Robin Runge

 The Project

During the Fellowship, Robin advocated for the employment rights of victims of domestic violence. 

Survivors of domestic and sexual violence make up a large percentage of the workforce and experience barriers to obtaining and maintaining employment. At the same time, economic security is a primary barrier to leaving abusive relationships. This project addressed this need by providing direct representation, education and awareness, and policy advocacy on the employment rights of survivors of domestic violence.  

Fellowship Highlights

During the two-year Fellowship, Robin:

  • Successfully built coalitions that drafted and advocated for passage of three California laws expanding employment protections for victims of domestic violence: (1) clarifying access to unemployment insurance; (2) requiring employers to provide unpaid job guaranteed leave from work to survivors to attend court proceedings related to seeking safety, heal from injuries and relocate; (3) expanding the purposes for taking this leave.
  • Brought landmark case that established that a psychological injury or illness caused by domestic violence may qualify as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act requiring an accommodation and related protections from discrimination an retaliation.
  • Developed know your rights fact sheets on the employment rights of survivors and had them translated into 7 languages.
  • Conducted know your rights trainings for hundreds of survivors, service providers and allied service providers throughout California.
  • Received national federal grant from the Office on Violence Against Women at the U.S. Department of Justice to provide support and technical assistance to advocates and lawyers nationally on the employment rights of survivors. 

Next Steps

Robin is now

The Project

Mehwish will fight to protect the religious liberties of Muslims in prison through national appellate impact litigation and strategic coalition building. 

The United States incarcerates thousands of people of faith and routinely violates their fundamental right to worship. Most people who face such violations have no attorneys. Previous estimates have found that around 95% of people in prison represent themselves. When they file pro se, and often lose, they have no appellate representation. 

Islam is the fastest-growing religion in prison. Too often, prisons inflict violence and torture on Muslims who seek to peacefully practice their faith. With virtually no access to quality appellate representation to fight losses in the district court, the violations have multiplied in duration and degree. Muslims have been subjected to torture by prolonged stints in solitary confinement, violent forcible shavings, traumatic forcible removal of hijab, and more. There are almost no appellate experts who specialize in prisoners’ rights and also fully understand Muslim religious practices. 

Fellowship Plans

Mehwish will craft a national litigation strategy and lead the charge to file appeals for religious liberty violations in federal appellate courts across the nation. She will directly represent clients appealing Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) and First Amendment violations. In addition to her impact litigation, Mehwish will leverage her deep personal ties to impacted persons and communities to center and amplify her clients’ often ignored voices in the community and in the courtroom. Her project is a groundbreaking effort to assemble a national coalition of appellate experts, impacted persons, and legal scholars to end torture and violence against Muslims in prison. Mehwish’s advocacy and appellate victories will strengthen the religious liberties of all people in prison. 

My purpose is to force the criminal justice system to reckon with the broken promises of our constitution that all people—no matter how vilified—are equal before the law.

Mehwish Shaukat /
2022 Equal Justice Works Fellow

The Project

Vanessa’s (she/her/hers) project will ensure academic success and future independence for low-income students with complex communication needs by expanding access to highly needed augmentative and alternative communication (AAC).

Upwards of 91,000 students in Illinois have complex communication needs and would benefit from communication devices to express themselves to fully participate in their education. Despite federal and state laws that protect students who require communication devices, Illinois school districts systematically fail to appropriately evaluate and train educators to implement a communication device. For low-income families, school is often the only place they can turn to access a communication device for their children due to challenges with health care access.

Fellowship Plans

During her Fellowship, Vanessa will provide direct legal assistance to families in both English and Spanish, including advocacy support, representation at Individualized Education Program Meetings (IEPs), mediations, and administrative due process hearings. Vanessa will conduct community outreach trainings to increase advocacy support and inform of legal rights to communication devices. Vanessa will also collaborate with community partners to develop a direct referral base for AAC throughout Illinois.

As a life-long Chicagoan and former CPS student, Vanessa is deeply passionate about quality public education for all. When she discovered special education law existed, she knew it was the path for her.

My Equal Justice Works Fellowship is a personal mission, based on my brother’s lack of access to critical communication devices. Through my project, I want to uplift the voices of similar students who have been denied opportunities to effectively communicate.

Vanessa Aceves /
2023 Equal Justice Works Fellow

The Project

Oscar (he/him/his) will focus on attaining safety for low-income immigrant survivors of violence in the Coastal Bend by conducting outreach and through direct legal representation centered on preventing international child abduction.

Recently the number of Spanish-speaking immigrants in the suburban and rural areas of the Coastal Bend in Texas has increased. Many of these immigrants are families who experienced violence in their home country, migrated to the US in search of safety, and now face criminal complaints filed by the abusive partner left behind. Others are victims or subject to threats of abduction of their children by abusive parents. Due to language barriers and the lack of information about legal remedies, many have limited access to justice, making them extremely vulnerable to these abuses that disproportionately harm immigrant communities and their children.

Fellowship Plans

During his Fellowship, Oscar will provide legal services in English and Spanish to immigrants facing violence, focusing on obtaining protective orders, custody, divorce, and, ultimately, litigating international children abduction cases. He will also educate immigrant communities and partner agencies about remedies specifically available for immigrant violence survivors. Finally, Oscar will build community partnerships to develop and disseminate resources to immigrant survivors of abuse.

Oscar’s experience as a child, his family roots divided between Mexico and the US, and a double law degree in Mexico and the United States inspired him to seek justice for those whose lives and family ties transcend borders.

Having experienced as a kid the angst of abruptly moving to another country due to domestic disputes between my parents, and as a Mexican marked by both sides of the border, I am honored and eager to help bring relief to those families and children who embark on transnational odysseys in search of safety.

Oscar Emilio Alfaro Albarran /
2023 Equal Justice Works Fellow

The Project

Wilson will advocate to build fully funded alternatives to police that consider the unique cultural needs of people of color and people with disabilities.

More than half of Black people with disabilities in the United States are arrested by the time they turn 28. Police are sixteen times more likely to kill someone with a disability than a person without a disability, and three times more likely to kill a Black person than a white person. Many arrests and deaths happen when the victim is in a mental or behavioral health crisis. In most cities the existing crisis response service is a police officer with handcuffs and a gun. When police respond, the situation often escalates into an arrest, or a death–especially for people of color.

Fellowship Plans

Wilson’s project will use novel legal arguments rooted in equal protection, disability rights, and racial justice to litigate, advocate, and educate for a fully funded non-policing mental health crisis response in California. Wilson will work alongside community members and organizers, and he will leverage his personal experiences to help shape a community-led and culturally responsive alternative to police. Wilson will also develop a resource manual that will collect examples of alternatives to police in other jurisdictions as well as outline how to build emergency response and community treatment infrastructure.

Wilson’s experience supporting people with mental health disabilities at all stages in the criminal legal system inspired him to focus on police interactions. By working to limit police interactions and providing fully funded mobile crisis responses, Wilson’s project will reduce the number of people who are trapped in the criminal legal system.

My Equal Justice Works Fellowship provides me an opportunity to serve my community by protecting people from the harms that come when people of color and people with disabilities have unnecessary interactions with police.

Wilson Baker /
2023 Equal Justice Works Fellow

The Project

Delaney (she/her) provides legal representation and advocacy for Michigan’s low-income and minority voters to access absentee or in-person ballots without intimidation and tactics intended to subvert election results.

During the 2022 election, partisan operatives trained poll workers and poll watchers to accuse individuals of voter fraud and escalate the situation by calling the police with the apparent intention of sending them to flood high-minority areas to disrupt elections and harass voters. Delaney’s project seeks to combat new forms of voter intimidation and disenfranchisement that disproportionately target low-income voters and voters of color.

Fellowship Plans

Building on the ACLU of Michigans work protecting voters, Delaney will sue individuals and organizations seeking to suppress the vote of marginalized voters and election clerks who threaten voters’ access to absentee ballots or early voting. Additionally, she will work with grassroots organizers and partner organizations to engage with clerks statewide and ensure that voters can exercise their right to an absentee ballot or early voting. During her fellowship, Delaney will also litigate on behalf of voters who have been intimidated by poll watchers or other actors.

As a woman of color from a low-income background, the U.S. Constitution had to be amended three times for me to exercise the right to vote. Voting has always been important to me. I'm honored and proud that my work can help ensure that historically marginalized voters, particularly Black, Indigenous, and low-income voters in Michigan are not denied their right to the ballot.

Delaney Barker /
2023 Equal Justice Works Fellow

The Project

Rachel’s (she/her/hers) project will provide advocacy and direct representation to low-income students in Washington, DC experiencing health-harming education in which their behavioral health needs are not being met.

One in five students in Washington, DC has a disability, and their education needs frequently go unmet by their schools. Students with disabilities in DC have lower academic success rates than their peers in other urban areas. COVID-19 has magnified this disparity, leading to insufficient solutions and leaving students with disabilities behind.

Fellowship Plans

Through the Healthy Together Medical-Legal Partnership, Rachel will provide accessible, on-site legal services to families of students with disabilities at the Shepherd Park Pediatric Primary Care and Complex Care Clinics and the Rare Disease Institute. In addition to directly advocating for the educational needs of students and their families, she will provide collaborative education and outreach to medical providers and community members about special education rights and best practices for identifying at-risk children.

Rachel’s ten years of experience as a public school teacher motivates her to advocate for all students to receive the educational foundation they are both entitled to and deserve.

As a former teacher, I have seen the power of education as well as the barriers created for the most vulnerable students. Students with disabilities, like all students, deserve a supportive and accessible educational opportunity.

Rachel Niegelberg /
2023 Equal Justice Works Fellow