Responsibilities:
Mr. Quon joined the APALRC on July 1, 2008 as Executive Director. He is working to expand and extend the APALRC’s programs and advance the strategic collaborations that have developed with local community organizations. He also advises regional public officials on the needs and priorities of the Asian American and broader immigrant community and works with public and private program and funding partners. He is leading the agency’s diversification of funding sources and the refinement of its legal services that will advance the organization to a more effective and crucial role in the region.
Prior Work Experience:
Prior to joining the APALRC, Mr. Quon served as Legal Director of the Asian American Institute in Chicago and as an Adjunct Lecturer with the Asian American Studies Program at Northwestern University. Mr. Quon has successfully led advocacy efforts to repair the presumptive exclusion of Asian American-owned business enterprises from the City of Chicago’s public contracting affirmative action program. He also has coordinated poll watching for limited English proficient Chinese voters protected by the Voting Rights Act, and he has spearheaded data collection and analysis documenting language barriers that prevent Lao American seniors from accessing quality healthcare. Prior to AAI, he served as a consultant at The Chicago Community Trust stewarding grants for legal services organizations. Mr. Quon’s background includes being the Deputy Regional Director of the Western Regional Office of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund. Mr. Quon began his legal career in the field of direct legal services, as a staff attorney and then managing attorney for the Legal Aid Foundation of Santa Barbara County in Santa Maria, California.
Education:
B.A. University of California at Berkeley
J.D. Boston University
MBA Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University
Admitted in:
California Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court"
}
var admin1 = {
"name": "Chrystal Searles",
"email": "chrystal.searles@apalrc.org",
"title": "Director of Finance and Administration",
"phone": "(202) 393-3572 x 24",
"bio": ""
}
var admin1a = {
"name": "Aeda Chung",
"email": "aeda.chung@apalrc.org",
"title": "Marketing & Donor Relations Coordinator",
"phone": "(202) 393-3572 x32",
"bio": "Responsibilities:
Aeda’s responsibilities include special event planning, e-newsletter production, website content management, press releases, and individual donor relations.
Prior Work Experience:
Aeda's professional experiences include fundraising, volunteer training, media relations, newsletter publication, and web site maintenance.
Education:
B.S. Cornell University
Language(s):
Korean"
}
var service1 = {
"name": "Marita Etcubañez",
"email": "marita@apalrc.org",
"title": "Director of Legal Services",
"phone": "(202) 393-3572 x12
(301) 942-2223",
"bio": "Responsibilities:
Marita supervises the APALRC's legal programs, including community outreach and education efforts. She also represents low-wage immigrant workers on employment-related matters.
Prior Work Experience:
Marita's work experience includes advocacy on behalf of migrant and seasonal farm workers as an Attorney with Texas Rural Legal Aid. She also worked with labor pool workers in Baltimore, Maryland, as a Staff Attorney with the Homeless Persons Representation Project.
Education:
B.A. University of Michigan
J.D. University of Michigan
Admitted in:
Maryland
District of Columbia
Language(s):
Tagalog
Spanish"
}
var service2 = {
"name": "Kathy Kwak",
"email": "kathy.kwak@apalrc.org",
"title": "Staff Attorney",
"phone": "(202) 393-3572 x15",
"bio": "Responsibilities:
Kathy provides holistic legal services to Asian American survivors of domestic violence in northern Virginia. She advises and represents clients on orders of protection, immigration law and a range of family law matters, including visitation and custody, child support, spousal support and divorce.
Prior Work Experience:
Kathy has clerked with the Legal Aid Society in New York City and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights in Washington, D.C.
Education:
B.A. Wellesley College
J.D. Columbia University
Admitted in:
New York
Virginia
Awards/Affiliations:
Language(s):
Korean"
}
var service3 = {
"name": "Sabrina Balgamwalla",
"email": "",
"title": "Staff Attorney",
"phone": "(301) 942-2223",
"bio": ""
}
var service4 = {
"name": "Wendy W. Lau",
"email": "wendy.lau@apalrc.org",
"title": "Program Coordinator",
"phone": "(202) 393-3572 x14",
"bio": "Responsibilities:
Wendy provides program support to the APALRC staff. She also coordinates the Legal Interpreter Project.
Prior Work Experience:
Prior to joining the APALRC in 2006, Wendy worked as a paralegal at Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, P.L.L.C.
Education:
B.A. University of Washington
J.D. Candidate, Catholic University
Language(s):
Mandarin "
}
var service5 = {
"name": "Lu Lan",
"email": "lu.lan@apalrc.org",
"title": "CVAP Project Advocate",
"phone": "(202) 393-3572 x13",
"bio": "Responsibilities:
Lu Lan assists non-/limited-English speaking Asian American victims of crime through timely reporting of crimes, applying for crime victims' compensation, navigating the criminal justice system, and collaborating with law enforcement. She also advocates for fair access by crime victims to district government services.
Prior Work Experience:
Prior to joining the APALRC, Lu Lan managed the Crime Victim Assistance Partnership Project for over four years at the Chinatown Service Center in D.C.
Education:
B.A. Nanjing Academy of Art, China
Th.M. Wesley Theological Seminary
Awards/Affiliations:
2006 Community Service Award from the D.C. Mayor's Office
2004 Justice for Victims of Crime Award from the District of Columbia U.S. Attorney's Office
Language(s):
Mandarin "
}
var service6 = {
"name": "Jennifer Deng-Pickett",
"email": "jennifer.dengpickett@dclanguageaccess.org",
"title": "Director, D.C. Language Access Coalition",
"phone": "(202) 393-3572 x17 ",
"bio": "Responsibilities:
Jennifer is the Director of the DC Language Access Coalition and oversees community organization through collaboration with other Coalition members, helping to monitor local government implementation of the D.C. Language Access Act to assist those with limited English proficiency.
Prior Work Experience:
Jennifer's professional experience includes being the Maryland Program Manager at Asian American LEAD (Leadership, Empowerment and Development), Events and Communications Manager for the Leadership for a Changing World program at the Advocacy Institute, Spanish Teacher at Bladensburg High School and Paralegal at Vinson & Elkins, LLP as well as a consultant to the Institute for Sustainable Communities.
Education:
B.A. Austin College
M.A. University of Limerick, Ireland
MBA Candidate, University of Maryland
Language(s):
Mandarin "
}
var service7 = {
"name": "Nadia J. Firozvi",
"email": "nadia.firozvi@apalrc.org",
"title": "Staff Attorney",
"phone": "(202) 393-3572 x23",
"bio": "Responsibilities:
Nadia supervises the many law student volunteers who staff our helpline, and provides legal assistance on immigration law and a range of other matters to D.C. area residents. She also engages in community outreach and education to D.C. residents, and supports the D.C. Language Access Coalition's advocacy initiatives.
Prior Work Experience:
Nadia joins us from the law firm of Howanski & Greene, LLC in Towson, Maryland, where she worked as an immigration associate.
Education:
B.A. Loyola College
J.D. University of Baltimore
LL.M. American University
Admitted In:
Maryland
Language(s):
Urdu
Hindi
Nadia also is literate in Arabic, French and German."
}
var service8 = {
"name": "Tina Pham",
"email": "tina.pham@apalrc.org",
"title": "Community Organizer",
"phone": "(202) 393-3572 x11",
"bio": "Responsibilities:
Tina conducts community outreach, assessment, and builds relationships with D. C. Asian American community organizations in order to understand, educate, and organize the community around emerging needs and issues. Tina also works with the Crime Victims Assistance Partnership to screen cases and assist eligible individuals apply for crime victims assistance benefits. Her work also includes participating in the D. C. Language Access Coalition, serving as a liaison between the Coalition and the Asian American community in the DC metropolitan area.
Prior Work Experience:
Prior to her work at the APALRC, Tina worked with young Vietnamese and Chinese children as well as older youth in Columbia Heights, D. C. Tina’s responsibilities included teaching, coordinating a neighborhood remedial tutoring program, as well as coordinating a secondary school program. Tina has been actively involved in working with Asian American communities since her inception into college.
Education:
B.A. George Mason University
Language(s):
Vietnamese"
}
var service9 = {
"name": "Betty Luan",
"email": "betty.luan@apalrc.org",
"title": "Program Coordinator",
"phone": "(202) 393-3572 x14",
"bio": "Responsibilities:
Betty provides research, writing, and case management support to APALRC legal staff. Betty also coordinates our Legal Interpreter Project, and assists with the supervision of volunteers staffing our legal helpline. In addition, she engages in community outreach and education to D.C. residents.
Prior Work Experience:
Prior to joining the APALRC staff, Betty Luan wrote for the Asian Migrant Center in Hong Kong on international migration and development, and authored articles documenting the difficulties migrant workers face while abroad. In Hong Kong, Betty also volunteered to teach weekly English classes for the Thai Women Worker Association, and developed a reader-friendly legal handbook on immigration and sex work laws for Ziteng. While a student at Stanford University, Betty assisted voters in Santa Clara County, California as a Mandarin-speaking volunteer.
Education:
B.A. Stanford University
M.A. Candidate, Stanford University
Language(s):
Mandarin"
}
var service10 = {
"name": "Patrick Coonan",
"email": "patrick.coonan@dclanguageaccess.org",
"title": "Research & Documentation Associate (Americorps*VISTA)",
"phone": "(202) 393-3572 x16",
"bio": "Responsibilities:
Patrick documents the DC Language Access Coalition’s work, manages the content of the website, researches relevant language access issues, and supports the administrative functions of the Coalition. Patrick came to the Coalition as an Americorps*VISTA.
Prior Work Experience:
Patrick has taught ESL to adult immigrants at Carlos Rosario International School in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, DC. He gained an interest in language access after completing a graduate thesis on language policy in the West African country of Cape Verde, where he served in the Peace Corps from 2001 to 2003.
Education:
B.A., Spanish and Philosophy, University of Dayton
M.A., International Affairs, Ohio University
Awards/Affilations:
Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship, Ohio University
Marianist Sesquicentennial Award for Service, University of Dayton
Language(s):
Spanish, Portuguese,Cape Verdean Creole"}
var service11 = {
"name": "Parag Rajendra Khandhar",
"email": "parag.khandhar@apalrc.org",
"title": "Staff Attorney",
"phone": "(202) 393-3572 x13",
"bio": "Responsibilities:
Parag will establish the Housing and Community Justice Project at the APALRC, which will provide legal services and resources to Asian American tenants and community groups in the D.C. metropolitan area. He works with low-income Asian American tenants on a range of affordable housing and tenants’ rights issues including: eviction protection, housing discrimination, access to government-subsidized housing, emergency assistance, and shelters, and exercise of the tenants’ right of first refusal. In addition, he assists community groups such as tenants’ associations and other groups with legal and other issues related to building organizational capacity, developing community-driven initiatives, and fulfilling their missions.
Prior Work Experience:
Parag comes to the APALRC with 10 years of experience in the Asian American community of NYC. He oversaw a number of community art projects as Program Director at the Asian American Writers’ Workshop. He then worked for 5 ½ years at the Asian American Federation as an Assistant Director for Policy and Planning, where he lead a community-based Census 2000 advocacy campaign and data campaign. After September 11th, Parag managed the Federation’s extensive case management and client advocacy programs in a satellite office in Queens, where 6 case managers worked with hundreds of Asian American workers, residents, and family members affected by September 11th and its aftermath. In Spring 2008, Parag was an adjunct lecturer at the University of Maryland College Park Asian American Studies Program, where he co-taught a class on South Asian American communities.
Education:
B.S. in Biological Sciences and Literature, State University of New York at Albany
J.D. American University Washington College of Law
Admitted in:
Maryland
Language(s):
Gujarati"}
var service12 = {
"name": "Nancy Chung",
"email": "",
"title": "Staff Attorney",
"phone": "",
"bio": ""}
var service13 = {
"name": "Christine Nguyen",
"email": "",
"title": "EJW Fellow",
"phone": "",
"bio": ""}
var service14 = {
"name": "Jenny Kye",
"email": "jennifer.kye@apalrc.org",
"title": "EJW Fellow",
"phone": "(202) 393-3572 x 15",
"bio": ""}
var service15 = {
"name": "Lilian Bui",
"email": "",
"title": "AmeriCorps VISTA",
"phone": "",
"bio": ""}
var bios = [
["Executive Director", exec1],
["Operations Staff", admin1, admin1a],
["Program Staff", service1, service7, service11, service3, service12, service9, service8, service13, service14, service15]
]