Equal Justice Works Recognizes Cristina G. Gamundi Garcia
Cristina G. Gamundi Garcia, J.D. ’24, has been named among the 2024 class of Fellows by , the nation’s largest facilitator of opportunities in public interest law.
Each of the 84 law school graduates, in collaboration with a nonprofit organization, designed a two-year Equal Justice Works Fellowship project to address unmet legal needs of the community they will serve.
Sponsored by The Gorder Family Foundation and The Raikes Foundation, Gamundi designed her fellowship with the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP) in Seattle. Her project will focus on providing legal representation and social services connections to 18- to 20-year-old immigrant youth in Western Washington who are at risk of homelessness and deportation.
Gamundi will work with NWIRP’s Children and Youth Advocacy Program (CYAP), where she will partner with two Western Washington NWIRP offices, pro bono legal service partners and other organizations. She will screen for relief, particularly Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) classification and Vulnerable Youth Guardianship (VYG), a mechanism that allows youth ages 18–20 to access SIJ protection. She will also work to connect clients to social services.
“My lived experiences as an undocumented woman and the due process violations immigrant communities are constantly subject to are what drive me to work with immigrant populations,” Gamundi says. “I was once an immigrant child who was subject to the terror of the immigration system, and this Fellowship will give me the opportunity to help other immigrant youth navigate the draconian system, so they do not have to go through it alone.”
The 2024 class of Equal Justice Works Fellows includes graduates from 42 law schools who will work at 79 legal services organizations across 22 states and Washington, D.C.
“These new Fellows advance our longstanding work of building a movement of public interest leaders who are transforming communities across the nation,” said Verna Williams, CEO of Equal Justice Works.
On average, 85% of Equal Justice Works Fellows remain in public service positions, continuing to help fulfill our nation’s promise of equal justice for all.