2021 Peggy Browning Fellows

2021 Peggy Browning Summer Fellows Annie Gorden JD’23 University of California Hastings College of the Law San Francisco, CA Raise the Floor Alliance Chicago, IL Annie is an organizer and activist, and was born and raised in the Southern California border region. Following the rise of the Occupy Movement, she developed a strong passion for social movements and collective action for justice. While pursuing her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Peace and Justice Studies, Annie studied the intersections between violent conflict, global poverty, and systems of oppression. After graduating, she worked at a refugee resettlement agency and a pro-bono immigration firm on asylum litigation. There she became interested in movement lawyering as a part of social justice movements. Annie is so excited to continue this dream through her Summer Fellowship to fight for workers’ justice alongside those most impacted. Tania González Contreras JD’23 University of Nevada, Las Vegas William S. Boyd School of Law Las Vegas, NV National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) Pasadena, CA Tania’s parents immigrated to the United States from Mexico in their early adulthood. She grew up hearing friends and family’s immigration and labor stories. Tania noticed there is a lack of labor abuse reporting because of the fear of workplace retaliation, including deportation and loss of income. She has a strong interest in labor law, especially as it often intersects with the immigrant population. Tania received dual bachelor’s degrees from the University of Nevada, Reno - Criminal Justice with a Law and Justice specialization and Human Development and Family Studies. She has a series of immigration legal experiences but this summer will be her first time working in the nexus of workplace justice and immigration. Tania believes that everyone deserves the dignity of a living wage and an equitable workplace. Joseph Garcia JD’22 DePaul University College of Law Chicago, IL Fair Worker Center Seattle, WA Growing up in a working-class, immigrant community, Joseph’s interest in labor and employment law developed from his experiences. His mother worked for many years at a local fast food location in Kansas City, and his father worked at a transportation, trucking, and railroad company. From the start, his parents valued education and instilled the importance of it in him. It was his parents’ shared effort, their journey to a country where their dreams could be realized, that led Joseph to become the first in his family to attend college. Most recently, he served as an intern for Legal Aid Chicago’s Immigrant and Workers’ Rights Practice Group. Joseph hopes to use his legal education to advocate for workers’ rights to strengthenprotectionsandsupportforlow-wageworkers. Noah Goldberg-Jaffe JD’22 University of Montana School of Law Missoula, MT Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Washington, DC Although he grew up in a union household, Noah did not fully understand the power in a union until he began working in the labor movement for the Oregon AFL-CIO. In this work, Noah organized workers and community members in rural Oregon around a range of economic, social, and racial justice issues. Noah says that he came to law school to be a better advocate for working people by understanding the law’s oppressive and (hopefully) liberating nature. In law school, he has researched local legal issues affecting workers’ lives such as prevailing wage and workers compensation. Noah is a core collective member of his law school’s National Lawyers Guild chapter and an editor-in-chief of the Montana Law Review .