating everyone on it already. We are delighted by the response, and we regret that we have to turn anyone away. Please keep an eye on our Programs and… Read More