Gigi Nikpour, Employment Unit Paralegal, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia

Soheila “Gigi” Nikpour is a paralegal in the Community Legal Services Employment Unit, assisting clients with unemployment benefits, criminal records, discrimination, and wage theft issues. Between 2020 and 2021, Gigi helped over 173 unemployment claimants overcome technological and language barriers and access Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) after being unfairly denied. Gigi has also worked in CLS’s SSI, Aging and Disabilities, Intake, and Homeownership and Consumer Rights units. As a result, she was able to give holistic assistance to clients looking for additional benefits during the pandemic.

Gigi became interested in justice work after she traveled as a volunteer to Turkey in 2009 to assist Iranian LGBTQ+ refugees seeking asylum in the US and Canada. In 2016, she joined the Philadelphia Mayor’s Commission on LGBT Affairs, formed an elder committee, and advocated for a long-term care bill of rights for LGBTQ+ seniors. She served as board president with Team Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Falcons Soccer Club, where she was inducted into the Soccer Club's Hall of Fame in 2010. Gigi earned her B.S. in Information Systems from Carnegie-Melon. She obtained a paralegal degree from Pierce College in 2013 and will receive her master’s in public policy (MPP) from Temple University this May.

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