Our dear friend and founding board member, Cyndy Levy, believed that everyone deserves justice. Truly everyone. But the great thing about Cyndy is that she didn’t just believe this; she lived it out. Among her many accomplishments, Cyndy went back to school during COVID to equip herself to fight for immigrant rights. She attended Villanova University’s VIISTA program, where she learned about immigration law and ultimately teamed up with three other women (Jenn Bulcock, Kim Betz, and Jen White) to start Arise Immigration Services. Her advocacy for immigrants included becoming accredited to practice law through VECINA, creating curriculum content so that new Arise volunteers could learn skills like country conditions research, publishing a weekly digest that documented human rights abuses in Afghanistan and was distributed globally, evaluating program impact, offering expertise based on her background in counseling, and much more.

In the wake of her passing, Arise wishes to honor Cyndy, her family, and our shared commitment to justice for EVERYONE. We have created the Cyndy Levy Fund for Justice to prioritize and respond to emerging needs in our community of asylum-seeking clients. This annual tribute to Cyndy will launch in April of each year.

We are grateful to carry forward her commitment to justice, and we hope you’ll join us. Please find more about Cyndy’s Fund here.