Oral Histories

Michelle Tremillo

   February 2, 2024

   

Organizer, San Antonio, May 2002-March 2003; Head Organizer, San Antonio, April 2003-July 2006; Development Director, Texas ACORN, August 2006-March 2007; Deputy Director, Texas ACORN, March 2008-November 2009

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1. February 2, 2024 Interviewed by Steven Kest

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Michelle joined the TX ACORN staff in 2002 as a field organizer, and then became the San Antonio regional director. After ACORN’s destruction, she served as deputy director of the Texas Organizing Project (TOP), the ACORN successor organization, and then served as co-ED, a role she still serves as. In this interview, Michelle describes growing up in a low income community in San Antonio; her politicization as a student at Stanford University, and her return to San Antonio with an interest in working in her community. She talks about her early years at ACORN, learning how to doorknock and run campaigns, and her experiences building and then leading TOP, which is now the premier statewide power-building organization in Texas.