LaToysha Brown (she/her/hers), Executive Director

LaToysha Brown is the co-founder and incoming Executive Director for the Rosedale Freedom Project. Originally from the Mississippi Delta, LaToysha attended the Sunflower County Freedom Project, where she gained skills in leadership, fundraising and organizing. Not having the language yet, but understanding the complicated history of the MS Delta, she knew that Black and low-income students were not receiving equitable education. She went to Gentry High School (2010-2014) where she became curious as to why her peers’ imaginations allowed them to dream a world unimagined with teachers who were dedicated to their achievement, but there was not enough funding to cultivate their talents. She wanted to learn and do more to find a solution to this issue so she went to college in 2014. At the University of Southern Mississippi, LaToysha studied sociology specializing in criminal justice reform, equitable education and Black studies, in which she earned a BA. While there, LaToysha also led a Hip-Hop organization that created a safe space for Black students to unapologetically express themselves while “doing art.” During her sophomore year, she served as Teacher Advisor at the RFP and piloted a Restorative Justice Club that trained students in self-advocacy, peer mediation and community-building through the study of the Black Panther Party. Throughout her college career, she continued to develop the RFP by creating a system where students are agents in their learning, their communities and their lives. From 2018-2022, she was a member of the RFP Board of Directors, serving as a representative to the larger Freedom Project Network and assisting in developing strategic and financial plans for sustainability. These days, she serves as a Teacher at Abramson Sci Academy in New Orleans where she teaches Global Justice and writes curriculum to be more culturally responsive and has published one of her units for the 1619 Project. When LaToysha is not teaching, organizing or thinking of ways to secure justice for everyone, she is reading mangas, writing blog stories, and performing original spoken word poetry.

Jeremiah Smith (he/him/his), Director of Programming

Jeremiah Smith is the co-founder and Director of Programming for the Rosedale Freedom Project. Originally from Virginia, Jeremiah began working as an English Teacher at the High School in Rosedale through Teach for America in 2012. Jeremiah saw a deep lack of out-of-school opportunities for his students, as well as a total absence of conversation within the schools about funding and material inequalities for young people in Rosedale. Inspired by the work of the Sunflower County Freedom Project and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Freedom Schools that came before it, Jeremiah began organizing with parents, students, and community members to open a Freedom School in Rosedale. While working as the Director of Literacy Programming at the SCFP, Jeremiah spent weekends fundraising, canvassing, and recruiting young people and educators in Rosedale. The RFP opened, at first as the Rosedale Community Youth Center, for its inaugural Freedom Summer program in 2015. Since then, Jeremiah has worked with Fellows and families to launch the RFP’s filmmaking and theater programs, facilitated Restorative Justice, Transformative Justice, and prison solidarity programs at the RFP, and managed the RFP’s day-to-day operations, from maintaining facilities and fundraising to driving the vans and organizing community service days. In his time at the RFP, Jeremiah has been a member of the TFA Graduate Fellows program from 2016 - 2018, a Fellow with the Voqal Fund in 2018, and a Millennial Fellow with Mississippi Votes in 2019. In 2022, Jeremiah is transitioning from his role as Executive Director to Director of Programming. In his free time, Jeremiah is also an organizer with the Memphis Tenants Union and enjoys making music, reading, and playing with his two dogs, Maggie and Kendall.

Laura Sifuentes (she/her/hers), AmeriCorps VISTA Service Member

Laura Sifuentes is the AmeriCorps VISTA service member for the Rosedale Freedom Project. Laura grew up in Rosedale, and is a mother of four Freedom Fellows. Laura’s love for children first brought her to the classroom in 2005 as a tutor with the Delta Reads program, supporting second graders in reading through individual tutoring and small group interventions. Laura’s success in this role led the school to offer her a full-time position as a Kindergarten assistant teacher, and she served in this role from 2006 - 2010. When her twins were born, she enrolled at Mississippi Valley State University, completing her Bachelors in Early Childhood Education in 2013. The next six years saw Laura serving as a head start teacher, pre-K teacher, and substitute teacher throughout Sunflower County. In 2019, she returned to her native Rosedale and worked as a Head Start caregiver. That same year, her children began attending the Rosedale Freedom Project, and her experiences attending showcases, events, and Parent and Community Board meetings led her to accept a position as a teacher during Freedom Summer 2022. Although she always knew the RFP was a special place, the relationships that she built with the youth and other staff during the summer deepened her feeling, and she decided to take a full-time position. In 2022, Laura is helping the RFP to build more of these powerful relationships with parents through organizing, community members through volunteer opportunities, organizations through collaborations, and the schools that her children attend. Outside of work, Laura enjoys spending time with her children and traveling.