Leading By Example

Paula Ramos: From UnidosUS Program Participant to Community Leader and Attorney

Paula Ramos was just 21 years old when she arrived in the DC-metro area from Brazil, where she had earned a law degree. Almost immediately, she enrolled in ESL classes at UnidosUS Affiliate Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School, where she strengthened her communication skills and built the confidence she says she needed to use English professionally.

Elected class president at Carlos Rosario, Paula embraced the role with deep commitment, participating in leadership meetings and community engagement activities. Those opportunities led her to UnidosUS’s 2019 Changemakers Summit. “I learned about advocacy, healthcare access and civic participation. I had the opportunity to meet with Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton to discuss access to education for immigrant communities and I attended workshops at the U.S. Capitol that opened my eyes to the many ways advocacy can create change,” she shares.

With support and encouragement from mentors at UnidosUS and other Affiliates, Paula completed Carlos Rosario’s bilingual paraeducator program and served as an ESL teacher. Subsequently, she enrolled in a paralegal studies program and went on to intern at CARECEN, another UnidosUS Affiliate. She became a paralegal, earned accreditation to represent immigrants before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and immigration courts, and became a law clerk. She pursued a master of laws degree at American University, concentrating on human rights and immigration issues.

In February, Paula passed the New York bar exam. “This was a milestone that once felt almost impossible when I first arrived in the United States,” she says. Having her license will be helpful for her clients at CARECEN and for the organization, overall, Paula explains, noting that before joining CARECEN, she had been a client there, going through some of the immigration processes that she now helps her own clients navigate.

According to Paula, her experience with UnidosUS and the Affiliate familia was life changing. “It was like a snowball effect. Every class, mentor, leadership program and community connection opened a door that allowed me to take the next step,” she says.

“I am deeply grateful for the people and organizations that invested in me, including Carlos Rosario and UnidosUS, and I hope that through my work I can continue creating opportunities for others in the same way they were created for me.”