Andrew Friedman
Make the Road by Walking
Biography
Andrew Friedman is a lawyer, organizer, and well-known advocate of immigrant rights in New York City. As a DMI Fellow, Andrew focuses on issues of language access and immigrant rights.
Andrew Friedman is the founding Co-Director of Make the Road by Walking, a not-for-profit, membership-led organization which organizes Brooklyn and Queens residents to engage in strategic public policy campaigns, promote accountable government and build political power for low-income New Yorkers.
Founded in the Spring of 1997 in the wake of an unprecedented legislative attack on America’s poor and immigrant communities, Make the Road by Walking initially focused exclusively on organizing with immigrant recipients of welfare. Since that time, Make the Road by Walking has expanded its focus to apply a multi-faceted organizing approach to address several inter-connected community issues including: economic justice, workplace justice, a safer and healthier environment, and expanded opportunities and support for youth.
Andrew has worked as a legal advocate with the Latino Workers’ Center and the Government Benefits Unit at Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation. He has also worked with the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, the Center for Urban Community Services’ Transitional Living Community for mentally ill homeless women, MFY Legal Services Mental Health Law Project, and REACH.
Andrew is a cum laude graduate of the New York University School of Law and a magna cum laude graduate of Columbia College. At New York University School of Law, he was an editor of the Review of Law and Social Change, was a founding member of Students Need to Advocate Responsible Lawyering, and received the Harry Dean Bender Prize and the NYU School of Law Community Service Award. He is fluent in English and Spanish.
Links:
http://www.drummajorinstitute.org/fellow.php?ID=2
http://www.maketheroad.org/