Teague Gonzalez

The Project

Teague González is the Director of Programs and Advocacy at the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center (NMILC). In this role, she supports the legal and policy advocacy teams and co-leads the economic justice team. Teague’s Equal Justice Works fellowship will provide education, consultation, pro se assistance, coalition building, and direct representation to immigrants navigating the federal, state, and local business, tax, professional, and occupational licensure systems of entrepreneurship.

Teague is inspired to do this work because much of her legal career has focused on providing direct legal services to individuals and families, including immigrants, who qualify for public benefits programs. The income guidelines to receive public benefits are extremely low and lock out most families who make more than 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines and don’t meet strict immigration status eligibility rules. Teague is thrilled that this project provides education, direct assistance, and policy advocacy about entrepreneurship in the immigrant community, particularly to immigrants who are locked out of the public benefit and traditional employment systems. Teague was raised in El Paso, Texas, where many in her large, extended family participate in entrepreneurship economies, and she knows first-hand the power these businesses provide for family economic stability.

Fellowship Plans

The opportunity barriers to increase family income by opening a business include navigating legal partnership agreements and tax considerations. Providing education and support to prospective and current entrepreneurs will demystify the process of opening, conducting, and operating a business. The project also seeks to expand the professional and business licensure opportunities in New Mexico through policy advocacy.

Teague’s project will aim to remove barriers to economic mobility of immigrant communities through community education, direct representation, community organizing, movement lawyering, coalition building, and systemic policy advocacy. Teague will work closely with coalition partners, including the Color Theory Collaborative, which supports low-income, marginalized entrepreneurs and their families, by employing core strategies from partner organizations to develop innovative program resulting in greater opportunity and economic equity for entrepreneurs. The Color Theory Collaborative partners align with a core mission of bridging identified systemic gaps to build an ecosystem of support to empower families to increase their household income.