TAMI LOVE ORGANIZING Table FELLOWSHIP
The Tami Love Organizing Table Fellowship is a new initiative to strengthen our network and build solidarity honoring the memory of one of our most talented organizers and advocates by sharing skills, insights and support for 10 fellows’ organizing projects across our parent leadership movement. Above: Fellows with PEI team
ABOUT the tami love organizing table fellowship
In 1995, Tami Love, mother of three at Funston Elementary, walked into the school auditorium for an info session on a new program called Parent Mentors. In a 92% Latino school, she was the only Black parent in the room. She raised her hand to apply and joined the first cohort of Parent Mentors.
In 2015, Tami joined the Parent Engagement Institute team, reconnecting with her roots in the Parent Mentor Program at Funston Elementary. She was a steadfast voice for program fidelity, holding our feet to the fire to make sure the organizing and leadership development history of the Parent Mentor Program was authentic and intentional as we scaled up across the state.
She formed the Organizing Table, “The O.T.” within PEI, “a place where organizers can share and get care.” From a December 2019 mission statement, The O.T.’s role was to “determine a consistent model for how we support our partner groups—both in terms of program validity and developing organizing capacity. This table will seek to teach and learn organizing by doing.“
In 2020, our dear Tami Love was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. She passed away in February 2021. New in summer 2026, the Tami Love Organizing Fellowship honors Tami’s legacy as we continue to build organizing into the heart of our work to support powerful parents and families who make thriving schools and communities a reality.
tami love organizing talbe Fellows
Denisse D. Arzate
Denisse works with Southwest Suburban Immigrant Project (SSIP) as Lead Organizer across 10 elementary and early childhood schools. Her path into organizing began through her own lived experiences. She joined PEI in 2020 as a new mother navigating the uncertainty of the pandemic and has since emceed a Parent Mentor Program convention and shared her own story to inspire other parents to find their voice.
Jazmin Cerda
Jazmin Cerda
Jazmin works with Brighton Park Neighborhood Council (BPNC) as an organizer across nine area schools. She's been organizing since 2019—when Tami Love gave her some of her first tools for the work.
Gabriela Noemi Barajas Gonzalez
Gabriela works with Palenque LSNA as a parent mentor coordinator at Logan Square Elementary School. Through PEI, she has co-facilitated Train the Trainers and led Wednesday Workshops.
Joy Jackson
Joy works with Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corporation (GAGDC) at Cook Elementary. As a leader with our Disability Justice Cohort, Joy has shared testimony at our 2026 Statewide Convention and at the state Capitol in Springfield.
Ofelia Carmona
Ofelia works with The Resurrection Project as an organizer across Daley, Hamline, Chavez, and Whittier schools. A 12-year veteran of the Parent Mentor Program, she has led Train the Trainer sessions and organized around Access to Justice and the Legal Protection Fund.
Sherri Miles
Sherri works with Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP) across five Southwest Side schools. She has traveled to Springfield to advocate for Parent Mentor Program funding and organized parents around school board elections and immigration issues.
Nellie Moreno
Nellie works with ONE Northside across eight North Side schools. She was recently promoted as a full-time organizer after years of supporting parent mentors and coordinators.
Sonam Mohindra
Sonam works with the Indo-American Center across four schools on Chicago's North Side, where she has built strong, trusting relationships with school principals and local administrators. Now in her fifth year with PEI, she recently coordinated production at two schools for our Thriving Schools, Powerful Parents and Families 2026 video project, where she also shared her own personal story of growing from a Parent Mentor into a Parent Mentor Organizer. She previously organized a CPS District 2 Meet and Greet in collaboration with Kids First Chicago that connected a partner school directly with a Chicago Board of Education representative.
Denise Sanders
Denise has been with The ACE Project Organizer across four schools, including an early childhood center. Through PEI, she has gained the tools and confidence to become a stronger advocate for students and parents.
She now recruits, trains, and supports parent mentors and coordinators, and is currently helping plan a "Return to Serve" community tennis event with the local park district. She wants to strengthen her communication strategies and leadership skills through the Fellowship.
Sabrina Jackson
Sabrina works with Teamwork Englewood as the Parent Programs Manager, across 10 Englewood-area schools. She has facilitated Parent Mentor Program training sessions, serves on the PEI Chicago Coalition steering committee, and hosted candidate forums for school board elections. She created the Parent Ambassador Program for Englewood Stem high school and organized the “Men On Duty” initiative as a call to action to increase male presence in the schools.
Claiborne Wade
Claiborne has been a dedicated employee at State Farm Insurance under the supervision of Larry C. Williams in Austin for over 20 years. Additionally, he serves as a Parent Mentor Program Organizer at Family Focus - Lawndale. Previously, he supported parents as the Sustainable Community Schools Parent Liaison at Oscar DePriest Elementary School. Furthermore, Claiborne has also led outreach efforts for the Family Focus Englewood Strong Fathers/Stronger Families program.
Ivette Martinez
Ivette works with Hispanic American Community Education and Services (HACES) in Waukegan. Since 2023, she has expanded the Parent Mentor Program from 5 to 7 schools, co-trained as part of the statewide Train the Trainer series, and co-facilitated statewide workshops.
facilitator: Nancy Aardema
Nancy Aardema, facilitation consultant for the Tami Love Organizing Table Fellowship, helped build Palenque LSNA into a community-organizing powerhouse as its director from 1987 to 2020. She now consults with community leaders and organizers in Chicago, Kentucky, and beyond.
Under her leadership, Palenque LSNA was recognized nationally with a 2006 model-program honor for immigrant integration Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR) and the State of Illinois, and by the Ford Foundation's Leadership for a Changing World Award in 2005. Nancy was also recognized with a Chicago Community Trust Community Service Fellowship in 2002, and in 1995, Chicago Magazine profiled her as “Best Community Organizer in Chicago.”
Nancy is known for supporting and propelling ordinary people into public leadership. As she puts it, she doesn’t see herself creating leaders, but helping to bring out qualities people already have.
Tami Love
Tami Love was a dedicated parent leader and founding member of the Parent Mentor Program, joining its first cohort at Funston Elementary in 1995. She later served with the Parent Engagement Institute, where she championed program integrity and helped establish the Organizing Table to strengthen leadership and community organizing across partner groups. The Tami Love Organizing Fellowship honors her enduring legacy of empowering parents and building stronger, more equitable school communities. To learn more about Tami, please read her obituaries in the Chicago Tribune and Block Club.