Joel has worked toward social change in Arizona and Washington DC for more than a decade and has extensive policy and communications experience. Joel began his career organizing around environmental and criminal justice issues. In 2002, Joel built a coalition of labor unions, environmental organizations, women's groups, and organizations of color that prevented the construction of a proposed 5000 bed private women's prison in Arizona. In 2004, Joel became the Executive Director of Arizona's US Action affiliate, the Arizona Leadership Institute (ALI).  That year, ALI registered more than 55,000 new voters and knocked on over 100,000 doors in predominantly Latino, African American, and Native American neighborhoods. Joel has also worked as a communications and policy expert for state affiliates of the Service Employees International Union and the United Food and Commercial Workers. He also served as the volunteer spokesperson for Somos America, the leading state coalition working for comprehensive, humane immigration reform. Joel now resides in Washington, D.C and currently runs the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center’s Ballot Integrity program.