Labor On The Move: Lillian Walker Shelton, DC JWJ's New Organizer

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

New DC Jobs with Justice organizer Lillian Walker Shelton’s (r) career as an activist was established early on, when her mother raised Shelton and her brothers to be active in their Philadelphia community. “I am so excited about working for Jobs with Justice," Walker Shelton tells Union City. “I love this job because I feel like I represent this organization in everything I do.” While a college student at St. Joseph's University, Walker Shelton worked full-time at Verizon’s Directory Services in Elkins Park, PA, serving as a union steward for CWA Local 13500 while finishing her under-graduate degree. Since relocating to the District of Columbia in 2006, Walker Shelton has helped organize her co-workers to win a good contract at Teamsters headquarters as a Shop Steward for OPEIU Local 2, and has also served as the treasurer for the DC Metro CLUW. She’s a board member for STITCH, volunteers with Tamika and Friends, and is an ESL tutor at St. Michael’s Archangel Church. An Alexis Knox Fellow through the Younger Women’s Task Force, Walker Shelton leads empowerment workshops with participants at local job readiness program STRIVE D.C. In addition to helping continue DC JwJ's work organizing around issues affecting poor and working DC residents, promoting immigrant rights, and holding politicians accountable, Walker Shelton will be coordinating DC JwJ's education programs, including the Grassroots Leadership Education Project, the English for Day Laborers program, and black/brown dialogues.