Princeton University

Frederick “Fred” Wherry is Professor of Sociology at Princeton University and directs the Dignity and Debt Network (a partnership between Princeton and the Social Science Research Council). In April 2019 “Financial Citizenship from Below,” his latest book (with Kristin Seefeldt and Anthony Alvarez) about the Mission Asset Fund, will be published by the Russell Sage Foundation Press. In the spring of 2019 he will also publish “The Oxford Handbook of Consumption,” co-edited with Ian Woodward. He also author of six other books or volumes, including “Money Talks: How Money Really Works” (with Viviana Zelizer and NIna Bandelj), “The Philadelphia Barrio,” and “The Sage Encyclopedia of Economics and Society: Volumes 1-4.” He was a professor at Yale before joining the Princeton faculty and earned his BA at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, his MPA at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton, and his PhD at Princeton University. He served as the President of the Social Science History Association from 2017-2018.

Federal Reserve

Kirsten S. Moy is a Senior Fellow with the Aspen Institute. Her most recent research initiative, conducted for the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco as a Visiting Scholar, focused on the application of complexity science to community development. Until June 30, 2014, she was the Director of Scale Initiatives for the Economic Opportunities Program at Aspen. In this capacity, she was the project manager for the development of two national platforms focused on achieving scale in the nonprofit asset-building industry: i.e., the Asset Platform and the EITC (Earned Income Tax Credit) Platform. She came to the Institute in 2001 after serving as director for the Community Development Innovation and Infrastructure Initiative, a national research project on the future of community development and community development finance. Ms. Moy also served as the first director of the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund in the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Prior to joining Treasury, she designed products for pension funds and other institutional investors to invest in affordable housing and community development initiatives. She is the co-author of From Distrust to Inclusion: Insights into the Financial Lives of Very Low Income Consumers and New Pathways to Scale for Community Development Finance among other publications.

Tom is a serial tech entrepreneur and Co-Founder of super{set}, a venture studio that founds, funds, and builds technology companies. For the past 20+ years, Tom’s professional focus has centered on using data, decision science, and AI to solve hard, interesting problems. Prior to forming super{set}, Tom was the CEO and co-founder of Krux, acquired by Salesforce in 2016. Before Krux, Tom was the CEO and co-founder of Rapt, acquired by Microsoft in 2007. Born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Tom lives and works in San Francisco. He holds a B.A. in Computer Science and Philosophy from Harvard and Ph.D. in Engineering-Economic Systems and Operations Research from Stanford. He supports and serves on the boards of non-profits in the areas of education, immigration, and entrepreneurship.

Mission Asset Fund

Elena is the Programs Director at MAF, where she oversees MAF’s award-winning programs and services. She has been with MAF since June of 2015, originally coming on board to support the expansion of MAF’s national partner network. Prior to MAF, she served as Director of Learning and Partnerships at Prospera, a nonprofit dedicated to partnering with women to build cooperatively owned businesses. She has served as Co-Chair of the Lending Circles Partner Advisory Council and as a Board Member of Prospera. She graduated from Colorado College with a degree in International Political Economy is currently an MBA candidate at UC Berkeley.

The Resurrection Project

Rendón, “Ere” Eréndira – is the Vice President of Immigration Strategy and Advocacy at The Resurrection Project. Ere has served as the organization’s lead strategist and manager on local and state-wide campaigns impacting the lives of immigrants, playing a leading role in the successful passage of many pro-immigrant legislations in Illinois including Driver’s Licenses for the undocumented and the renewal of Illinois’ All Kids healthcare program. Ere is an undocumented immigrant with DACA protection from Oaxaca, Mexico. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Civic Leadership Academy at the University of Chicago.

El Centro de la Raza

Miguel Maestas is the Housing and Economic Development Director of El Centro de la Raza in Seattle, Washington and has been with El Centro for a total of 19 years. Miguel is actively engaged in community development and organizing communities for advocacy and participation, and has distinguished himself as an effective leader and a respected community organizer.

He has worked in youth services, community development, organizing, housing and education programs for 32 years. Miguel also served as the Executive Director of the West Central Community Development Group in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Miguel holds a Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Multicultural Education from the University of New Mexico.

Family Independence Initiative

Jorge joined FII in 2009 and leads the Technology and Data division. Through FII’s social innovation, UpTogether, Jorge and his team challenge the stereotypes of low-income families, showcase community strengths, share the progress families make on behalf of themselves and drive dollars to accelerate their initiatives. Jorge also serves as Board Chair for The Whitman Institute – a foundation that advocates for trust-based philanthropy. He was named an Urban Innovator by the Urban Innovation Exchange in 2016. Prior to FII, Jorge worked for 8 years in the financial securitization industry. He holds an MA in International Relations from UCSD and has a BA from Amherst College and is a proud graduate from A Better Chance.

FAIR Money Network

Marijke Rijsberman, Staff Researcher at Google, is also the founder of Fair Money, a citizen research collective that studies people’s financial strategies under conditions of rising inequality in Silicon Valley.

Mission Asset Fund

José A. Quiñonez received a B.A. (1994) from the University of California at Davis and an M.P.A. (1998) from Princeton University. He founded Mission Asset Fund in 2007 and continues to serve as CEO. His prior affiliations include the Center for Community Change (2001–2004) and Bread for the World (2000–2001). From 2012 to 2014, he was the inaugural chair of the Consumer Advisory Board of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Tipping Point

Stephanie Lewis has spent her career focused on designing meaningful and effective user experiences for the commercial and non-profit sectors. She is currently the Director of T Lab, Tipping Point’s, in-house R+D team. T Lab partners with non-profit organizations and the Bay Area community to prototype and test ideas that have the potential to create new pathways out of poverty. To date, T Lab has worked on topics across housing, education, economic mobility and the justice system. Prior to Tipping Point, Stephanie was a Creative Director at frog design, where she led multi-disciplinary teams to bring product and service strategies to market using human-centered design methodologies. In addition to being a practitioner, she has spent three years as a senior lecturer of design research at California College of the Arts. Stephanie holds a Masters in Design from Carnegie Mellon University and a BFA in Visual Communications from Washington University in St. Louis.

Stripe

Chelsea Otakan is a product designer with 10 years of experience working at companies in the technology, finance, and non-profit spaces. She’s worked at Change.org, WordPress.com, TaskRabbit, various startups and is now a designer at Stripe.

Stripe

Megan is a mixed methods UX researcher who studies beliefs, attitudes and motivations and their influence on peoples needs and behaviors. She graduated from University of Michigan with a PhD in Consumer Behavior, but her desire for collaboration and real world impact drew her back to industry from academia. Her research has served the development of educational tools at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative as well as creation of new-to-the-worked payments and commerce products at Facebook, including Payments in Messenger and Marketplace among other international growth efforts. She now works for Stripe, developing ways to increase the GDP of the Internet and drive economic growth worldwide. When not studying people, she likes cooking, reading and walking her dog.

San Francisco Foundation

Elena Chavez Quezada is Senior Director for the Expanding Access to Opportunity pathway at the San Francisco Foundation, where she oversees the foundation’s grantmaking focused on economic opportunity for low-income people of color. Before joining the San Francisco Foundation, Elena oversaw the economic security portfolio at the Walter and Elise Haas Fund and was a senior program officer at Tipping Point Community. Prior to her roles in philanthropy, she managed the California expansion of Single Stop USA and worked on research and policy at the Aspen Institute’s Financial Security Program. Elena is a founding partner for the Closing the Women’s Wealth Gap Initiative; co-chair of the Asset Funders Network; and a Leadership Council Member of Immigrants Rising. She received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, and currently lives in San Francisco with her husband and two sons.

JIF

Virginia Mosqueda was appointed senior program officer in August 2015. She brings more than a decade of experience in the nonprofit, public policy, and advocacy arenas, holding senior positions within philanthropy and government. Most recently, Virginia was program manager of the California Endowment’s Building Healthy Communities in Central Santa Ana program. Prior to joining the Endowment, she was the director of Civic Engagement for the California Community Foundation, where she launched the Immigrant Integration Initiative among other civic engagement efforts. Before that, Virginia completed a Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Fellowship in Washington, DC in 2003, and then served as legislative assistant and legislative director for U.S. Congresswoman Linda T. Sánchez. Virginia also served as youth enrichment director at Santa Ana’s Delhi Center, where she designed, implemented, and managed five youth enrichment and education programs. Virginia holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California, Irvine, and her master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Tipping Point Community

Karina has spent her career in the social sector with a focus on poverty alleviation. As Managing Director of Programs at Tipping Point, she oversees a $22M annual grantmaking budget to 46 Bay Area nonprofits providing direct services in the areas of education, employment, housing and wellness. Tipping Point’s unique model includes unrestricted funding, strategic partnerships with corporate partners, and rigorous data collection. Prior to joining Tipping Point, she was a Program Officer at the Y & H Soda Foundation and before that, Deputy Director at the Children’s Defense Fund in California. She earned her BA in Communication Studies and Women Studies at UCLA and her MPP from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Silicon Valley Community Foundation

Marin Community Foundation 

Poet

Yosimar Reyes is a nationally-acclaimed poet, educator, performance artist, and speaker. Born in Guerreo, Mexico, and raised in Eastside San Jose, Reyes explores the themes of migration and sexuality in his work. The Advocate named Reyes one of “13 LGBT Latinos Changing the World” and Remezcla included Reyes on their list of “10 Up And Coming Latinx Poets You Need To Know.”

His first collection of poetry, For Colored Boys Who Speak Softly… was self published after a collaboration with the legendary Carlos Santana. His work has also been published in various online journals and books including Mariposas: An Anthology of Queer Modern Latino Poetry (Floricanto Press), Queer in Aztlán: Chicano Male Recollections of Consciousness and Coming Out (Cognella Press), and the forthcoming Joto: An Anthology of Queer Xicano & Chicano Poetry (Kórima Press). Reyes was featured in the Documentary, “2nd Verse: The Rebirth of Poetry.”

Reyes currently serves as Artist-in-Residence at the media and culture organization, Define American, the non-profit organization founded by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas that is dedicated to shifting the conversation surrounding immigration and identity in a changing America.

Reyes has toured and presented at university campuses across the United States. He is co-founder of performance ensemble, La Maricolectiva, a community-based performance group of queer undocumented poets. He is currently working on his one man show, “Prieto,” to premier in the near future. He holds a B.A in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University.

Mission Asset Fund

Flor is the Database Administrator at MAF, where she maintains all data collected and overlooks the integration with different software in order to facilitate operations. She also supports the tech team in testing and releasing in-house tech products. Prior to MAF Flor worked for the Salvadorean government as an economist and as a researcher in both San Francisco and Washington D.C.

Flor holds an M.A. in International and Development Economics from the University of San Francisco, with a focus in quantitative analysis.

Box

Ling Wu is the Director of External Compliance and Operations at Box, a cloud content management company that empowers enterprises to revolutionize how they work by securely connecting their people, information, and applications. She is responsible for building and maintaining an industry leading compliance posture to allow customers to store their most sensitive information, from protected health information to credit card numbers. Prior to joining Box, Ling worked at Salesforce, Symantec, and KPMG where she was responsible for managing security compliance programs and strategically advising companies on security compliance frameworks.

Ling holds a B.S. degree from San Jose State University. When not leading compliance and security initiatives, she enjoys practicing yoga and mountaineering.

Building Blox

Nate founded BuildingBlox Consulting in 2006 after serving as Executive Director of the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, Director of Development at Stanford Law School, and Chief Operating Officer at the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco. Nate has had extensive experience in management including responsibility for a 300+ person staff and an operating budget of $25 million. He has been responsible for the fundraising efforts for more than $2 billion in his career. In a volunteer capacity, Nate is a member of the Board of Directors of The Freight & Salvage. Nate holds a B.S. degree from Antioch College and an M.S. degree from Cornell University. When not meeting with clients or rapidly responding to their emails, Nate can be found playing guitar in his Old Time band, The Wronglers.

The Aspen Institute

Genevieve Melford is Director of Insights and Evidence at the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program (FSP) and Director of the Expanding Prosperity Impact Collaborative (EPIC), a first-of-its-kind initiative in the field of consumer finance designed to accelerate knowledge synthesis and problem solving among a wide cross section of experts from applied, academic, government, and industry settings working on critical dimensions of financial security. Prior to joining FSP, Genevieve served as the Senior Research Analyst in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)’s Office of Financial Education, where she led the Bureau’s work to define, measure, and study the drivers of consumer financial well-being, as well as effectiveness research on financial education and capability strategies. Before that, she served as Director of Research at Prosperity Now (formerly CFED), a national nonprofit dedicated to expanding economic opportunity for low-income families and communities. Genevieve holds an M.P.A. from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and a B.A. in economics from Wesleyan University.

Mission Asset Fund

Aparna is the Research Director at MAF, where she leads the team that develops and shares insights using MAF’s data. She has previously worked with the organization’s technology and loan servicing teams. Prior to MAF Aparna was an analyst at Community Technology Alliance, determining the efficacy of interventions designed to end homelessness, and conducted research using theoretical simulation models in biology and public health.

Aparna holds a M.S. in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University, with a focus in data analytics and mathematical modeling.

Family Independence Initiative

David Henderson is the Chief Data Officer at the Family Independence Initiative (FII). David joined FII in 2014 and oversees the organizations analytics infrastructure and learnings from their data. David holds a Masters of Science in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University and a BA in politics from Pomona College.

EARN

Tim has spent his career working across sectors and industries to turn insights into action. At EARN, Tim is responsible for measuring the impact of SaverLife, collaborating with the financial health community to test new ways to encourage savings and improved outcomes, and delivering insights that advance knowledge and tactics around financial inclusion and financial health.

Prior to EARN, Tim worked in a similar capacity at the fin-tech startup LendUp. He used research and insights to improve the product for better customer outcomes and to report on the company’s progress on its mission to “provide everyone with a path to better financial health.”

Tim also spent a year as a Fuse Corps Fellow, helping the San Francisco Public Library rethink the services it provides to the community, and eight years working in asset management, focusing on business analysis, product management, and market analysis.

Tim has a BBA from The George Washington University with a concentration in finance. He is an avid reader and likes long walks anywhere with his wife Anna and dog Penny.

Center for Changing Lives

Natalie is a Housing and Financial Coach at Center for Changing Lives (CCL) in Chicago. She has worked at CCL since 2005, working predominantly with low income populations and those experiencing housing instability. As a Financial Coach and HUD approved Housing Counselor, she partners with those seeking to improve their housing situation and strengthen their financial picture.

Having grown up in Chicago’s Logan Square and Humboldt Park neighborhoods, Natalie’s passion for working with her community is evidenced by her longtime commitment to work with CCL members to obtain affordable housing, establish and build credit, assist with asset building and improve their financial well-being.

Center for Changing Lives has a Vision of “a community where everyone thrives”. Through resource development, capacity building, education and advocacy, Natalie works to do her part to promote that Vision.

Catalyst Miami

Vaughan Johnson joined Catalyst Miami in August of 2012 as a Public Ally through the Public Allies Miami apprenticeship program. After completing his 10-month leadership apprenticeship with Catalyst Miami, he joined as a full-time staff member of the Wealth team within the Prosperity Campaign. Serving as a Financial Coach and Community Wealth Manager, he believes that the services Prosperity Wealth offers the community, which include budget coaching, credit coaching, career coaching, tax assistance and preparation, among others, help our community residents become financially secure and empowered. Vaughan’s financial specialties include credit, preparing for homeownership, financial/goal planning, and saving.

Vaughan is a proud alumnus of Florida Memorial University for his undergraduate degree and Florida International University where he attained his Masters in the Science of International Real Estate, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., and Chicago, IL native

Project for Pride in Living

Henry Rucker, Homeownership and Financial Coaching Coordinator, joined PPL in January 2014. Before coming to PPL, Henry worked at Lutheran Social Services as a Financial Opportunity Center Program Coordinator, as a banker for US Bank, and as a real estate broker for Banneker Realty. His 15 years of experience as a banker make him well versed in the tools available to consumers. Over his six years coordinating financial training, he has developed expertise in helping lower-income individuals attain greater financial stability, with a strong interest in helping people make the transition to homeownership. Henry now conducts financial training workshops and provides financial and homeownership coaching to participants at PPL. In addition to his work at PPL, he is a certified provider of Home Stretch workshops and currently teaches classes for the African Development Center and Umoja Community Development Corporation in Minneapolis and NeighborWorks in Saint Paul. Henry also serves as a board member for Habitat for Humanity of Minnesota. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Clark Atlanta University in 1992 and is a licensed real estate broker.

Pathfinders

Kathryn Arnold is the Executive Director of Pathfinders in Fort Worth, Texas, and has served in this role for 14 years. She received her Bachelors of Science in Social Work from Texas Christian University in 1990.

Kathryn believes that all individuals possess unique strengths, and her work at Pathfinders fulfills her passion for serving people struggling to overcome barriers to self-sufficiency. Under her leadership, Pathfinders has experienced significant growth, expanding the depth and breadth of the Best Practices Mentoring program and establishing the Financial Capability program. She is dedicated to helping people develop the skills and tools necessary to attain their personal goals and create a vision for their future that is filled with hope.

She is active in many community coalitions and serves on the boards of Lena Pope, the Tarrant County Reentry Coalition and the UNT Health Sciences Center Academic Community Partnerships. She formerly served on the Mentoring Advisory Council of the National Reentry Resource Center. She can be reached at kathryn.arnold@pathfinderstc.org.

Canal Alliance

Ana has lived, studied, and worked in Marin, CA since she migrated from her native Mexico in 2002. Her interest in working towards the betterment of Latino communities was born when she, herself, benefitted from the numerous services that Canal Alliance had to offer, amongst them tutoring and college scholarships. After obtaining her BA in Psychology from SFSU she uncovered her lifelong commitment to help those people in most need to break the circle of generational poverty and guiding them to reach their full potential. Ana has a wide range of experience working with the Latino immigrant communities in diverse roles and capacities to directly support equal access and opportunities to all. She plans to continue her education to become an LCSW. Ana has been instrumental in the implementation of Lending Circles in San Rafael, CA. No only has it been an enriching experience professionally for her and the staff she has managed during this process, but it has also reinforced the possibilities that open when we combine our cultural practices with practices valued in the in this new country.

ACLU

Ahilan T. Arulanantham is Senior Counsel at the ACLU of Southern California. He has successfully litigated a number of cases involving immigrants’ rights, national security, and the intersection between those two areas of law. Ahilan has also served as a Lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School and at the University of Irvine School of Law, where he taught on Preventive Detention. Ahilan has testified before the United States Congress on three occasions, and has argued before the United States Supreme Court in a case involving immigrants’ rights issues.

Ahilan’s parents are Sri Lankan Tamil immigrants who left Sri Lanka to escape race discrimination and sporadic violence. Several years after they came to this country, the Sri Lankan civil war began, causing much of his extended family to flee Sri Lanka. Ahilan has remained interested in promoting human rights in Sri Lanka, and has also represented several Sri Lankan Tamil refugees during the course of his work with the ACLU.

Prior to joining the ACLU in Los Angeles, Ahilan worked as an Assistant Federal Public Defender in El Paso, Texas for two years. Before that he was an EJW fellow at the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project in New York and a law clerk on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for the Honorable Stephen Reinhardt. In 2007 and 2013 he was named one of California Lawyer Magazine’s Lawyers of the Year for immigrants’ rights, and has repeatedly been named one of the Daily Journal’s Top 100 Lawyers in California over the last decade. In 2010 he received the Arthur C. Helton Human Rights Award from the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association, and in 2014 received the Jack Wasserman Memorial Award for litigation to protect the rights of vulnerable immigrants, also from the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association. In 2016 Ahilan received a MacArthur Fellowship.

University of San Francisco

Bill Ong Hing is a Professor of Law and Migration Studies at the University of San Francisco. He founded the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Francisco 1979 and directs the USF Immigration & Deportation Defense Clinic. Professor Hing teaches Immigration Law & Policy, Migration Studies, Rebellious Lawyering, and Evidence. He has been an immigration lawyer since 1974, and throughout his career, Professor Hing has pursued social justice by combining community work, litigation, and scholarship. His books include Immigration Law and Social Justice (2018); Ethical Borders—NAFTA, Globalization and Mexican Migration (2010); Deporting Our Souls—Values, Morality, and Immigration Policy (2006), and Defining America Through Immigration Policy (2004). His newest book, American Presidents, Deportations, and Human Rights Violations, was published this year by Cambridge University. He was co-counsel in the Supreme Court asylum precedent-setting case INS v. Cardoza-Fonseca (1987) and also represented the State Bar of California in the Sergio Garcia case (2014) involving bar membership for an undocumented law graduate.

Mission Asset Fund

José A. Quiñonez received a B.A. (1994) from the University of California at Davis and an M.P.A. (1998) from Princeton University. He founded Mission Asset Fund in 2007 and continues to serve as CEO. His prior affiliations include the Center for Community Change (2001–2004) and Bread for the World (2000–2001). From 2012 to 2014, he was the inaugural chair of the Consumer Advisory Board of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

NIF

In her role as director of integration programs, Jennie Murray brings years of experience working at the intersection of immigration services and the private sector, as well as in refugee resettlement and career pathway support. Jennie leads the New American Workforce citizenship and English-language training initiative and the newly formed Corporate Roundtable for the New American Workforce.

Before joining the Forum in 2013, she served as the director of programs at Jubilee Jobs and outreach coordinator at Catholic Charities’ Washington, D.C., Refugee Center.

Raised in Los Angeles and Nashville, Jennie graduated from Union University and earned her master’s from Wesley Theological Seminary.

Summit Co-Lab

Mona Masri has more than 20 years’ experience in corporate social responsibility and community economic development, including involvement in the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Her passion for working on solutions which address pressing community needs, is expressed through creative problem solving, conceptualizing innovative solutions, and driving execution to deliver results. She is the co-founder of Summit Co-Lab, a consulting collaborative, where she strives to advance positive social change by activating human, social and financial capital through collaborative, integrated expertise and a focus on outcomes. Her previous experience includes leading the statewide efforts of Citibank’s Community Development Group in California as well as heading the Northern California office of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a leading international non-profit humanitarian aid organization. At the IRC Mona spearheaded efforts to integrate financial capability into existing programming for refugees and immigrants. By working closely through strategic partnerships with leading organizations such as Mission Asset Fund, Opportunity Fund, and Self-Help Credit Union, Mona has deep experience in identifying and executing innovative financial inclusion initiatives.

FICO

Mr. Erik Franco is a Senior Scientist and has been with FICO for 12 years. Mr. Franco’s primary role in Scores Analytic Development is project manager on the FICO credit bureau risk score developments in the U.S. and internationally. Most recently, Erik is playing an integral part in the research, design, development, and deployment of alternative data-driven credit bureau risk scores. Mr. Franco holds a B.A. in Statistics and a B.A. in Applied Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Raheem

Brandon Anderson is the Founder of Raheem AI, a nonprofit building the world’s first crowdsourced database of police interactions to move forward policies that end police violence.

Brandon served two tours in Iraq as a satellite engineer in the U.S. army, helping commanders use data to measure impact and design strategies. Following the loss of his partner to police violence, Brandon recognized an opportunity to integrate his skills with his commitment to the pursuit of justice.

Anderson earned his BA from Georgetown University, is an Echoing Green Fellow, and a Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award Nominee.

Dreamer’s Roadmap

Sarahi Espinoza Salamanca is the Founder and CEO of DREAMers Roadmap, a mobile app platform that helps undocumented students navigate the necessary resources to access higher education. This is Sarahi’s latest project in a longer trajectory of activism within and for the undocumented community, which has placed her in the spotlight of continued conversations centered on national immigration policy.

Sarahi was a Champion of Change at the White House in 2014, has received 2 House of Representatives Awards, and was recently named in Forbes 30 under 30. A former undocumented student who once had to drop out of school to support her family, Sarahi’s personal experience informs her unwavering vision: to help hundreds of thousands of Latino students eliminate the barriers to success and achieve their full potential.

Code for America

Dustin is a Program Manager for the Integrated Benefits Initiative, working to improve access to social safety net programs. Before joining Code for America, Dustin was a Senior Associate at Third Sector, a nonprofit advisory firm that supports governments in using data and innovative financing structures to improve outcomes in social services. Prior to that, he worked in international development, focusing on governance, policy-making, and justice challenges in Asia. Dustin holds a BA in Political Science from Washington University in St. Louis and an MPA from Princeton University. In his spare time, he volunteers as a Crisis Counselor with Crisis Text Line.

Credit Builders Alliance

Dara Duguay is the Executive Director of Credit Builders Alliance in Washington, DC. Prior to joining CBA, she ran her own consulting practice and advised clients such as TD Bank, the World Bank Group, Experian, Visa, and SunTrust Bank on their financial education efforts. Ms. Duguay was the Director of Citi’s Office of Financial Education and oversaw a $200 million global commitment. Preceding her work at Citi, she served as the Executive Director of the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, which advocates for increased financial education for youth. She started work in the field as the Director of Education for the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Los Angeles. An accomplished author, Duguay has published four books, including the critically acclaimed Please Send Money: A Financial Survival Guide for Young Adults.

Nova Credit

Betsy McCormick has spent the majority of her career in financial inclusion. Her interest in the power of finance to do good was first developed at Kiva Microfunds, where she led Kiva’s Central America strategy by building partnerships with microfinance institutions across the region. Following business school, Betsy worked as a McKinsey consultant, focusing on growth and operations for a variety of clients in the finance sector, including national banks, government lenders and payments companies. Today, she serves as the Head of Customer Success at Nova Credit, a technology company that provides international credit reports to financial institutions and property managers. In her role, Betsy manages all customer relationships as well as oversees the support function.

FICO

Mr. Erik Franco is a Senior Scientist and has been with FICO for 12 years. Mr. Franco’s primary role in Scores Analytic Development is project manager on the FICO credit bureau risk score developments in the U.S. and internationally. Most recently, Erik is playing an integral part in the research, design, development, and deployment of alternative data-driven credit bureau risk scores. Mr. Franco holds a B.A. in Statistics and a B.A. in Applied Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Mission Asset Fund

Pablo Solares is a Partner Success Manager at MAF, responsible for supporting a number of our national network partners and launching our LLC Loan Program. Prior to joining MAF, Pablo worked in the financial industry at Merrill Lynch and IGC Holdings. He was also a Nike sponsored professional runner competing for Mexico.

Pablo holds a M.A. in Finance from EGADE Business School (ITESM Campus Monterrey) and a B.A. in Economics from Rice University.

La Cocina

Leticia Landa is the Deputy Director of La Cocina, a nonprofit business incubator for food businesses in the Mission District, where she’s been working since 2008.

Samaschool

Drew Yukelson is the Bay Area Program Manager at Samaschool, where he works in partnership with community-based organizations to teach independent work readiness skills to low-income job seekers. Previously, he provided employment services and coaching to skilled refugees, asylees, and immigrants through his work at the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Upwardly Global.

He joined Samaschool because independent work is a fast-growing and important segment of the workforce that allows for the flexibility many of his former clients needed. Drew holds an MPA in Nonprofit Management & Public Policy from NYU, and a Bachelor’s degree in Business from Penn State University.

Opportunity Fund

Mayra Contreras is the Community Development Associate for Opportunity Fund, working hand-in-hand with other non-profit Community organizations to help promote access to responsible and affordable capital.

Prior to Opportunity Fund, Mayra worked as a financial empowerment coordinator where she offered financial literacy workshops and provided tailored resources to help underserved communities.

Opportunity Fund is California’s leading Non-Profit small business lender that helps people create sustainable small businesses as well as build financial stability for the future.

Institute on Assets and Social Policy

Professor Thomas Shapiro directs the Institute on Assets and Social Policy and is the David R. Pokross Professor of Law and Social Policy at The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University.

Professor Shapiro’s primary interest is in racial inequality and public policy. He is a leader in the asset development field with a particular focus on closing the racial wealth gap. The Hidden Cost of Being African American: How Wealth Perpetuates Inequality, published by Oxford University Press, 2004 (soft cover, 2005) was widely reviewed, including by the Washington Post, Boston Globe, and others. The book was named one of the Notable Books of 2004 by The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

With Dr. Melvin Oliver, he wrote the award-winning Black Wealth/ White Wealth, which received the 1997 Distinguished Scholarly Publication Award from the American Sociological Association. This book also won the 1995 C. Wright Mills Award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems, and the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Human Rights in North America named it an Outstanding Book of 1996.

TURN

Gabriela Sandoval has spent a lifetime working toward social, economic and racial justice. She serves as Director of Strategic Initiatives for TURN – The Utility Reform Network where she leads a statewide project to end utility shutoffs. Gabriela works with community-based organizations throughout California—with a focus on communities struggling to make ends meet and communities of color—to develop a better understanding of where and why utility shutoffs occur, how shutoffs impact the health and housing of families and communities, and how to stop them.

Before joining TURN, Gabriela was Research Director at the Insight Center for Community Economic Development, a national “think-and-do tank” in Oakland, where the focus of her work was the Closing the Racial Wealth Gap Initiative. Previously, Gabriela was a faculty member of the Department of Sociology at UC Santa Cruz a job she left in order to coordinate the academic program for the first professional midwifery school in Mexico. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology and a Masters in Regional Planning from Cornell University.

Economic Security Project

Prosperity Now

Andrea Levere has led Prosperity Now (formerly CFED) as its president since 2004. Prosperity Now is a private nonprofit organization with the mission of ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to gain financial stability, build wealth and achieve Prosperity.

Andrea Levere has led Prosperity Now (formerly CFED) as its president since 2004. Prosperity Now is a private nonprofit organization with the mission of ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to gain financial stability, build wealth and achieve prosperity.

Prosperity Now designs and operates major national initiatives that aim to integrate financial capability services into systems serving low-income people, build assets and savings, and advance research and policies that expands economy mobility for all. It operates the Prosperity Now Community, comprised of nearly 24,000 members who advocate for asset-development and protection policies It operates the Racial Wealth Divide initiative to strengthen the capacity of nonprofits of color and advance policies that promote racial equity.

In 2013 President Obama appointed Ms. Levere to the National Cooperative Bank’s (NCB) Board of Directors to represent the interests of low-income consumers. In 2017, Ms. Levere was appointed to the Community Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve System and served as Vice Chair in 2018 and will be Chair in 2019. She has been the Chair of ROC USA (Resident Owned Communities USA), a national social venture that converts manufactured home parks into resident owned cooperatives since its founding in 2008. She is also member of the FDIC’s Committee on Economic Inclusion, and Morgan Stanley’s Community Development Advisory Board.

Ms. Levere holds a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and an MBA from Yale University.

SFF

Mission Asset Fund

José A. Quiñonez received a B.A. (1994) from the University of California at Davis and an M.P.A. (1998) from Princeton University. He founded Mission Asset Fund in 2007 and continues to serve as CEO. His prior affiliations include the Center for Community Change (2001–2004) and Bread for the World (2000–2001). From 2012 to 2014, he was the inaugural chair of the Consumer Advisory Board of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Mission Asset Fund

Joanna is the Client Services Director at MAF, where she leads the local programs team to deliver high-quality programs and services to our communities. Although she is new to the fintech/asset-building field, Joanna has tremendous experience in programs, policy, and advocacy within the nonprofit and local government sectors. Prior to joining MAF, Joanna worked as a university research assistant and an international programs consultant. Joanna is a first-generation college student who holds a Bachelor of Arts in Politics/Latin American and Latin@ Studies from the University of California Santa Cruz and a Master of Public Policy from the University of Southern California.

ILRC

Sally Kinoshita is the ILRC’s Deputy Director based in San Francisco. In this role, she weaves together more than 20 years of nonprofit experience in immigration law, capacity building, advocacy, program development, and collaborative facilitation. Sally has provided technical assistance, trainings, and facilitation to groups on local, state, and national levels and has co-authored a number of publications including The U Visa: Obtaining Status for Immigrant Victims of Crime (ILRC), The VAWA Manual: Immigration Relief for Abused Immigrants (ILRC), Immigration Benchbook for Juvenile and Family Court Judges (ILRC), and Application of Protection Remedies for Victims of Domestic Abuse, Human Trafficking, and Crime under U.S. Law to Persons Physically Present in the U.S. Territories (Family Violence Prevention Fund).

Prior to working at the ILRC, Sally was a Staff Attorney at Asian Law Caucus and a consultant with ASISTA, the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild and Family Violence Prevention Fund/Futures Without Violence. During law school, she worked with the UC Davis Immigration Law Clinic, Northern California Coalition for Immigrant Rights, ACLU of Northern California, and California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation.

Sally is currently a member of the Leadership Council of Immigrants Rising (formerly E4FC) and has served as a Federal Bar Association Immigration Law Section Advisory Board Member and Central Valley Immigrant Integration Collaborative (CVIIC) Steering Committee Member.

Sally earned her law degree from the University of California at Davis. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley, where she majored in sociology. She is admitted to the California bar.

Office of Civic Engagement & Immigrant Affairs, City & County of San Francisco

Rich is the deputy director of the SF Office of Civic Engagement of Immigrant Affairs (OCEIA), where he currently oversees the department’s programs, including immigrant assistance initiatives; workforce and professional development programs; and the immigrant integration community grants portfolio. In his nine years at OCEIA, Rich has helped launch several landmark initiatives including the SF Pathways to Citizenship Initiative and two professional development programs for immigrant and low income residents; the DreamSF Fellows Program and the SF Community Ambassadors Program. Before joining OCEIA, Rich spent five years in public education as a Behavioral Health Specialist. Rich earned his Masters in Public Administration from the University of Southern California.

California Reinvestment Coalition

Paulina Gonzalez is Executive Director of the California Reinvestment Coalition. She has worked for over 20 years leading economic justice organizing campaigns to expand worker rights, immigrant rights, and the rights of low income and underrepresented communities of color. Under her leadership, CRC has grown to 300+ members, gained higher visibility, expanded its focus areas to include immigrant financial protection and fines and fees work, and negotiated community reinvestment agreements with five banks worth more than $25 billion.

Paulina currently serves on the Community Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, the San Francisco Municipal Bank Feasibility Task Force, and the Board of Directors for the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders, and was formerly a member of the CFPB’s Consumer Advisory Board.

Western Center on Law and Poverty

Jessica Bartholow is a policy advocate at the Western Center on Law and Poverty and has nearly two decades of experience in anti-poverty organizing, advocacy and program development at the local, state and national level. She has led in securing recent legislative and administrative victories to reduce student hunger. Jessica holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science and is a recipient of the Wellstone – Wheeler National Anti-Hunger Advocate of the Year Award and the Women’s Foundation of California’s Advocate of the Year Award. Her own story of how growing up poor has led her to her work as an anti-poverty advocate has been featured in The Nation and Le Monde.

Salesforce

John Withers is a Product Marketing Manager at MuleSoft, a Salesforce company that provides the world’s leading integration platform to connect any app, data, or device. Previously, John served as a Solution Engineer at Salesforce, helping lead customers through digital transformation initiatives.

John holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and he is a former US Army special forces officer and helicopter pilot, having led teams in combat in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mission Asset Fund

Ramya Gopal leads the MAF Lab, the R&D lab within Mission Asset Fund, to build products to financially empower low-income and immigrant families. Prior to MAF, she conducted research at Center for Effective Philanthropy to help foundations work more effectively with nonprofits.

Ramya received her MBA from the Yale School of Management, where she specialized in leadership in the social impact sector.

MyPath

Noelle Hylton is the CTO at MyPath, a national nonprofit on a mission to power youth potential and seed economic mobility. She joined the MyPath team in 2018. In her role, she is responsible for defining and executing strategic technology initiatives while also keeping her finger on the pulse of IT operations. She oversees the MyPath Money Platform, Salesforce, Teamwork’s: Desk, Projects, Chatter, Knowledge Base and other ERP solutions. MyPath has initiatives running in thirteen cities with over seventy partner sites, engaging 6,500+ low-income working youth in banking, saving and credit-building.

Prior to joining MyPath, Noelle worked in higher education technology for over 18 years. Her most recent roles are Director of Administrative Information Systems and Principal Advancement, Consultant. She has worked with over 60 colleges and universities in the US and abroad. Noelle has served as a Board Member for a K-8 charter school and a K-12 non-profit
tutoring organization. She holds a BA and an MHA from Hofstra University. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling and mentoring young women.

Dreamer’s Roadmap

Sarahi Espinoza Salamanca is the Founder and CEO of DREAMers Roadmap, a mobile app platform that helps undocumented students navigate the necessary resources to access higher education. This is Sarahi’s latest project in a longer trajectory of activism within and for the undocumented community, which has placed her in the spotlight of continued conversations centered on national immigration policy.

Sarahi was a Champion of Change at the White House in 2014, has received 2 House of Representatives Awards, and was recently named in Forbes 30 under 30. A former undocumented student who once had to drop out of school to support her family, Sarahi’s personal experience informs her unwavering vision: to help hundreds of thousands of Latino students eliminate the barriers to success and achieve their full potential.

Raheem

Brandon Anderson is the Founder of Raheem AI, a nonprofit building the world’s first crowdsourced database of police interactions to move forward policies that end police violence.

Brandon served two tours in Iraq as a satellite engineer in the U.S. army, helping commanders use data to measure impact and design strategies. Following the loss of his partner to police violence, Brandon recognized an opportunity to integrate his skills with his commitment to the pursuit of justice.

Anderson earned his BA from Georgetown University, is an Echoing Green Fellow, and a Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award Nominee.

Identity.org

Phillip is a hands-on leader with over 20 years of experience in the mobile space. His design and leadership experience range from tools development to business development and operations. Phillip helped build the Apple App Store including building the review operations team to over 300 people, writing the guidelines with Steve Jobs, and testifying with global government authorities. Most recently Phillip has been advising and investing in startups, focusing on blockchain, iOS Apps, and augmented reality. He is passionate about using technology to give back to the world.

Code for America

Dustin is a Program Manager for the Integrated Benefits Initiative, working to improve access to social safety net programs. Before joining Code for America, Dustin was a Senior Associate at Third Sector, a nonprofit advisory firm that supports governments in using data and innovative financing structures to improve outcomes in social services. Prior to that, he worked in international development, focusing on governance, policy-making, and justice challenges in Asia. Dustin holds a BA in Political Science from Washington University in St. Louis and an MPA from Princeton University. In his spare time, he volunteers as a Crisis Counselor with Crisis Text Line.

Twillio

Luis Liang is an Account Executive, Social Impact at Twilio.org, helping nonprofits leverage technology through communications that give hope, power, and freedom. Prior to joining Twilio, he worked at Salesforce, Univision and nonprofit organizations around the Bay Area. He has served as a Board Member for the Association of Latino Professionals for America and The Greenlining Institute Alumni Association.

Luis graduated from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. He is a Dreamer, determined to be an impactful leader for social change leveraging technology to amplify impact.

Mission Asset Fund

Michelle Gallarza is Philanthropy Manager at MAF, responsible for maintaining and cultivating a strong community of philanthropic partners to support MAF’s financial programs nationwide. She closely collaborates with CEO José Quiñonez to determine the organization’s fundraising goals and strategically uplift the importance of MAF’s impact to diverse external audiences. Prior to arriving at MAF, Michelle worked in Los Angeles as a grant writer at a social services agency in Skid Row and at a labor & immigrant rights nonprofit in MacArthur Park. She also has previous experience advancing housing rights, food justice, and educational equity programs in underserved communities of color.

Michelle holds a B.A. with high honors in Sociology from UC Berkeley, where she was awarded the Haas Scholars undergraduate fellowship.

MAF Client and Owner of Alicia’s Tamales Los Mayas

Alicia Villanueva was born and raised in the city of Mazatlan, in Mexico. She migrated to the United States in 2000, settling in Berkeley, California. Alicia began her tamale business, “Alicia’s Tamales Los Mayas”, in 2001 as a passion project. Driven by her love for Mexican cuisine and desire to share her roots, Alicia used her abuelita’s tamale recipe to cook and sell tamales. In 2010, Alicia reached out to Mission Asset Fund. Through MAF’s financial education courses and Lending Circle program, Alicia began creating business plans and budgets. Importantly, she was able to build her credit and save for future investments. Slowly but surely, Alicia’s business began to grow and thrive. In 2016, Alicia moved her business production from her kitchen at home to a 6,000 square feet factory in Hayward, CA. Staffed with 17 employees, Alicia’s Tamales Los Mayas makes around 40,000 tamales a month. You can find Alicia’s tamales at catering events, large-scale events, and at stores such as Whole Foods and Berkeley Bowl. Recently, Alicia signed a contract with the new Warriors Stadium and she will soon be stuffing Warriors fans with the love of her tamales.

MAF Client and MAC member

Patricia is a project Coordinator and Document Control Manager with Chaves & Associates. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of California Santa Cruz with Honors and she is currently taking GRE courses because she is planning to attend graduate school by 2020 to become a project manager. Mission Asset Fund has been a fundamental resource on her savings and financial education. She has been a MAF council member since 2016. She loves being part of the community and building her leadership skills as a MAF council member.

MAF Client

Susana is currently the Talent Acquisition Business Partner at Service by Medallion. She manages the recruitment process for a wide range of roles, but she mostly works with hiring janitorial staff, many of whom come from humble backgrounds. She finds her career rewarding because she loves people. This role allows her to engage with individuals from all walks of life and provide them with a job that enables them to support themselves and their families. She has years of management experience in the service industry, and she hopes to continue leveraging her background and bilingual skills (Spanish and English) to create a more inclusive and diverse hiring process.   

Mission Asset Fund

Miguel is an immigrant from Oaxaca, Mexico. Since the age of three when he was brought to the United States, Miguel has grown into a passionate activist for immigrant rights. As an undergraduate at San Francisco State University, Miguel was one of the key student leaders who created the university’s first Dream Resource Center which provided support for undocumented students. Miguel was also selected to be a part of the inaugural cohort of the DreamSF Fellowship, where he served at a variety of Bay Area Immigrant Rights organizations. Miguel is currently a Client Services Manager at MAF, in addition to sitting on the Leadership Board of Dreamers In Tech and works as a freelance graphic designer.

Skyline College

Pamela has been an activist in the undocumented community for almost 10 years. She was born in Mexico City, Mexico and moved to the United States at age 9. After graduating from Lincoln High School, she attended San Joaquin Delta College, where she studied music, dance, and studio art. She graduated from San Francisco State University with a BA in Studio Art and is presently pursuing an MA in Human Rights Education at the University of San Francisco. She currently works as a Dream Center Coordinator at Skyline College and as a practicing artist whose work focuses on nature, borders, and challenging existing narratives regarding the undocumented experience. Pamela is also a part of the California Community College Chancellor’s Office Dreamers Advisory Committee and works with Immigrants Rising’s Higher Ed team. Pamela recently authored “De-Mystifying Dream Centers,” a guide on how to establish undocumented student support services on a college campus.

Business Owner

Luis Quiroz is a recent graduate of the College of Business at SFSU, where he studied digital marketing. He is founder and lead consultant at Trending Socials, a social media marketing agency. Luis is a DreamSF Fellowship alumnus and continues to work with underserved and vulnerable communities in the projects he selects. Current projects include working with the San Francisco Office of Immigrant Affairs and the Office of Transgender Initiatives. Luis is an immigrant from Guerrero, Mexico. His family originally settled in sunny San Diego, CA and envisioned a brighter future than theirs for him and his siblings. After a series of unfortunate events, both of his parents were deported while Luis was in college. He owes all of his success to them, the original “dreamers.”

Student and Activist

I graduated from UC San Diego with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science – International Relations in three years and departmental honors. I was born in Seoul, South Korea and then immigrated to Canada and then to the U.S in hopes of greater educational opportunities. My parents gave up their livelihood in the only country they knew, leaving behind their native language, college degrees and families in hopes of a better future for my brother and I. I was granted Dreamer status in the end of my high school career, allowing me to gain a higher education in America. When Trump rescinded DACA in November of 2017, I was, and still am, at such a loss as to what would happen to my future. But it was in this time of turmoil and fear, that I was able to gain the most hope. Organizations such as MAF and the actions they have taken to personally support me, have driven me further to pursue my American dream. As a pre-law student, I hope to utilize my J.D one day to help disenfranchised groups and gain more representation for Asian Americans. With internships with USD Children’s Advocacy Institute. Legal Aid Society Juvenile Right’s Practice and the Council of Korean Americans and as a fellow of UCLA Law Fellows Program, I have experienced the incredible power lawyers have to make a difference in this world and I intend to do the same.