Kolano, Lan Quach

Lan Quach Kolano

Lan Quach Kolano is professor and chair of the Department of Middle, Secondary and K-12 Education . She is also the the Graduate Program Director for the M.Ed. Program in Curriculum and Instruction. She completed her Ph.D. at UNC-Chapel Hill and has been on UNC Charlotte's faculty since 2004. Her research focuses on the language and identity development of immigrant learners and the development of critical multicultural efficacy of teachers. Dr. Kolano is currently working on an ethnographic project that examines and documents the experiences of Southeast Asian immigrant girls with limited formal education as they negotiate language, race, gender and culture and school in North Carolina.  She teaches foundational courses that emphasize culturally responsive pedagogies in urban school contexts. Her research, teaching, and service agendas work in concert in ways that deepen teachers' cultural and linguistic understanding of English Language Learners in order to promote the development of inclusive classroom environments in urban schools.

Jozef, Guerline

Guerline Jozef

Guerline Jozef is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, Inc. (HBA). Also known as “The BRIDGE,” HBA advocates for fair and humane immigration policies and provide migrants and immigrants with humanitarian, deportation defense, legal, social services, with a particular focus on black migrants from the Caribbean and Africa, the Haitian community, women & girls, LGBTQA+ individuals, and survivors of torture and other human rights abuses. HBA often plays the role of first responders and works with various organizations and partners to provide culturally informed assistance including country conditions, translation and interpretation, communication with the families, and referrals to legal service providers. Ms. Jozef is also the Co-founder of the Black Immigrants Bail Fund (BIBF), a National project of HBA and African Bureau for Immigration and Social Affairs (ABISA)  BIBF provides free assistance, and relief to black immigrants in pursuit of Liberation and Justice. Our commitment is to eradicate the mass incarceration of black immigrants and level the playing field of equity in due process; transforming one life at a time.

Joseph, Vanessa

Vanessa Joseph

Vanessa Joseph is Supervising Attorney at Catholic Legal Services, where she continues providing legal services to vulnerable populations. In addition to representing low-income immigrants, Vanessaconducts information sessions for immigrant detainees to inform them of their rights and the immigration court process. Through her work in the detention centers, she has provided these services to more than one thousand men and women through group and individual orientations and self-help workshops. 

Vanessa began her work in immigration and human rights as a law student when she worked in two legal clinics where she was able to engage in advocacy on behalf of the Haitian community of South Florida. In 2013, Joseph contributed to an amicus curiae brief filed in the case of Benito Tide Méndez et al. v. Dominican Republic before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. As a member of the South Florida chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), Vanessa served as a Chair of the State Issues Committee and a member on the Pro Bono and Office of Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) committees. Given her passion for service, Vanessa Joseph, in 2019, was elected as the City of North Miami’s Elected City Clerk. In this office, she makes history as both the City’s youngest and first Black female City Clerk.

Gutierrez, Maria del Carmen

Maria del Carmen Gutierrez

Director of Membership Maria del Carmen Gutierrez, MA is a powerhouse from Puerto Rico who began with CASA in 2019. She is a strategic thinker with more than fifteen years of experience in planning, developing, managing union labors and community organizations campaigns, training staff, and empowering leaders, resulting in several amazing achievements. As the Director of Membership, Maria del Carmen is leading the expansion of CASA as a National organization. She also designs and manages the Membership Field Program with almost 100 canvassers in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia which is building power, increasing financial strength, and growing the organizing capacity of CASA. Prior to joining CASA, she was fighting for justice in Puerto Rico. Maria del Carmen planned, designed, and supervised a successful campaign against the privatization of the Puerto Rico Public Schools System. She also designed and managed the winning teacher’s labor union election campaign for the Puerto Rico Teacher Association. She holds a Bachelor in Multidisciplinary Studies and Pre-Law. She also earned a Master in Social Media and Digital Marketing from the University of Barcelona, Spain.

Arce, Julissa

Julissa Arce

Julissa Arce is a best-selling author of My (Underground) American Dream (Entre Las Sombras del Sueño Americano) and Someone Like Me (Alguien Como Yo).  She was named one of People en Español’s 25 Most Powerful Women of 2017 and 2019 Woman of the Year by the City of Los Angeles. She is a leading voice in the fights for social justice, immigrant rights and education equality. Julissa is a contributor for TIME, Buzzfeed News, Crooked Media, CNBC, and one of the hosts of Crooked Conversations. 

Yossinger, Nili Sarit

Nili Sarit Yossinger

Nili Sarit Yossinger is Executive Director at Refugee Congress. She oversees operations of Refugee Congress, implementing communications, funding, capacity-building, and advocacy strategies that fulfill the organization’s mission of ensuring that there are always refugees at the table as equal partners. Prior to her work with Refugee Congress, Yossinger was a Research Project Manager at the Institute for the Study of International Migration (ISIM) and the Senior Vice President for Research at Georgetown University. Yossinger previously worked with the Capital Area Food Bank, the UN Refugee Agency in Washington, D.C., and Human Rights First. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from Loyola University Chicago and a Master of Arts in German and European Studies from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, along with a Certificate in Refugees and Humanitarian Emergencies from ISIM. 

Yedidia, Mario

Mario Yedidia

Mario Yedidia is UNITE HERE’s National Field Director. He has directed or helped lead large independent expenditure campaigns in Nevada, Georgia, California and Washington state and has moved statewide legislation for hospitality workers in California, where he is a Vice President of the California Labor Federation. Mario was born and raised in San Francisco.

Torres, Selena

Selena Torres

Selena Torres is an educator and was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Her father fled the Salvadoran civil war and her mother left Hawaii to pursue her career as a high school English teacher. Selena’s parents taught her the values of hard work, education, and the importance of giving back to her community. Her parents’ eventually made Assembly District 3 their home because the diversity reflected that of their own family.Selena is a product of Nevada’s public education. She attended Clark County School District for K-12, The College of Southern Nevada, and received her Bachelor’s in English Literature at the University of Nevada, Reno. In December 2019 Selena graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with her Master's in Education.  Selena draws from her experience as a public school teacher to create a welcoming Nevada for all. She has worked diligently on legislation that creates equitable education for all Nevada students, protects Nevada workers and consumers, and expands access to voting for eligible Nevadans.

Solis, Angeles

Angeles Solis

Angeles Solis is a Lead Organizer at Make the Road New York. Angeles helped co-found the Fund Excluded Workers Coalition and lead major escalations, including a 23 day hunger strike, to secure a historic $2.1B fund for undocumented workers in New York state - the first of it’s kind in the country. Over a decade, Angeles spearheaded campaigns to improve conditions for workers in Amazon warehouses, garment factories, campuses, restaurants, and more. She has been recognized as a CUNY Rising Labor Star and in City & State’s Labor 40 under 40. Angeles is a Bertha 2021 Fellow, a CORO alum, and a member of the Workers Rights Consortium Board.

Sisolak, Governor Steve

Governor Steve Sisolak

Governor Steve Sisolak  was born into a working-class family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where his parents, Ed and Mary worked hard to provide for their three children. After working full-time to put himself through college at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Steve enrolled in UNLV’s Graduate Studies Program, where he received a master’s degree in 1978. Motivated by his passion for education, he served on the Nevada Board of Regents for 10 years. In 2008, after 10 years as a University Regent, Steve was elected to the Clark County Commission, where he served as chairman until being sworn in as governor of Nevada. As governor, Steve is working to strengthen Nevada’s statewide economy by diversifying our industries and working to attract new fields and recruit job-creating companies to the Silver State. Steve is proud to be able to call Nevada home and is honored to serve our families as their governor. 

Shim, Jane

Jane Shim

Jane Shim is Senior Policy Attorney at Immigrant Defense Project  Jane works on state and federal advocacy that fights the criminalization of immigrants. She helps lead IDP’s work on the ICE Out of Courts Campaign and the Justice Roadmap. Her work is focused on responses to ICE policing practices, advocacy for noncitizens in prison, and interventions that shrink the scope of criminal punishment. Before joining IDP, she worked on civil and pro bono litigation at WilmerHale. Jane earned her J.D. from Yale Law School, where she was a member of the Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy and Legal Services for Immigrant Communities clinics. She is a former Fulbright Scholar in poetry.

Sherman Nikolaus, Lisa

Lisa Sherman Nikolaus

Lisa Sherman Nikolaus is the Executive Director of the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition. A Guatemalan-American whose family made the difficult decision to leave Guatemala and relocate to Nashville in 2001, Sherman Nikolaus has a deep commitment to fighting for an immigration system where all people can access safety, opportunity, and belonging. She joined TIRRC in October 2015 and served as Policy Director for nearly five years before stepping into the role of Executive Director. Victories under her leadership include defeating dozens of pieces of anti-immigrant legislation at the state legislature, convincing Governor Lee to consent to continue to welcome refugees, and pressuring the Davidson County Sheriff to terminate a rent-a-bed agreement with immigration and customs enforcement. Prior to joining the TIRRC team, she worked in the international human rights field in New York, London, and Senegal. Sherman Nikolaus holds a Master’s degree in Conflict, Security, and Development from the Department of War Studies at King’s College London and is fluent in Spanish and English.

Selee, Andrew

Andrew Selee

Andrew Selee is President of the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), a position he assumed in 2017. Dr. Selee’s research focuses on migration globally, with a special emphasis on immigration policies in the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean. He is the author of several books, including, most recently, Vanishing Frontiers: The Forces Driving Mexico and the United States Together (PublicAffairs, 2018).. He has published opinion articles in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and Americas Quarterly, and he contributes a regular column to Mexico’s largest newspaper, El Universal. He is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, teaching courses on global migration, and has previously taught at Johns Hopkins and George Washington universities and been a visiting scholar at El Colegio de México.

Sánchez , U.S. Congresswoman Linda T.

U.S. Congresswoman Linda T. Sánchez

U.S. Congresswoman Linda T. Sánchez represents California’s 38th congressional district but the first thing her family and friends will tell you is that she’s never stopped “kicking ass for the working class.” Most of all, she is also a proud mom, dog lover, and Dodgers fan. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002, Sánchez is the first Latina to serve on the powerful House Committee on Ways and Means and the House Judiciary Committee. A lifelong progressive, Sánchez has devoted her career to helping working people get ahead: advocating for families, improving America’s education system, and bringing jobs to Southern California. In addition to co-founding the Congressional Labor and Working Families Caucus, Sánchez has served as the Ranking Member of the House Ethics Committee, Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), and Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus. She is the first Latina elected to a leadership position in the U.S. Congress.

Rosales, Arianna

Arianna Rosales

Arianna Rosales is the Senior Communications Manager at the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild where she leads the organization's digital and press strategies. Prior to joining the National Immigration Project in 2021, Arianna was the Communications Manager at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center where she supported local, state, and national advocacy efforts primarily around immigration detention and enforcement issues. Previously, Arianna was also the Communications Manager at the New York Immigration Coalition, an umbrella policy and advocacy organization that represents over 200 immigrant and refugee rights groups throughout the state of New York. She began her career in communications as the Deputy Editor and Production Manager at the Stanford Law School, where she managed the production of all print and digital pieces.Arianna is based in the San Francisco Bay Area and holds a BA in English Literature from Stanford University.

Pete, Rulon

Rulon Pete

Rulon Pete is a member of the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah: Cedar Band of Paiutes and Diné. Pete is the Executive Director of the Las Vegas Indian Center and has been with the center for 13 years. He is passionate about the work at the Las Vegas Indian Center and takes much pleasure in its continued growth. Prior to joining the LVIC, Pete worked as a Case Manager for youth in foster care and has over 18 years of Social Service experience in the Las Vegas area. He is the Chairman of Board of Directors for United Natives Organization, a Board of Director Member of the Emergency Food Shelter Program and has volunteered his service at the Reservation Economic Summit Conference in Las Vegas for the past 11 years. Pete is a graduate of University of Nevada Las Vegas where he completed a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice. 

Moya, Yesenia

Yesenia Moya

Yesenia Moya Is a community activist currently on occupied Southern Paiute land who uplifts and empowers the community through organizing and popular education. They use various methods of engagement to meet the community where they are at, while centering Black liberation and pro-immigrant core values of multiculturalism, collaboration, community economic interdependence and indigenous sovereignty. With the aim to dismantle and abolish ICE, law enforcement as a whole, and the prison industrial complex.

Lugo, Abraham

Abraham Lugo

Abraham Lugo is a Senior Undergraduate student majoring in Political Science with a minor in Brookings Public Policy. Having previous roles as a Senator for the College of Liberal Arts and the Chair for the University Initiatives committee, he sits as UNLV CSUN’s 51st Student Body Vice President. As a Latinx immigrant and DACA student, Abraham has been continuously involved around the Southern Nevada community through legislative, non-profit, social justice, and interfaith advocacy work, with hopes to represent every community as accurately and inclusively as possible. He most consistently works towards equity among immigrant rights in the U.S., youth-led antiracism work, and becoming a voice for the LGBTQIA+ community. Feel free to contact him at any time for more information or with any student concerns.

López, Arcenio J.

Arcenio J. López

Arcenio J. López is a Mixteco native from the village of San Francisco Higos, in Oaxaca, Mexico. He grew up speaking Mixteco as his primary language, and learned Spanish as his second language. When he arrived in Oxnard in 2003, Arcenio worked as a farmworker in the strawberry fields.  In 2006, Arcenio was hired as MICOP’s first Community Organizer. He enrolled at Oxnard College where he received his Associate Degree in 2008. Arcenio was hired as the Associate Director of MICOP in 2010. Eventually he was promoted in 2014, and became the first indigenous Executive Director for the organization. Because of his work, MICOP is the trusted voice of the indigenous community and a respected partner to dozens of local and statewide agencies.

Kang, Andy

Andy Kang

Andy Kang is PICC’s Executive Director. Andy comes to PICC with extensive experience working in the immigrant rights movement in Chicago, serving as Executive Director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Chicago for the past 3 years. Andy was one of the lead negotiators and strategists for the Illinois TRUST Act, the VOICES Act, and Automatic Voter Registration. Andy has also advocated successfully to strengthen Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance. On language access, Andy worked on improving Chicago’s language access ordinance, helped create the State of Illinois’ Language Access to Government Services Task Force, and oversaw a poll monitoring operation to protect the rights of limited English proficient voters as required under the federal Voting Rights Act. Recently, Andy initiated the launch of Advancing Justice-Chicago’s anti-hate bystander training project in response to the rise of anti-Asian hate incidents. Andy serves as the Board President of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights (ICIRR). He has previously served on the City of Chicago’s Commission on Human Relations and the Committee on Equality, Equity, and Opportunity for Governor Pritzker’s transition team; and co-chaired the Good Governance Committee for Mayor Lightfoot’s transition team. He currently serves as the co-chair of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association’s immigration committee.