VAVP has a small staff of driven, skilled workers committed to advocacy, outreach, and casework aimed at freeing marginalized groups from oppressive circumstances.
Staff:
Ebony Kirkland
(she/her/hers) — Program Director
Ebony Kirkland was born and raised in Richmond, VA. She comes from a large family and always felt that it was important to stay connected to her roots and close to her support systems. She is a mother, a partner, and a member of a LGBT Greek service sorority. Ebony comes to serve Virginia Anti-Violence Project with 20+ years of administrative and coordination experience, a B.S. in Criminal Justice Administration, and is currently working towards a Masters of Nonprofit Studies degree. After working within a private university setting for over 12 years and volunteering countless hours of her time within her own LGBTQ+ community, she determined that it was time to use her voice and body to work towards change. Being a survivor of violence, Ebony felt that her skills, experiences and networks would best serve a community of her own friends, family, and colleagues. Ebony Kirkland previously served as a member of the Board of Directors for VAVP for 2 years, then moved on to Board President for 3 years. Ebony pursued the role of Executive Director in an attempt to become fully integrated into the work, values and community of Virginia Anti-Violence Project. She is passionate about her role within the organization as well as what the future holds for the work and mission of VAVP.
Taneasha White
(she/her/hers) — Communications Coordinator
Taneasha is the Communications Coordinator for The Virginia Anti-Violence Project. Despite being a military brat, Taneasha has managed to find comfort in calling Virginia home for over ten years. With a B.A. in English, Taneasha has worked within communications for almost a decade in varying roles, including journalism, podcasting, and social media management, and started her journey with VAVP as a Communications Committee member back in 2017. With a background in non-profit and grassroots work that includes project management and organizing, she has brought her love of community roots to this role, engaging grassroots organizations whenever possible. Taneasha is dedicated to the QTPOC community, ending mass incarceration, and reproductive justice, shown through her consistent advocacy for people of color in policy spaces, her member leadership with the Virginia chapter of Southerners on New Ground, and her membership with both the National Network of Abortion Funds and The Richmond Reproductive Freedom Project. When she isn’t freelance writing, Taneasha is editing her self-published anthology UnSung, created to uplift voices that are often marginalized in literary spaces. She also spends her free time with her partner watching movies and recording their podcast, Critiques for The Culture, that critiques modern media through a socio-political lens. Otherwise, she is likely somewhere baking pound cake or petting her cat, Chimichurri.
Nakita Mayfield
(she/her/hers) — Statewide Advocate
Nakita currently holds the position of Statewide Community Advocate with VAVP and is a member of the governance committee for the National Coalition of Anti Violence Projects based in New York. She has worked on various collaborative projects throughout the state to include the TIES popups with Equality Virginia and various VSDVAA collaborative events and projects to include a transformative justice workbook and workshop. Nakita has also facilitated and participated in various workshops, outreach events and community conversations throughout the state. Her sole goal is to work across movements that share the same mission towards equitable liberation and power building within the intersections of LGBTQ folks and black and indigenous people of color. She is the proud momma of two teenage boys and also serves as a collective member with the Richmond Reproductive Freedom Project. Recently, she enjoys researching astrology and spells. Nakita holds a B.S. in Psychology and a Masters of Education. She is currently enrolled in a Psychology PhD program.
Flor Lopez
(she/her/hers) — Latinx Community Advocate / Mainstream Liaison
Flor Lopez was born and raised in Chihuahua, Mexico. Flor came to the United States in 2009. As an immigrant she has struggled first hand with all the challenges that have existed for her and her family to learn to live and survive in this country. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from Mexico. Life circumstances, as well as lived challenges and experiences directed her to a new path, to what she discovered and believes is her calling: LGBTQ liberation, language justice and immigrant rights work. Since she arrived in the country, she began to volunteer, and later work, to support survivors of violence. In October of 2016 she decided to come out to everyone in Virginia when accepting a job offer as the Latinx Community Advocate and Mainstream Liaison at Virginia Anti-Violence Project, a statewide organization doing work to support LGBTQ+ individuals across Virginia impacted by diverse experiences of violence, and to prevent that violence from continuing to recreate. She proudly identifies as a pansexual Latina immigrant. She is a passionate activist and advocate for people in our diverse LGBTQ+ communities, and spends most of her free time as an activist and community organizer supporting immigrant rights work. Flor has also been trained and developed as a professional translator and interpreter, and became strongly involved in different local grassroots groups and campaigns with the Latinx and immigrant community to do organizing work with undocumented people. Flor is extremely proud of her background and roots. Latino culture, music, food and art fill her soul with joy. Family means everything to her, and living out and proud with her identities have allowed her to understand the weight that the word community carries with it, and has also allowed her to find her chosen family, right here, in Virginia.
Board:
Robin Wells
Colleen Garrison
Colleen Garrison is an administrative professional with combined 4+ years of experience in the field. Graduating from Christopher Newport University with a degree in Biology and minor in Leadership Studies, Colleen is passionate about supporting the environment, ensuring equity for all people, and general wellness. She hopes to be a helpful resource to the VAVP family as Secretary. Although new to being a board member, she has assisted in managing the board of directors for her employer, Leadership Metro Richmond, for the past two years and is ready to get to work!
Micky Jordan
Board President
Micky Jordan is a Black queer and genderqueer activist born in Florida but has called Richmond, VA, home for over 20 years. Micky joined SONG as a member leader in 2014 and in 2016 became the Richmond Organizing Fellow leading campaign work around police accountability and continuing to build SONG’s base. For the past year, Micky has worked at Side by Side, an LGBTQ youth center in Richmond, Va, as the Richmond Youth Programs Coordinator. This job has taught him a lot about the power of queer youth and the depth of the issues in Richmond around LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness, combating mental health problems, and just surviving. Micky serves on the board of the Virginia Anti-Violence Project an organization close to his heart, that serves LGBTQ folks in Virginia experiencing violence and offers them support with: help from trained advocates, support groups, operating in a Language Justice framework with interpretation, and political education about what it means to be in a healthy relationship. He has spoken on panels at the University of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University, Randolph Macon University and for different organizations about his experiences as a Black queer and trans organizer, racism, oppression and organizing in general. Micky loves graphic design and dreaming about building a safer, beautiful, more affirming world for trans and queer people of color to not just survive in, but thrive in.
Calvin Hall
Calvin Hall is a Ph.D. candidate in health psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University and a passionate social activist.
As a scholar, Hall examines the effects of social biases on decision-making processes and their effects on health, with a focus on queer, trans, and gender non-conforming individuals of color.
As an activist, Hall has eight years of experience working with survivors and advocates of sexual and intimate partners on a local, state, and national level. They currently serve as a faculty trainer with the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance, a non-profit research consultant, and is a proud board member at The Virginia Anti-Violence Project.
In Calvin’s spare time, they enjoy bike rides, watching copious amounts of television, and collecting Funko pops.
Chevelle Moss-Savage
Chevelle Moss-Savage is a Licensed Psychotherapist and the founder of “Helping Everyone Accept and Adapt to Life”, (H.E.A.L-LLC). She has more than twenty years of experience working in mental health as a therapist, group facilitator, trainer/instructor both in the private sector and university setting. Although she is a licensed clinician, she is also versed in promoting multicultural awareness through intersectionality training with hopes of eradicating stigmas related to mental health, disabilities, faith traditions, or LGBTQ+ identities.