![]() ![]() Marisa’s connection to the Young Center began in 2009, when she volunteered as a Child Advocate and served as a social work intern. Since joining the organization in 2013, Marisa served as Staff Social Worker and then Deputy Director of Social Work, overseeing Child Advocate cases in Chicago, consulting on cases nationally for all Young Center offices, and coordinating the Young Center’s work on international home studies. Marisa Chumil, LCSW, is the Child Advocate Program Co-Director at the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights. ![]() Marisa Chumil, Co-Director (Chicago) Read More from the University of Texas at Brownsville & Texas Southmost College. at the University of Houston Law Center and her B.S. She has been featured in local, national, and international media outlets including NBC, Univision, Forbes, NPR, and the BBC. An expert on issues surrounding immigrant children, Olivia has participated in panels and roundtables with non-profit organizations, members of Congress, and governmental agencies. ![]() She has lived most of her life along the U.S.-Mexico border, witnessing firsthand the issues and inequities impacting border communities. At the Young Center, Olivia has served hundreds of immigrant children, who like her, traveled at a young age to the United States in search of a better life. She represented and fought for the rights of children, families, and individuals seeking safety. Before joining the Young Center in 2014, Olivia worked with vulnerable communities seeking humanitarian parole, asylum, and other forms of legal protection from violence and atrocities around the world. (She/Her/Ella) is Co-Director of the Young Center’s Child Advocate Program, where she helps lead a passionate and zealous interdisciplinary team of attorneys and social workers fighting for the rights and best interests of immigrant children. Olivia Peña, Co-Director (Harlingen) Read More House of Representatives as a Policy Fellow for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI). Before attending law school, Gladis worked at the U.S. from the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA). from the California State University in Long Beach (CSULB) and her J.D. Gladis is a native of El Salvador and grew up in Long Beach, CA. Department of Homeland Security and the Office of Refugee Resettlement. She has represented children in Immigration Court and Juvenile Court, as well as before the U.S. She has worked in Harlingen, TX for the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project (ProBAR) in Los Angeles, CA for Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) and in Phoenix, AZ for The Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project. Gladis came to the Young Center with a decade of experience in working with unaccompanied immigrant children. Before that, she served as the Child Advocate Program Director at the organization for four years. Gladis Molina Alt is the Executive Director of the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights. Gladis Molina Alt, Executive Director (Phoenix) Read More Maria retired on June 28, 2021, after 18 years of serving children at the Young Center. For her service to children and the advocacy community, Maria was the recipient of the 1996 Public Interest Law Initiative Distinguished Alumni Award, the 2013 American Constitution Society Ruth Goldman Award, the 2017 UNICEF Chicago Humanitarian Award, the 2019 American Red Cross of Chicago and Northern Illinois Global Citizenship Hero, and the Young Center’s inaugural Waymaker Award. Throughout her career, Maria focused on children’s rights, at the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, the ChildLaw Center at Loyola University of Chicago School of Law, and at the University of Chicago Law School. While at the Young Center, Maria’s focus was on reforming the immigration system to incorporate a best interests standard and developing a dedicated immigration justice system for children. As part of this work, the Young Center serves as Child Advocate (best interests guardian ad litem) for trafficking victims and unaccompanied immigrant children pursuant to the Wilberforce Trafficking Victim Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008. The Young Center’s primary work is to advocate for the best interests-safety and well-being-of unaccompanied and separated immigrant children. Maria Woltjen is the Founder of the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights. Maria Woltjen, Founder (Chicago) Read More ![]()
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