Our Team

Theresa is a life-long resident of Southeast Seattle. The daughter and granddaughter of Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during World War II, she has been committed to race and social justice throughout her career. She currently is Associate Vice President at United Way of King County where she supports the planning and allocations of grantmaking and investments.

Theresa formerly served as the Site Director for the Annie E. Casey Foundation Making Connections Initiative. She was responsible for the design, leadership, and oversight of the foundation’s 10-year community change initiative aimed at improving outcomes for vulnerable children and families living in White Center, particularly from immigrant and refugee communities. Prior to becoming the Site Director in 2000, Theresa served as Special Assistant for Health and Human Services for Mayor Paul Schell and Regional Government Relations Coordinator for Mayor Norman Rice. From 1974 – 1993, she also was a founding member and executive director of Asian Counseling and Referral Service, a nonprofit human services organization that serves the Asian and Pacific Islander communities of King County.

A native of Seattle, Theresa received her Bachelor of Arts Degree and Master of Social Work Degree from the University of Washington. She also received a fellowship to study at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan.

Elizabeth Ruiz Reyes is an immigrant from Oaxaca, Mexico. She has been a volunteer and a community leader at OneAmerica since 2009. Her direct experience with the immigration system has strengthened her commitment to herself and her community. She has been a tireless advocate for immigration and social justice.

Elizabeth was part of the Women’s Fellowship at Community Change Foundation, tailored for women who have been impacted by the criminal justice system.

Elizabeth is an Immigration Counselor at Lutheran Community Services in Vancouver, WA. She is driven by her passion and personal experience with the immigration process, and has provided direct services for the past nine years.

Elizabeth is bilingual in Spanish and English; she is a wife, mother, and friend. In her free time, she loves cooking, camping, and walking around nature.

April Sims is the President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO. She is the first woman of color and the first Black person to be elected as a WSLC President.

Prior to her election, Sims had served as the WSLC’s Political and Strategic Campaign Director since November 2017, working to develop shared agendas with labor and community partners, to advance strategic organizing campaigns, and to recruit, train and elect political champions for working people. She first joined the WSLC in September 2015 as Field Mobilization Director, working with WSLC-affiliated unions and community partners to support and encourage the participation of individual members with many different political, legislative and community programs.

Sims joined the WSLC staff, after serving as the Legislative and Political Action Field Coordinator for the Washington Federation of State Employees, AFSCME Council 28 (WFSE), where she was responsible for member education, communication, and mobilization around legislative issues and political campaigns. She was a WFSE member, shop steward, elected union officer, and union staffer from 2002-15.

Sims firmly believes in the power of working people organizing together, and has dedicated her working life to affirming that power. For her, the importance of union membership is personal; it was her mother’s union position as a psychiatric security attendant at Western State Hospital that allowed her family to move off welfare and build a sense of financial security. A life-long resident of Tacoma, April lives with her husband, two daughters, and 100-pound chocolate lab in the gritty city she’s proud to call home.