Biography

Alex White was born in Rochester and grew up in Webster.  He earned a BA in History and Mathematics from St John Fisher and an MA at SUNY Brockport in History.  He taught secondary education, continued his studies at SUNY Binghamton, and worked a variety of jobs before forming Boldo's Armory.  For the last 20 years he has managed this game store on Monroe Avenue.

During this time he became involved in a variety of community and civic organizations, as well as being an activist and organizer.  He has been involved in many efforts to improve Rochester and has worked to improve public safety by bringing body cameras to the police depart and decreasing unemployment through OACES.  He has also fought for small businesses in the city and opposed tax breaks for wealthy developers. 

No stranger to politics Alex has run for mayor twice before.  He is frequent attendee at City Council meetings and has hosted a radio show on Rochester Free Radio where he talks about issues of the city. 

Alex lives in the South Wedge where he took care of his father for 7 years and is a member of Saint Boniface Church. He has also found time to rehab 3 vacant houses which once afflicted their neighborhoods. 

Emily Good was born in Rochester and has been a social justice advocate since an early age.  After graduating from Webster High School, she spent a year as a Rotary exchange student in Venezuela, and then moved on to Tufts University, where she graduated with bachelor degrees in Community Health and Peace and Justice Studies.

Intrigued by the interconnection among all movements for social, economic, and environmental justice, she has spent time working as a youth mentor in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest, an elder caregiver and wellness worker, and as a child caregiver.

Dorothy Paige was born and raised in New York City. In 1980 she returned to Rochester where she had lived previously. She resides in the Dutchtown neighborhood of Rochester.

She has completed an A.A.S. Degree at MCC in Human Services. 

In 2000 she completed her Bachelors Degree from SUNY Empire State College and continued her education in Counselor Education and English at SUNY Brockport.

She has previously worked for  Action For A Better Community with the Head Start Program. 

Ms. Paige joined Americorp in 1997 and began her assignment in the South Wedge working with the homeless and a Food Program that served 50-75 families a week.  

Ms. Paige has also worked with the YMCA, Pathstone and Experience Works which assists people in the areas of homelessness, education, community organizing and employment.

Ms. Paige has been an active member of the community and has been involved in improving the lives of diverse populations in the city as a volunteer activist.

Ms. Paige is a single parent with two children who graduated from School of the Arts and East High School. One has received a Bachelors Degree and is working on a Masters Degree and the other has an MLS from University of Buffalo.

David Atias was born and raised in the City of Rochester.  A Franklin graduate, David has a Bachelors of Science in History and Masters of Education in Secondary Education from SUNY Brockport.  David has worked for a number of non-profits in the area, including Hillside Childrens Center, St. Joseph's Villa and The Center for Youth.  He has taught in the City School District and various suburban districts as well.  David has served on the boards and steering committees of a number of local groups including Metro Justice, Rochester Roots, Coalition for Justice in Education, Rochester Human Rights Day Committee, the Rochester chapter of Move to Amend, Rochester ADAPT and the Transportation Action Group.

David is currently the Assistant Director of Advocacy at the Center for Disability Rights.  He lives on Kansas Street and is engaged to Evora Sutliff.

Lori Thomas was born in Batavia, New York, however her family moved to Rochester when she was very young. Spending summers in rural Pavilion, New York gave her a very different perspective of life and the relationships between people and their world.

Growing up in Rochester, Thomas attended a private Catholic school from Kindergarten to Eighth grades and then transferred to the public school system for high school. The stark difference in the two systems of education was unbearable, so Thomas advocated for herself by meeting with the Superintendent of schools and arranging to complete her final English and Math credit needed for graduation by taking college courses at Monroe Community College. With the agreement, Thomas was able to receive her High School Diploma from James Madison High School in 1974.

During her time at James Madison, Thomas was scheduled to take Occupational Education courses that taught her Secretarial skills and Automotive-repair skills. It was then Miss Thomas came to understand the value of being introduced to various skill sets that are useful in life.

It was also at James Madison where Miss Thomas first became aware of racism and the devastating effect skin color had on the public school system. Bussing between suburban and inner-city students was required and the result was chaotic.
The public school system was unlike anything Thomas had experienced in the private school setting. Large class sizes, no accountability, no structure, no discipline, no respect, and not knowing it at the time, no success.

After serving eighteen years as an Environmental Services Operator for the City of Rochester, Thomas returned to college to pursue a less physically challenging career. From taking management courses, Thomas turned to a new career in teaching.

Completing her undergraduate degree at Monroe Community College in 1992, Thomas went on to complete her Bachelor’s degree in 1994 and her Master’s degree in 1998, both from Nazareth College of Rochester.

After spending one year as a substitute teacher for the Rochester City School District, Thomas was hired immediately by Sue Kauffman, Principal of Lincoln School #22 which began a career in teaching that lasted seventeen years.

Miss Thomas is now retired and spends much of her time writing an Education Accountability blog five days a week, sharing her educational views in a weekly Podcast for That Really Neat Radio Show, and advocating for educational change in Washington, D.C

Drew Langdon grew up in rural upstate New York, in small town called Oakfield.  After spending several years studying at Houghton College, Langdon made the decision to move into the City of Rochester’s Plymouth-Exchange neighborhood to become a worker-owner at Small World Bakery.  

Small World was Langdon’s introduction to cooperative ownership models, which he has since embraced wholeheartedly as the solution to many of our community’s problems.  Other cooperative projects which he has been a part of include a housing cooperative, Ant Hill,  and the recently-formed Rochester Organization for Workplace Democracy.  He is also working on the incubation of a worker-owned grocery store in Rochester’s southwest neighborhoods to help eliminate a large urban food desert.

Langdon has also been active in combating discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in communities across the country.  He was a member of the 2010 Soulforce Equality, traveling to Christian colleges to educate on the intersections of faith, sexuality, and gender.  He has also been active in statewide campaigns for marriage equality and the passage of the Gender Expression Non-discrimination Act (GENDA).

In 2012, Langdon was the Green Party’s candidate for New York State Assembly in the 137th District.  In this two-way race against Democratic incumbent David Gantt, he received 4498 , or approximately 12%, of votes cast.  He has previously worked on Alex White’s campaigns for mayor and City Council in 2011, as well as Dr. Jill Stein’s 2012 presidential campaign.  In December, he was elected as a co-chair of the Green Party of Monroe County.

Politically Alex joined the Green Party over a decade ago and has been a co-chair of the local party.  He has been active in business associations, local progressive movements, and community activities.  He is a director of the Good Business Association of Rochester. Alex is a frequent speaker at City Council and has advocated for many issues from community gardens and recreation to tax equality and police accountability.