May 18 – General Meeting on Zoom

When: Monday, May 18: Meeting starts at 6:30 PM but you can join the Zoom from 6:00 PM, if you need a few minutes to get help getting started. We’ll be there to help everyone get connected.

Where: Zoom registration is required – if you’re a clubmember or participant click here to register ahead of time. All of the details on how to join will be provided – including dial-in details from a landline.

We will also Livestream the meeting on our YouTube channel. Hopefully, we will have someone monitoring the chat to text us relevant questions or comments.

We are fortunate to be able to welcome Carmen M. Chavez, Esq.Executive Director, Casa Cornelia Law Center  Carmen Chavez is a San Diego native, and is the first-generation daughter of Mexican immigrants, graduating from San Diego State University with a B.A. degree in Political Science, and then attended law school. Carmen now serves as the Executive Director at Casa Cornelia Law Center, a pro bono law firm in San Diego. Casa Cornelia Law Center provides direct representation in humanitarian immigration applications, including asylum and related relief and protection, special immigrant juvenile status, U and T visas, and VAWA self-petitions and cancellation of removal. It is the only legal service provider in San Diego serving detained unaccompanied immigrant children and the primary legal service provider for non-detained unaccompanied children. For the last 20 years, Ms. Chavez has worked at Casa Cornelia in various capacities, initially as an Equal Justice Works Fellow, then Staff Attorney/Program Director/Associate Director, and currently manages the law center overseeing a staff of 30 and a volunteer base of over 400. As a Staff Attorney and then Associate Director, she provided direct representation and mentored volunteers handling cases before the USCIS, EOIR and the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Ms. Chavez has served on task forces, committees, working groups and has given numerous presentations and trainings to the legal community, social workers, law enforcement, students, community groups, faith community, parents and clients. Ms. Chavez is a California licensed attorney and a graduate of Loyola Law School. To learn more about Casa Cornelia Law Center visit our website at www.CasaCornelia.org.Since 2019, the immigration landscape has shifted significantly, and even more rapidly during the last few months given the Covid-19 pandemic.  We would like to keep you informed of the changes and how they affect children, families, and asylum seekers seeking legal services and humanitarian protection in Southern California.  

Casa Cornelia Law Center is a public interest law firm providing quality pro bono legal services to victims of human and civil rights violations. The Center has a primary commitment to the indigent within the immigrant community in Southern California. Casa Cornelia strives to educate others regarding the impact of immigration law and policy on society and the public good.

We also welcome Sara Jacobs to update us on her campagin and to tell us about her non-profit San Diego for Every Child, sandiegoforeverychild.org

DWC Club Members can do some simple things immediately that will help get us better results in future elections.

Ask everyone you know if they have filled out their Census information.

And ask everyone if they are registered to vote or do they need to change or update their information–https://registertovote.ca.gov/ Ask these questions of your family members, friends and neighbors.

Chair of our Endorsement Committee, Yvonne Elkin will be updating us on how we will be handling upcoming candidate endorsements for the general election. In this time of COVID-19 and Zoom, we are considering the use of Opavote. The Director of Clubs, John Loughlin will run a quick demo election during the meeting for our consideration.  

There are several upcoming events that are worth your attention.

• The first one is the PANA #PowerHour conversation on Facebook Live, May 21 @ 5pm PST. This #PowerHour will shed light on the issue of mass surveillance. Specifically, we will be discussing the landscape of surveillance in San Diego and local efforts to establish transparent and responsible local oversight of surveillance technologies.Please see additional information on the flyer attached below.

• Senator Toni Atkins is hosting an event for our endorsed candidate, Marni Von Wilpert, for San Diego City Council District 5 on Sunday May 31. Marni and State Senator President pro Tempore Toni Atkins will discuss current issues facing San Diego. All are welcome. If making a contribution does not work for you right now, please RSVP directly to Marni at [email protected], instead of using the RSVP link above, to get the Zoom link for the event. PLEASE SEE THE FLYER ATTACHED BELOW for additional information. 

Marni is also continuing her hard work collecting donations for San Diego Homeless Youth Shelters. Cleaning supplies, children’s games/books or grocery story gift cards are most needed.  To arrange a no-contact donation pickup, please text or e-mail Marni at (619)719-5749 [email protected].

As always, if any member has questions or concerns, please feel free to call me. I look forward to ‘seeing you’ on Monday.

Susan Peinado, President(619) 225-9236[email protected]