Matsui Center Cal-in-Sacramento Fellows

Aiko Dabu

Class of 2026
2024 Cal-in-Sacramento

Aiko Dabu is a first-generation college student born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area to Filipinx-immigrant parents. Growing up in a low-income BIPOC community, she witnessed numerous instances where her family and friends were subjected to deliberate underpayment, overwork, and emotional abuse by their clients and employers. Witnessing the enduring impact of such abuse on her own immigrant parents, Aiko developed a strong commitment to advocating for improved legal resources and accommodations to support vulnerable immigrant communities in the workplace.

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Juan Pablo Blanco

Class of 2024
2024 Cal-in-Sacramento
2024 Democracy Camp in Berkeley

Raised in a modest family of five, Juan Pablo Blanco is passionate about some of the most pressing issues confronting working-class Californians. As a senior studying political science at UC Berkeley, Juan Pablo is mental health advocate who recognizes the importance of empowering communities for students in college. At UC Berkeley, Juan Pablo founded Unbox’d, a mental health awareness organization that offers students mindfulness resources.

Juan Pablo plans to attend law school, work in-house counsel, and start an immigration law firm. Coming from an immigrant...

Matthew Aini

Class of 2025
2024 Schaeffer Fellowship
2023 Cal-in-Sacramento

Matt Aini is a campus junior pursuing a BA in Political Science and a BS in Business Administration. A lifelong resident of the East Bay city of Dublin, CA, Matt was curious at a young age about how fast-growing cities like Dublin managed their growth and used community development to improve the quality of life for community members. Borne out of this curiosity has been a mission to advance responsible land use to make communities more sustainable, affordable, and connected. Matt has been proudly serving his community as a member of the Dublin Planning Commission since 2022, where...

Maissa Trujillo

Class of 2025
2024 Schaeffer Fellowship
2023 Cal-in-Sacramento

Maissa is a third year political science major, also minoring in political economy, at the University of California, Berkeley. She is a first-generation college student from San Bernardino, where her upbringing sparked her passion for public service and how policy can impact communities like hers. Maissa has had the privilege of participating in the Cal-In-Sacramento Fellowship, as well as interning with the Bay Area JusticeCorps program. These extracurriculars, along with others, have allowed her to explore her passions concerning criminal justice and immigration reform, breaking...

Anna Maria Diaz

Class of 2023
2024 Percy Undergraduate Grant
2023 Schaeffer Fellowship
2023 Democracy Camp in Berkeley

Anna is passionate about serving underserved communities through the lens of the law and legal system. As a Berkeley Peter E. Haas Public Service Leader, she worked for Bay Area JusticeCorps, where she helps self-represented litigants navigate the legal system by providing legal information under the supervision of attorneys. Now, with the Public Service Center’s support she works an as Undergraduate Intern at Marin County Public Defender’s Office. She also is a Student Researcher at the Human Rights Center Investigations Lab at Berkeley Law. Currently, Anna also works as a Law Clerk at a...

Jennifer Ramirez

Class of 2024
2024 Percy Undergraduate Grant
2023 Cal-in-Sacramento
2022 Washington Fellowship
2022 Democracy Camp in DC Student Co-Director
2022 Democracy Camp in DC
2022 Democracy Camp in Berkeley

Jennifer Ramirez is a first-generation Latina studying Economics and Public Policy at UC Berkeley from the Bay Area. Growing up in a mixed-status household, she experienced first-hand the hardships Latinx immigrant families faced, such as the struggle to assimilate, obtain basic needs, and become financially stable. The systematic barriers that limit the upward mobility of historically marginalized communities propelled her to become an advocate in her local community, and pursue a career in public service. After being selected to attend Harvard Kennedy...

Helen Pei Phun

Class of 2024
2024 Democracy Camp in DC
2023 Cal-in-Sacramento

Helen Phun is a junior from Sacramento, CA, majoring in Media Studies and minoring in Political Economy. She is a first-generation Chinese-Vietnamese immigrant from China and the first in her family to attend college. Growing up in an immigrant household in a low-income and diverse neighborhood guides her values and advocacy. Helen is interested in increasing equity within socio-economically disadvantaged communities. She is most passionate about issues of education, accessible transportation, increasing social welfare, and immigration.

Before transferring to Cal, Helen
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Deborah Adepeju Alagbada

Class of 2024
2024 Democracy Camp in DC
2023 Cal-in-Sacramento

Deborah Alagbada is a first-generation Nigerian-American majoring in Legal Studies and Sociology with a minor in Ethnic Studies. She was raised by her immigrant parents in Watts, a low-income neighborhood primarily occupied by Black and Latinx communities. Growing up, she witnessed a lot of inequalities streaming from a lack of resources and inadequate funding. Deborah hopes to use her degree to help amplify the voices of those who have been silenced for too long. By continuing the fight against injustice for everyone facing inequalities and...

Sacramento Partners

For 50 years, the Cal-in-Sacramento program has helped prepare our state's future leaders for careers in public service. Help us train the next generation!

Every year, the Robert T. Matsui Center for Politics and Public Service at UC Berkeley sends 30 undergraduate students to Sacramento to complete highly substantive public service internships. Before commencing their internships, Fellows are required to take a 3-unit spring semester course on California politics, policy, and governance, which is designed to train and prepare...

IGS Diversity and Entrepreneurship Initiative

person holding up an "open" sign

In Spring of 2021, the Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS) at the University of California, Berkeley, was awarded a grant of more than $333,000 from the Wells Fargo Foundation to launch a new Diversity and Entrepreneurship Fellowship Program. The new initiative expands...