Gabriela Raymond-Paez

I started a courthouse food bank as an extension of Colorado Legal Services to create a more accessible food resource for folks who may not have reliable transportation. My duties for starting and maintaining this food bank are:

• Drafting proposals to our senior supervisors that explain how this program will benefit clients, what I will do to ensure efficiency, whether the program has been a success, etc.
• Accounting all financial and food donations to report to our funders.
• Collecting quarterly food drive donations and redistributing to Adams, Denver, and Arapahoe court houses.
• Meeting with food bank volunteers from each courthouse to receive feedback.
• Developing program rules and procedures.

My current role as a paralegal in housing law requires me to provide trauma informed legal aid to people who are of low income or no income households in order to prevent an eviction. I do this by:

• Conducting legal research to support case preparation.
• Drafting and reviewing legal documents.
• Doing wellness checks for clients who may be struggling with stress and/or mental health disorders.
• Providing case management through resource search and housing navigation.
• Keeping up with changing laws/rules.
• Staying flexible to my client's needs and adaptable to new information for case strategizing.

Honey Elixir Bar is a cocktail bar with a focus on community healing, presence, and conscious consumption. My responsibilities as a shift lead included:

• Supervising daily operations, ensuring efficient service delivery and customer satisfaction.
• Training and mentoring team members on service protocols.
• Being a mediator for conflict resolution between coworkers and/or customers.

During the 2020 protests, I co-founded a grassroots mutual aid organization called "DC Protests". Unfortunately, this organization no longer exists, but I am happy to provide evidence and references. My role in this was to:

• Collect and organize donations for mutual aid events.
• Develop strategic outreach plans to increase community engagement and participation in local protests.
• Coordinated logistics for events, ensuring safety protocols and resource allocation were executed effectively.
• Establish partnerships with local organizations to amplify messaging and support initiatives.
• Manage social media campaigns to raise awareness and drive attendance at events.

I am fluent in Spanish, and volunteered with RAICES to translate legal documents that would prevent deportation through my early adulthood.