Summary: Help send 7 Memphis-area high school seniors to Washington, D.C. to advocate on Capitol Hill.
This is a delegation of Black, Latino/a/x, and multiracial students—many from immigrant and first-generation backgrounds—who organized a walkout after their classmate was detained by ICE and are now stepping into national advocacy for the first time.
✈️ First time in D.C. for all
✏️Many first-generation college-bound
️⭐First time lobbying Congress
⚖️Fighting for justice and their communities
We’ve already secured partial funding and booked flights—now we need $4,785 to cover hotels, registration, meals, and transportation.
⏳Traveling April 10–14 | Finalizing costs by April 15 | Urgent Impact
Your support helps ensure their voices are heard where decisions are made.
Funds will be directed to support student travel costs and managed in partnership with Collierville Community Justice.
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A month ago, they were riding a bus from Memphis to Nashville to fight for their right to an education.
Now, they have the chance to step onto Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.—to tell their stories directly to Congress.
I just need help getting them there.
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I met these students while traveling with the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) to advocate in Nashville. That space—built on community and collective action—is what brought us together in the first place.
On that bus, a student named Marisol told me I could sit behind her.
That small act of kindness turned into a conversation that changed everything.
She shared that she and her classmates from Memphis Business Academy High School in Frayser had recently organized a school walkout after their classmate, Yasser Lopez Sosa, was detained by ICE. They were heartbroken—but also deeply determined to stand up for their community.
When I asked why they came to Nashville, they said: to advocate for undocumented students, their families, community— and to understand how the system works so they can change it.
It was their first time ever lobbying.
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I told them about the Friends Committee on National Legislation’s Friends Changemaker Weekend in Washington, D.C.—a national intergenerational conference where young people, students, advocates, and community leaders learn to advocate for peace and justice and then take those skills directly to Capitol Hill.
Marisol immediately said, “I want to go.”
And from that moment, I knew I had to make it happen.
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This opportunity is not random—it is part of the work I’ve been building toward for years.
I am a 2025–2026 Advocacy Corps Organizer with the Friends Committee on National Legislation, where I help organize and support young people and community members in engaging in advocacy for immigrants, migrants, & refugees rooted in peace, justice, and equity.
While this is my first year lobbying at the federal level, I have spent nearly a decade in multicultural community engagement—creating spaces for connection, dialogue, and empowerment across communities. This next step into advocacy feels like a natural extension of that work: not just building community, but helping protect and uplift it through policy change.
Meeting these students when I did wasn't coincidence. It was alignment.
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At this year’s Friends Changemaker Weekend, we are organizing under the theme:
“No War at Home or Abroad.”
Students will learn about and advocate against further militarization—including funding for war with Iran—while also challenging how narratives of “national security” are used to justify harm both globally and within our own communities.
For these students, this is not abstract.
They have already experienced what happens when systems of power go unchecked—through detention, fear, and the very real threat of family separation.
The same systems that justify violence abroad often show up as enforcement and fear here at home.
That is why their voices matter in these conversations.
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There is also one more student who was supposed to be part of this journey.
She was one of the most excited to attend.
But after carefully considering the risks—and seeing increased immigration enforcement in and around airports—I made the difficult decision that it would not be safe for her to travel.
She is undocumented.
Even though she showed up, spoke out, and earned this opportunity, she cannot safely board a plane to Washington, D.C.
Having to tell her she couldn’t go was heartbreaking—for her, for her friends, and for me.
This is what inequity looks like in real time.
While some students prepare to walk into congressional offices, others are forced to stay behind—not because they lack courage or commitment, but because it is not safe for them to be there.
We are working to make sure she can still participate from afar—whether through sharing her story in writing or engaging virtually—so that her voice is still carried into every room we enter.
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Today, I am organizing a delegation of 7 incredible high school seniors—5 from Memphis Business Academy, 1 from White Station High, and 1 from my alma mater, Collierville High School—to travel from Memphis to Washington, D.C.
For every single one of them, this will be their first time visiting Washington, D.C.
For two students, this will be their first time ever on a plane.
Several are first-generation college-bound students.
All of them will step onto Capitol Hill for the first time—not as tourists, but as advocates.
Our entirely BIPOC delegation reflects the communities most impacted by the policies we’re advocating on:
-Black, Latino, and multiracial students
-Children of immigrants
-Students directly affected by detention and family separation
One student in our group is currently navigating the reality of her mother being detained—facing the possibility of being separated indefinitely. Despite this, she is more determined than ever to show up in D.C. and speak out.
They will meet directly with members of Congress, share their lived experiences, and deliver letters from their peers about the real impact of detention and family separation.
When young people are given the opportunity to show up, they don’t just participate in democracy—they strengthen it.
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Their commitment to this opportunity is real.
Bella from Collierville High—who I mentor through the Collierville Community Justice Youth Fellowship—dreams of becoming a UNICEF lawyer one day and is choosing to attend this trip instead of an event she personally planned as VP of the CHS Freshmen Mentor Program.
Marisol and Triston are even missing their Senior Day so they can spend time in D.C. learning, advocating, and visiting Georgetown University with me—where I went to graduate school—so they can begin to see themselves in spaces like that too.
These are the kinds of choices they are making to invest in their futures.
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We have already made this possible against the odds:
$2,000 raised through grant funding from Vecendarios901 & Collierville Community Justice
Flights booked using borrowed funds I am committed to repaying
Extended deadlines from the program so these students can attend
Now, we need your help to raise the remaining $4,785, which will cover:
$1,440 – Hotel accommodations
$460 – Program registration fees
$1,050 – Student meal stipends ($150 each)
$250 – Transportation & emergency costs
$1,585 – Reimbursement for flight costs already fronted
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We will be in Washington, D.C. from April 10–14, and are working to finalize all remaining costs by April 15.
Your support in these next few days will make an immediate difference in getting these students there and fully supported.
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What started as a chance meeting on a bus has turned into something much bigger:
A group of students who once rode together to Nashville are now preparing to fly to Washington, D.C.—to speak truth to power, to advocate for their communities, and to ensure that stories like Yasser’s are heard where decisions are made.
Their courage is real. Their voices matter. And this opportunity could shape the rest of their lives.
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It’s one thing to visit a place like Capitol Hill—it’s another to return and bring others with you.
Ten years ago, I visited Capitol Hill for the first time as a high school student through the Ole Miss Summer Lott Leadership Institute program.
At the time, it felt like stepping into a world I wasn’t sure I fully belonged in—but it expanded what I believed was possible for my life.
Now, a decade later, I am returning—not alone, but bringing a delegation of Black, Brown, and multiracial high school students from my own community with me.
That full-circle moment is not lost on me.
It is a reminder of how powerful it is for young people to be able to see themselves in spaces they may have never imagined they could enter—and to realize they don’t just belong there, they have something essential to say.
This trip is about more than a weekend. It’s about opening doors, expanding vision, and creating pathways for the next generation to lead.
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If you believe in youth leadership, in immigrant justice, and in the power of lived experience to create change, please consider donating and sharing this campaign.
We are in the final stretch of making this possible—thank you for being part of it.
Every contribution—no matter the size—helps bring these students one step closer to Capitol Hill.
Thank you for believing in them.