The Economic Justice Coalition (EJC) began in 2003 as the Athens Living Wage Coalition. It advocated for living wages in Athens, Georgia. Under the leadership of Dr. Ray MacNair, the organization transitioned from a local movement to a nonprofit in 2005. Among its early successes were increasing wages for Athens-Clarke County government workers and initiating voter registration drives with the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda.
Along the way, EJC has also become engaged in university activism, immigrant rights, and making the community economically resilient. Between the years 2006 and 2012, EJC served the Latino and undocumented communities. They assisted these communities in organizing as workers, provided English instruction, and disseminated information regarding labor rights in Home Depot in Athens.
We’ve also established worker-owned cooperatives such as Peachy Green Clean and Unity Cooperative Labor Partners, which provided individuals with work and allowed them to own their work. With their Labor Day parades every year and constant outreach, they increased wages for city government and university staff.
Upon the death of Dr. MacNair in 2012, Mrs. Linda Lloyd took over as the leader and carried on his work by continuing EJC’s community outreach and organizing activities. During the 2010s and early 2020s, EJC concentrated on voting and educating individuals about voting, registering over 20,000 individuals to vote.
They also collaborated with others, advocated for education for undocumented students, and established the Workers’ Center to assist in wage theft and workers’ rights. EJC recovered $100,000 in wages that were stolen from workers and advocated for higher wages at the Clarke County School District, through the Workers’ Center. In 2023, leadership shifted from Linda Lloyd to Broderick Flanigan.
In 2025…
We welcomed Aissatou Sabara, our new Executive Director. Aissatou begins anew while continuing EJC’s mission of advocating for economic justice, just wages, and civic participation in low-income communities!
We are so fortunate to have such an incredible team on our Board of Directors:
Aissatou Sabara (Executive Director)
Glenda Colbert
Greg Davis
Dolores Lee
Linda Lloyd
Beto Mendoza
Noe Mendoza
Marcel Mincey
Tamika Money
Pat Peterson
Joseph Smith
Dr. Ray McNair
Click here to learn more about Dr. Ray McNair.