Renewal Session: The Future of Loving our Immigrant Neighbors (Iliff School of Theology)
March 19 @ 2:00 pm
As the world around us shifts and new policies attack the most vulnerable members of our communities, how can we love and support our immigrant and migrant neighbors? What steps can we take to protect the rights of our community while pushing for a safer future?
Join us for our March Renewal Session as Mekela Goehring, Executive Director of the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network, shares about her work and the ways you can support immigrant populations in your community.
About the Speaker: Mekela Goehring, Esq., Executive Director, Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network
Mekela Goehring has served as RMIAN’s Executive Director since 2005. She began working at RMIAN in 2003 as the organization’s first detention staff attorney, representing detained clients before the Executive Office for Immigration Review, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Board of Immigration Appeals. She is a frequent speaker on issues involving immigration law and policy, and works with numerous committees and groups to expand access to justice for individuals in immigration proceedings in Colorado and beyond. Mekela has served as an adjunct professor for externships at the University of Colorado Law School.
Prior to working at RMIAN, Mekela clerked for Judge Casebolt at the Colorado Court of Appeals. Mekela’s passion for working for social justice through the legal system began during fellowships at Community Legal Services in Yuma, Arizona, and Colorado Legal Services in Denver, Colorado. Mekela graduated summa cum laude from the University of Colorado at Boulder and earned her J.D. from the University of Colorado Law School. She was admitted to the Colorado bar in 2002. Mekela has been a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association since 2003.
In 2013, the American Immigration Lawyers Association awarded Mekela the Arthur C. Helton Human Rights Award for her outstanding service in advancing the cause of human rights. In 2018, the University of Colorado Law School awarded Mekela the Dean’s Choice—Dean Edward C. King Making a Difference Award. In her free time, Mekela enjoys spending time with her husband, two children, and all their animals in the Colorado outdoors.
About Renewal
The Renewal Conference is Iliff’s annual community gathering to share our work, hear timely messages from a variety of experts, and spend time in fellowship.
This year, our Renewal sessions focus on Looking to the Future.
We are always considering the future. As individuals, as members of groups, as citizens, we are often asking, What will tomorrow bring? How will our world, our country, our institutions look in the coming years? And how can we shape that future to make it better?
In the midst of so many uncertainties, this Renewal season will focus on the question of what is coming next and how we can work for a better future. We will discuss topics ranging from artificial intelligence to religious institutions to politics and government. What can we expect as we watch these spaces change over the weeks, months and years, and what can we do? Join us for the 2024-2025 Renewal season as we learn about what tomorrow may hold and what we can do to enact justice today.
Free
