Edith Avila Olea is policy manager for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights. She recently worked as justice and peace associate director for the Catholic Diocese of Joliet, where she annually suppoprted more than a dozen parishes and campuses in conducting Offerings of Letters. They delivered more than 5,400 letters to their members of Congress last year. Avila Olea is a recipient of the Cardinal Bernardin New Leadership Award for her work fighting poverty and injustice in the United States through community-based solutions. Avila Olea holds a master’s degree in public policy from DePaul University in Chicago and a bachelor’s degree in organizational communication from Shorter University in Georgia. Roman Catholic. Joliet, Illinois.
