SUMMER 2017: OUR FIRST YEAR
In the spring of 2017, YANA committed to fund a small-scale program with two interns for the summer. The first Fellowships were awarded to two highly qualified recipients:

Daniel Hamidi ‘18:  Daniel interned for the Orleans Public Defenders, a nonprofit law office in New Orleans that provides legal representation to indigent clients in Louisiana.  Daniel has been active with several nonprofit and government organizations including the Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project, the UC Irvine legal clinic, OutRight Action International (formerly the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission), the office of a New Haven Alder and the Yale College Democrats.

Marwan Jalani ‘20:  Marwan split his summer between the Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Service (IRIS) in New Haven and a nonprofit based in Palo Alto, CA, raising awareness of immigration issues in schools and places of worship and assisting with the integration of new refugees.  In the past year, he has been involved with A Leg Even, the Yale Refugee Project, and DOX-BOX (a nonprofit that raises funds for Arab filmmakers).

Marwan presented at the YANA Diversity, Equity and Inclusion event in NYC on February 21, 2018.  This DEI event was awarded the AYA SIG Event of Excellence. A video of that program can be viewed on our YouTube Channel:  https://youtu.be/5XzUZhaBknY.