Other Group

Make the Road Pennsylvania

Website:

www.maketheroadpa.org/

Location:

Philadelphia, PA

Parent Organization:

Make the Road States

Director:

Maegan Llerna

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Make the Road Pennsylvania is a left-of-center advocacy and community organizing group that focuses on immigration issues and organizes protests, community services and political advocacy efforts among left-leaning immigrant communities in Pennsylvania.

The group is a project of Make the Road States, an advocacy group that also hosts chapters in Connecticut, New Jersey, and Nevada. Make the Road States and its affiliates were formed in the model of Make the Road New York, a large immigrant organizing group based in New York City.  Make the Road States groups are fiscally sponsored by and affiliated with the Center for Popular Democracy. The group supports various left-of-center economic and immigration policy reforms left-leaning election administration policies, a $15 minimum wage, and paid sick leave. 1 2

Make the Road Pennsylvania and its affiliates are all affiliated with the network’s political action arm, Make the Road Action. 3

Background

Make the Road Pennsylvania was founded in 2016. The group mainly conducts organizing efforts in Allentown and Philadelphia. The group formed as an affiliate of the Center for Popular Democracy and was inspired by the more established Make the Road New York, a New York City immigrant organizing and advocacy group founded in 1997. The New York chapter of the group has a longstanding affiliation with the Center for Popular Democracy, the political operation of former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, and the Working Families Party. 4 5

Make the Road New Jersey is formally organized as a branch of Make the Road States, an umbrella group for the Make the Road chapters other than New York that was formed in 2020 and while no full, independent tax form is available for the group yet, the organization reported receiving over $7 million in funds in 2020 and had over $5 million in assets. The principal officer listed for Make the Road States is Deborah Axt, who is also the deputy director of Make the Road New York. 6 7

Activity

Make the Road Pennsylvania promotes many left-of-center immigration and economic policies and conducts organizing efforts in Allentown, Reading, and Philadelphia. The group also hosts regular organizing committee meeting targeting immigrant youth and parents and supports a $15 minimum wage as well as changes to state and federal voting laws. 8

In 2016, the group praised a presidential campaign stop by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in Reading, Pennsylvania at which Sanders called for the closure of an immigration detention facility in Berks County that Make the Road was campaigning to close at the time through the Shut Down Berks Coalition. 9

Leadership

Maegan Llerena has been the executive director since 2019. She also works as state director for Make the Road Action in PA, the 501(c)(4) organization connected to Make the Road. She previously worked as a case manager for Valley Youth House. She graduated from Cedar Crest College with a BA in social work, according to her LinkedIn profile. 10

Financials

In 2022, Make the Road Pennsylvania received a $250,609 grant from left-leaning organization Center for Popular Democracy, which has provided grants to other Make the Road affiliates. 11

References

  1. “Committees.” Make the Road Pennsylvania. Accessed April 21, 2022. https://www.maketheroadpa.org/committees
  2. “About Us.” Make the Road Pennsylvania. Accessed April 21, 2022. https://www.maketheroadpa.org/aboutus
  3. “Home.” Make the Road Action. Accessed April 21, 2022. https://www.maketheroadaction.org/
  4. “Campaign to Shut Down Berks Detention Center, End Family Detention Receives Boost From Senator Sanders.” Center for Popular Democracy. April 22, 2021. Accessed April 21, 2022. https://www.populardemocracy.org/news-and-publications/campaign-shut-down-berks-detention-center-end-family-detention-receives-boost
  5. Suebsaeng, Asawin. “These Are the Groups Behind Those ‘Spontaneous’ Anti-Trump-Ban Protests.” The Daily Beast. February 02, 2017. Accessed April 18, 2022. http://www.thedailybeast.com/these-are-the-groups-behind-those-spontaneous-anti-trump-ban-protests
  6. “Make the Road States.” Guidestar. Accessed April 21, 2022. https://www.guidestar.org/profile/84-3988830#summary
  7. “Deborah Axt.” LinkedIn. Accessed April 21, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah-axt-1202a84/
  8. “Committees.” Make the Road PA. Accessed April 21, 2022. https://www.maketheroadpa.org/committees
  9. “Campaign to Shut Down Berks Detention Center, End Family Detention Receives Boost From Senator Sanders.” Center for Popular Democracy. April 22, 2021. Accessed April 21, 2022. https://www.populardemocracy.org/news-and-publications/campaign-shut-down-berks-detention-center-end-family-detention-receives-boost
  10. “Maegan Llerena.” LinkedIn. Accessed February 26, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/maegan-llerena-8b8570130.
  11. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Center for Popular Democracy. 2022. Schedule I. Part II. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/453813436/202303179349307965/full
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Make the Road Pennsylvania


Philadelphia, PA