With your generous support, our Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) keeps skilled, dedicated public interest lawyers in the field, serving those in our community who need it most. The program is a critical way that the Foundation supports legal aid providers who assist DC residents with low income. Today, meet Solangel: Solangel Gonzalez, attorney with our grantee Ayuda’s Project END, helps low-income individuals navigate their immigration rights inside the justice system. For Solangel, it is a professional mission infused with personal passion:
“I knew I wanted to be an immigration lawyer so I could help people obtain the relief they deserve.”
Solangel pursued her degree at the George Washington University Law School. But if not for LRAP, more than $170,000 in student loan debt threatened to derail her career plans:
“It’s truly unacceptable that working in the public sector means a barely livable salary. I could have worked straight out of undergrad and been better off financially, but my dream was to become an immigration attorney.”
Not only does financial assistance from LRAP allow Solangel to work in a field she loves, it also allows her to make a difference when immigration law is more urgent than ever. Your support makes Solangel’s work – and all of our LRAP participants’ work – possible. Thank you for supporting DC’s public interest lawyers as they fight for our neighbors in need.