Pancho is Mexican, living in the US since 1997. He began working in popular education in 1983 in Chiapas as a rural teacher. He studied Pedagogy and was part of the student movement in UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico). He later worked with Guatemalan Refugees in Chiapas; with Campesinos in Nicaragua (was coordinator of the team that started the Universidad Campesina in Esteli Nicaragua, training promotores in sustainable agriculture); went back to Mexico and coordinated a research collective on Poverty and Environment; and from 1994-1996, coordinated "Caminemos Juntos" a rural development project in the mountains of Central Mexico.

In the U.S., he has worked mainly with the immigrant rights movement, especially with Maria Jimenez in Houston and nationally with the AFSC groups, the National Organizers Alliance (NOA) and the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee

Rights (NNIRR) where he was a board member until December 2006. He is co-author of  the Curriculum BRIDGE: Building a Race and Immigration Dialogue on the Global Economy, a book on how to use popular education while doing organizing with immigrant communities, that won the Gustavus Myers Human Rights Award in 2004.

Pancho is currently working part time as training coordinator with Houston Interfaith Workers Justice and is an independent consultant on Popular Education and Training/Organizing Strategies, with the Highlander Center of Tennessee; the PRAXIS project; NNIRR and the Colorado Coalition for Immigrant Rights (CIRC) among others. He is a founding member of Colectivo Flatlander.

Colectivo Flatlander

As a sociologist and as a woman, Josefina has always been concerned with issues addressing social and gender equality. More so, her religious background has always influenced her personal stance and beliefs in non-violent conflict resolution. These factors have shaped the work that she has carried out throughout thirteen years, in academic and non-academic spaces mainly around educational issues.

Josefina believes it is through critical thinking that people can best learn how to perceive conditions that call for social justice actions in order to improve their lives. It is through education that people are able to increase awareness of the world around them and transform their personal lives and those of their community; and especially women not only as life givers, but also as reproducers of culture.

Josefina worked as Adjunct Faculty of Universidad Nacional Autonóma de México (UNAM) for 7 years, but later on, her enthusiasm for popular education was encouraged through the work with Mujeres para el Diálogo, a non-governmental organization based in Mexico City. This job offered an opportunity to learn how to design and implement workshops, seminars and Encuentros (conferences) with various groups of women on education projects such as literacy campaigns, health, methodology of popular education and improvement of self-esteem. This was a most rewarding experience while working for nine years with urban grassroots women in Mexico City and peasant women in the poorest states of Mexico.

At the present time Josefina is the Program Coordinator of American Friends Service Committee-TAO (Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma.) Josefina is a founding member of Colectivo Flatlander.

Tomás Aguilar works with Colectivo Flatlander supporting the immigrant rights movement through a variety of educational projects. He is also organizing a South/Southwest regional project with the Progressive Communicators Network supporting grassroots organizing with their communications needs.

Tomás worked at Workers Defense Project supporting Gulf Coast organizations working with immigrant day laborers. He previously worked at Alternatives for Community & Environment  in Boston where he worked doing community organizing with the Transit Riders Union and also the Services to Allies program where he provided capacity support to organizations in the struggle for environmental justice.

Before that, he worked at United for a Fair Economy in Boston as a media associate supporting campaigns on a national and state level as well as with grassroots organizations.