Sonia Peña , Associate Director, is a graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she worked on immigrant rights, education and migrant farmworker issues as well as founding the Boulder chapter of the national student group Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA). She is a graduate of the Minority Activist Apprenticeship Program (MAAP) and went on to lead the program at the Center for Third World Organizing (CTWO) from 1988-1993. Sonia also served as lead organizer on CTWO's Action for a Better Community project and later as both the organization's training and associate director.

Sonia serves as Board Chair for the Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training (GIFT), which was co-founded by CTWO and the Southern Empowerment Project in 1995-1996. A graduate of the National Community Development Institute's (NCDI) Professional Development for Consultants program, her training experience focuses on leadership development, grassroots fundraising and organizational development.