For Immediate Release: Feb. 25, 2021

Contact: Marisol Bello, [email protected]

Community Change/Action Managing Director to Step Down

Washington, D.C. – Deepak Pateriya, the Managing Director of Community Change and Community Change Action, and the Executive Director of Community Change Voters SuperPAC, will step down on June 1 after serving for nine years on the organization’s leadership team.

“Deepak’s stamp on the organization and our movement in general have been immeasurable,” said Community Change President Dorian Warren. “During his tenure, he played major roles on our organizing, advocacy, and voter engagement programs, and he has been central to the effective management and continued sustainability of the organization, now in its 53rd year. There is no work or project that he hasn’t been able to handle with his legendary tact and composure. I will miss him as a colleague and as my friend.”

“Deepak’s commitment to our movement is unparalleled,” said Community Change Action President Lorella Praeli. “From changing and growing the electorate, protecting our democracy, and fighting to create the conditions that help all families thrive, Deepak has methodically worked to strengthen our movement and our organization at all levels. ”

Deepak has been a particular force in Community Change Action’s growing and innovative electoral work. He

helped to build one of the best voter engagement staff teams in our field, and they have collaborated with local grassroots organizations to create one of the country’s largest and most effective community-centered efforts to engage and turn out voters of color. Deepak also co-founded the Win Justice national voter turnout collaboration in 2017 and helped lead this partnership of Community Change Action, Service Employees International Union, Planned Parenthood Votes, and Color of Change PAC. The work of Community Change Action, along with the Win Justice collaboration, reached millions of voters and contributed to the historic election victories of 2018 and 2020.

He leaves the organization strongly positioned on every front. He played a leading role in embedding our commitment to race and gender equity within all of our programs and internal operations. He has actively supported and cultivated the growing staff leadership of many key members of the Community Change team. And he was critical to the success of key leadership transitions as the organization began its current strategic plan, Path to Power.

“Deepak will be deeply missed,” said Community Change Board Chair, and former AFL-CIO Executive Vice President, Arlene Holt Baker. “But the greatest testament to his work is how prepared the organization has been to embrace the recent leadership transitions. It is his very work to grow the organization’s effectiveness and its leaders, secure its financial longevity, and strengthen its operations, that ensure the future of Community Change/Action and its central place in the movement for social change.”

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