Founder & Executive Director

After helping hundreds of immigrants find safety in the United States, Jen founded Arise Immigration Services to address unmet legal needs in Pittsburgh and across the country. A former social worker, she brings a trauma-responsive approach to immigration law, grounded in the belief that every person deserves justice and compassionate representation. Her experience spans private practice, higher education, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies, giving her a broad perspective on the legal and systemic challenges facing immigrants. Jen attended the University of Oxford International Summer School in Forced Migration and earned her J.D. from Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law, where she was a Public Interest Scholar. She received her B.S. in Clinical Psychology from the Honors Program at Liberty University, where she was a Division I track and field team captain and a university-sponsored researcher.

Director of Legal Education and Programming | Department of Justice Accredited Representative

Veronica Reinhagen is the Director of Legal Education and Programming and a Department of Justice Accredited Representative dedicated to advancing access to immigration legal services, education, and advocacy.

She holds a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from Rutgers University and spent more than 25 years in corporate finance before transitioning to immigration advocacy and legal services. Veronica completed Villanova University’s VIISTA program and now helps individuals and families navigate the U.S. immigration system through legal representation, promoting access to justice, and legal education.

Fluent in English, Spanish, French, and Italian, and currently studying Portuguese, Veronica brings a multilingual and multicultural perspective to her work. She is also pursuing postgraduate studies in International Relations at Harvard University.

Director & Department of Justice Accredited Representative

Kim Betz has worked in higher education administration for more than 25 years at Oberlin College, St. Catherine University, Carleton College, and Princeton University. Throughout her work in higher ed, Kim has supported students with many different visa and immigration statuses in their career development. In 2021, she completed an intensive year-long training program in immigration law through Villanova University, VIISTA - Villanova Interdisciplinary Immigration Studies Training for Advocates. Kim is fluent in German, has studied a bit of Serbo-Croatian, and has dipped a toe into trying to learn Hmong. She lived in Austria for a year, where she taught English, and is currently dividing her time between Princeton, NJ and Minneapolis, MN.

Director

Claudia is originally from El Salvador, where she studied law at the University of Technology of El Salvador. As an immigrant, she is eager to help make the transition smoother for others navigating the difficult immigration system in the U.S. She will never forget the relief she felt when she received her green card. She hopes to share that same feeling with many more through her work at Arise. She has worked in hospitality and management for the last 18 years and is fluent in English and Spanish. She lives in Northern Virginia with her daughters.

President, Board of Directors

Jenn Bulcock has a background as a college educator and as an advocate for those impacted by the U.S. criminal justice system and U.S. immigration law. For six years Jenn was a philosophy professor at Cabrini University and concurrently served as the Assistant Director for the Center on Immigration for three years. With her colleagues she led advocacy efforts for immigration reform at the state and national level with students and helped to organize educational events for the university and the community. Jenn completed Villanova University’s intensive training program in immigration law (VIISTA - Villanova Interdisciplinary Immigration Studies Training for Advocates) and has since volunteered with immigration non-profits to assist with family reunification, asylum, and humanitarian parole cases. She has also contributed to the literature on crimes involving moral turpitude within immigration jurisprudence. Jenn’s work within the criminal justice system includes teaching college students alongside women who are incarcerated within a county jail and providing therapeutic case management and reentry planning for men who are incarcerated. She has most recently worked as a mobile crisis counselor and as a psychological counselor at a college counseling center.

Jenn received her Ph.D. in Philosophy from Rice University, her M.A. in Justice Studies from the University of New Hampshire, and will receive her Master of Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania in May of 2023.

Director

Norman is a licensed Maryland attorney that started a law firm called The Burning Bush Lawyers, LLP. He received both his undergraduate and graduate degrees in Social Work from The Ohio State University, prior to attending Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law.

He became interested in law during his time investigating the merits of claims of wrongful conviction as a graduate student intern with the Ohio Office of the Public Defender's Wrongful Conviction Project. Since that time, he has worked in areas of ex-offender community reentry, public interest law, Veteran's affairs, and family law and mediation.

Given the nationwide need for quality legal guidance for people fleeing from persecution to freedom and safety, he is honored to serve on the Board of an immigration legal services provider that not only represents immigrants in Pittsburgh but also provides mentorship to advocates and attorneys around the country.