In 2022, the Ohio Immigrant Alliance registered as a charity with the state of Ohio and applied for tax-exempt status with the IRS! Our organization and sister communications firm, Anacaona, continue to grow.
Each person below has made a huge difference in lives of our clients and Ohio communities. Please take a minute to get to know the members of the “Dream Team” at Anacaona and Ohio Immigrant Alliance!
Staff
Maryam Sy
Maryam Sy is an organizer with the Ohio Immigrant Alliance, and a freelance interpreter and translator for hospitals, lawyers, and individuals. Raised in France and Senegal, and now living in Ohio, Maryam speaks English, French, Wolof, and Pulaar/Fulani. She works as a medical interpreter and document translator for the USCRI in Cleveland OH, and also did various translation and other projects for Ideas42, the Catholic Charities Dioceses of Cleveland, and more.
A committed community activist in both the U.S. and abroad, Sy led successful fundraisers to help a baby in Senegal receive surgery and pay the bond for a Mauritanian man seeking asylum, among other efforts. In 2020 alone she helped raise over $10,000 to secure basic human rights for people in need of help. She graduated in 2013 from Cuyahoga Community College with a Healthcare Administration diploma.
In 2021, Maryam interviewed over 200 people who were deported from the United States or left to avoid detention and deportation, many of whom were born in Mauritania and are not able to live there safely. The #ReuniteUS project was featured in an article in the Columbus Dispatch. Maryam is also active in the campaign to secure Temporary Protected Status or Deferred Enforced Departure for Mauritanians in the United States.
Fatima
Fatima is a writer for the Ohio Immigrant Alliance, supporting projects such as #ReuniteUS and Stop the Hate in Journalism. She is a Cleveland Foundation Public Service Fellow at Global Cleveland, which supports international newcomers in Northeast Ohio. Fatima graduated from Case Western Reserve University in May 2021 with a Master’s in Nonprofit Management and a Bachelor’s in International Studies.
Fatima’s passion to serve and advocate for immigrants in the United States derives from her personal immigration experience as a DACA recipient born in Honduras. Her goal is to pursue law school down the line and practice immigration law.
Saidu Sow
From inside ICE jail, Saidu worked with other incarcerated immigrants to expose racism, abuse, and other inhumane treatment. The exposure he and others brought drove the successful campaigns to end Butler and Morrow County’s ICE contracts. Unfortunately, Saidu was deported to Mauritania in 2021, thousands of miles and an ocean away from his wife and two children.
Saidu is the inaugural consultant in a new OHIA program called #ReuniteSpeaks, which connects people who have been through detention and deportation with policymakers, members of the media, organizations, and potential allies who need their expertise. It’s essentially a speakers bureau and database of people who are experts on detention, deportation, and family separation because of their lived experiences. They are paid directly as consultants for their time and the emotional labor this requires. Learn more and connected with Saidu on LinkedIn.
Isabel Coyle
Isabel is a researcher for Anacaona and the Ohio Immigrant Alliance. She is a fourth-year student at Emory University, majoring in economics and history on a pre-law track. She became interested in immigration reform after joining a student organization at Emory called Behind the Glass: Immigration Reflections, where she visited immigrants held in detention in rural Georgia. In the summer of 2022, Isabel traveled to France to study the history of African migration there.
Melissa Stek
Melissa is a writer and editor for Anacaona and OHIA. With a Bachelor of Social Work degree from Calvin University and a Master of Social Work degree from University of Michigan, Melissa has used her experiences as a social worker, teacher, faith organizer, legislative staffer, and policy advocate to holistically inform her writing in immigration policy advocacy.
Emma Gerber
Emma has been an intern and researcher at the Ohio Immigration Alliance for two summers. She attends Washington University in St. Louis, studying International Relations, French, and Creative Writing. Her passion for immigration reform began during her senior year of high school, while studying immigration in a world literature course. Through her immigration work, Emma hopes to honor her long line of immigrant ancestors from Thailand, Germany, China, and France.
Lynn Tramonte
After twenty years working for national immigration organizations, Lynn Tramonte launched a communications consulting practice, Anacaona, in 2018. Anacaona tells stories that compel people to see and feel our shared humanity through advocacy communications, developmental editing, and coaching in writing and media relations.
Lynn also directs the Ohio Immigrant Alliance, a group of immigrants and allies working together to make Ohio a better place for immigrants. In 2021, Anacaona and the Ohio Immigrant Alliance published “Far From Their Eyes: Ohio Migration Anthology,” (order here). Currently, OHIA is leading #ReuniteUS, a campaign to bring deported people home, and seeking contributions for the next anthology, slated for publication in 2023.
Lynn and her work have been profiled in Cleveland Scene, La Mega Nota, and Columbus Free Press, among other outlets. She is a 2018 Marshall Memorial Fellow with the German Marshall Fund, and serves on the boards of the Justice Action Center and Babel Box Theatre.
Board Members
Claudia Longo
Born in Uruguay, Claudia Longo has lived in the United States since 2002. She works for La Mega Media, Inc., the largest Hispanic media platform with a presence in the state of Ohio, Pittsburgh, and Northern Kentucky. Claudia is the Director of Community Outreach for La Mega Cleveland’s radio station and manages digital content for La Mega Nota, the company’s Spanish language print and digital publication.
Claudia also reports and translates for The Land, a new independent news consortium in Greater Cleveland, and works as a Special Project Prevention Specialist Administrator at Catholic Charities, creating COVID-19 vaccination outreach campaigns for the Latino population in Cuyahoga County. Claudia is a board member of the new National Association of Hispanic Journalists – Cleveland Chapter (GCAHJ) as well as BabelBox, an inclusive theater company.
In 2020, Claudia was named one of the “100+ Latinos Cleveland MUST KNOW,” a list created by AmMore Consulting LLC.
Deb Kline
Deb Kline has over 35 years of experience as a national community organizer and activist on issues affecting both the low-income and labor communities. She successfully organized efforts to pass two federal laws, numerous state laws, and major reforms in the national child support system. Currently, she serves as the Director of Cleveland Jobs with Justice, a coalition of labor, faith, and community organizations that are joining together for worker justice. For the past ten years of her leadership, immigration reform—protecting undocumented workers and their families—has been one of Cleveland Jobs with Justice’s main areas of work. Deb is also very active in her neighborhood and community, and is in her second term as the President of OPEIU Local 1794.