POLIKOFF-GAUTREAUX FELLOWS 1999 — PRESENT
2011
Emily Blumberg
JD Harvard Law School
BA Harvard College
A 2010 graduate of Harvard Law School, Emily clerked for Justice Denise Johnson of the Vermont Supreme Court before coming to BPI. As a law student, Emily was an editor of the Harvard Civil Rights – Civil Liberties Law Review, a research and teaching assistant for Professor Lani Guinier, and a mediator with the Harvard Mediation Program. Her internships during law school included work with The Legal Aid Society (NYC), Centro Legal de la Raza (Oakland), Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (Boston), and Advancement Project (Washington, D.C.). Prior to law school, Emily was a Teaching Fellow at Citizen Schools in Boston, a publication assistant for Harvard’s Global Equity Initiative, and a research assistant with the Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research. As a Rockefeller Fellow, she worked on community development projects with rural farming communities in Mexico. Emily received her BA magna cum laude in History and Literature from Harvard College in 2004.
2010
Taylor Healy
JD Villanova University
BA Boston College
Taylor Healy received a JD magna cum laude from Villanova University School of Law where she was a Public Interest Scholar. While in law school, Taylor worked with the Clinic for Asylum, Refugee and Emigrant Services (CARES), National Advisory Committee of Equal Justice Works, Housing Unit at Philadelphia’s Community Legal Services, Inc., and Guardian Ad Litem Program of the Children’s Law Center in Washington, D.C. Prior to law school, Taylor was a Fulbright Scholar in Europe. She also worked as a program analyst with the federal Legal Services Corporation (LSC) of Washington, D.C. on issues affecting hurricane and disaster affected legal aid programs. Taylor also holds a BA from Boston College.
2010
Aya Barnea
JD DePaul University College of Law
MA Teaching Johns Hopkins University
BA University of Chicago
Aya Barnea joined BPI’s staff as a Polikoff-Gautreaux Fellow in August 2010. Aya received her JD magna cum laude from the DePaul University College of Law, where she was a member of the DePaul Law Review and served on the Public Interest Law Committee. Before entering law school, she taught first grade for two years through Teach for America in Baltimore and received a Master of Arts in Teaching from Johns Hopkins University. As a law student, Aya served as a law clerk with the Cook County Public Guardian and the Family Defense Center and held internships at BPI and the Citizen Advocacy Center. Aya was awarded a BA in Public Policy Studies with Honors from the University of Chicago in 2005.
2009
Anoa Changa
JD West Virginia University College of Law
MA City and Regional Planning Ohio State University
BA Ohio State University
BPI’s eleventh Polikoff-Gautreaux fellow, Anoa received her law degree in 2009 from West Virginia University College of Law, where she was awarded the WEB Dubois Fellowship. Her law school work experience included internships with the Office of Chief Counsel of the Federal Highway Administration and WVU Student Legal Services, research assistant positions, and a summer clerkship with Spilman, Thomas & Battle, in Charleston, WV. At WVU, she chaired the Coalition to End Race and Gender Violence and the Mentor Program Committee and served as Associate Chief Justice of the Moot Court Board. Prior to law school, Anoa received a master’s degree in City and Regional Planning from The Ohio State University. During graduate school, she served a two-year internship with the City of Columbus, Ohio’s Department of Development working on a range of neighborhood development and community issues. Anoa was awarded a BA cum laude in Sociology from Ohio State in 2003.
Currently, Anoa works as an Attorney Advisor for the Social Security Administration in West Virginia.
2008
Kate Pomper
JD/MPP University of Michigan
BA University of Virginia
Kate joined BPI as the tenth Polikoff-Gautreaux Fellow in September 2008, having received dual degrees from the University of Michigan's Law School and the Ford School of Public Policy. While in law school she was Article Editor for the Journal of Law Reform, a Dean’s Public Service Fellow, and co-chaired Michigan's ACLU chapter. She served as a member of the Board of the Ford School’s Women and Gender in Public Policy. In her graduate school summers, Kate interned in Chicago with the Mayor’s Office, the Shriver Center on Poverty Law, and the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago. She also spent three years working in Washington, D.C. for the Urban Institute’s Income and Policy Benefits Center and the National Women’s Law Center. Kate graduated from the University of Virginia in 2001, Phi Beta Kappa, with a B.A. in Economics with High Distinction.
Currently, Kate is an attorney in the Public Interest Division of the Illinois Attorney General's office.
2007
Katie Hill
JD University of Chicago Law School
BA Stanford University
Katie joined BPI in September 2007. She is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, where she worked for the Mandel Legal Aid Criminal Clinic and Juvenile Justice Project and was a member of the boards of the Chicago Law Foundation and the Public Interest Law Society. In addition to a summer internship at BPI, she clerked for the law firm Goldberg Kohn and interned at Children’s Rights (NY). Prior to law school Katie taught in a public elementary school in San Jose, CA, through Teach for America, and was a teaching fellow at Phillips Academy in Andover, MA. She graduated from Stanford University, Phi Beta Kappa, with a BA in Public Policy.
Currently, Katie is an attorney with the Chicago civil rights law firm Loevy & Loevy.
2006
Nadia Wishne Underhill
MPA Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs,
Princeton University
MSc London School of Economics
BA Carleton College
Nadia joined BPI in September 2006 and worked on public and affordable housing. She received her MA in Public Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. She also has an MSc in Cities, Space and Society from the London School of Economics. Prior to her graduate education, Nadia was a Housing Development Coordinator for the City of Oakland, developing policy and managing financing for affordable housing development. She has worked on issues relating to immigrant women and trained volunteer tutors in Brooklyn public schools. Nadia graduated magna cum laude from Carleton College with a BA in English Literature.
Currently, Nadia works at Heartland Housing, Inc. in Chicago.
2005
Rosanne Aviles
JD Columbia University School of Law
BA University of Virginia
Rosanne joined BPI in September 2005. She received her JD from Columbia University School of Law, where she was a Charles Evans Hughes Fellow working for the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights & Urban Affairs and a Joseph L. Brechner Fellow with the Anti-Defamation League in New York. She also interned for a human rights organization in Sao Paolo, Brazil and volunteered at the Goddard Riverside Tenant Assistance Project and the D.C. Employment Justice Center. She received her BA in Latin American Studies with a Distinguished Major from the University of Virginia in 2000.
Currently, Rosanne is a staff attorney in the housing law unit of The Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia.
2004
Kelli Harsch
JD Yale Law School
BA University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Throughout her fellowship, Kelli worked on public housing, affordable housing and public education issues. She represented members of the Gautreaux plaintiff class on working groups created to aid in the development of the Chicago Housing Authority's new mixed income developments. She assisted in developing an inclusionary zoning ordinance and providing legal research assistance to the city of Evanston. In an effort to preserve affordable housing, she provided support to other city organizations and tenant groups in interpreting and enforcing their rights under the Federally Assisted Housing Preservation Act. In addition to housing policy work, she monitored the implementation of the Chicago Public School's Renaissance 2010 program to build 100 new schools. As staff counsel, Kelli continued her work with BPI's public housing and affordable housing programs as for more than a year after her fellowship.
Kelli currently practices affordable housing law with Applegate & Thorne-Thomsen in Chicago.
2003
Jessica L. Webster
JD William Mitchell College of Law
MPP Humphrey Institute, University of Minnesota
BA Purdue University
As a fellow, Jessica worked on BPI's public education and affordable housing programs. She drafted a school information guide for public housing residents and participated in BPI's state legislative efforts to address exclusionary zoning laws. Throughout her fellowship, Jessica met with municipal officials, state legislators, developers, residents and advocates to promote the creation and preservation of affordable housing for low- and moderate-income families. She authored the report "Success in Affordable Housing: The Metro Denver Experience." After her fellowship, Jessica continued with BPI as a Senior Policy Analyst, working on the Regional Affordable Housing Initiative.
Jessica is currently an attorney with the Legal Services Advocacy Project of Minnesota.
2002
Henry J. Ford, Jr.
JD/MA Syracuse University
BA Hampton University
Henry worked on BPI's public housing program. He conducted research in an effort to explore litigation to reform the Housing Choice Voucher program. Henry also organized both public housing residents and local organizations on the Near West Side of Chicago to address quality of life issues in their community.
Henry is currently an attorney with the law firm Albert, Whitehead, P.C..
2001
Beth Valukas
JD Northwestern University
BA Colorado College
Beth worked on a diverse range of public policy issues while focusing primarily on the development of strong, sustainable small schools in Chicago, which culminated in the publication of "Small Schools, Next Steps: Voices from the Field." In conducting this research, she visited dozens of Chicago public schools and interviewed teachers, principals and other school personnel.
Beth left BPI to become the Executive Director of a non-profit organization that serves the interests of youth.
2000
Nicholas J. Brunick
JD/MA University of Texas
BA North Central College
Nick continued at BPI following his fellowship for three additional years, during which time he directed BPI's Regional Affordable Housing Initiative. He led BPI's efforts to help secure passage of the Illinois Affordable Housing Planning and Appeal Act and to provide technical assistance and legal support to municipalities seeking to enact inclusionary housing polices. While a fellow, Nick organized residents of the Henry Horner Homes and the surrounding West Haven neighborhood to form block clubs and neighborhood groups.
Nick currently practices affordable housing law with Applegate & Thorne-Thomsen in Chicago.
1999
Jennifer Salvatore
JD University of Michigan
BA Miami of Ohio
Jenny worked on BPI's public education program, where she provided legal counsel to the Young Women's Leadership Charter School of Chicago (YWLCS), helped design and launch the Chicago Public Schools Design Competition, and conducted litigation-related research on inclusionary housing.
Jenny currently practices in a civil rights law firm in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
