In honor of Women’s History Month, we’re celebrating a few of the inspiring women on our team who have dedicated themselves to educating, registering, and empowering NC’s voters.
Maria Garcia-Ortega
Maria Garcia-Ortega joined YCV as a Civic Fellow in 2020 to help North Carolina’s growing Hispanic community become civically engaged. Maria served as a Lead Fellow in 2021 and was awarded the Beratan Fellowship in Spring 2022. After graduating from UNC Wilmington, she joined the YCV staff as a full-time Campus & Community Organizer. Maria is dedicated to helping others and she’s willing to go outside of her comfort zone to learn new skills to become more effective. “I’m motivated to work with YCV because my community needs representation. YCV has opened its arms to me, and I hope that I can continue to give to this organization. To me, every small moment of interaction with the community encourages me to continue to learn more about voting even when things feel so negative,” Maria said. We’re incredibly proud to see her growth as a leader within YCV and her community!
Doreen Kaphalanya
Doreen first joined YCV in 2020 as a member of our Voting Rights Ambassadors (VRA) program. Originally from Malawi, she became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2021. “As soon as we took the oath as citizens, the judge told us we could register to vote, and that got me so excited,” Doreen said. She became a YCV staff member in August 2021, first as our Campus & Community Organizer and later as Lead Organizer for the Triad region. In addition to her work with YCV, Doreen is also pursuing a Master’s in Public Health degree through UNC Chapel Hill.
Recently, Doreen had the opportunity to share her passion for voting with another new citizen, who registered to vote for the first time after becoming a citizen 3 years ago. We’re proud to have Doreen on Team YCV and love to see her empowering the immigrant community throughout the Triad region!
Gloria Taylor
Gloria Taylor is, quite simply, a force of nature. She serves as YCV’s Regional Organizing Director for the Mid-East region, based out of Jacksonville, NC. In addition to her work with YCV, she also hosts a weekly radio show, The Motivations with Gloria Taylor. A native of Onslow County, Gloria has forged strong partnerships for YCV in the area including James Sprunt Community College, the Duplin County school system, Onslow County Public Libraries, the Duplin County Health Department, and with local churches and community centers. Gloria is passionate about voting rights for returning citizens and works with the Onslow County Reentry Council to advocate for the rights of formerly incarcerated individuals and educate the community about voting rights for those who are justice-involved. She’s so well known in her community that people call Gloria personally when their friends and family are released from jail or prison to have her to come help them register to vote and reclaim their rights as citizens. Gloria recently produced a radio show featuring You Can Vote’s work to end felony disenfranchisement, sharing this message with listeners in the Jacksonville area and across the globe.
Pat Reed
Pat got involved with You Can Vote when she attended our 2nd ever public training way back in 2014. Pat says that after hearing Kate’s presentation, “I knew that I wanted to be a part of this great organization.” The first time Pat volunteered with YCV, she registered 8 voters in just one hour. Today, she works as our Deputy Organizer for the Triangle region. Pat has mentored hundreds of volunteers over the years, teaching them to educate, register, and empower voters in the community. Pat will talk to anyone and everyone about the importance of voting. We call her the “Voter Registration Queen,” as she has personally registered thousands of new voters.
Pat was recently featured in photographer Alec Himwich’s “People at Work” series, where she shared more of her story.
