“The main reason I studied public administration was because during the the time, the movement of Me Too was kicking in in Ethiopia. We’ve had a lot of gender-based violence throughout my life and even before I was born. Having the privilege of being here and escaping that led me to learn about policy-based nonprofits that can complement the advocacy work that was happening back home. 

Open Door Legal does very important work and our services are in districts where people need this source of help. Being part of the public affairs team working towards getting the name of ODL out there to San Francisco residents really excites me. 

We’re working on building relationships with other organizations that share similar clientele, so we can better serve the community.

It’s very common that clients who come to get legal services need other social services as well. For example, if someone comes for a domestic violence case, they don’t only need legal services. They probably need mental health services after that or other services that other social organizations besides ODL can provide.

I truly believe in getting partnerships with organizations so we can open that conversation to work together. We already have referral systems with organizations specifically in the districts that we’re working in, but we need to also build relationships and find a coalition to advocate for the clients and the communities.

When addressing equity, usually we try to focus on one thing. For example, we might say “we need to work on giving access to people” (whatever that is that we’re giving access to) let’s say it’s legal representation, we might just focus on access to legal representation, but after getting access, you have to think about are the services we’re providing equitable. Is everyone being treated the same? It’s not about equal outcome, but equitable outcome. 

I think with equity, we need to address every dimension of equity, not just access, not just procedures or not just services or the quality of services that are provided. We have to make sure to address every dimension so the outcome is actually equitable to everyone.”