Noel Ortega

 
Noel Ortega is the coordinator of the New Economy Working Group (NEWGroup), which is a partnership between YES! Magazine, the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), and the People-Centered Development Forum (PCDForum). 
 
He is co-founder of several student organizations such as Global Resistance Network at Mt. San Antonio College and Students To End Hunger and Poverty at the University of California at Irvine, taking on leadership roles with Students for Peace and Justice, the Worker-Student Alliance, United Students for Fair Trade, The Real Food Challenge, and the Student Trade Justice Campaign. He is an OXFAM America CHANGE leader.
 
Noel holds  Baccalaureates in Political Science and Sociology from the University of California at Irvine, where he conducted research on the impact on rural communities of regional free trade agreements between developing countries and developed countries. Before becoming the National Coordinator of the Student Trade Justice Group, he coordinated its campaign Justice For the Americas, which focused on defeating Free Trade Agreements between the United States and Latin America.