Skylar (they/them) joined the Metropolitan Equity Team as a Legal Fellow in September of 2022. Their primary goal is to support local, grassroots organizers to build community power and fight for racial, economic, and environmental justice in land use and housing campaigns throughout the state. They have provided direct campaign support to organizers looking to: win local renter protections; push for development of truly affordable housing in lieu of market rate housing; prevent gentrification and displacement; and develop community land trusts that provide permanently affordable housing to marginalized and at-risk community members. In addition, they participate in state-level research, analysis, and advocacy to make sure state laws and regulations are designed to best meet the needs of local advocates and community members.

During law school they focused on finding creative ways to use the law to meet the needs of communities, working with organizations like the Mississippi Center for Justice, Project South, and the NAACP LDF. They also conducted research about legal and policy transformations designed to build the power of historically disenfranchised communities. This work included: collaborating with currently and formerly incarcerated “jailhouse lawyers” to propose realistic changes to federal law and policy that could best support the immediate needs to resist and heal of incarcerated individuals and communities; and researching and proposing laws, policies, and practices that would best help prevent geographic, community-based harms caused by an emergency like COVID-19. Before law school, they taught sexual violence prevention workshops in both schools and professional spaces.

Education

Skylar graduated from the University of Chicago with a BA in Gender and Sexuality Studies and English in 2017. They graduated from New York University School of Law in 2022. As a law student, they were a Senior Articles Editor with the Review of Law and Social Change.