Yasmin Vafa is co-founder and Executive Director of Rights4Girls. As an attorney and advocate, Yasmin’s work focuses on the intersections of race, gender, violence, and the law. She educates the public and policymakers on these issues and how they affect the lives of marginalized women and children. Yasmin has successfully advocated for passage of several laws at the federal level, testified before the U.S. Senate and international human rights bodies, and has been recognized for her legislative advocacy by Congress.  She is co-author of the seminal report, The Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline: The Girls’ Story, which exposed the widespread criminalization of girls of color in the U.S. as a direct result of their victimization. The report has not only shaped the national conversation around women and girls’ incarceration, but helped inspire national efforts to decriminalize survivors of gendered violence.

Cherice Hopkins is an attorney and advocate whose work includes policy analysis, research and public awareness and education. Her focus is identifying and addressing the root causes of problems which hinder gender and racial equity. She has worked and consulted for nonprofits and small businesses, founded by women and people of color, in the areas of analysis, research and strategic planning.

Prior to her work with Rights4Girls, Cherice practiced employment law for four years at Foley & Lardner LLP and Target, where she provided legal and policy analysis, advice and counsel, and project management, amongst other services. Cherice’s practice included the provision of free legal services to individuals and organizations with limited finances, including the ongoing representation of a domestic violence prevention/intervention organization, legal counseling at community legal clinics, and serving as a mediator between homeowners and lenders in foreclosure mediations. In addition to practicing law, Cherice has also worked as a public relations assistant for the City of Fort Worth’s Mayor’s Office and a grants specialist.

Cherice received a B.S. in Advertising/Public Relations from Texas Christian University, an MBA from Columbia College, and a J.D. from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law.

Rebecca is an attorney and advocate at Rights4Girls, where she focuses on the intersection of female sexual abuse and juvenile justice system involvement in Washington, DC.  She leads Rights4Girls’ youth advocacy workshops where she engages and empowers young people in the District to become powerful agents for change. Rebecca has extensive experience working with survivors of violence and trauma and serves as faculty for the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges’ (NCJFCJ) judicial institute, where she helps train judges on domestic child sex trafficking

Prior to her work at Rights4Girls, Rebecca served as a sexual assault counselor and first responder for the Listening Ear Crisis Intervention Center in Lansing, Michigan where she worked with nurses, prosecutors, and police officers to coordinate care and advocacy for sexual abuse survivors.  She has also worked directly with youth involved in the DC foster care system as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) and has mentored delinquent youth during incarceration in local detention facilities.

In addition to crisis intervention and legal advocacy, Rebecca has supported youth through traditional teaching and mentorship.  As a teacher in the Peace Corps, she created female empowerment workshops for her students in Tanzania.  She also has experience working with homeless and refugee youth and is passionate about the intersection of race, class, gender, and violence.

Rebecca holds a B.A. in Political Science and Ethnic Studies from Brown University, and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center where she was a Public Interest Fellow.  She is a member of the District of Columbia Bar.

Lynn English is a Strategy and Resource Development Consultant based in the National Capital Region. Lynn has a twenty-five year history of strategy development, fundraising, and program planning experience with dozens of local and national non-profit organizations and foundations. Lynn’s work includes all facets of resource development including prospect research, donor cultivation, proposal writing, developing case statements and campaign collateral materials, development audits, fundraising plans, and feasibility studies; and working with boards and staffs to develop fundraising strategies and capacity. Her work focuses primarily on organizations whose missions are related to children, youth and families; K-12 education; workforce development; and public policies impacting low-income and under-resourced communities.

Lynn has served as senior development staff for organizations including AARP Experience Corps, Center for Community Change, Latin American Youth Center, Year Up National Capital Region, and others. She holds a B.A. in English from Georgetown University and a M.A. in English Literature from the University of Maryland at College Park.  Lynn also serves on the Advisory Board for Public Allies DC.

Airen Washington’s work includes graphic design, content creation and website design for young professionals, the federal government and other organizations. She has a background in political advocacy for both foreign affairs and local politics. Her internship work experience includes The Metropolitan Police Department, the White House Internship Program – Office of Presidential Correspondence and the U.S. House of Representatives – Eleanor Holmes Norton’s District Office. In college she was passionate about Civic engagement and devoted a lot of her time to spreading political awareness to her peers. She has participated in the National Women’s Law Center’s initiative to end school push-out by sitting on a panel hosted by the NWLC.

She holds a B.S. in Political Science with a Concentration in Mathematics. She is a member of Kappa Gamma Pi – the National Catholic College Graduate Honor Society and Psi Sigma Chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha, the National Political Science Honorary Society.

Carolina Bazan is a Program Associate at Rights4Girls where she provides support to our attorneys, conducts research and coordinates events. Prior to Rights4Girls, Carolina worked for non-profits including, The Democratic Progress Institute in London, England, Rare in Arlington, Virginia and the Urban Land Institute in Washington, DC. As an Executive Assistant, Carolina managed the Executive Office by overseeing an active calendar of appointments, completed expense reports, arranged complex and detailed travel and acted as a liaison between the CEO and staff within the organization and external parties.

Carolina has direct experience working with youth, as she was a Case Management Specialist for the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services for five years. As one of the few Spanish speaking case managers in the Department, she made impactful relationships with the youth, and worked extensively with the Hispanic community of Montgomery County, Maryland. Her career with the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services motivated Carolina to further her education in Human Rights to work in a different capacity helping others.

Carolina’s passion is working with vulnerable populations and social justice reform. She holds a Masters Degree in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law from Europa Viadrina University in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany and a Bachelors Degree in Crime, Law and Justice from Pennsylvania State University.