Meet the Legislative Fellows!

Class I - Bios
Alice Berggrun, Colombia


  • Home Organization: President’s Office

  • Host Organization: International Budget Partnership

  • Host State: Washington, DC

Ms. Berggrun has recently started as an Advisor to the Transparency Secretary in the President’s Office. Before working at the President’s Office, she was an Advisor in the National Planning Department. Her career has been focused on transparency and corruption, legislature and policy development, whistle blowers and the government’s engagement with the private sector. As Fellow at the International Budget Partnership, she gained exposure to budget accountability models of various countries.

Diana Marcela Osorio, Colombia

  • Home Organization: Congreso de la Republica de Colombia
  • Host Organization: Department of Community Service - City of Fayetteville
  • Host State: Arkansas

Ms. Osorio is an Advisor to Representative Jack Housni Jaller of San Andres of the Colombian National Congress. She helps develop policies to improve San Andres. She has a particular interested in green energy infrastructure development as a means towards energy sustainability. Currently she is organizing and developing the first office of international cooperation of San Andres. As a Fellow at the City of Fayetteville, Ms. Osorio was involved in the implementation of federally funded programs designed to assist low to moderate income residents.
Diego Díaz, Colombia

  • Home Organization: Hospital Infantil Los Ángeles
  • Host Organization: Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio (CLUES)
  • Host State: Minnesota
Mr. Díaz represents a local non-profit children’s hospital in Pasto, Colombia on a committee that assesses and advises preventative medicine policy for children war victims. He has a background in Economic and Public Policy and also is a professor at Fundación Universitaria San Martín. During his Fellowship at CLUES, Diego assessed impact of the Affordable Health Care Act on immigrants, especially those undocumented, and produced a comprehensive report.

 

 
Dorly Gordon Jeffrey Oriol, Haiti

  • Home Organization: YMCA d’Haiti
  • Host Organization: National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC)
  • Host State: Minnesota

Mr. Oriol works directly with youth as the POTEKOLE Program Coordinator at YMCA d’Haiti, where he empowers youth to become leaders and participating citizens. In particular, Mr. Oriol strives to improve access to education through integral program implementation of an afterschool program designed for previous school drop outs. As a Fellow at NYLC, Mr. Oriol assisted with the planning and execution for the National Service-Learning Conference, and conducted research on youth development and education programs, and local partner networking.
Jared Ortiz Gonzalez, The Dominican Republic

  • Home Organization: Alianza ONG
  • Host Organization: Minnesota Council of Nonprofits
  • Host State: Minnesota

Mr. Ortiz promotes transparency and accountability within Alianza ONG’s network of NGOs. He works in planning and fundraising, as well as project execution. As a Fellow, Jared was hosted at the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, also a member based organization focused on strengthening civil society. His primary area of focus was researching how Minnesota based nonprofits will comply with the federal government’s new Pay for Performance regulation.
Jônatas Domingos Campos, Brazil

  
  • Home Organization: Legislative Assembly of the State of Pernambuco
  • Host Organization: Indiana Department of Education
  • Host State: Indiana
Mr. Domingos serves his local state government as Press Secretary for Representative Teresa Leitão and the Assembly’s Education Commission. As a Fellow for the Indiana Department of Education, he was involved in communications for education policy and implementation for the state public school system. Specifically, he worked on news clips, talking points, outreach efforts, social medial and legislative analysis while both houses of Legislature held the joint summit on education policy.
Magda Cardenas, Colombia

 

  • Home Organization: Human Rights Presidential Program
  • Host Organization: Hispanic Advocacy and Community Empowerment through Research (HACER)
  • Host State: Minnesota

Ms. Cardenas is an Advisor of Public Policy against Impunity, where she develops projects related to the justice administration. As a Fellow at HACER, Ms. Cardenas had a cross-sectorial experience during which she assisted efforts to promote education as a fundamental human right. In particular, she collaborated with a large network of Minnesota based partners to advance the DREAM Act.

Marcos Joaquim Martins Pereira, Brazil

 

 

  • Home Organization: National Confederation of Industry Brazil (CNI)
  • Host Organization: Chicano Latino Affairs Council (CLAC)
  • Host State: Minnesota

Mr. Pereira is a Policy and Industry Analyst for CNI, where he liaises with legislature to promote business strategy and corporation development, as well as manage intellectual property for small businesses. As a Fellow, Mr. Pereira was involved in preparing CLAC for community outreach through engagement forums, conducting research, and educational the public about the role of CLAC in the Minnesota State Government.
 
Margareth Travessoni Gomes, Brazil

  • Home Organization: Government of Minas Gerais
  • Host Organization: Indiana State Government - Office of the Governor
  • Host State: Indiana

Ms. Gomes serves her local government as Controller of Institutional Information and Transparency, where she recently held trainings for municipal governments and their citizens on measuring and ensuring local government transparency and accountability. During her fellowship, she worked with the Government Efficiency and Financial Planning Team. Her primary responsibilities were to assess the Host’s accountability and transparency initiatives including performance metrics and the transparency portal as they compare to other governmental entities, as well as compile quarterly performance metrics of all state government agencies.
Margarita Orozco Orcasita, Colombia

  • Home Organization: Procuraduría General de la Nación
  • Host Organization: Hispanic Advocacy and Community Empowerment through Research (HACER)
  • Host State: Minnesota
Ms. Orozco is an Advisor to the Procuraduría General de la Nación in Colombia, where she helps legislators build laws that protect human rights for highly vulnerable groups. In particular, she monitors the government agencies’ implementation of the new Victims’ Law. As a Fellow at HACER, Ms. Orozco had a cross-sectorial experience during which she assisted efforts to promote education as a fundamental human right. In particular, she collaborated with a large network of Minnesota based partners to advance the DREAM Act.

 
Martin Skup, The Dominican Republic

 


  • Home Organization: Camara de Diputados
  • Host Organization: Chicano Latino Affairs Council (CLAC)
  • Host State: Minnesota

 As a Legal Analyst for the Camara de Diputados, Mr. Skup works closely with the Global Legal Information Network (GLIN) of the US Library of Congress. He provides analysis of foreign legislation to Dominican representatives to use as an example. He also translates Dominican legislation for record within the GLIN. As a Fellow at CLAC, Mr. Skup tracked legislation relevant to CLAC, conducted research and attended legislative sessions.

Nara Caliman¸ Brazil

 

  • Home Organization: Secretariat of Special Projects and Metropolitan Affairs – Government of the State of Espirito Santo
  • Host Organization: Office of Corporation Counsel (OCC) – City of Indianapolis
  • Host State: Indiana

 Ms. Caliman specializes in overseeing grant management contracts that the state government of Espirito Santo issues to the third sector to operate hospitals, youth justice programs, prisons, and museums, among others. As she is in charge of Monitoring and Evaluation of these contracts, Ms. Caliman spent her fellowship reviewing OCC’s public private partnerships, relationships between local government and third parties, and administrative efficiency.
Thiago Hollerbach Athayde, Brazil

  • Home Organization: Minas Gerais State Secretariat for Civil Affairs and Institutional Relations
  • Host Organization: Indiana State Senate
  • Host State: Indiana

Mr. Athayde serves his local government as Chief Advisor for Strategic Management and Innovation for the Minas Gerais State Secretariat for Civil Affairs and Institutional Relations. His primary responsibility is to execute a transparency and citizen participation project designed to engage citizens in draft legislation. As a Fellow, Mr. Athayde reviewed and analyzed the Indiana Senate’s electronic communications and constituent input.

Vinicius Baptista dos Anjos, Brazil

  • Home Organization: TV Gazeta
  • Host Organization: Minnesota Public Radio (MPR)
  • Host State: Minnesota
Mr. Baptista is a local television reporter who hosts his own morning show "Bom Dia ES" on the Espirito Santo Rede Globo affiliate network TV Gazeta during which he talks primarily about politics. His dedication to covering stories that are often ignored by the media and exposing corruption in local government has made him the four-time winner of the State Award of Journalism. As a Fellow, Mr. Baptista was primarily hosted by Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), where he joined reporters at the State Capital. Additionally, he met with TPT network for more exposure to public news for the airing of the show “The Almanac.” During a final week in Washington, DC, Mr. Baptista met with reporters National Public Radio (NPR) and Idea TV.

 

Class II - Bios

Jeannie Fox, Minnesota, USA

 

  • Home Organization: Minnesota Council of Nonprofits
  • Host Organization: Alianza ONG
  • Host City: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Ms. Fox is the deputy public policy director at the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, where she has worked for over seven years.  She is responsible for direct and grassroots lobbying and advocacy efforts on behalf of nonprofit organizations in Minnesota.  Jeannie aims to create legislative strategies to promote the sustainability and resiliency of the nonprofit sector at the state level.  She is also a national trainer for the Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest and on the leadership council of Nonprofit VOTE. For the last four years Ms. Fox has been an adjunct faculty for the University of Minnesota in the Public and Nonprofit Leadership Center as well as the Center of Advocacy and Political Leadership.  She also serves as the Board President of the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota.  During her Fellowship at Alianza ONG she designed an advocacy plan for the government’s new volunteer protection law. 

Lavell Kirby, Pennsylvania, USA

  • Home Organization: Girard College
  • Host Organization: Canta Brasil
  • Host City: Porto Alegre, Brazil

 Mr. Kirby is a Junior High and High School teacher in the Residential Education Department of Girard College where he teaches life skills to at-risk youth at the boarding school. Mr. Kirby is a member of Partners of the Americas Pennsylvania/Bahia Chapter.  He recently participated in the Group Study Exchange Program sponsored by Rotary International, where he spent time in Brazil learning about the people and culture.  Mr. Kirby has a background in health and education and he recently received his Masters in Marketing Management from Wilmington University.  He conducted his fellowship at Canta Brasil where he contributed to the school’s educational programming.

Madeline Olsen Kastler, Minnesota, USA

  • Home Organization: Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
  • Host Organization: Organizaciones Solidarias
  • Host City: Bogota, Colombia

Mrs. Kastler is a Senior Program Associate at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.  Prior to IATP, she worked as an aide to a local elected official where she focused on housing policy. She was also the manager of a local homeless shelter for men. Madeline holds a master's of public policy from the Humphrey Institute and is president of the Seward Co-op board of directors.  During her fellowship, Mrs. Kastler advised the Colombian government agency Organizaciones Solidarias on co-op development as a strategy to address extreme poverty.

John Pence, Indiana, USA

  • Home Organization: Attorney General of Indiana
  • Host Organization: Procuraduría General de la Nación
  • Host City: Bogotá, Colombia

Mr. Pence advocates for the enactment of consumer protection laws.  In preparation for the 2012 Indianapolis Super Bowl, he joined the Attorney General’s legislative team to expedite the passage of Senate Bill 4, which increased the criminal penalties for those engaged in human trafficking. He also translates consumer outreach documents into Spanish to protect Indiana’s growing Spanish-Speaking population from fraudulent business practices and other consumer scams. During his fellowship at the Procuraduría he examined the government’s human rights protection services.

Rebecca Polcz, Indiana, USA

  • Home Organization: Indiana University
  • Host Organization: Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul
  • Host City: Porto Alegre, Brazil

Ms. Polcz currently serves as the Assistant Director for Government Relations for Indiana University.  She works closely with university experts to determine what positions the university should take on bills and issues, as well as give regular updates and briefings about what is occurring during the legislative session. Ms. Polcz’s work is based on legislative processes so she believes it is important to compare solutions to policy issues that other states and countries have faced. She received her J.D. in 2009 from the Indiana University School of Law.  Ms. Polcz has a strong interest in government transparency, especially regarding how transparency affects or improves higher education. She carried out her fellowship in Brazil at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul with a focus on higher education policy.



About the Program
  Prospective Fellows

Prospective Host Organizations

 Fellows in the News

The Legislative Fellows Program is funded by the US Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and implemented by Partners of the Americas.


For more information about this program contact:

 

Gabrielle Equale
Program Officer

Office number: 202-637-6214
Toll free: 1-800-322-7844
gequale@partners.net

Theresa McMenomy
Program Officer

Office number: 202-637-6213
Toll free: 1-800-322-7844
tmcmenomy@partners.net