Our Fellows
The Opportunity Agenda’s Communications Institute Fellows are media-ready experts on some of the country’s most urgent challenges, coming largely from communities most affected by those challenges. For journalists seeking voices with a grassroots perspective that links economic opportunity, criminal justice, immigrant opportunity, and racial justice issues to the lived experiences of Americans, Communications Fellows are ideal spokespeople.
Andrea Panjwani
Co-Executive Director, Immigrant Defense ProjectAndrea serves as Co-Executive Director of the Immigrant Defense Project, an organization dedicated to protecting immigrants from deportation, detention, and separation from their families and communities through legislative and policy advocacy, impact litigation and training, and advising advocates and judges. Andrea previously served as legal director of African Services Committee,...
Get To know AndreaStevie Paz
Digital Organizer, NM Comunidades en Accion y de Fe (CAFe) & CAFe ActionStevie Paz was born and raised in Las Cruces, New Mexico, about 100 miles away from the border. She graduated from New Mexico State University with a Bachelors in Criminal Justice. She has been a New Mexico Comunidades en Accion y de Fe now for 6 years. Stevie believes that...
Get To know StevieOlivia Peña
Deputy Program Director, Young Center for Immigrant Children’s RightsOlivia Peña oversees the Harlingen, Houston, and San Antonio teams where staff are appointed as the independent Child Advocates for unaccompanied and separated children in immigration custody.
Get To know OliviaJessica Peñaranda
Special Projects Coordinator, Sex Workers Project/Urban Justice CenterJessica Peñaranda is the Special Projects Coordinator for the Sex Workers Project, providing direct services to sex workers and survivors of trafficking after arrest, documenting best practices, and conducting trainings with court personnel and service providers. Jessica has worked on issues relating to violence against marginalized communities for over eight...
Get To know JessicaJohnny Perez
Safe Reentry Advocate, Mental Health Project/Urban Justice CenterJohnny Perez is a non-attorney mental health advocate for the Urban Justice Center’s Mental Health Project, a law firm providing pro-bono legal representation to underserved populations affected by social justice issues. When he is not advocating on behalf of New York’s most vulnerable populations, Johnny works to change the status...
Get To know JohnnyMaritza Perez
Director, Office of National Affairs, Drug Policy AllianceMaritza Perez, Esq. leads her organization’s federal legislative agenda and strategy to end the war on drugs.
Get To know MaritzaCynthia Pompa
Advocacy Coordinator, ACLU Border Rights CenterCynthia Pompa is a proud native to the borderlands who grew up in both Cd. Juárez, Chih. and El Paso, TX. She is the Advocacy Coordinator at the ACLU Border Rights Center in El Paso. In this role, she works to develop and coordinate advocacy and organizing strategies among the...
Get To know CynthiaJennifer Ramo
Executive Director, AppleseedJennifer Ramo is the founder and Executive Director of New Mexico Appleseed. An experienced attorney, she designed New Mexico Appleseed’s effective system of change and created Appleseed’s first in the nation programs such as the Hunger-Free Students’ Bill of Rights (prohibited lunch shaming children whose parents owe school meal debt),...
Get To know JenniferAseante Renee
Director of Communications, Common JusticeAseante Renee is a strategy and communications executive with over 12 years of experience working at the intersections of healing, wellness, and criminal justice. Currently, she is the Director of Communications at Common Justice, a nonprofit that develops and advances solutions to violence that transform the lives of those harmed...
Get To know AseanteLaurie Reynolds
Assistant Professor, University of Illinois at ChicagoLaurie Jo was the organizer for Tamms Year Ten, a grassroots campaign to close the notorious supermax in Tamms, Illinois, shuttered in 2013 by Governor Pat Quinn. As a 2010 Soros Justice Fellow, she advocated for best practices to stop sexual abuse and reduce recidivism. Recent exhibits and honors include:...
Get To know Laurie