Audreona Mullens’ work as director of regional organizing for Family Forward Oregon, a nonprofit fighting for economic and reproductive justice for Oregon moms and caregivers, involves a number of responsibilities. But if her role had to be summed up in one simple phrase, it might be “If there’s a problem, I’m gonna solve it.”

The 31-year-old applies that maxim to everything she does with FFO. For three years, she has been a humble yet fierce advocate providing training that allows mothers, fathers, and caregivers to push for new laws that will benefit families.

“I’m whatever the opposite of a gatekeeper is,” Mullens says. “My role is really to meet people where they are and offer them the opportunity to be in community with others who have similar needs, struggles, and stories—and for them to collaborate collectively and use their voices for creating systemic change. I make being politically active and informed accessible.”

Mullens came to this work through her own real-life struggles as a young mom. Her son Malcolm was born in late 2019 with a traumatic brain injury. And to make matters worse, it was only a few months after she was able to bring him home from the NICU that the pandemic ground nearly everything to a halt.

“It just completely altered my behavior,” Mullens says. “I knew I needed to do something about the barriers I was facing because being who I am, I quickly realized they were systemic and they were designed to quiet my voice as a mother, as a Black birthing body, and to make sure I went very quietly to my designated spot among the invisible parents and caregivers who find their lives impacted by raising a child with a disability.”

Though it inspired her to head back into the nonprofit workforce to fight on behalf of mothers like her, Mullens was, as she says, “patient. I waited until I found the right place.” Family Forward Oregon fit the bill perfectly. “It’s moms doing political work around being moms and not like cutesy political work around moms. Like badass shit around being moms. I came to Family Forward and I haven’t looked back.”

In her time with the organization, Mullens and the FFO team have made some impressive strides. With the assistance of volunteers, they sent over 4,000 letters and emails to state legislators to push for an additional $171 million in funding for the Employment Related Day Care Program, which helps defray the cost of outside child care for working families. And they successfully advocated for expanding Paid Leave Oregon so families can receive support to take care of not just a blood relative but also another member of their chosen family.

Mullens doesn’t want to spend much time crowing about these successes, though. She’s quick to tell anyone who will listen that abortion access is very much a priority for FFO in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision, because, as she reminds us, “you cannot talk about the need to advocate for family structures and safety without also needing to advocate for reproductive justice.”

“Validation never was the goal, and it still isn’t,” Mullens says. “I’m not the kind of person that needs notoriety or accolades. I appreciate when they are offered, but I am truly here because the work is rewarding. I get to show up to my job every day, authentic as hell, and do the shit I want to do. And I do it because it’s the right thing to do. The validation comes from families getting what they need.”

Photo by JP Bogan
Profile by Robert Ham