Dylan Corbett is the founding executive director of the Hope Border Institute and has over fifteen years of experience working in international and human development globally and in the borderlands. Dylan has served as an official at the Vatican's Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and also coordinated the work of the Vatican's Migrants & Refugees Section in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. Dylan previously worked with the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development as well as with the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the USCCB's national anti-poverty program. He has studied at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Italy. Dylan is the chair of the Commission on Migration for the Diocese of El Paso. He is a board member of the Border Immigration Law & Justice Center, a member of the Texas Advisory Committee of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, a member of the advisory board of the Texas Resilient States Project, and he is also a consultant to the USCCB Committee on Migration. Dylan lives in El Paso with his wife and two children.

Originally from South Carolina, Monica spent twenty years living across the country and overseas as a military spouse before her family returned to El Paso, TX to make it their forever home. Monica holds a bachelor's degree in comprehensive special education from Converse University. After working with migrant populations in Austria, she developed a passion for those seeking asylum and other displaced persons and has experience working with local migrant shelters. Monica is the mother of four children and loves to read in her free time.

Originally from Spain, Jesús has a Master's in Migration Studies at the University of San Francisco under a Fulbright scholarship. He holds a Bachelor's in International Relations (studied in Spain and Brazil) and a Master's in European Union. He has been honored to accompany migrant justice advocacy movements in Spain, the US, and Central America. His research interests focus on border externalization policies, comparative migration policies, and the root causes of forced migration. 

Lucy del Valle is an accountant by training with a degree in Certified Public Accounting from the University of San Carlos of Guatemala. She has worked in government, the nonprofit sector and with international organizations, including the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and she holds a certificate in NGO administration from the FOCSIV Institute in Rome, Italy. Lucy is a mother of two young children and an active community volunteer in the borderlands.

Originally from Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Maria holds a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua. With over six years of experience promoting social justice, human dignity and the restoration of human rights, Maria has supported children, adolescents, unaccompanied individuals and family groups in contexts of human mobility. She currently resides in El Paso, Texas, where she continues her dedication to supporting and working on behalf of the migrant community.

The proud daughter of immigrants, Astrid is originally from New Jersey and has also lived in Missouri and Texas — she now proudly calls Minnesota home. She holds a Master's in Refugee & Forced Migration Studies and a Master of Public Policy, both from the University of Oxford, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar. She also earned a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and Latin American & Caribbean Studies from Columbia University, where her research centered on Venezuelan forced displacement — a cause very close to her heart.

Astrid brings experience in communications, policy, and advocacy from her work with faith-based migration and advocacy organizations in Minnesota, New York City, Santiago de Chile, such as with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and Servicio Jesuita a Migrantes (SJM) Chile, and most recently Bogotá with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). She is passionate about amplifying the voices of forcibly displaced populations and those who serve them, as well as exploring the Church's role in addressing their needs. In her free time, Astrid loves singing, rowing, traveling, visiting museums, speaking Spanglish, and discovering new coffee shops to find the best "daily sip."

Sofía is a community organizer, policy strategist and mediator. Originally from Mexico City, she has experienced first hand the vibrancy, resilience and creativity of migrant communities in both sides of the border. 

Sofia brings 15 years of experience working at the intersection of civic engagement through participatory design, restorative practices and movement building. She holds a B.A. in Sociology and Philosophy from Notre Dame de Namur University and a Masters in Ethics and Social Theory from the Graduate Theological Union and the Jesuit School of Theology.

One of her proudest accomplishments was to lead and teach a coalition of faith and community leaders to develop their grassroots leadership, strengthen strategic alliances and build impactful campaigns. Her work resulted in 2 million dollars in City grants for high quality tutoring  for low income students in San Jose. At the state level, she worked alongside other community organizers and researchers, and together they secured 8 billion dollars for afterschool programing in public schools across California.

As a community organizer she asks difficult questions encouraging community leaders to develop their voices and the rigor required to build strong partnerships. Civic society gets stronger through relationships, they are indeed the only thing that keep systems and institutions accountable and alive. 

Born and raised in El Paso, Aimée graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso with a bachelor's in Psychology and Philosophy. She recently earned her Master's degree in Philosophy at the same university. Aimée brings years of experience working in public policy, including immigration, and loves reading and discovering new things.