June 25, 2024

Greetings to all,

A new chapter is being written at Workers’ Dignity. We are excited to introduce Rev. RJ Robles (they/he) as the new Executive Director of Workers’ Dignity!

Over the last decade, Rev. Robles has been a volunteer and supporter of Workers’ Dignity. From providing childcare and interpretive services to supporting member-led direct actions against wage theft, Rev. Robles has always brought a gift for building trust and deepening coalitions. They are open to constructive feedback and dedicated to practicing accountability.

Rev. Robles intends to make Workers’ Dignity a community home dedicated to the practices of solidarity, community support, mutual aid, and nonviolent resistance against injustice for everyone for many years to come. Workers’ Dignity will be a place to practice language justice, receive community organizing education, and learn to be in solidarity with the most vulnerable in our low-wage worker community. It will bring people together to fight for economic justice, understanding that liberation is a collective process and can only be achieved when all of us are free.

Rev. Robles is an LGBTQ Afro-Puerto Rican minister and community organizer. They seek to continue the strong legacy of trans people of color organizing and mobilizing collective care for trans liberation and healing.

They hold a Master of Divinity (M.Div) from Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville, Tennessee, with a focus on the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and religion. Their professional experience includes serving diverse communities as a direct care service provider in the fields of HIV/AIDS, transgender healthcare, domestic violence, homelessness/unhoused communities, Black and Brown spiritual healing, BIPOC colonial trauma healing, and more.

Notably, Rev. Robles helped launch the Trans Buddy Program at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, providing peer-to-peer support for trans individuals navigating transition-related healthcare. They were also a founding member of Southerners on New Ground (SONG)’s Nashville chapter and served as a healing justice coach with the National Queer and Trans Therapist of Color Network during COVID-19.

Today, Rev. Robles is an active council member for Disciples LGBTQ+ Alliance and serves on the Regional Search Committee for the next Disciples Regional Minister of Tennessee, as an active clergy member in the Christian Church Disciples of Christ.

In all these capacities, Rev. Robles enjoys co-creating rituals of decolonial and politicized healing for Black and Brown, queer, and trans communities. They will continue in this work, believing that a radical world is possible when organizing practices are grounded in revolutionary love, transparency, and healing.