David Felipe

David Felipe (he/him) is a Zapotec student activist from South Central Los Angeles, CA. He is the proud son of working-class Oaxacan immigrants from the Mixtán and Loma Bonita/Coyolar pueblos in the Papaloapan Valley. Currently a senior at Brown University, David studies International & Public Affairs and Ethnic Studies, with an emphasis on Indigenous Oaxaca, education and immigration policy. He is passionate about bridging understanding between migration, identity and diaspora. 

Dedicated to higher education access for his community, David has founded scholarships for other first-gen, low-income high school students and serves as a liaison between first-generation college students and the university faculty at Brown. He is the co-coordinator for the Native American Heritage Series at the Brown Center for Students of Color, works in multiple peer mentorship programs and supports Brown’s undocumented students directly through his leadership in the Brown Dream Team.

Recently, David was selected as a Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he wrote policy proposals to find legal pathways for undocumented farmworkers in California. Through it all, he aims to combine advocacy and policy to represent the people of Oaxaca, Mexíco and Paisanos everywhere.