Causes
The wealth of the Washington, D.C. area hides a lot of need. These are the organizations I give my time and money to. Each works close to home, and I have a personal connection to every one of them.
If something here resonates, give directly through their sites — nothing routes through me.
Legal Aid Justice Center
I serve on LAJC’s Board of Directors. I first met their Falls Church attorneys when I was looking for a way into pro bono immigration work, and we started with emergency DACA renewals. Since then we have co-counseled a suit to secure the timely release of children held in Office of Refugee Resettlement custody, fought for bond for detained immigrants, and taken on much more besides.
Immigration is only part of it. LAJC partners with communities and clients across Virginia to dismantle the systems that create and perpetuate poverty — racial, social, and economic justice, pursued through the courts and in the legislature.
National Center for Youth Law
NCYL’s lawyers are the ones who know, cold, what the government may and may not do with a child in its custody — and who are in court when it does it anyway. I have worked alongside them on behalf of detained children, and I have watched them carry cases that no firm would find on its own. They litigate, they set policy, and they do it nationally, on a budget that would embarrass most of the firms they beat.ACLU of Virginia
The Virginia affiliate is the one that shows up in Richmond, in the General Assembly and in the courts, on the civil-liberties fights that actually reach the people around me: voting, policing, immigration enforcement, free expression, privacy. I support it because the Bill of Rights is only as good as the lawyers willing to enforce it locally, and because it defends people I agree with and people I don’t with the same energy.
Computer CORE
Education of every kind is a passion of mine, and I was proud to serve on Computer CORE’s board from 2016. Since 1999 the organization has prepared underserved adults in Northern Virginia for better careers by teaching foundational computer and professional skills.
What makes it unusual is who does the teaching: an all-volunteer instructor corps drawn from the same community it serves. Graduates come back and teach. That loop is the whole point.
Project Second Chance
I met Tara, the founder, through my immigration work and somehow knew I’d end up with one of her dogs. That’s how Nettie joined the family; my mom later adopted Lily.
For nearly fifteen years Project Second Chance’s volunteers have rescued satos — Puerto Rico’s street dogs — and purebreds alike. After the 2017 hurricane, shelters on the island were overwhelmed with abandoned animals. Tara’s team has worked ever since to pull dogs out, rehabilitate the ones that need it, and place them in homes here.
