EDUCATORS FOR FAIR CONSIDERATION (E4FC)

Ariana Aparicio

Higher Education Specialist

Ariana was born in Mexico City, Mexico and came to the United States at the age of four. She grew up in Marin County and graduated with distinction and a BA in Sociology from Sonoma State University in 2011. While an undergraduate student at Sonoma State, she co-founded the first AB540 support group for undocumented students, which provided a safe space and resources for this student population. Four years later, Ariana returned to her alma mater as an Academic Advisor and advocated along with students and colleagues to establish their UndocuResource Center. 

Her first-hand experience as a first generation, college graduate and bilingual and bicultural practitioner has allowed her to help students define their next steps for successful retention and graduation. These experience were pivotal in helping her realize she wanted to continue expanding opportunities for underrepresented students, especially undocumented students. She continues to advocate for the immigrant community by sharing her story for media outlets like Univision and most recently at the Women's March in San Francisco. 

In her spare time, Ariana is a mentor for first-generation college students and a board member for local organizations impacting the Latino community. She also enjoys hiking, dancing, and traveling to new places and trying their local food. 

Angela Chuan-Ru Chen, PhD

Pre-Health Dreamers Director
angela@phdreamers.org

Angela's experiences being undocumented for 16 years, including throughout her undergraduate career, have ignited her passion for working with undocumented students and developing campus resources. Most recently, Angela worked as the Director of the Undocumented Student Program at UCLA, which served over 500 undocumented students, spawned new programs, and built resources across campus departments to better serve undocumented students. Angela's institutional advocacy also includes leading University of California system-wide efforts to increase awareness about policies that impact undocumented students and guiding universities across the nation to develop support programs for undocumented youth. Angela completed her B.A. in Psychology from UC Irvine and received her M.A. and Ph.D. from UCLA Graduate School of Education with an emphasis on Higher Education. She enjoys meeting people, art therapy, biking, comfort food from all cultures, and storytelling.

Jesus Flores

Legal Services Coordinator

Jesús was born in Jalostotitlán, Jalisco, Mexico. He came to the United States with the rest of his family to seek better access to medical attention for his older sister. He grew up in Los Angeles, where, despite his language barrier as an ESL student, he managed to graduate with high honors from UC Davis in 2017 with a B.A in Political Science. While at UC Davis, he was part of the founding staff at the AB540 & Undocumented Student Center and participated in the Dream Summer in 2015 where he created a resource guide outlining health care access opportunities for undocumented families in the Sacramento and Yolo counties. His passion in immigration law led him to become the first undergraduate intern and research assistant for the Unaccompanied Minors Project at the UC Davis School of Law. 

Jesús, with a full scholarship, studied in Mexico City's Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), where he wrote legal research on human rights violations against migrants by the Mexican government. During his stay in Mexico, he was involved in Sin Fronteras, where he conducted advocacy and policy analysis for national level migration policy and generated policy proposals at the national, state, and regional levels to improve conditions for migrants in Mexico. 

Jesús believes that in collectivizing our experiences and voices we can build the power to change not just one case, but entire systems.

Victor Garcia

Catalyst Fund Director

Dr. Victor Garcia has dedicated most of his career to facilitating greater access to post-secondary opportunities for underrepresented youth throughout California. He has held student affairs positions on campuses of the University of California, California State University, California Community Colleges, and at the University of Southern California. Most recently, Dr. Garcia was Coordinator for BEST (Building Efficiencies for A Sustainable Tomorrow) Center at Laney College in Oakland, CA. BEST is a national center supported by the National Science Foundation and is focused on promoting better building performance through advancement of building science & technician education. Previously, 

Dr. Garcia was an independent consultant to philanthropy and education organizations. Earlier in his career, he was Program Officer at College Futures Foundation where he managed that foundation’s Strategic Scholarships portfolio. Throughout his career, Dr. Garcia has maintained a deep commitment to addressing the multiple needs faced by individuals in underserved communities such as im/migrants, first-generation, and low-income young men of color. Dr. Garcia holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz, a Master of Public Administration degree from California State University, Long Beach and Education Doctorate from the University of Southern California.

Katharine Gin

Co-Founder & Executive Director
kathy@e4fc.org

For more than 20 years, Katharine has worked to enhance arts and education opportunities for low-income and minority youth. She has developed innovative programs in schools, housing projects, and detention facilities. Her artistic and educational work with youth has been highlighted in college textbooks, literary anthologies, magazines, and national newspapers, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Harvard Educational Review, Pod Save America, and Fast Company.

Outside of her work with E4FC, Katharine serves as Board President of the California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC), on UC President Janet Napolitano's Advisory Group on Undocumented Students, on the National Advisory Board of TheDream.US, and on the Underground Scholars Initiative at UC Berkeley. She also served as an advisor to the Nelson Fund at The Silicon Valley Community Foundation, where she oversaw the fund's philanthropic investments in arts and education from 2001 to 2014.

Katharine was born and raised in San Francisco, and received her BA from Yale University and MFA from the University of Oregon. She is the proud descendant of Chinese immigrants, who first came to the U.S. in the 1860s to work in the gold mines of California and later during the restrictive Chinese Exclusion Acts. She is also mother to Anna Dido Nordeson and partner to Kjell Nordeson. 

Read about Katharine's work with E4FC in Advocate provides support for college-bound students without citizenship (Bay Citizen)
Read Katharine's article Reasons to Help Undocumented Students

Francisco Gonzalez

Legal Services Training Supervisor

Born and raised in Cuba, Francisco obtained his law degree at the University of Las Villas, graduating as one of the top students in the school. For several years, he worked as a civil litigator and taught civil litigation, civil procedures and administrative procedure at the University of Santa Clara in Cuba. After joining a Catholic political opposition movement and becoming legal adviser to the bishop of Santa Clara, Francisco was forced to leave Cuba and become an immigrant and asylum seeker in Sweden. He later immigrated to the United States, initially working as a janitor while enrolled full-time at City College. In 1998, Catholic Charities of San Francisco hired Francisco as an immigration counselor and promoted him to the coordinator position of their Refugee & Immigrant Services Program just eight months later.

Francisco is a Board of Immigration Appeals accredited representative, which authorizes him to represent and advocate for clients at all possible levels within the immigration legal system. Francisco has represented dozens of asylum seekers and clients seeking suspensions of deportation and/or cancellations of removal. He is also a writer for the El Heraldo Catolico and appears as a weekly guest on the Telemundo channel. Francisco believes that "caring deeply for the clients' legal problems is the soul and essence of a successful legal practice."

Alejandra Guillén

Legal Services Director

Department of Justice (DOJ) Level I Accredited Representative

Alejandra is a graduate of the University of Southern California where she received a Bachelor of Science in Public Policy, Management, and Planning. She is a first generation college student and the first woman in her family to earn a graduate degree, obtaining a Master of Social Work at the University of Washington. As the daughter and family member of former and current undocumented immigrants, Alejandra learned early on about the injustice of the U.S. immigration system, which has led her to work to on issues directly impacting immigrants and on larger systematic changes. She has been a student organizer, organized social workers, and worked at immigrant serving non-profit organizations. Prior to joining E4FC, Alejandra worked as a Program Manager at Mission Asset Fund, managing Lending Circles for Dreamers and other social loan programs. Alejandra spends her free time traveling, going to concerts, and training for half marathons.

Estefania Hermosillo

Community Education Coordinator

Estefania was born in Tepatitlan, Jalisco and came to the United States at the age of six with her mom and two sisters. The four of them moved in with her grandma and the rest of the extended family. It was her family that created a strong foundation for her to continuously thrive.

She began to actively participate in the immigrant rights movement in 2012 and has participated in various capacities. She has been a student, an educator, a community organizer, an activist, and a lobbyist. She believes that there is room for all types of participation, and everyone can choose the way they want to participate or not. 

Throughout this journey, she is most grateful for the number of people she has met; and had an opportunity to be impacted by. Feel free to reach out to her for any presentation requests.

Nancy Jodaitis

Director of Higher Education Initiatives

For almost twenty years, Nancy has been working to increase admission and graduation rates for underrepresented students in higher education. In the past decade, Nancy has directed her skills to building educational pathways for undocumented students throughout California, by working one-on-one with students as well as conducting trainings For students and educators in the Bay Area and throughout California regarding the California Dream Act, scholarships, key challenges that colleges and universities face when supporting undocumented students, and institutional best practices that increase the enrollment and graduation of undocumented students.  Nancy has also developed a library of educational materials to help undocumented students in California successfully enroll in CA public colleges and universities, and be sure they receive all financial aid for which they are eligible.    

After collaborating with E4FC for many years, Nancy joined the staff full-time In July 2016. Prior to that, Nancy worked at San Francisco State for close to a decade as an AB 540 / Undocumented Student Advisor at San Francisco State University, including being the Advisor to SF State’s undocumented student chapter of Improving Dreams, Equity, Access and Success (IDEAS), a Financial Aid Counselor and the California Dream Act coordinator. Nancy has also served as a pre-admissions advisor, transfer counselor, and scholarship specialist. Through these varied roles, Nancy has developed a comprehensive understanding of the enrollment process and a demonstrated track record of institutional advocacy to increase access for low income, first-generation students.

Erick Leyva

Pre-Health Dreamers Project Manager

Erick immigrated to Orange County, CA from Mexico City when he was five years old. Erick is a recent graduate from UCLA, where he received his degrees in Anthropology and Chicana/o studies. He is currently completing a post baccalaureate program in pre-medicine. As a future physician, Erick intends to serve the low-income and immigrant communities throughout California by providing access to holistic and culturally sensitive health care. Throughout his educational journey, Erick has been organizing throughout Southern California for immigrant health and civil rights, and the passage policies that support immigrant communities.

As the program manager for Pre-Health Dreamers, he intends to use his experiences as an undocumented immigrant and knowledge gained from such experiences to alleviate barriers for future undocumented students in higher education and undocumented students pursuing health professions.

Iliana G. Perez

Entrepreneurship Ambassador
iliana@e4fc.org

Iliana G. Perez was born in Hidalgo, Mexico and immigrated alongside her mother, father and younger brother to the U.S. at the age of eight. Iliana grew up in Turlock, CA and attended CSU-Fresno on a full-ride scholarship through the Smittcamp Family Honor’s Program, where she graduated from in 2009 with a degree in Mathematics and a minor in Economics. Iliana recently finished a M.A. in Economics from Claremont Graduate University and is completing a Ph.D. in Education Policy, Evaluation and Reform. Her research focuses on the occupational and educational attainment of immigrant students, the effects of deportation on the lives of young adults, immigrant entrepreneurship, and economics of immigration. Iliana has shared her story and presented her work to various audiences across the country via keynotes and research presentations at professional conferences, organizations and college campuses. Iliana looks forward to helping all immigrants, regardless of legal status, reach their highest potential through entrepreneurship opportunities.

Rocio Preciado

Community Education Manager

Rocio was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. She immigrated to the United States at the age of nine along with her parents and her younger sister.  She grew up in Oakland, California where she had the privilege to attend a College Preparatory high school. Thanks to her optimism, the support of her family, organizations like College Track and the resources available at UC Santa Cruz, her college experience was a positive one. She graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a Bachelors of Arts in Psychology and Feminist Studies. At UC Santa Cruz she interned at the Education Opportunity Programs AB540 Student Services where she supported and mentored college students. Now that she has graduated, she is eager to continue supporting students and ensure that they do not miss important opportunities that can lead to their success in the future. 

Dean Santos

Operations Manager

Marilia Zellner

Immigration Attorney
legalservices@e4fc.org

Mari is a public interest lawyer dedicated to cultivating our next generation of attorneys, focusing on the talents of undocumented pre-law students. A graduate of Harvard Law School and Pomona College, Mari was a panelist at the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) 2013 national conference, co-authoring its Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals practice advisory. In 2010, Mari became the inaugural Face of AILA with her support of pro bono casework, and as a member of the Minnesota bar has limited her law practice to federal immigration law since 2003. Mari has been a public interest career counselor at Stanford, helping aspiring attorneys explore opportunities to create positive change throughout the world. Mari is most excited about being at E4FC because, “DREAMers have had to demonstrate unparalleled talent and resourcefulness to survive in our society. My colleagues at E4FC bring that same passion into our office and, as a result, are professionally addictive.