TMO-Houston Staff
Jacob Cortes - Senior Organizer
Born in Houston, Texas, Jacob grew up in Austin, Texas and graduated from Lyndon Baines Johnson Science Academy, a magnet program that is part of the Austin Independent School District. He then attended Swarthmore College and studied Political Science and History. After graduating Swarthmore in 2005, he worked on a special project with the Pima County Interfaith Council, an affiliate of the IAF in Tucson, Arizona. The project was part of a successful campaign to restore city funding to programs for children and youth in Metro Tucson. In 2006, Jacob began as an organizer for the Service Employees International Union and was part of a successful campaign to unionize 6,000 Pima County employees under the SEIU. In 2007, he returned to work as an organizer for the Pima County Interfaith Council and helped organiz further public support for expanded investments in job training, after school programs and dropout prevention strategies. In 2009, Jacob joined the staff of The Metropolitan Organization (TMO) and began organizing in inner city congregations around needed increases in public infrastructure investments, after school programs, comprehensive immigration reform and the launch of Capital IDEA Houston, an extension of Capital IDEA which is one of the most successful job training strategies in the U.S. Jacob has two sisters, Ami and Alma and parents Oralia and Ernesto.
Office - 713.807.1429 | Email - jcortes@tmohouston.net
Kathryn Fine - OrganizerKatie was born and raised in Dallas, Texas along with her older sister, younger sister and younger brother. She attended elementary and middle school in Forth Worth and attended Plano West High School in Plano, Texas. She attended Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas where she graduated in 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Spanish. While in college she studied abroad in Seville, Spain where she took courses on the Sociology of Spain, organized for Working America, an organization that canvasses and organizes individuals around important issues such as healthcare and education, and did an internship at the National Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. where she worked on business advocacy. Her last semester at Trinity University she did an internship with Citizens Organizing for Public Service, an affiliate of the IAF in San Antonio, Texas. She worked on many issues during her internship but focused on researching how certain types of businesses are located in San Antonio in order to target vulnurable populations such as minorities, the poor, and the undocumented. In October of 2009 Katie became a special projects organizer at The Metropolitan Organization in Houston as part of a city wide education and organizing campaign for Immigration Reform. While continuing to work on immigration issues, she will also be doing workforce organizing for TMO's new job training project Capital IDEA-Houston.
Office- 713-807.1429 Email- kfine@tmohouston.net
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