Maurice Mitchell

Maurice Mitchell is a nationally recognized social movement strategist, a leader in the Movement for Black Lives, and National Director of the Working Families Party. Born and raised in New York to Caribbean working-class parents, Maurice began organizing as a teenager. In his youth, he served as a leader for the Long Island Student Coalition for Peace and Justice. At Howard University, after a classmate was killed by police, Maurice led organizing efforts against police brutality and for divestment from private prisons. He went on to work as an organizer for the Long Island Progressive Coalition, Organizing Director for Citizen Action of NY, and Director of the NY State Civic Engagement Table. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy destroyed his home in Long Beach, NY. Eighteen months later, after Mike Brown was killed by police in Missouri, Maurice relocated to Ferguson to support organizers on the ground. Seeing the need for an anchor organization to provide strategic guidance to Black Lives activists across the country, he co-founded and managed Blackbird. In 2018, Maurice took the helm of the Working Families Party as National Director where he applies his passion and experience to make WFP the political home for a multi-racial working-class movement.