ABOUT US WHAT WE DO PRESS ROOM EVENTS RESOURCES CONTACT US BOARD OF DIRECTORS Home > About Us > Board of Directors ABOUT CIPC has developed a structure that supports our sustainability in order to best support the needs of the immigrant rights movement. We are proud to introduce this structure– the Board of Directors. This committee works to build up CIPC’s infrastructure, financial resources, and strategic plan, in order to ensure CIPC’s growth and sustainability. This committee is comprised of members from diverse sectors, selected for their expertise and commitment to expanding inclusive policies for California’s immigrant communities. As we continue to strengthen our internal infrastructure, CIPC will continue to work with our grassroots Steering Committee and Advisory Council to inform and oversee our pro-immigrant policy priorities. MEET THE CIPC BOARD OF DIRECTORS! Richard Barrera Richard Barrera is the President of the San Diego Unified School District Board of Trustees. He was first elected to the San Diego School Board in 2008. A first-generation San Diegan, his father emigrated from Colombia and mother is the daughter of European immigrants who came to America through Ellis Island. After graduating from El Cajon Valley High School, Mr. Barrera received his Bachelors Degree in American History from UCSD, and a Masters Degree in Public Policy from Harvard University. Mr. Barrera has a background as a community organizer, working to revitalize low-income neighborhoods and create networks for parents of pre-school aged kids. He served five years as president of the Consensus Organizing Institute and has also worked for the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, the Comer Science and Education Foundation and as a consultant for the City Heights Community Development Corporation. In the field of labor relations, he has served as San Diego regional organizer for both the United Domestic Workers and United Healthcare Workers. Mr. Barrera serves as a board member of the San Diego Cooperative Charter School, the Greater Golden Hill Community Planning Committee, the San Diego League of Conservation Voters, and the San Diego Unity League, and volunteers for the Urban Corps of San Diego County and as a coach for his sons’ North Park Little League teams. Mr. Barrera’s two sons are students in the San Diego Unified School District. Xóchitl Castañeda Xóchitl Castañeda is project director of the California-Mexico Health Initiative, a University of California initiative that coordinates and optimizes health resources for Mexican immigrants and their families in California through collaboration, education and training efforts. Castañeda previously served as a professor and researcher for seven years at Mexico’s National Institute of Public Health, where she also directed the Department of Reproductive Health. In 1999, she received the National Research Award on Social Science and Medicine. Castañeda has published more than 50 scientific works and has served as a consultant for more than 20 national and international institutions. A medical anthropologist by training, Castañeda was educated in Guatemala and Mexico. She did a post-doctoral fellowship in reproductive health at the University of California, San Francisco, and also received training in social science and medicine at Harvard University. Allan Colbern Allan Colbern is an assistant professor in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Arizona State University. His scholarship explores how the relationship between political institutions and social movements shape developments in the rights of racial minorities and immigrants at the national, state, and local levels. Allan spends time engaging in advocacy connected to his academic work, which includes working closely with immigrant rights organizations in states like California and New York to help them build state-wide movement capacity and design long-term policy blueprints. Allan’s first book, “Citizenship Reimagined: A New Framework for State Rights in the United States,” was published last year with Cambridge University Press (2020). The notion of citizenship as the monopoly of national governments, and deriving exclusively from legal status, does not match the reality of how citizenship rights operate today. Through our rights-based multi-dimensional and federated conceptual framework, Citizenship Reimagined traces and explains three types of state citizenship that have developed throughout American history: regressive state citizenship, where states erode rights that granted to individuals at the federal level; reinforcing state citizenship, where states enforce federal limitations on rights to particular types of individuals; and progressive state citizenship, where states exceed the rights granted to particular types of individuals at the federal level. He received Russell Sage Foundation’s Presidential Award for their Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration initiative 2018-2021 to support the completion and publication of his second book, “Today’s Runaway Slaves: Unauthorized Immigrants in a Federalist Framework.” This book project explores how federated political institutions (constitutions, courts, parties) and social movements create resistance against unjust federal laws that racialize and dehumanize racial minorities and immigrants as “illegal.” Additionally, Allan recently published a chapter on immigration policy in “Immigrant California: Understanding the Past, Present, and Future of U.S. Policy” (Stanford University Press, 2021) and his work has been featured in popular sources like “The Washington Post” and the “Los Angeles Times.” In his spare time, Allan enjoys trail distance running having completed the San Diego 100 Mile Endurance Run, the Old Goat 50 Miler and the San Diego 50 Miler, and holds hopes to do another 100 mile run in the future. Allan has two beautiful children (Maya is 4 years old; Kilian is 9 months old) and an incredibly supportive wife, Shima. Leticia Landa Leticia Landa is Deputy Director of La Cocina. She joined La Cocina in early 2008 as the third staff member. Throughout her career, Leticia has relied on her experience being the daughter of Mexican immigrants who moved to the US and started a business to fuel her belief that business ownership can be transformative, particularly for women, immigrants and people of color. Leticia has worn almost every hat at La Cocina over the last decade: writing grants, developing the incubator program, working directly with business owners, managing volunteers, and consulting with other food business incubators both nationally and internationally. Leticia has provided vision and strategy for the organization’s tremendous growth, which has led to its recognition in publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and NPR. Born and raised in Austin, TX Leticia has a BA from Harvard University and is the co-author of We Are La Cocina: Recipes in Pursuit of the American Dream, a cookbook published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Outside her work at La Cocina, Leticia serves on the Advisory Board of Kitchen Table Advisors, where she has been involved since the organization’s initial pilot in 2013. Marc Philpart Born and raised in South Central Los Angeles and now living in Oakland, CA, Marc Philpart has been a leader in the racial justice movement for more than a decade. He currently serves as a Managing Director at PolicyLink where he advances racial justice initiatives that build power and facilitate policy and systems change. Marc is a creative results-driven leader that prioritizes grassroots leadership and has established a variety of successful initiatives and advanced dozens of policy campaigns. Marc maintains policy expertise and experience across a multi-disciplinary set of issues including public health and violence prevention, moving from mass incarceration to divestment and decarceration, education and the criminalization of youth, economic equity and poverty eradication, and voting and civic engagement. Marc oversees the strategic direction and policy agenda of the Alliance for Boys and Men of Color. Under his leadership, the Alliance has grown to a national network of over 200 organizations across Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Florida. In California, where the Alliance got its start 10 years ago, the network has successfully advanced more than 100 state policies and established powerful partnerships with the California Senate and Assembly Select Committees on the Status of Boys and Men of Color and the California Funders for Boys and Men of Color. Through Marc’s leadership, the Alliance has broadened its focus to include fighting for gender justice and ending intimate partner violence by addressing misogyny and patriarchy, as well as racial equity. In addition to his work with the Alliance, Marc has led the development of a transformative racial justice initiative, tentatively titled California for All, that seeks to foster deep structural change throughout systems and institutions to ensure racial equity. Developed through the wisdom of more than 75 movement leaders, the California for All unity statement represents a shared vision and aspiration for California’s future. Marc serves on the Board of Directors for the California Immigrant Policy Center, Partners for Dignity and Rights, and is on advisory committees for the University of Southern California’s Equity Research Institute and The Colorado Health Foundation’s Locally Focused Work. Julia L. Ritchie, M.A., ED.M., L.C.S.W., Secretary Ms. Ritchie brings a unique blend of organizational development skills and executive and staff training expertise to creating high performing mission-driven enterprises. Her specialties include Strategy & Business Planning, Process & Systems Improvement, Facilitation & Executive Coaching. Ms. Ritchie has a celebrated consultative approach that recognizes individual and organizational strengths, encourages commitment and participation, and delivers universal growth. Ms. Ritchie has spearheaded strategic planning processes for a broad range of mission-driven enterprises including international nongovernmental organizations, philanthropic organizations, social enterprises, as well as, federal and state public institutions. She has a national reputation for superbly managing group processes that promote dialogue, bridge agendas, build consensus and successfully meet project objectives. Ms. Ritchie is an exceptional process facilitator who has been guiding strategy development and organizational change initiatives for boards of trustees and executive teams for 20 years. Most recently, Ms. Ritchie designed and implemented a program to build long-term financial sustainability for social change organizations while working at the Haas Leadership Initiatives, a Project of the Haas Jr. Fund. Before attaining her advanced degrees, Ms. Ritchie was a fundraising consultant in New York City. Ms. Ritchie holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Princeton University; a Master’s of Arts and a Master’s in Education in Counseling Psychology from Columbia University; a Master’s in Social Work Administration from Hunter School of Social Work, and is a licensed clinical social worker. She is on the Advisory Board for the Pipeline Project, a leadership development fellowship for LGBT Leaders of Color. Ms. Ritchie is committed to environmental causes, land-use preservation, restoration of the earth’s diverse ecosystems, and volunteers her time for The Nature Conservancy of New York, Columbia County Land Trust, and Scenic Hudson. When not working she is hiking the trails with her husband and their dog, or kayaking the local waterways. Reshma Shamasunder Reshma Shamasunder consults with philanthropy, advocacy and grassroots partners on policy campaigns and issues that benefit low income, immigrant, and vulnerable communities. Reshma served as Executive Director of the California Immigrant Policy Center from 2003 to 2015. Under Reshma’s leadership, CIPC helped to spearhead many successful campaigns at the state level, including placing limits on cooperation between local law enforcement and immigration authorities, preserving important health and human service programs, winning driver’s licenses for all Californians, and furthering important immigrant integration efforts. Reshma served on the boards of Health Access California and the South Asian Network in Los Angeles and was an inaugural fellow with the Rockwood Fellowship for a New California, a leadership program for California’s immigrant rights leaders. Reshma has also received numerous awards for her leadership on immigrant issues. She was previously Director of Benefits Policy and Government Affairs at the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, and also worked for several years on child labor issues in India. Reshma holds a Bachelors Degree from UCLA and a Masters in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Hector Villagra, Board Chair Hector Villagra is executive director at the ACLU of Southern California, a post he has served since February 2011. Hector launched the Orange County Office of the ACLU of Southern California in September 2005 and served as its director until October 2009, when he became legal director for the affiliate. Before joining ACLU SoCal, Hector served as regional counsel for the Los Angeles Regional Office of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) from 2001 to 2005 and as a staff attorney at MALDEF from 1999 to 2001. He has led numerous civil rights cases involving such issues as educational equity, religious discrimination, immigrants’ rights and voting rights. Hector received the Daniel Levy Award for outstanding achievement in immigration law from the National Lawyer’s Guild in 2008. In 2012, he received the Attorney of the Year Award from the Hispanic Bar Association of Orange County, the Excellence in Leadership Award from the National Latina/o Law Student Association and the Latino Law Students Association of Columbia Distinguished Alumnus Award. Hector graduated from Columbia University and Columbia University School of Law, where he received the Jane Marks Murphy Prize, awarded to students who show promise of a professional career applying the highest standards of the lawyer’s craft to service of the public interest. After graduation, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Robert Wilentz, Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, and the Honorable Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Rachelle Reyes Wenger, Treasurer Rachelle Reyes Wenger is the Director of Public Policy and Community Advocacy for Dignity Health. Headquartered in San Francisco, Dignity Health is one of the largest, private, not-for-profit healthcare systems in the nation. Dignity Health’s mission is to deliver compassionate, high-quality, affordable health care services with special attention to the poor, vulnerable and underserved. Ms. Wenger has been with Dignity Health since 1996. Based in Pasadena, she is primarily responsible for advancing the organization’s Public Policy & Advocacy Priorities, mobilizing grassroots advocacy efforts, developing community partnerships, advocating at the local, state, national, and international arenas. Ms. Wenger manages policy issues core to Dignity Health’s commitment to its foundational priorities focused on social and environmental determinants of health. Her portfolio includes housing and homelessness, immigration, nutrition/hunger, economic equity/poverty, safer chemicals, and the environment. Through strong collaborations and speaking platforms, Ms. Wenger has worked to successfully provide the healthcare voice in support of landmark legislation and strategic initiatives while inspiring community and industry engagement to lift up their voices in solidarity on common ground issues. Ms. Wenger has been quoted in various publications and has authored articles for a trade journal. She serves on various hospital and community boards and councils, including Community Hospital of San Bernardino, Housing California, Network Advocacy and Network Lobby, and The Root Cause Coalition. As Dignity Health is a member, she also participates in the Protecting Immigrant Families Campaign. As an immigrant from the Philippines, Ms. Wenger’s growing perspective of “home” and values steeped in the community drive her to work for justice and enliven care. Ms. Wenger received her bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley, and her master’s degree in Public Administration from California State University, Northridge. She is an alumna of the Southern California Leadership Network. Tom K. Wong Tom K. Wong is an assistant professor of political science at the University of California, San Diego. Professor Wong’s research focuses on the politics of immigration, citizenship, and migrant illegality. As these issues have far-reaching implications, his work also explores the links between immigration, race and ethnicity, and the politics of identity. He is the creator of the CIR Blog, which predicts support and opposition to comprehensive immigration reform among all 535 current members of Congress. He is the lead researcher on one of the first nationwide surveys of undocumented youth. He also recently completed a book manuscript, which analyzes the immigration control policies of twenty-five Western immigrant-receiving democracies, and is beginning another book on the politics of comprehensive immigration reform in the U.S., among other projects. Wong¹s research has been used by policymakers both in the U.S. and in Mexico, as well as by organizations that serve immigrant communities. Wong and his work has been covered by ABC News/Univision, Fusion, NPR, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Yahoo News, and by Univision in Mexico. His most recent publication is the first nationwide analysis of the Obama administration’s policy of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which provides relief from deportation for undocumented youth. ABOUT US Our Staff Steering Committee Board of Directors Membership Careers WHAT WE DO Fighting Mass Detention & Deportation Immigrant Integration Health & Public Benefits Economic Justice Regional Capacity Building Project Immigrant Strategic Messaging Project PRESS ROOM Press Releases & Statements CIPC In The News EVENTS Cover/age 25 Years of CIPC RESOURCES All Resources Contributions Report TRUTH Act: Know Your Rights (213) 250-0880 info@Caimmigrant.org SUBSCRIBE © 2019 CALIFORNIA IMMIGRANT POLICY CENTER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Site by DEEPBLUE DONATE