Schaeffer Fellowship

As the daughter of an immigrant mother and growing up 15 minutes away from the Southern border, Sofia’s upbringing included two very different languages and cultures. It is because of those unique experiences and interactions that she has always had a deep interest and understanding in the uplifting of her Latine community through policy and the field of law. Her personal experiences with challenges accessing professional opportunities and facing workplace discrimination, due to her background, further inform and inspire her undergraduate efforts. She works to increase access to...

Fatima Martinez Jara is a senior studying Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. She immigrated to the United States at five and grew up in a low-income immigrant community. As a result, she experienced firsthand the injustices immigrants of color encountered, making her interested in legal and policy-making. She became her community’s translator at a young age, enabling her to find her passion for public service.

This past summer, she was selected as a Leonard D. Schaeffer Local Government Fellow, where she interned for the California Research Bureau and...

Gurleen Kaur is a third-year undergraduate transfer student double majoring in Psychology and Legal Studies. Her passions include mental health, incarcerated youth, forensic psychology, and the systematic issues of the justice system.

Nancy Kim is a junior from Dublin, Ohio studying Economics and Media Studies. Her career interests include equitable economic and workforce development policies. After graduation, she hopes to combine her communications and policy background to implement programs that not only promote economic well-being, but also focus on raising marginalized communities.
Nancy currently serves as the Chief Communications...