Funding & Organizations Fueling the NC Unrest!
How Marxists Aim to Dismantle America! Durham homeowners are actually partially funding the unrest on the streets through property taxes.
In the politically charged landscape of post-2024 America, a web of grassroots organizations, local politicians, and student activists in North Carolina, particularly in the Durham-Raleigh Triangle, has come under fire for the infrastructure they have created in response to the Trump administration’s federal immigration policies.
Groups like Siembra NC and Blueprint NC, backed by progressive funding sources including George Soros-linked foundations, are accused of fostering low-level insurgency through community defense trainings, ICE-tracking hotlines, and advocacy for sanctuary-style resolutions.
This article examines key individuals and their affiliations, drawing on public records, social media, and video clips, to explore whether these efforts represent legitimate community protection or bear the markings of a “color revolution.” The public facing messsaging of these organization claim non-violent means of resistance but the coordinated campaigns to challenge governmental authority, appears reminiscent of more forcible movements seen in Eastern Europe and the Middle East to topple existing governments.
Key Leaders & Affiliations!
Javiera Caballero
Javiera Caballero is a Chilean-born American politician and consultant who serves as a City Council Member and Mayor Pro Tempore in Durham, North Carolina. She was appointed to the council in 2018, becoming the first Latina member, and was elected in 2019, with re-election in 2023 for a term ending in 2027.
She has been involved in Durham Public Schools, serving as PTA president at Club Boulevard Magnet Elementary School.Her policy priorities include affordable housing (e.g., shaping the $95 million Forever Home Durham plan), sustainability, inclusion, and regional transit improvements as a liaison to the Metropolitan Planning Organization. Caballero has also advocated for youth programs like YouthWorks.
Affiliations and Organizations:
Hunt Institute Fellow
North Carolina Leadership Forum Fellow
Governor Josh Stein’s Advisory Council on Latino Affairs
Alma Advisory Group (co-founder)
Durham Cultural Advisory Board (liaison role)
2023 Durham City Council at Large Candidate Javiera Caballero responds to the question: How can Durham City Government address the city’s greatest equity challenges? In this video she advocates for equity in the Capital Improvement Projects, including giving voting rights to teenagers age 13 whether they are documented or not can vote on the projects, all in the name of equity.
Nida Allam
Nida Allam, Durham County Commissioner and NC-04 congressional candidate, has directly engaged in anti-ICE tracking activities by confronting ICE agents during detentions in Durham, documenting their actions publicly, directing residents to report sightings to Siembra NC’s hotline, and participating in protests and press conferences with Siembra NC while advocating to abolish ICE.
Nida Allam is an American politician and data analyst who serves as Vice Chair of the Durham County Board of Commissioners, having been elected in 2020 as the first Muslim woman to hold public office in North Carolina. Born in Ottawa, Canada, in 1993 to Indian and Pakistani immigrant parents, she grew up in Cary, North Carolina, and earned a B.S. in Sustainable Materials Technology from North Carolina State University in 2015.
Allam entered politics after the 2015 Chapel Hill shooting of three Muslim students, including her friends, which motivated her activism. She worked as Bernie Sanders’ North Carolina political director in 2016, served as third vice chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party, and chaired the Durham Mayor’s Council for Women.
In 2022, she ran for U.S. Congress in NC-04 but lost the Democratic primary. She was unanimously elected as the youngest County Commission Chair in North Carolina in 2023 before becoming Vice Chair. Her priorities include schools, housing, healthcare, workers’ rights, and criminal justice reform.
Affiliations and Organizations:
Board of Health (Durham County)
Criminal Justice Advisory Committee
Planned Parenthood Votes South Atlantic (Board of Directors)
Hunt Institute State Policy Fellows (Third Cohort)
North Carolina Democratic Party (former third vice chair)
Justice Democrats (endorsed candidate)
Working Families Party (endorsed)
The Board of Health operates as part of Durham County’s Department of Public Health, drawing from the county’s general budget supplemented by state and federal grants (e.g., Durham County receives over $70 million annually in various state/federal/private grants excluding certain special funds). The Criminal Justice Advisory Committee (CJAC) is an advisory body with no independent budget authority; it pursues funding via grant opportunities and requests to local/state government but relies on county resources for operations.
The Durham County Criminal Justice Advisory Committee (CJAC) is a volunteer advisory body of 28 government and community partners under the Durham County Justice Services Department.
CJAC is funded indirectly through Durham County’s overall public budget of approximately $1.04 billion for FY 2025-2026, primarily sourced from local property taxes (at a rate of about 55.42 cents per $100 valuation following recent increases), state allocations, federal grants, and other county revenues, with the General Fund portion around $689.7 million covering Justice Services and related departments.
CJAC does not administer funds directly but identifies justice needs, recommends programs, and pursues external grant opportunities (local, state, or federal, such as U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance grants) on behalf of county initiatives, with any awarded funding flowing through county channels or partner entities rather than to CJAC itself.
In summary, CJAC’s funding is entirely embedded in and reliant on Durham County’s taxpayer-supported budget and coordinated grant pursuits, without any separate or discretionary financial resources.
The 30-second YouTube Short from Nida Allam’s campaign channel features her announcing her run for Congress (NC-4th District rematch). She states she answers to working families; not billionaires, not corporate power, and not Super PACs.
As a Durham County commissioner, she highlights seeing daily impacts of rising costs under Trump’s authoritarian administration, positioning herself as a fighter for working people. (Endorsed by Bernie Sanders and progressive groups like Working Families Party.)
Nikki Marín-Baena
Nikki Marín-Baena is a co-founder and co-director of Siembra NC, a grassroots organization advocating for Latine immigrant rights in North Carolina, focusing on defense against ICE, wage theft, and abusive employers/landlords.
Marin-Baena holds a B.A. in Studio Art from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Marín-Baena has been involved in organizing since at least 2015, including building statewide Latine basebuilding efforts. She emphasizes community defense and economic alternatives, having trained groups on cooperative businesses. Her work includes responding to immigration raids and advocating for equity.
Affiliations and Organizations:
Siembra NC (co-founder and co-director)
Somos Siembra (co-executive director)
Training for Change (core trainer)
Mijente (former finance and operations infrastructure builder)
Blueprint NC (partner through Siembra NC)
Excerpts from Siembra NC’s “Defend Yourself from ICE and Know Your Rights” toolkit, a bilingual English/Spanish printable guide aims at educating immigrants and communities about their legal protections during encounters with ICE agents. Although critics argue, the group focuses on ground level insurgency grassroots revolutionary tactics meant to intimidate, obstruct, and threaten ICE agents safety.
Nikki speaks about the North Carolina training activities explaining how she loves seeing the older church ladies being trained; stating it has been “really encouraging” to see all kinds of people “wanting to take this training.”
Nikki falsely claims that most immigrant arrests are not violent criminals; data proves otherwise with ~70 percent of illegal immigrants having some type of violent criminal background.
Kelly Morales
Kelly Morales is the co-executive director of Siembra NC and its affiliated Somos Siembra, positions she has held since 2021. She focuses on grassroots advocacy for immigrant and working-class Latine communities, including leadership development and campaigns against ICE and worker exploitation. Morales has experience in immigrant rights and serves on the board of Down Home North Carolina’s charitable wing, which advocates for Medicaid expansion, critical race theory in education, and minimum wage increases. Previously, she was the North Carolina Immigrant Rights program director for the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker-affiliated group supporting left-of-center policies on immigration and justice.Affiliations and Organizations:
Siembra NC (co-executive director)
Somos Siembra (co-executive director)
Down Home North Carolina (board member)
American Friends Service Committee (former NC Immigrant Rights program director)
Blueprint NC (partner through Siembra NC)
In 2022, Somos Siembra reported $2,032,448 in revenue, of which the entire amount stemmed from contributions and grants. It reported $259,187 in expenses, of which $183,489 was allocated to salaries, wages, and other compensation. It ended the year with $1,773,261 in net income, and $1,773,261 in net assets.
Somos Siembra holds left-of-center views and works to advance them through activism and educational programs. It states that it works towards racial and social justice. Its partner 501(c)(4) group Siembra NC is even more blunt in its left-of-center outlook and aims, stating that conservative politicians in North Carolina lack democratic legitimacy. Siembra NC states that it is working to empower a “supermajority” of minorities in the state, per Influence Watch.
Down Home North Carolina, a 501(c)(4) advocacy group focuses on building power in rural NC communities, primarily receives funding through individual donations, member dues, and grants from national foundations including the Open Society Action Fund ($400,000 in 2023 for social welfare), Organize Action ($200,000 in 2024 for voter engagement),
Local funding support comes from the Heising-Simons Action Fund ($150,000 in 2023 for general support), and Katz Amsterdam Foundation ($200,000 in 2022 for civic engagement); its sister 501(c)(3) We Are Down Home similarly benefits from national grants like Ford Foundation ($200,000 in 2022) and Katz Amsterdam ($250,000 in 2024).
The organization secures funding by influencing county budgets (winning over $34 million in programs in 2024) and advocating for state/federal grants such as up to $500,000 for Alamance County’s Family Justice Center and solar initiatives in Granville County.
Jan 7, 2026
Nonprofit group Siembra NC Kelly Morales speaks out after ICE officer shoots Minneapolis woman stating the death of Renee Nicole Good “is not merely a tragedy - it is a terrigying signal that federal agents now view witnesses as threats and accountability as an offense.”
Andrew Willis Garcés
Andrew Willis Garcés is a senior strategist and founder of Siembra NC, established in 2017 in response to anti-immigrant policies. Garcés has Colombian maternal roots which has potentially cultivated his career in advocacy for immigrant rights.
Garcés has over two decades of experience as an organizer, strategist, communications consultant, and trainer for unions and grassroots groups. He focuses on basebuilding, creative direct actions, and campaigns for healthcare workers, undocumented immigrants, and taxi drivers.
Garcés holds a degree from James Madison University and is based in Greensboro, NC. He has written for outlets like The Forge, Truthout, and In These Times.
Affiliations and Organizations:
Siembra NC (founder and senior strategist)
Training for Change (trainer since 2009)
North Carolina Association of Educators (supports public school educators)
Blueprint NC (partner through Siembra NC)
Training for Change (trainer since 2009): A national activist training and capacity-building organization; funding relies heavily on grassroots donations (monthly sustainers, major donors, one-time gifts, and bequests) with no major public grant figures disclosed; supports social justice movements through workshops and programs.
North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) (supports public school educators): State affiliate of the National Education Association (NEA); revenue ~$8.8 million (2024 figures), primarily from membership dues and contributions; operates advocacy funds like the Great Public Schools Fund for political and campaign efforts; no direct Soros/Open Society ties noted.
This investigation reveals a tightly knit group of North Carolina activists and officials, centered around Siembra NC and Blueprint NC, whose efforts in immigrant defense and progressive policy could be interpreted as building blocks for resisting the Trump administration’s agenda. With progressive left entity linked funding, community hotlines, and video-documented trainings, critics see classic “color revolution” tactics aimed at undermining federal authority through persistent opposition. The network’s scale and coordination warrant vigilance in a divided America, highlighting how local actions might escalate into broader confrontations on streets.
In an upcoming article, I’ll dive deeper into how higher-level educators in North Carolina; professors from Duke and Elon University, school board members, and former education leaders, connections to Siembra NC’s anti-ICE network through academic programs, student internships, equity-focused committees, Blueprint NC partnerships, and overlapping advocacy with educator unions like the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE). These ties provide institutional support, and pathways for progressive organizing that critics view as part of broader resistance infrastructure against federal immigration enforcement.
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