Spotlight on Rising Changemakers: Mackenzie Verdiner

603 Diversity is continuing to share stories of our neighbors in our Rising Changemakers series with two more profiles of people who are making a difference in diversity spaces of New Hampshire. Our editorial board members and contributors have shared the names of many remarkable people who have not been in this publication before. If you know of someone who deserves some spotlight, please email us at editors@603diversity.com.

Mackenzie Verdiner

CITY: Manchester

Q: What things are you passionate about?

Verdiner: I love reading. I am very passionate about libraries. I love to read books about Black history and share what I learned with my friends. Right now, I am reading “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” by Paulo Fierr.

Q: You lead the Young Organizers United (YOU) segment of the Granite State Organizing Project. What does that entail, and what things are you presently organizing around?

Verdiner: My job entails a lot of things. As program coordinator, I plan and facilitate all YOU meetings. YOU students can earn credit for participating in the program, and it is my job to record what and how they learn.

I design a curriculum for YOU that flows with whatever the current campaign is. I manage their campaign progress and guide them to reach the finish line and make concrete changes. Right now, students are working on a campaign called Better Spaces Brighter Futures, the goal of which is to get the bathrooms at all the high schools removed or brought to a functioning standard.

I teach the students the difference between a school board member and an alderman, who has the power to change what they want to change and how to access those people. I show them the websites where they can find contact information for all their elected officials, and I show them how to write a professional email to contact those people. On top of developing their leadership, I also develop my own by attending training on organizing hosted by GSOP and other nonprofit groups.

Q: How did you get involved in the organization, and what inspired an interest in this type of work?

Verdiner: I started in high school. A friend of mine invited me to a YOU meeting in my freshman year, and I have stayed with the program ever since. What initially sparked my interest was the fact that there were so many kids of color. It was nice not to be the only Black/brown person in the room, which is an experience I had a lot of in high school. What has kept me here is the value of actually making a difference in my community and in people’s lives. It is so fulfilling to get to be someone’s mentor, a person they look up to.

Q: What do you see as some of your successes?

Verdiner: One of my successes at GSOP has been starting the YOU Alumni Network. This is a group of high school grads who went through the YOU program and want to stay connected to the work. We meet monthly to talk about how we can continue to support the new students and some of the new issues we are facing as adults, like AI.

Q: Are you involved in other groups or have special hobbies?

Verdiner: I do Brazilian jiu jitsu at the martial arts zone, and I am involved with the Manchester chapter of the NAACP. I also do modeling and photography on the side. And I like to crochet.