Alison Garibay 

CHCI Health Postgraduate Fellow  

Presented by AHIP  

Hometown: Chowchilla, California  

School: Columbia University  

Degree: Master of Science in Social Work  

Placement: The Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Alison Garibay (she/her) was born and raised in Chowchilla, CA where she lives with her parents, two younger siblings, and dog Snowflake. She is a first-generation college graduate from both California State University Fresno (CSUF) and Columbia University School of Social Work (CSSW). Her hometown is a rural farming community where her grandparents spent most of their lives working after her grandfather immigrated from Mexico. She aspires to be a policy maker in her hometown by running for local office and one day California Assembly or Senate.   

While in Undergrad Alison was the College of Health and Human Services Senator, Legal Committee Chair, Chief Student Justice and established an internship grant for students needing financial help while completing unpaid internships. As legal committee chair, she spearheaded a team that rewrote election bylaws and policy and implemented gender neutral language in university policies. Additionally, she interned as a student Case Manager where Alison helped several clients through talk therapy, financial assistance, housing assistance, and food procurement. Off campus she Interned through the Kenneth Maddy institute where she was a Legislative intern for The City of Madera and U.S. Senator Alex Padilla. In these experiences she attended legislative hearings, tracked issues relevant to the Senator, and assisted in letters of support for federal grants.    

At Columbia University School of Social Work, Alison served as CSSW Student Senator, Associate Editor for the School of Social Work Journal, and Graduate Intern for the Congressional Research institute for Social Work and Policy (CRISP). As Student Senator she helped to pass resolutions calling on the Columbia University Trustees to reevaluate internship pay for underprivileged students, and antiracist wording in policies. As associate editor, the author she worked with published their clinical Social Work article around sexual abuse victimization. As a Graduate intern for CRISP she evaluated Congressmembers’ participation, drafted Legislative research, and coordinated student involvement for an online national conference on student advocacy in Congress. After graduating from Columbia University Alison was an Executive Fellow with the Governor’s Office of California. During this time, she was placed at the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development- Zero Emission Vehicles and The Data Office of Cradle-To-Career.  

As a CHCI Health Postgraduate Fellow, Alison hopes to accomplish advocating for farm workers in rural United States that have a barrier to healthcare access, the long-term effects of pesticide exposure, and health insurance access for Latinos.