Rev. Isaac Collins and Mia Willis, Highlander’s Development Team

Highlander 101 is for anyone that is seeking to get to know Highlander from scratch. During these sessions participants will tour the Hill, hear about our history, and learn about how to stay connected to Highlander going forward.

Rev. Isaac Collins is a Knoxville-based Development Specialist at Highlander Research and
Education Center. Prior to working at Highlander, Isaac served as a pastor at United Methodist Churches in Friendsville, TN, and Charlottesville, VA. In the wake of the white supremacist violence carried out on August 12th, 2017, Isaac began organizing in Charlottesville around anti-racism actions, and began working in immigration rights in Virginia and at the US/Mexico border. In 2018, Isaac's church became a sanctuary church.

Mia S. Willis (they/them) is a cultural worker, popular educator, and fundraiser based in Atlanta, Georgia. After brief careers in Classical archaeology and museum curriculum design, respectively, they began fundraising for social justice organizations after the 2020 Uprisings. Mia currently serves as Highlander’s Interim Co-Coordinator of Development and Communications. In their spare time, they enjoy writing poetry, facilitating abolition education sessions with Southern Movement Assembly, collecting vinyl records, reading Black anarchist literature, and producing sample-based hip hop music.