Consider us the Good News Bears

Volunteers are the heart & soul of the Bus, but these are the people who are at Bus Central every day. Come play with us!

Caitlin Baggott, The Boss
(Executive Director)
caitlin@busproject.org

Caitlin conducts the work of the Bus with maestro-inspired hand gestures and a handful of personal values learned as a lass at Reed College (“Sleep is for the weak,” “Resist the dominant paradigm”, etc.). Caitlin speaks truth about generational change and the promise of a more inclusive public life, and was one of a few hundred women invited to the White House to recognize Women’s History Month in 2010. She has no spare time, but if she did she’d use it espouse the values of a joules-based economy. Just ask her.

Dani Bernstein, Molder of Minds
(PolitiCorps Director)
dani.bernstein@politicorps.org

This Los Angeles native, who doesn’t know how to surf and hasn’t ever tried to make it big in Hollywood, first joined the Bus as a 2008 PolitiCorps fellow. After ten weeks immersed in all things Bus, she temporarily said her goodbyes to the Pacific Northwest to work on marriage equality campaigns in the lovely city of San Francisco and the slightly less scenic New Jersey. She spent a year and a half on the LGBT campaign trail, then found herself back in PDX and at the Bus, where she currently scours the country for the most talented young leaders to come to Portland and experience the ten weeks of joy that is PolitiCorps. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, photography, and managing her chocolate addiction.

Kristen Earl – Captain of the Member-Ship
(Membership Manager)
kristen@busproject.org

A native Oregonian and a fearless fundraising fiend, Kristen will make you become a monthly Bus Driver. Since shooting forth from the hallowed halls of Reed College, she has honed her membership, communications and events skills and now she’s bringing her braininess to coordinating our Bus Driver program. On top of it all, she’s the Secretary for the Willamette Valley Development Officers Board of Directors (who gave her their prestigious Starbright Award for rising stars in fund development in 2008). In her limited free time Kristen enjoys Venn diagrams, train whistles, primary sources, and the music of Mr. Neil Diamond.

Jyoti Gautam – Member Defender
(Membership & Development Associate)
jyoti@busproject.org

Straight outta Pitzer, Jyoti is the newest chapter in the Bus’s ongoing love affair with Claremont Colleges. After being beckoned to Portland’s delicious beverage-drinking and do-gooder-ing scenes, Jyoti hopped on the Bus to make sure our Monthly Bus Drivers feel oh so warm and fuzzy. When she’s not at Bus Central (or rapidly biking to-and-from), she volunteers at Planned Parenthood, runs like the wind and conducts daring cooking experiments, primarily of the vegetarian and chocolatey varieties.

Henry Kraemer, Organize-Czar
(Organizing and Political Director)
henry@busproject.org

In the rare moments Henry sleeps, he dreams of 1000 person canvasses and 100% young voter turnout. And artichokes. Some years back, Henry helped get Students for Barack Obama off the ground and then co-ran field for Steve Novick’s U.S. Senate campaign. After hopping on the Bus full-time, Henry managed 2008 Bus Trips, ran voter registration for the January 2010 special election, led the 2010 Bus Trips team and does a bit of advocating for the right to vote and Oregon’s next generation at the State Legislature . He’s pretty dang proud of helping to pass online voter registration, public assistance agency voter registration and the Job Applicant Fairness Act and won’t rest until Millennials make the world way wonderful. To that end, he expects you to volunteer tomorrow. Ok cool, see you then.

Mariana Lindsay, Smooth Operator
(Associate Director)
mariana@busproject.org

Mariana started volunteering with the Bus back in 2006, when she was just a wee one. She went AWOL after that (apparently for college or something), but PolitiCorps brought her back. She spent some serious time pulling in the dollars and now keeps the Bus rolling in all sorts of ways. If you want a cross section of Mariana’s activities since babyhood, it’d go something like this: theatre, flute, piano, track, gymnastics, flower arranging, fencing, basketball, volleyball, sign language, salsa dancing, figure skating, swimming, painting, pottery, study abroad in Chile & Mexico, jewelry collection and tripping over things. In other news, she would like you to give her a puppy. Please?

Alvin Ma, Volunteer Whisperer
(Volunteer & Outreach Coordinator)
alvin.ma@busproject.org

A  2011 PolitiCorps Year of Service Fellow, Alvin Ma first met the Bus while he was affably roaming the halls of Salem as the Legislative Coordinator for the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon. You may recognize his face from his famous children’s tours at the Oregon Zoo or recall hearing his riotous laugh from miles off (yup, that was him). As a PoltiCorps Fellow, he ran the logistics of the Urban League team with a butter-like smoothness. When he’s not enticing teams of bright-eyed Oregonians to get on the Bus, he’s either hiking, playing chess boxing (an ingenious combination of chess and boxing) or crooning “Sweet Caroline” to untold millions of adoring fans/groupies.

Noah Manger, Jack-of-all-Jacks
(Special Projects Director)
noah@busproject.org

Known for his impeccably fitting pants and Mussolini-like ability to make the trains run on time, Noah Manger does what needs to be done. He was the 2008 Bus Trips logistics guru, the wizard of the Wheelies, ran the rockinest Rebooting Democracy of your life and was the grand-master-whiz-kid of Trick or Vote National. In his spare time, he’s a lifelong devoted fan of the Detroit Tigers, evangelizes about his new favorite scripted comedy television shows, and dislikes Michael Jackson. Yeah, that’s right. Deal with it.

Scott Stein, Duke of Dollars
(Development Director)
scott.stein@busproject.org

Scott raises dough better than a big ol’ bevy of bakers. He’s been at it for years (eight to be exact). He was one of the original schemers behind the Bus, then did a bunch of other stuff, like raising funds, managing events and spearheading corporate sponsorship for OLCV, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Bev Stein for Governor and Bill Bradbury for US Senate. When he was getting fancy grad degree in Public Administration at NYU, he started a campus chapter of Democracy Matters, a national student advocacy group focused on voter owned elections and gettin’ out them votes. Scott is on the Oregon Environmental Council Emerging Leaders Board and is a Net Impact Professional Board member where he is involved in creating innovative solutions to social problems through social entrepreneurship and social enterprise innovations. In his spare time (or of what there’s left of it) you can find him trail running by the Columbia Gorge or flying down Mt. Hood on a snowboard.

Ryan Tobias, Showtime-Keeper
(Event Planning Associate)
ryan@busproject.org

Ryan is a veritable treasure trove of creativity – playing & recording music, appearing in & producing short films & music videos, coordinating film festivals and – most recently – co-curating the Oregon Rocks! exhibit at the Oregon Historical Society. He’s now channeling his myriad talents toward organizing the Rebooting Democracy festival. When he’s not effortlessly exemplifying Portland culture or putting in volunteer hours at public interest causes, he takes tender loving care of his kitten, Lady Mira.

Amanda Tripp, School Schmoozer
(Democracy Cup Coordinator)
Amanda@busproject.org

Raised in the wilds of Montana (which is apparently a state), Amanda is as passionate about empowering high school students as she is about riding horses and bucking mountains. Good thing, since she’s running our high school civic engagement competition, Democracy Cup. After graduating from Forest Grove’s own Pacific University, she rocked AmeriCorps’s federal socks off. First greening Beaverton School District and then leading 25 members through a year of service. In her spare time you can find her folfing, growing food, and mushroom hunting (no truffle pig necessary).

Leslie Wright, Outreach-for-the-Stars
(Outreach & Volunteer Coordinator)
leslie@busproject.org

Leslie gets those volunteers. She GETS ‘EM. Be it at the back of a concert or at the front of a classroom, she’s bringing newbies in democracy(s). She just graduated from Willamette University, which is a highly respected institution of higher learning in the ol’ Capitol of Oregon. She cut her organizing teeth (ouch) as Co-President for Students for Choice and as an Advocate at Mid-Valley Women’s Crisis Center. When she’s not beckoning volunteers to the cause, Leslie enjoys running marathons, running into trees, slipping and falling (although rarely all at the same time).