ProgressiveVote.org
Title
Progressive Democrats of America
Description
About Our Advisory Board
Mimi Kennedy, Advisory Board Chair, is best known as Abby, Dharma's hippie mom, on TV's "Dharma and Greg," but many remember her late-night appearances on Bill Maher's "Politically Incorrect," railing at right-wing pundits. Movies include "Pump Up The Volume," "Erin Brokovich" and "Buddy." Work on Dennis Kucinich's anti-war presidential campaign led to founding support for Progressive Democrats of America, of which she is Honorary Chair. She continues her acting and writing career in Los Angeles while studying Nonviolence with Reverend James Lawson. A charter member of Artists United to Win Without War, she is an active supporter of LA's Office of the Americas, Homeboy Industries, the Garment Workers' Center, and Farm Sanctuary. Her mid-life memoir, "Taken to the Stage: The Education of an Actress" was published by Smith and Kraus in 1996.
Stephen Shaff, Advisory Board Vice Chair, is Founder and President of Community-Vision Consultants, a community development and social activist firm based in Washington, DC. As a Progressive development company, C-VC's mission is to develop affordable-housing home ownership opportunities while simultaneously addressing local social, economic and political issues within the inner-city communities it serves. In addition to his political and social activism, Shaff serves on several community based arts and children advocacy nonprofits and has founded his own nonprofits, Thriving Artists Productions and Community-Vision Ventures.
Medea Benjamin, one of 1000 women nominated collectively for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, has been a powerful and charismatic force in human rights activism for over 20 years. Ever since 9/11, Medea has been organizing against a violent response. She traveled several times to Afghanistan and lead a delegation of 9/11 families there to highlight civilian casualties caused by the US invasion. At the start of 2005, Medea accompanied a delegation of grieving US military families to the Jordanian border to bring a shipment of humanitarian aid for Falluja. Medea is the founding director of Global Exchange, helped to bring together the coalition United for Peace and Justice, and co-founded Code Pink, a women-initiated grassroots movement working to end the war in Iraq, stop new wars, and redirect resources into life-affirming activities. She is currently on a book tour for CODEPINK's first book, Stop the Next War Now.
