Class of 2028

Ángel Ortiz-Siberón is originally from Puerto Rico and has called Philadelphia home for nearly a decade. A passionate advocate for housing and economic justice, he plans to use his law degree to focus on limited-English-proficient communities living in poverty through legal representation and policy work.  

Before law school, Ángel served as Vice President of Research & Strategic Initiatives at Esperanza, one of the largest Latine-led nonprofits in the country, which addresses poverty in North Philadelphia through education, housing, and economic development. At Esperanza, he led policy advocacy and voter-education efforts and oversaw Impacto Media, the organization’s bilingual newspaper. Under his leadership, Impacto tripled its budget, increased its staff, and expanded its circulation to 12 additional cities across Pennsylvania, delivering essential information on immigrant rights and free legal resources to thousands of Latine families. Ángel previously served as the first Health Policy Research Fellow at the Weitzman Institute, where he helped establish its Washington, D.C.–based policy division. He also conducted community-based participatory research on youth homelessness, with a focus on unhoused racial minorities and LGBTQ+ youth that was published in peer-reviewed journals.  

Ángel was a member of Mayor Cherelle Parker’s Transition Committee, Human Services Subcommittee, and was elected to represent underserved communities on Philadelphia’s Office of Homeless Services Continuum of Care Board, which oversees federal funding for homeless services in the city. He also was a founding board member of the Harvard Medical School Primary Care Review, a member of the Women Against Abuse Workforce Advisory Council, and Co-Director of the National Puerto Rican Student Coalition.  

Ángel earned his B.A. in Sociology, magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020, where he was named a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow and a Truman Scholar, the nation’s premier award for undergraduates pursuing careers in public service. In his free time, Ángel plays Latin percussion with Philadelphia-based Puerto Rican music groups and teaches youth about Afro-Caribbean rhythms. He has performed at the Kimmel Center and with the Bard College Orchestra in New York. 

Hannah Theresa Long’s professional career has consistently centered on public service and advocacy for marginalized communities. Immediately following graduation from the University of Notre Dame, she joined the Peace Corps in Paraguay, where she taught environmental education and supported community-led projects. 

Upon returning to the United States, Long worked as a Refugee Resettlement Caseworker with Catholic Charities of Camden, assisting newly arrived refugees and asylum seekers. In that role, she witnessed firsthand how systemic barriers—including language access, inadequate housing protections, and underfunded social services—harm the most vulnerable and was inspired to pursue a career in legal advocacy. 

Since then, Long has committed to housing justice work, supporting low-income and senior tenants facing eviction in Philadelphia. She currently serves as a Legal Assistant Supervisor for the City of Philadelphia’s Law Department while enrolled in the evening division at Temple University Beasley School of Law.

Leanne Almeida graduated from Georgetown University in 2020 where she majored in English and minored in Spanish. Following graduation, Leanne completed a year with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps at Workers Defense Project, a Texas-based organization that works with low-wage and immigrant workers to build power in the construction industry. After her year in Texas, she moved to Philadelphia where she worked as a Program Coordinator at the Public Interest Law Center. At the Law Center, she had the opportunity to learn from the organizers and tenants that led Renters United Philadelphia (RUP) and enjoyed the opportunity to contribute to their housing justice work through door knocking, phone outreach, and social media assistance.  

In 2023, Leanne started working as a Tangled Title Paralegal with Philadelphia Legal Assistance. In this role, she worked with low-income clients living in family property without their name on the deed. She assisted them with probate and deed transfers so that they could get legal title to their homes.  

Leanne is interested in immigrant worker justice and housing but is also open to exploring new practice areas. In her legal practice, she seeks to center the experiences and perspectives of the individuals and communities directly affected by systemic inequities.

Megan Gafvert is a social worker and law student dedicated to improving the legal and social systems that impact children in Philadelphia. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2018 with a B.A. in Psychology and then moved to Washington, D.C., where she completed a service year with AmeriCorps City Year. This experience led her to pursue social work, and she went on to earn a Master of Social Work and a Master of Science in Social Policy from the University of Pennsylvania in 2022. 

During graduate school, Gafvert completed a year-long field placement as a school social worker in South Philadelphia. Her second-year placement was with the Juvenile Law Center’s Youth Advocacy Program, where she partnered with young people to explore policy issues in Philadelphia’s juvenile justice and child welfare systems. She also interned with Citizens for Juvenile Justice in Boston, researching policy issues at the intersection of child welfare and immigration. 

For the past three years, Gafvert has practiced direct social work at the Support Center for Child Advocates. In this role, she partners with attorneys to represent children in family court dependency matters, often those who have experienced severe physical or sexual abuse. Her passion for advocacy and her desire to expand her impact led her to pursue a law degree. She looks forward to exploring the systems and issues that intersect with child welfare and family policing, including education law, disability law, juvenile justice, and the criminal legal system. 

Children’s rights remain central to Gafvert’s work, and she hopes to center her experience as a social worker in her legal practice. She believes that all children deserve to grow up feeling safe and surrounded by kin—and that every child deserves support and second chances. Through her studies at Temple University Beasley School of Law, Gafvert aims to build a career that balances direct practice with legal advocacy for systemic change.