Who We Are

MISSION

Making politics engaging, effective, and fun by putting young Washingtonians in the driver’s seat and giving them tools to be organizers, legislators, and leaders.

VISION

We work towards a more equitable Washington, where young people have equal access to public discourse.

We envision a state where civic and political engagement is the norm, not the exception, for all Washingtonians.

Cinthia Illan-Vazquez

Cinthia (she/her/ella) believes in the importance of people-centered movements aimed at dismantling systems of oppression through policy. She is excited to leverage her skills to amplify the Bus’s mission. Away from the office, she enjoys outdoor activities that connect her to the indigenous lands we are occupying.
Contact: cinthia@washingtonbus.org

Ashley Ford

Ashley Ford, CFRE (she/they) is a community builder and experienced fundraiser with passion for redistributing resources to those who need them most. They are a fierce advocate dedicated to disrupting harmful systems and building capacity for young people to thrive.

Contact: ashley@washingtonbus.org

Tai Yang-Abreu

Tai Yang-Abreu (she/her) joined the Bus as the Youth Organizing Manager after seven years of campaign organizing; she’s just as comfortable on the doorstep as in statewide strategy sessions. Tracing her political roots to her college days in student government, she credits the Bus with guiding her early days in political advocacy. Now, as Base Building Director, she oversees the Summer Fellowship program, campus outreach, and youth voter mobilization, ensuring the future is in good hands.
contact: tai@washingtonbus.org.

Astrol Lai

For Astro (he/him), political engagement has always been about fighting for the people he loves and inviting others to join the family. He’s ready to bring his experience and passion to the Ops Manager role and stick around to see our mission through.

Bailey Medilo

Bailey (any pronouns) was born and raised in Seattle and is an experienced political organizer with a focus on youth issues. They specialize in political branding, graphic design, content creation, and campaign management.
Bailey’s goal is to create accessible, vibrant, and exciting content that pushes the youth agenda forward with an eye toward respectfully and unabashedly advocating for and representing communities furthest from justice.
contact: bailey@washingtonbus.org

Edgar Espino

Campus Organizer
Edgar (he/him/el) hopes to guide youth with the right tools, knowledge, support, and mentorship in molding them into effective political organizers in our communities.
contact: Edgar@washingtonbus.org

Lukas Phipps

Lukas Phipps (He/Him) joins us as the Lead Field Organizer with over 10 years of working in elections and legislative campaigns since 2015 when he was in high school. Some of the causes he's championed include Ranked Choice Voting, Protections for Queer Youth, and Reproductive Justice. Originally from Massachusetts where he got a BA in Public Policy & Law at Suffolk University, he moved back to his partner's hometown in Washington State in 2022. In WA he served as a Regional Field Organizer for Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates and had the privilege of working with queer justice orgs in the Eastside.
Lukas hopes to use his experience to make the political process more accessible for youth advocates. When he's not out knocking doors for progressive causes, you can find him watching movies with his partner and spoiling their 3 year old Dog-ter Bia.

Haydon Ramirez

Haydon Ramirez (he/him) joins the Bus in the role of Campus Organizer as a passionate advocate for increasing civic participation among young people and challenging systems of oppression. His passions also extend into the workplace, where he helped successfully unionize the first Regal Cinemas in the United States this summer, as he and his coworkers joined Teamsters Local 690.

Vote Bot

Vote Bot is a sophisticated democracy robot sent back in time to change the future for one lucky state. And that lucky winner just so happens to be our very own Evergreen State, Washington. They came to us to break down barriers to voting and take names. Vote Bot comes from a place where voter registration is automatic for all eligible voters, turnout for the most local of elections is always 100%, where there’s a voting drop box in every home, and a young person heading out to get civically involved on every street!

People

We center young people and focus our resources on supporting leadership from underrepresented communities: communities of color, young women, LGBTQ youth, working-class youth, and first-generation students.

Participation

We catalyze the energy and enthusiasm of young people to create sustainable change through civic education, voter registration, engagement, and leadership development.

Policy

We see legislation and policy work as both an opportunity for young people to learn the inner workings of government and a necessary step in moving Washington forward.

Board of Directors