Newly Created Position Will Help Build and Sustain a Powerful and Diverse Coalition in the Fight Against Gun Violence
NEW YORK – Everytown for Gun Safety and its grassroots networks, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, today announced Angela Ferrell-Zabala as head of its newly created Movement Building Department, a role that will oversee the organization’s nearly 6 million strong network of supporters in addition to Everytown’s data and analytics, external engagement, partnerships, and public education programs. The department will focus on sustaining the power of the gun violence prevention movement’s largest grassroots network while growing a diverse and representative coalition of advocates and organizations fighting to end gun violence, a national crisis that kills over 100 Americans each day.
Ferrell-Zabala has served as Everytown’s Chief Equity, Outreach and Partnerships Officer role for 18 months, working to establish partnerships across gun violence prevention groups and other advocacy organizations while managing Everytown’s public education programs to promote responsible storage and combat gun suicide.
“I’m thrilled to take on this new role at Everytown, and to lead the charge on growing our already powerful grassroots movement while ensuring that it is reflective of the faces and voices that live with the realities of gun violence in their communities on a daily basis,” said Ferrell-Zabala.
Everytown’s grassroots arms of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action comprise one of the largest grassroots movements in the country with nearly six million supporters and active chapters and groups in every state, and their dedication has led to unprecedented victories against the gun lobby—at the ballot box, in state legislatures, and in corporate America. As part of the 2020 election cycle alone, volunteers worked tirelessly to elect gun sense candidates on the federal and local level, making over 3.7 million calls and texts, holding over 10,000 events to reach voters, and helping to register more than 100,000 voters. Supporters are instrumental in helping to pass good gun safety laws and stop 90 percent of dangerous gun lobby-backed bills year after year. In addition, volunteers work with business leaders in their communities and partner organizations across the country to encourage a culture of responsible gun ownership with programs like Be SMART and to educate and build awareness about gun safety.
“Angela has made tremendous progress helping to grow the power of the gun violence prevention movement nationally and making sure it reflects the voices and vision of all those who are bearing the burden of America’s gun violence crisis,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “She is without a doubt the perfect person to lead the next phase of our movement-building work.”
“Angela has played such an important role over the last year and a half overseeing our external engagement and partnerships team, and I’m so excited that she will now guide our grassroots organizing work,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action. “Angela has a demonstrated track record of fighting for and elevating the voices of the underserved and disenfranchised, and there is no one more committed to ensuring that our movement, volunteers, allied organizations, programs and partnerships are representative of those who encounter the realities of gun violence on a daily basis.”
Prior to joining Everytown, Ferrell-Zabala served as National Director of Strategic Partnerships for Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. There, she worked to ensure strategic alignment across the progressive movement focusing on issue areas that were not historically centered in the organization’s strategies, including immigrant rights, economic and racial justice, and voting rights.
Also announced today was the hiring of José Alfaro in a newly created position as Director of Latinx Leadership & Community Engagement, a position that will fall under Ferrell-Zabala’s newly combined Movement Building department. Alfaro works at the intersection of community education, movement building, policy advocacy, and electoral campaigns. Prior to joining Everytown, he ran state and national electoral campaigns and grassroots organizing programs in Latinx communities.
