Cathleen Caron
Founder and Executive Director
Courtney Davies
Operations Manager
Dirk Ewers
Program Assistant
Griselda Vega
Staff Attorney/Mexico Program Director
Cathleen Caron
Cathleen is an attorney with over a decade of human rights experience in the United States and abroad. Prior to launching Global Workers, she was in East Timor where she directed a national needs assessment of the human trafficking situation for the Alola Foundation, chaired by East Timor’s First Lady. Additionally, Cathleen worked in Florida as a staff attorney with the Migrant Farmworker Justice Project, successfully litigating class action employment cases on behalf of foreign migrant farmworkers. She has also consulted with Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative on labor migration issues.
Before entering law school, she worked in Guatemala for over three years where she assisted Guatemalan lawyers in domestic human rights litigation, researched the needs of internally displaced persons in urban squatter settlements, and directed a regional indigenous rights program for the United Nations.
Cathleen is a summa cum laude graduate of the American University Washington College of Law and Dartmouth College. Several institutions have lauded her lifetime commitment to human rights. From her law school she received the Outstanding Law Graduate Award and the Peter Cicchino Award for Outstanding Public Advocacy, as a student then again as an alumnus. Her undergraduate institution awarded her the Martin Luther King Jr. Social Justice Award for Ongoing Commitment. In 2010, the American Constitutional Society bestowed her the David Carliner Public Interest Award.
Courtney Davis
Courtney received a Bachelors in Business Administration from Pace University in the spring of 2009, with a minor in Latin American Studies and Spanish. While studying for her BBA, Courtney became actively involved with the Latino community through volunteer work and a summer spent studying Latin American Studies and Spanish in Buenos Aires, Argentina. During her stay, she had the opportunity to travel across South America, including the countries of Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Uruguay. Upon returning to the United States, Courtney obtained an internship with the non-profit organization, ACCION USA, as part of the Business Development and Financial Literacy team. She led grassroots efforts to educate global migrant entrepreneurs on the financial system in the United States, and created bilingual resource guides on obtaining credit in America.
Currently, she also holds the part-time position of Development and Financial Associate at the Latino International Theater Festival of New York, Inc., a non-profit Latino Theater Festival that annually presents TeatroStageFest, a two-week celebration of theater, artist panels and workshops showcasing Latino writers, directors and actors.
Dirk Ewers
Dirk is a policy analyst with field experience in security and protection issues. He worked with Peace Brigades International (PBI) in Colombia for two years, where he provided protective accompaniment for threatened human rights workers. Before joining Global Workers, he worked as a researcher on issues related to emergency preparedness and critical incidents. For many years, he was politically active in Charlottesville, Virginia, organizing public education campaigns on human rights, coordinating, and actively supporting humanitarian relief efforts to Cuba and Central America. He holds a master’s degree in public policy from the Batten School at the University of Virginia and a B.A. in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia. Dirk is a German national who will soon become a U.S. citizen.
Griselda Vega
Griselda is an attorney with seven years of experience representing low-income Latino clients in general civil litigation matters. For over five years, she represented farm worker clients primarily on employment, civil rights, class action litigation, as well as, consumer rights in state and federal court with Columbia Legal Services (CLS) in Washington State. While at CLS, Griselda also undertook legislative and administrative advocacy, working on the first ever Cholinesterase Medical Monitoring program in the country for pesticide workers; as well as conducted community education to migrants through one-on-one outreach, presentations, radio and other media outlets. Griselda also worked for the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago, focusing on family and housing law.
Prior to attending law school, she worked as an Assistant Development Director for The National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, IL. She has been actively involved in the American Bar Association and the Young Lawyer’s Division since 2002, holding a number of leadership positions.
Griselda graduated from the University of Iowa-College of Law, and her undergraduate degree from Briar Cliff University. She is licensed in both Illinois and Washington State.
Global Workers wishes to thank the following individuals for their work and support.
A special thank you goes out to Global Workers' past team members:
Kate D'Adamo, Program Assistant, 2007-2010; Elizabeth Rosemeyer, Managing Director 2005.
Law Firms - Blank Rome LLP, Pepper Hamilton LLC, and Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP.
Students from American University, Barnard College, Brooklyn Law School, Dartmouth College, Emory Law School, Fordham University, Harvard University, New York Law School, Villanova University, New York University, Rutgers School of Law, and University of North Carolina.
And the countless other individuals who continue to provide advice and/or financial support.
Global Workers Justice Alliance. 789 Washington Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11238