Each month, Senator Blakespear honors a Community Champion of the Month from San Diego County and Orange County within the 38th Senate District. We welcome you to nominate individuals who live, work, study, or volunteer in the 38th Senate district. Go here to see a map of the district. You may also nominate organizations, teams, or businesses whose accomplishments and/or services have had a positive impact on the community.

To make a nomination, please complete the Community Champion of the Month Nomination Form here. Nominees will be contacted for authorization before the Senator announces the award publicly on this web page or through messages on social media or to local news media. If you have any questions, please contact Senator.Blakespear@Senate.ca.gov.

January 2026 Champion

Rima Nashashibi

I am happy to recognize Rima Nashashibi – who is the Founder and President of Global Hope 365‚ a local nonprofit dedicated to ending child marriage‚ human trafficking and other forms of gender-based violence – as the Senate District 38 Champion of the Month for January.

January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month‚ which is dedicated to raising awareness about the forced exploitation of people for labor or sex and supporting efforts to stop it.

Rima has devoted her life to this mission. An internationally recognized speaker and a fierce advocate‚ Rima has been praised and recognized for her efforts by every level of government – federal‚ state‚ county and city.

She played a crucial role in getting the “No Child Marriage Under 18‚ No Exceptions” resolution and legislation passed. Rima has successfully helped pass unanimous resolutions in 16 cities across California and the County of Santa Clara‚ and she has testified before state legislatures at both the Senate and House levels in 13 states‚ including New Hampshire‚ Rhode Island‚ Hawaii‚ Kansas‚ New York‚ and Alaska to end child marriage under 18.

Her advocacy contributed to the passage of child marriage legislation in both Rhode Island and New York in 2021. The Orange County Register named Rima one of the 125 most influential people in 2021‚ and the Los Angeles Times B2B picked her as the most inspirational woman in the non-profit executive category.

Rima believes human trafficking is preventable‚ and her organization has invested in providing education to high school‚ college and university students and health care professionals throughout the state.

Through transformative leadership and action‚ Rima has strengthened prevention efforts and helped protect vulnerable communities across California. Much thanks to Rima for all her efforts and her unwavering commitment to saving lives and systemic change.