Mayra Melendez is a Program Associate with the Vera Institute's Advancing Representation Initiative. At Vera, she works on NY state and federal advocacy. Prior to Vera, Mayra was a Community Fellow with the Immigrant Justice Corps, providing direct legal representation to immigrants. Mayra previously also worked as an organizer with the Migrant Clinicians Network and was a FirstGEN Civil Rights Fellow at the National Immigration Law Center. Mayra was born in Lima, Peru.