Amany Ezeldin heads the Immigration Project at Life Span Center for Legal Services & Advocacy in Chicago. She is responsible for all aspects of the project, which provides crucial services to undocumented victims of domestic violence. Language barriers and the lack of residency status, coupled with the threat of deportation and increased enforcement of US Immigration laws, keeps undocumented victims of domestic violence from reporting and/or separating from their abusers. These innocent individuals, who are typically women and children, are often trapped in horrific situations. Amany’s work at Life Span helps such victims obtain employment authorization and lawful immigration status, which in turn, empowers them to leave their abuser and pursue a safe and more stable life for themselves and their families.

Amany’s parents immigrated to the US and are the source of her inspiration and focus. After graduating from Loyola University Chicago, Amany decided to become a public interest lawyer to advocate on behalf of immigrants and attended DePaul University College of Law. Since then, her accomplishments in this area are noteworthy. Today, she teaches a course on Human Rights at Columbia College and is a guest instructor for the Asylum and Immigration Clinic at DePaul University College of Law. During law school she volunteered at the clinic, as well as The Border Project, a service immersion project in Harlingen, Texas. Amany also co-chairs the Immigrant Battered Women’s Collaborative of the Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women’s Network and is an active member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

As a result of her extraordinary efforts and contributions advocating on behalf of domestic violence victims, Amany was awarded a CBF Sun-Times Public Interest Law Fellowship in 2010, a financial award that will help meet her law school loan obligation. "I am so grateful for this Fellowship," noted Amany. "This Fellowship award helps me meet my living expenses while enabling me to pay down my loan obligations."