Staff Profiles
Leulseged Afework
Computer Instructor
Leulseged ("Leul") began teaching in 1997 at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. Prior to joining to the Institute, he taught computer applications in various schools and organizations in the U.S. He is a certified Microcomputer applications instructor by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education. He holds his B.A in Economics and M.S. in Macro Economic policy analysis from Addis Ababa University, Faculty of Business and Economics in Ethiopia. He speaks Amharic.
Susan Bowyer
Managing Attorney
Susan Bowyer is the Institute's Managing Attorney. Susan has worked for over two decades with nonprofit social justice organizations, including the United Farm Workers Union, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center and the Center for Race, Poverty, and the Environment. Susan worked in the late '90s with the Institute and a network of community groups and adult schools to improve provision of naturalization services in the East Bay. She graduated from Stanford Law School as a Public Services Law Fellow in 1992.
Jenny Briffa
Caregivers Child Development Instructor
Through a collaboration with Merritt College, Jenny teaches Early Childhood
Education (ECE) classes, works with program staff to ensure student success, and
provides input and feedback regarding student progress.
Lynne Bromely
Caregivers VESL Instructor
Through a collaboration with the Oakland Unified School District, Lynne teaches
Vocational English as a Second Language (VESL) classes in the area of child
care, and conducts Health and Safety Training sessions.
Herb Castillo
Executive Director
Herb Castillo began his career in the immigrant and refugee arena in the early
80's as a case manager and resettlement worker for Cuban Marielitos and
Southeast Asian refugees. In 1985 he developed a
comprehensive legal services program for Catholic Charities of Santa Rosa that
helped newcomers in the North Bay obtain legal status under the federal
amnesty/legalization program. His personal experience as part of an immigrant
family and the lessons he learned helping newcomers adjust to life in a new
society subsequently guided his 10-year career as a program officer with three
major philanthropic institutions in the Bay Area. Among his achievements in the
foundation arena were the development of a grants portfolio focusing on social
justice issues and the formation of the Northern California Citizenship Project,
which provided approximately 50,000 northern California immigrants with
naturalization services and in which Herb prominently figured in its creation.
His extensive experience designing and managing initiatives for foundations is
expected to contribute significantly to the Institute's program growth.
Gladis Castillo Ortiz
Receptionist
Gladis was raised in Central America and the Caribbean. She immigrated to the U.S. in 1991. She is completing her B.A. in Political Science with a double major in Italian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley and spent a year abroad at the University of Padua in Italy where she studied history and elements of the European Union. In addition to her work at the Institute, she is the Finance Manager for a women's co-operative house in Berkeley. Previous to working at the Institute she interned with Merrill Lynch. Gladis conducts the Institute's community education series on a host of personal finance topics.
Alfonso Farfan
Immigration Counselor
Alfonso is a long time activist promoting rights and services for the Salvadoran community. He brings six years of experience working in immigration, having previously worked at Centro Latino Cuzcatlan in San Francisco and CARECEN. Alfonso also worked as a case manager for the youth program, Real Alternatives of San Francisco. Alfonso works with clients in the Legal Department to apply for citizenship and works on immigration cases involving family reunification. He is bicultural and bilingual (English/Spanish).
Naomi Onaga
Staff Attorney
Naomi
specializes
in cases to provide immigration relief to immigrant survivors of domestic
violence, and coordinates the development of the Deportation Defense Program and
the Institute’s advocacy program.
Her previous work experience includes serving as an advisor to the Latin
American NGO campaign for the creation of an International Criminal Court, a
consultant to the Amnesty International United Nations Office in New York, and a
Legislative Aide in the Hawaii House of Representatives. She has also assisted
in impact litigation to protect refugee rights in South Africa, preparation of
cases for submission to the Inter-American Commission and Court of Human Rights
in San Jose, Costa Rica, and the investigation and reporting of human rights
violations committed against indigenous communities in Mindanao, Philippines.
She has a B.A. in sociology from Stanford University and a joint J.D. and Master
of International Affairs degree from Columbia University, and has studied human
rights law at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City. Naomi speaks fluent Spanish, intermediate Japanese and basic
French.
Carol
Perez
Training
and Employment Manager
Kailana
Piimauna
Law
Clerk
Kailana
is from Hawai’i. She has a B.A. in liberal arts from Sarah Lawrence College,
and a M.A. in Forensic Psychology
from John Jay College of Criminal Justice. She is
currently a second-year law student at Boalt Hall at the
University of California, Berkeley. At Boalt Hall, Kailana
is involved in the Domestic Violence Clinic, the California
Asylum Representation Clinic, and the California
Law Review. Kailana is a law clerk at IIEB working
on VAWA applications for battered women, and provides
intake and referral on immigration issues for clients
at the Alameda County Family Justice Center.
Kelly
Seymour
Caregivers
Program Specialist
Kelly
joins the staff as part of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. She is from Ontario,
Canada, and completed a B.A. in Theology and Comparative Religion from St. Mary’s
University, Nova Scotia.
Barbara
Texidor
Law
Clerk
Barbara
is a law clerk in the Deportation Defense Project of the International Institute
of the East Bay interviewing potential clients, researching immigration case law
and regulations, and assessing possible remedies to deportation. She
is a second-year law student at the University of California, Hastings College
of the Law in San Francisco. She
plans to work in immigration law and has worked with the Immigration Clinic of
La Raza Centro legal, the HIV/AIDS Immigration Project of the East Bay Community
Law Center, and The Center for Justice and Accountability.
She is also an officer of the Hastings-To-Haiti Partnership, an
organization that donates materials to a law school in Jeremie Haiti and sends
Hastings law students every year to Haiti to participate in a conference with
Haitian law students.
Kristie
Whitehorse
Domestic
Violence Program Fellow
Kristie
comes to the Institute as a fellow from Boalt Hall School of Law at UC Berkeley.
She has a B.A. in Psychology and Women’s Studies from UC Berkeley. In May
2005, Kristie graduated with a J.D. from Boalt, where she was actively involved
in the Raza student organization and the Queer Caucus. As a fellow, Kristie
works primarily on VAWA, U-visa, and other cases to protect immigrant survivors
of domestic violence.
Eleonore Zwinger
Immigration Counselor
Eleonore originally comes from Germany. She graduated from the
University of Passau, Germany, with a law degree and was admitted to the Bar in Germany as an attorney in 1995. She speaks fluent English and German and is able to communicate in French. Although Eleonore works on a variety of legal immigration cases, she specializes in casework on behalf of victims of domestic violence as it pertains to the applicant's immigration status.
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