Laura Barrett

Laura Barrett is the Executive Director of the Transportation Equity Network (TEN) -- a 41-state grassroots network of more than 350 organizations working for a more just, prosperous, and connected America -- as well as National Policy Director for the Gamaliel Foundation. She been a community organizer for more than 20 years. Laura previously worked as a field organizer for the Center for Community Change, and has served as director of Housing Comes First, the Missouri Public Interest Research Group (MoPIRG), and the Campaign for Jobs and Housing.

She was the campaign manager for a ballot initiative that resulted in the passage of the largest per capita housing trust fund in America ($5 million annually), the St. Louis Housing Trust Fund. She has helped groups to win millions in public transportation funding, and has negotiated community benefits agreements and positive workforce development policies on the state, local and federal levels. As the civic engagement director for Gamaliel, she has helped local affiliates to register 12,000 low-income and immigrant voters, and to make more than 125,000 voter contacts about non-partisan issues in the 2008 fall election. She holds a Master's in Social Work from Washington University.