Stephanie Teatro (left) and Lindsey Harris
The co-directors of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition and its affiliated political organization TIRRC Votes are stepping down later this summer, with an internal candidate set to succeed the two.
Lindsey Harris and Stephanie Teatro have jointly led TIRRC since 2014. Harris first joined the organization in 2008, and Teatro in 2012. Lisa Sherman-Nikolaus, who joined the group in 2015 and is currently policy director, will succeed the two as executive director of TIRRC and TIRRC Votes.
“We know this announcement comes at a moment of both tremendous uncertainty and transformative possibility for our state and country,” Harris says. “Fighting for immigrant rights in Tennessee has never been easy. We’ve always had to find ways to respond to the short-term crises of the moment while never losing sight of our long-term vision. This transition is no different; today’s announcement comes after nearly two years of careful planning and preparation.”
Among the items on TIRRC’s agenda as the transition gets underway are a forthcoming U.S. Supreme Court decision on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and the capital campaign for the construction of TIRRC’s new headquarters on Antioch Pike, currently targeted for a late-summer completion. According to a press release, the capital campaign has secured 90 percent of the $2.6 million needed for the project.
Since Harris and Teatro took over leadership of the organization, TIRRC’s staff has nearly tripled to 24, and the group’s scope has expanded, especially with the establishment of TIRRC Votes in 2018.
They established the 501(c)(4) to more directly advocate for pro-immigrant and pro-refugee politicians, and in 2019 — their first cycle of Metro elections — 21 of the 25 candidates they endorsed won their races.
Prior to joining TIRRC, Sherman-Nikolaus worked for the Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict and Amnesty International, and she holds a master’s degree in conflict, security and development from King’s College London. She moved to Nashville from Guatemala in high school and is the first person of color to lead TIRRC, which was founded in 2003.
As the transition is underway, Teatro will become immigration campaign director at Resilience Force, an organization that advocates for the rights of workers who respond to American natural disasters. Harris will work as an organizational consultant with nonprofit organizations and continue to advise TIRRC.
“Over the next few months, we will work to ensure a seamless transition while continuing to fight on the frontlines of the COVID pandemic, to defend DACA, to make sure that immigrant voters go to the polls in record numbers this year and to support Black movement leaders in the fight against police brutality and white supremacy,” Sherman-Nikolaus says.
