2019 Postgraduate Fellowships

Experience: Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics (FASPE), 2019 law fellow; Columbia Human Rights Law Review, articles editor; NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, intern; Office of the New York State Attorney General, intern; Columbia Law School Challenging the Consequences of Mass Incarceration Clinic, intern; Columbia Law School Tenants’ Rights Project, co-chair; Columbia Law Democrats, national campaign coordinator

Motivation: “At a young age, I learned what it means to have opportunity and security, a stark contrast with the experiences of many in my family and in my church community in the outer boroughs of New York City. I came to understand the painful importance of the ZIP code of our birth to our future economic outlook and the unmistakable centrality of housing security to a life with stability and dignity. I saw that while underprivileged communities are often vibrant and loving, their resilience, without more, cannot reliably match the benefits that our laws and policies accord to communities of great privilege.”

Goals: “Keeping the fair housing project alive and creating safe, affordable housing for striving communities are tasks that rest with the government. To that end, I can think of no better form of service to the state I love than to be an Excelsior Service Fellow in the New York State Division of Homes and Community Renewal.”

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The office of Social Justice Initiatives (SJI) guides Columbia Law School students who want to pursue public interest work throughout their academic careers and after graduation. SJI also assists in the process of applying to prestigious postgraduate fellowships. Read about the other 2019 public interest postgraduate fellows.

Published on April 9, 2019.