Melissa also known as “MJ” is a trusted advisor, strategic partner, and
respected coach to senior leadership teams and champion for employees
through her relentless and diplomatic advocacy for a fair and equitable
workplace.

Prior to starting her own consulting firm, Melissa served as the Chief
People and Culture Officer at the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, and as
Vice President of Human Resources with UCAN Chicago, a child welfare
agency focused on supporting and coaching youth with a history of trauma.

With more than 20 years of professional working experience, Melissa
began her career in HR in 2004 at the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago
and since then, has held a number of HR roles including Senior Director of
Human Resources at the National Safety Council and HR Business
Partner at Medline Industries. Melissa holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in
Human Resources from DePaul University and is a certified Senior Human
Resource Professional (SPHR).

Nathan Cummings joins the Shriver Center on Poverty Law as a Liman Fellow. His project focuses on improving living conditions in federally-subsidized private housing. Much of the country’s subsidized housing has fallen into disrepair. Meanwhile, affordable units are disappearing, as more landlords want to offer rentals at market rates.

Nathan will help tenants organize unions to advocate for better living conditions and increased protections. Additionally, he’ll develop mass enforcement strategies against serially-negligent owners and property managers.

Nathan recently clerked for the chief judge of the Northern District of Illinois. He found his passion for housing justice in college as a volunteer for Y2Y, a student-run youth shelter. Staffing overnights, he saw how systems fail young people.

Nathan received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University. He attended Yale Law School, where he served as a Forum editor for the Yale Law Journal. A life-long runner, Nathan finds community as a member of a local running club in Chicago.

Aysa Gray (pronoun: Aysa) brings over a decade of experience in racial justice facilitation and organizing. The Shriver Center’s intersectional approach to ending poverty and racism drew Aysa to the organization.

Previously, Aysa directed a racial justice fellowship at the City University of New York (CUNY) and served as director of the CUNY DEI Incubator. Aysa’s work has been featured in publications such as the Stanford Innovation Journal (2019) and RRAPP (2020), a Harvard University journal about diversity. Aysa approaches racial justice work with the firm belief that effective change demands action to create meaningful shifts in policy and practice. Truth-telling in this work can be self-revelatory, and Aysa fosters transformative and innovative spaces through this framework.

In Aysa’s spare time, Aysa enjoys exploring audiobooks and podcasts on racial justice, teaching spades as a community service, and expanding Aysa’s knowledge of funk and South African amma piano music. When possible, Aysa finds enjoyment strolling through the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, stopping to smell the roses when they’re in season.

Leah Levinger is an attorney and dedicated tenant organizer in the housing justice movement.  She serves as the Shriver Center’s class counsel in Henry Horner Mothers Guild v. Chicago Housing Authority, where she represents Horner-Westhaven residents in the implementation of a landmark federal civil rights consent decree. Leah also serves as the Shriver Center’s liaison to support the housing advocacy work of several Chicago community organizations, and consults with stakeholders inside and outside government on improvements to local housing policy. Before joining Shriver Center’s staff, Leah worked as a staff attorney at the Connecticut Fair Housing Center, where she litigated on behalf of persons experiencing housing discrimination.

Before law school, Leah spent 15 years as a tenant organizer and nonprofit executive in Chicago. She co-founded several community organizations and a coalition that won citywide rent protections and improvements to federal housing law. Her work has led to the rehabilitation and development of thousands of affordable housing units.

Leah graduated from Yale Law School, where she served as a lead editor of the Yale Law and Policy Review. As a law student, she did clinical work pertaining to community and economic development and externed with the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office in their rights-affirming litigation division. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Chicago with a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities. When she is not working, Leah enjoys hiking and camping. She’s been known to play acoustic guitar and sing cover songs way too loud and off key.

Samir Hanna is an attorney and educator with a deep background in housing and economic justice issues. His clinical work has led to tenant victories in Massachusetts and unemployment reforms in Michigan. At the Shriver Center, Samir oversees legislative efforts to strengthen housing protections for marginalized groups. His litigation focuses on the enforcement of current laws, while seeking to expand fair housing and tenants’ rights.

For nearly a decade, Samir taught students at the University of Michigan Law School and Harvard Law School. As a clinical instructor, he supervised student casework in unemployment and eviction defense. His students have worked alongside community organizers including City Life Vida Urbana. In 2022, he led a partnership between a housing clinic at Harvard and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Together they represented tenants-patients who have low income in housing disputes.

Samir served as an administrative law judge in Michigan’s administrative hearings system. He presided over more than 1,700 appeals. After law school, he worked for a number of legal aid organizations.

Samir is a native of metro Detroit and a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School. He loves spending time with his dalmatian Zoey and refuses to take himself too seriously.

Ashley Bishel is an attorney who believes everyone has the right to safe and affordable housing. She joins the Shriver Center on Poverty Law as a staff attorney for both the housing justice and community and family justice teams. Her work focuses on increasing housing protections for people with arrest and conviction records. She also supports strategies for families at risk of intervention by the Department of Child and Family Services due to inadequate housing.

Previously, Ashley served as an attorney for the Uptown People’s Law Center. She helped enforce Cook County’s Just Housing Amendment (JHA). The law provides housing protections to people who have encountered the criminal legal system. Her casework included representing tenants in JHA disputes.

Ashley is an Ann Arbor native. She received her undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Michigan. In her free time, she enjoys ceramics and is learning Tagalog.

Sarah Carthen Watson is an experienced civil rights litigator with a background in fair housing law and policy advocacy. She serves as the Movement Lawyer for the Shriver Center on Poverty Law’s Legal Impact Network (LIN). With over 30 members, the LIN is a collective of groups from across the country that work on racial and economic justice issues. Sarah guides the network’s legal advocacy strategies and engagement with people affected by systemic oppression.

She found her passion for housing justice as a law student at Washington University in St. Louis. She started law school just after the Black Lives Matter uprising in Ferguson, Missouri. Sarah’s early legal experiences taught her that racial equity begins with the right to stable, affordable, and accessible housing.

Most recently, she served as the Legal Director for the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center. In this role, she represented clients in fair housing and eviction cases in state and federal courts, including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Previously, at the Lawyers’ Committee on Civil Rights Under Law, Sarah litigated challenges to housing discrimination and engaged in policy advocacy at the state and federal levels.

Sarah received her undergraduate degree in Social Policy and African American Studies from Northwestern University. Currently, she lives in New Orleans with her husband and fur-baby Bodie. During the pandemic, Sarah became an accomplished potter, and she recently sold her first piece. She also enjoys cooking and baking for her friends and family.