Virginia Raymond - Community Activism & Service (partial listing)

Most significant community service (volunteer)

* Travis County Correctional Complex, Travis County Sheriff's Department, Del Valle, Texas Individual literacy tutor, 1993 - 1994; Adult Basic Education teacher, 1995 - 2000.

* Political Asylum Project of Austin/Proyecto de Asilo de Austin (PAPA), Co-founder of organization devoted to the representation of poor and low-income refugees and immigrants, public education, and advocacy for the human rights of immigrants and refugees in Central Texas, 1987-1988; volunteer legal director, 1987 - 1990; board member and volunteer lawyer, 1988 - 2000.

Selected other community activism & service (volunteer)

Maplewood Elementary School Campus Advisory Council (CAC), Austin, Texas, Member and co-chair, 1996-1998, Member, 2005-2006

Texas Forums and Champion Austin, East Austin Gentrification Forum, Austin Community College (ACC) Eastview Campus, one of numerous moderators, April 2005

Austin Readers for School Libraries, Austin, Texas, Co-founder and Volunteer at Maplewood and Norman Elementary School Libraries (Friends of Libraries, U.S.A. , recognized Austin Readers for School Libraries in 1995 as the only group in the United States devoted to local advocacy on behalf of public school libraries), 1995 - 1998

New Bridges Unlearning Oppression Workshops, American Friends Service Committee, Austin, Texas, Co-facilitator, 1995 – 1998

147th Judicial District Court, Travis County, Texas, Hon. Wilford Flowers presiding, Grand Juror, Summer 1991 term

Texas Human Rights Foundation, Austin, Texas, Board member and Supervisor AIDS Legal Resource Project, 1990 – 1992

Central America Resource Center, later, Documentation Exchange, Austin, Texas, Board member, 1990-1995

National Lawyers Guild, Member, l982 – 1995, and 2004 – present; Regional Vice-President (Texas-Oklahoma), l986 - l988; Planning committee for national convention, l989 - June l990

La Peña, Austin, Texas, Volunteer, 1983 –1988; Board member, l985 - l988; Writing workshop facilitator for Floricanto, 1999, 2003

Austin Rape Crisis Center, Austin, Texas, Hotline volunteer and peer support group facilitator for survivors of rape, l982 - l985

Elizabeth Blackwell Health Center for Women, Philadelphia, Pa., Volunteer peer counselor, volunteer representative to Board of Directors, 1980 - 1982

Women in Transition, Philadelphia, Pa., Volunteer hotline counselor for battered women, volunteer representative to the board, l978 - l980

Georgetown Children’s House, Washington, D.C., Volunteer child care worker, 1977 - 1978

Community Legal Services, Philadelphia, Pa., Volunteer research assistant for class action challenging cancellation of unemployment benefits without due process, l975 - l976

Recognition

J.C. Penney “Golden Rule” Finalist, J.C. Penney Corporation and the Volunteer Center of the United Way/Capital Area, May 1999

Community Excellence Award/Community Collaboration Awards Celebration, Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, United Way/Capital area, and citysearch.com, Austin, April 1999

Nominated by Travis County Sheriff’s Department, KVUE “Five Who Care” Award, Austin, Texas Austin, Spring 1999

Nominated by Travis County Sheriff’s Department, Governor’s Volunteer Award, Austin, Spring, 1999

Frank J. Scurlock Award, State Bar of Texas, annual award to one lawyer in the state for outstanding pro-bono legal service to low-income people. Annual Meeting of the State Bar of Texas, Fort Worth, June 1993

Austin Human Rights Commission Special Award, 1990

NOKOA newspaper, African American Development Corporation, Austin Texas “Women’s Rights Newsmaker,” 1989

Gleanings

Bridging Community & Academia, part of the workshop "Bridging Community and Academia in the Struggle to End Violence against Latin@s," organized by Roberta Villalón, panelists Roberta Villalón, St. Johns University; Laura Zarate, Arte Sana; and Virginia Raymond; Abriendo Brecha VII, 19 February 2010.

"How to Make the Guild More Open, Less Exclusive," c. 1989 or 1990, excerpted in National Lawyers Guild Chapter Organizing Manual 2008 in Chapters 2 and 3.