CHANGE FEBRUARY 2023 ISSUE THE MAGAZINE honoring collective wellness
2022 3L SCHOLAR, RICHARD LEE
Welcome to a new year of the official California ChangeLawyers digital magazine, “The Change Maker”. Named after you, our supporters, who help make change happen in our communities, the legal profession and the lives of our ChangeLawyers scholars, fellows, alumni and extended family. As a reminder, The Change Maker comes exclusively to ChangeLawyers
supporters and alumni every three months. In 2023, the issues will be in February, May, August, and November and feature key updates, articles, news and information about the work and stories of California ChangeLawyers.
We hope you enjoy reading through this year's stories. Welcome to The Change Maker!
CALIFORNIA CHANGELAWYERS STAFF (LEFT TO RIGHT): CARLOS AGUILAR, JASJIT SINGH, CHRIS PUNONGBAYAN, STACI L. YOUNG.
3 TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 A Letter From Our New Board President 6 Board Retreat Recap 7 2022 Annual Report 8 Ask Our Staff 10 Mindfulness for ChangeLawyers 12 Our Anti-Racism Statement of Values 16 CILF Convening 20 Save the Date: 3L Scholarship Reception 23 Be a Change Maker
A LETTER FROM OUR NEW BOARD PRESIDENT
I have served on the California ChangeLawyers Board for over six years now, and I am absolutely thrilled to begin my term as President of this great organization.
I deeply believe in the mission of California ChangeLawyers—to create a better justice system for all Californians and to diversify the legal profession—and I will do everything in my power to advance this mission during my presidency.
By way of background, I am a partner at one of the largest international law firms in the world, Jones Day, and I served as a federal criminal prosecutor for over seven years. I am
an immigrant and a first generation professional. I am a beneficiary of the “chain migration” system that former President Trump wanted to end.
I was born in Egypt and came to the United States when I was two years old. My parents had very modest economic means, and we moved to a predominantly Hispanic and lowincome city, Pico Rivera, California. I am a proud product of the public school system, from kindergarten through law school. Some of the earliest memories I have as a child was living in a three-bedroom apartment with my grandparents, three adult uncles, my parents and my brother.
It is hard to believe how far we have come. But I know that my background has made me who I am today, and has allowed me to contribute to the legal profession in unique ways.
That’s what ChangeLawyers is all about. I was originally drawn to ChangeLawyers because of the diversity scholarships that are awarded to law students each year, and serving on the Scholarship Committee continues to be one of the highlights of my board service (that and meeting the scholars, of course!).
Our scholarship and fellowship recipients have their own amazing
stories of resilience, passion, grit, and commitment to serving others.
Uplifting and empowering them to become the next generation of changemakers is truly inspiring and heartwarming. I am honored to play a small role in this exceedingly important endeavor.
As we say at ChangeLawyers, “Fund Justice, Change the World.” Who’s with me?
Rasha Gerges Shields
RASHA GERGES SHIELDS BOARD PRESIDENT
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BOARD RETREAT
On January 23rd, the board of directors at ChangeLawyers held our first in-person retreat in 3 years in Oakland. Board members came from Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Diego, Palo Alto, and San Francisco to reconnect in person and strategize on the year ahead. In particular, the board examined our newly adopted Anti-Racism
Statement of Values (p.12) and established some next steps to integrate these values in all aspects of the organization's work.
The retreat was facilitated by Hella Social Impact, who has also been an integral ChangeLawyers partner in 2022's Leaders Forum trainings series.
2022 ANNUAL REPORT
NOW AVAILABLE!
SEE THE FULL IMPACT OF YOUR SUPPORT
WHAT'S YOUR GO-TO WELLNESS PRACTICE?
“I write down a word at the start of the day--a skill I want to develop or intention I want to keep--and go back to it throughout the day when I need to re-center myself.”
CARLOS AGUILAR (HE/THEY) CONTENT DIRECTOR
“Sit and meditate for five minutes every day!”
CHRIS PUNONGBAYAN (HE/HIM) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
ASK CHANGELAWYERS STAFF
GO-TO PRACTICE?
“When I have a lot on my mind, I get my journal and brain-dump. I write, draw, scribble everything out.”
STACI L. YOUNG (SHE/HER) DEVELOPMENT OFFICER
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“When I'm stressed out I take a break and hang out with my dog, someone who is not concerned with anything but my happiness.”
JASJIT SINGH (HE/HIM) PROGRAM DIRECTOR
MINDFULNESS FOR CHANGELAWYERS
WITH CHRIS PUNONGBAYAN
For four weeks starting on January 5th, ChangeLawyers Executive Director, Chris Punongbayan, ran a free Introduction to Mindfulness training series exclusively for ChangeLawyers Scholars, Fellows, and Grantee Partners. The sessions were designed for absolute beginners and covered some of the essential foundations of mindfulness for busy lawyers and social justice advocates.
Simply defined, mindfulness is gentle awareness of the present moment. It’s very basic, but by no means is it easy. The human mind is usually thinking about the past or the future. We are very rarely focused on what’s happening right before our own very eyes. Mindfulness is practice that directs the attention to the here and now.
Mindfulness has been shown to have incredible health benefits, both physical and mental. Clinical studies reveal that a consistent mindfulness practice can lower blood pressure, decrease chronic pain, and reduce stress, depression, and anxiety. Mindfulness can also improve the
quality of sleep, build resilience and tolerance, and increase an overall sense of wellness.
On January 26, we were fortunate to have Maighna Jain, Regional Managing Attorney & Youth Justice Attorney with Bay Area Legal, Aid join as a guest presenter. Overall, over the course of the four part series, participants reported
that they were able to slowly but surely build mindfulness into their daily routines. They also felt a stronger sense of connection to the ChangeLawyers community.
Are you interested in learning more about mindfulness for lawyers? Do you think ChangeLawyers should create more offerings like this? Email Chris at chris@changelawyers.org.
ANTI-RACISM STATEMENT OF VALUES
ChangeLawyers is committed to ending racism and all forms of racial inequities.
As an organization founded by lawyers to serve all Californians, we have called attention to the lack of meaningful representation of Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) in law for decades. Our experience inspires us to believe that within
one generation we, as a community of civic-minded and activist lawyers, can create a justice system as diverse as California and dismantle persistent systemic barriers to racial equity.
Today, California continues to grapple with the vestiges of slavery, xenophobia, and other modern-day manifestations of racism. The wealth gap is racialized and growing;
CALIFORNIA CHANGELAWYERS'
access to equal justice under the law is too often uneven based on race and economic status; violence and discrimination are regularly inflicted on BIPOC, immigrant, women, religious groups, and LGBTQ+ Californians; implicit racial bias is the norm, not the exception; BIPOC Californians are underrepresented in the legal profession, and the pace of change is too slow (34% of attorneys are BIPOC compared to being 61% of California’s population).
We recognize that these realities have bred a crisis of confidence, particularly for Californians of color, that the justice system will treat everyone fairly.
We need point no further than to the 2020 murder of George Floyd, which catalyzed a racial reckoning throughout the country. The voices of millions of Americans protesting his death sounded a bell that cannot be unrung.
The truth is that American history is rife with examples of the inhumane treatment of Black Americans as well as other marginalized communities. Yet, the truth is also that social
movements from the civil rights movement to Me Too to Black Lives Matter provide hope that the arc of history bends towards justice. This hope must never be extinguished.
In light of these truths, we continue to sharpen our organizational strategy to dismantle the entrenched forces of systemic racism.
One major step we have taken is shifting our philanthropic model from one of charity to one of justice. “Justice not charity” means framing our grants and scholarships as fuel for the social justice movement.
It means treating our grantees and scholars as leaders and experts based on their direct lived experiences.
It also means we take a seat on the frontlines and use our own organizational resources to fight for change, such as policy advocacy, amicus briefs, and strategic communications.
This is only the beginning. We know we won’t get it right every time, and so we strive to remain accountable to the communities we serve.
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WE PLEDGE TO
Listen to and trust our grantee partners, scholars, community members, and organizational partners.
Tell the stories of legal changemakers who are fighting for our shared humanity by making our laws and policies more fair and just.
Provide the next generation of California’s legal changemakers financial support, leadership development trainings, and access to influential legal networks.
Work closely with other nonprofit organizations, law firms, corporations, government partners, and philanthropic institutions to achieve broader impact than us working alone and to break out of silos that exist in the social change movement.
Utilize the various tools available to 501c3 orga izations including policy advocacy and amicus briefs to affect systemic change in the areas of criminal justice reform, immigrant rights, racial justice, and access to justice.
Give back to the communities that we, the board and staff, come from and swing open the door of opportunity so that others may rise.
Continue the work with our board of directors to create a culture of belonging and inclusion for all board and staff members.
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JASMIN ALEMAN, DEPORTATION DEFENSE FELLOW AT THE INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE IN TURLOCK, CA
CALIFORNIA IMMIGRATION LEGAL FELLOWSHIP CONVENING
CHANGELAWYERS IS PROUD TO BE A KEY PARTNER IN THE 20212023 CALIFORNIA IMMIGRATION LEGAL FELLOWSHIP (CILF).
This program trains the next generation of deportation defense fellows for the highlyunderserved regions of the Central Valley and Central Coast regions of California. There are ten fellows who are placed at seven different immigrant-serving organizations from Turlock to Porterville. What’s unique about the program is that it is the very first, state-level, publicly funded fellowship program of its kind in the entire country.
Learn more about the program here.
On February 8th and 9th this year, ChangeLawyers convened all the stakeholders in Santa Barbara to set the path forward for the last year of the fellowship in 2023. The fellows shared incredibly powerful stories about the impact of their work in their local communities, which included numerous success stories of reuniting parents with their children by stopping deportations. In every case, the individuals represented by the fellows were unable to afford private immigration attorneys and so the program is able to reach those with great need.
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“Our family needed an immigration attorney, someone to reach out their hand and help. We knocked on so many doors, and are so grateful that we finally found the California Immigration Legal Fellowship. Without this program, we don't know where we'd be. We spent years walking around in fear that we'd be separated, that Herber would be killed back home. We have deep roots in California and want to stay here, safely and together. None of this would be possible without the California Immigration Legal Fellowship.”
—LETICIA RIVERA AND HERBER RIVERA, CLIENTS OF A CILF FELLOW
ELIZABETH BARRAGAN (MIXTECO/INDIGENA COMMUNITY ORGANIZING PROJECT (MICOP)), NANCY NOVA (MICOP), LISA KNOX (CALIFORNIA COLLABORATIVE FOR IMMIGRATION JUSTICE), LIZA DINIAKOS (MICOP)
CILF FELLOWS, HOST ORGS, MENTOR ATTORNEYS, ETC ENJOYING DINNER IN SANTA BARBARA
3L SCHOLARSHIP RECEPTION
Thursday, April 20th, 2023
Downtown Los Angeles
We'll be hosting our new cohort of 3L scholars, their co-sponsoring organizations and families. Stay Tuned!
UPCOMING EVENT
2022
1L SCHOLAR, JANNET GOMEZ
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