Edgar Aranda-Yanoc currently works with Meyer Foundation as the Virginia Partnerships and Strategy Director. He is the former Senior Lead Organizer with Legal Aid Justice Center and the former Executive Director of the Virginia Coalition of Latino Organizations (VACOLAO). He is the founding member of the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights (VACIR) and Drive Virginia Forward Coalition.

Edgar has more than a decade of experience working in the field of immigrant rights in the Commonwealth. He has engaged in multiple campaigns for the rights of immigrants at the local, state and federal levels. Edgar also has fought for several state-wide immigrant rights causes such as the expansion of in-state tuition to include immigrant youth as well as the recently passed legislation that will expand access to driver’s licenses to all Virginia residents regardless of their immigration status. Edgar has served on different boards including the Executive Committee of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), the Arlington Free Clinic and the Complete Count Committees in both Arlington and Fairfax Counties.

In 2019, Edgar was named one of the 100 most influential people for the Nation’s Capital Metro-Area Latinos by Tiempo Latino, a regional Spanish language publication. In 2016, he was the recipient of Fairfax County Board of Supervisors’ proclamation acknowledging Hispanic Heritage Month for his contribution to the Hispanic community in Fairfax County. In 2014, Edgar was awarded the Jane Bagely Lehman Award for Excellence in Public Advocacy for his work in helping to remove barriers to educational equity for undocumented immigrant students in Virginia. In 2012, he was recognized by the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy as an outstanding social justice maker for his dedication to advancing opportunities for Virginia’s Latino and immigrant communities. In 2011, he received a Practitioner Fellowship from the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor of Georgetown University where Edgar enjoyed the opportunity to study issues impacting immigrant workers in a more in-depth manner. In 2010, Edgar received the Linowes Leadership Award of the Community Foundation of the Greater Capital Region.

Edgar received an LL.M. for foreign lawyers from the Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law where he received the Professor Samuel Gyandoh Award for his outstanding professional and personal service to the law school community. Prior to coming to the United States, Edgar was a practicing attorney in his native country Peru. He received his undergraduate degree in Political Science and Law from the University of Ancash in Peru “Santiago Antunez de Mayolo.”

Senator Ghazala Hashmi, PhD, serves in the Virginia General Assembly, representing the 10th Senatorial District which includes parts of Richmond City, Chesterfield County, and all of Powhatan County. She sits on the following Senate committees: Education and Health; Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources; General Laws and Technology; and Local Government. Senator Hashmi also chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Public Education. Prior to her election in November 2019, Senator Hashmi had a long career in higher education in Virginia.

TCI advances racial and economic justice in Virginia by advocating for public policies that are designed in partnership with people most impacted, and shaped by credible, accessible fiscal and policy research.

TCI is a critical player in an ecosystem of policy advocates that have a shared broad vision for building power with communities of color and people with low incomes. We contribute a unique expertise with our fiscal and policy research capabilities, in order to dismantle systems of racism and replace them with new, inclusive systems of justice and opportunity.

Mark Lee Keam is Deputy Assistant Secretary in the U.S. Department of Commerce.  Before joining the Biden Administration, Mark served seven terms in the Virginia House of Delegates where he chaired the Higher Education Subcommittee and the legislative Asian American and Pacific Islander Caucus.  As a naturalized American, he has long advocated for immigrant and minority rights, and introduced bills to support DACA, the Office of New Americans, funding for ESL, and environmental justice.  As chief counsel to U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, he helped draft the DREAM Act. Mark grew up in four countries and attended schools in five.