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Staff & Board

Board

Frank Argote-Freyre, Chair
Kean University
Latino Action Network

Crystal Charley-Sibley
NAACP New Jersey State Conference

Deborah Delgrande, Secretary
Ethel Lawrence Homes

Jesselly De La Cruz
Latino Action Network Foundation

Michael McNeil
Solution to End Poverty (sTEPS)
NAACP New Jersey State Conference

Joshua D. Bauers

Senior Staff Attorney
joshuabauers@fairsharehousing.org

“FSHC’s work is so inspiring because each time new affordable homes are built, and families get to move in, we get to see real world examples of our efforts to make New Jersey fairer.”

Josh is a Senior Staff Attorney at Fair Share Housing Center. He joined the organization in 2015 as the Inaugural Maida Public Interest Fellow. His fellowship through the Rutgers University School of Law focused on redevelopment and affordable housing. Since 2015, Mr. Bauers has been involved in all of the Center’s legal work. He has extensive experience in affordable housing litigation – having represented FSHC in hundreds of cases. Josh’s experience includes successfully overturning invalid zoning ordinances and reversing arbitrary and capricious Planning Board denials when municipal boards attempt to block affordable housing developments. He has also successfully negotiated agreements with over 100 of New Jersey’s municipalities for fair share plans to address their constitutional affordable housing obligations, and he has successfully argued before the Appellate Division of the Superior Court. Mr. Bauers attended Rutgers- Camden as an undergraduate and received his degree in Social Work in 2011. He later attended Rutgers Law School. As a Rutgers law student, Bauers received the Mary Philbrook student public interest award, the Dean’s Pro Bono Publico Award for Exceptional Service, and the Eve Biskind Klothen Pro Bono Distinction Award.

Laura smith-Denker

Senior Staff Attorney
lauradenker@fairsharehousing.org

“I am inspired by the persistent scrappiness of all my coworkers, from the ones working behind the scenes running the organization to those making headlines. Faced with powerful obstructions to affordable housing and social justice, they never back down and always remain determined to take one more step forward no matter what the resistance.”

Laura is a Senior Staff Attorney at Fair Share Housing Center. She joined the organization in 2010. She is a graduate of Franklin and Marshall College and Florida Coastal School of Law. She is involved in all aspects of the Center’s advocacy including litigating before the Appellate Division and testifying at Legislative hearings. She also assists in the administration of the organization.

ESMÉ DEVENNEY

New Jersey Housing Justice Corps Fellow
esmedevenney@fairsharehousing.org

“It is important to me to live in an equitable and democratic society, and that cannot be reached without economic freedom for everyone.”

Esmé Devenney is a New Jersey Housing Justice Corps Fellow at Fair Share Housing Center. Esmé comes to Fair Share as a South Jersey native and a graduate of Rutgers Law School. During Esmé’s time at Rutgers, she was a student-intern in the Housing Advocacy Clinic where she worked with homeowners in foreclosure and tenants facing eviction. Esmé also interned with New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, researching policy pertinent to the Institute’s Economic Justice Pillar. In her hopes to build community between Rutgers Law students and New Jersey organizers and to help shape a legal system that serves everyday people rather than the corporate status-quo, she co-founded a chapter of People’s Parity Project at Rutgers.

Reverend Eric Dobson

Rev. Eric Dobson

Deputy Director
ericdobson@fairsharehousing.org

“This work is personal to me because my ancestors believed in this country. Black Americans have been fighting for freedom from all oppression that has hindered our nation from reaching its full potential and living up to its pledge, ‘One Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all!’”

Eric is Deputy Director at Fair Share Housing Center. He joined as Director of Community Engagement in 2012. Assisting the Executive Director in all aspects of FSHC daily operations and strategic planning, Eric also focuses on development, advocacy and communication, policy, and coalition building in order to bring about racial, economic and social integration. Eric is an ordained minister, and holds a B.A. from Temple University in Religion. He has extensive experience working with diverse audiences and communities and specializes in interfaith outreach. He is the Co-Founder of Open Communities LLC, a racial integration consultant firm that works to resolve simple and complex conflicts of race, ethnicity and socio- economics. Eric also founded Planting Seeds of Hope, a non-profit focused on youth development and education, and he served as the PA Clergy Outreach Director for Obama’s 2008 Presidential Campaign.

Will Fairhurst

Legal Fellow
willfairhurst@fairsharehousing.org

“When I learned just how important and far-reaching Fair Share’s affordable housing impact is, I knew that working there would allow me to do exactly the kind of work that I’m passionate about.”

Will Fairhurst is a Legal Fellow at Fair Share Housing Center. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, and Amherst College. Fairhurst initially worked with Fair Share as a legal intern for six months starting in the summer of 2020. He then joined the organization in 2022 as a Toll Public Interest Fellow. His current project focuses on affordable housing and inclusionary zoning. For six years prior to joining Fair Share and attending law school, Will worked with nonprofit legal services organizations in New York City on Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts. At the time, his work included working as a housing counselor to help homeowners avoid foreclosure, and designing and leading the city’s programs focused on temporary housing and disaster lawyering.

Donna Gomez

Donna GOmez

Administrative Assistant
donnagomez@fairsharehousing.org

“My inspiration, and what I love the most about working at FSHC, is the people. I have never worked with a more passionate group of people that will go above and beyond to accomplish the mission.”

Donna joined Fair Share Housing Center in 2014 as an Administrative Assistant. Donna has had over 25 years of experience working with human resources management and general bookkeeping.

Adam M. Gordon

Executive Director
adamgordon@fairsharehousing.org

“I am inspired by how we ensure that our work does not stop at legal or policy victories, but instead follows through to make sure homes get built, laws get enforced, and people’s lives actually change.”

Adam Gordon leads FSHC’s coordinated strategy of organizing, litigation, and policy development to advance racial, economic, and social integration throughout New Jersey and the United States. Since joining the organization in 2006, he has worked to implement the Mount Laurel Doctrine which has created over 70,000 affordable homes in historically exclusionary NJ communities, litigated the largest federal fair housing case in American history, and worked to make federal disaster recovery policy more equitable. Under his leadership FSHC has secured the passage of the first statewide Fair Chance in Housing Act to limit discriminatory tenant screening policies and a landmark $305 million fund to accelerate affordable housing development. Gordon holds a B.A. and J.D. from Yale University.

Ashley J. Lee

Staff Attorney
ashleylee@fairsharehousing.org

“As an NJ native, I am all too familiar with our lack of affordable housing and the racial inequality and inequity that ties into it. I take the matter personally and joined Fair Share to continue the necessary and impactful work our staff engages in daily.”

Ashley is a Staff Attorney at Fair Share Housing Center. She joined the organization in 2021 and is a graduate of Suffolk University Law School. Prior to joining FSHC, Ashley served the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office in Boston, MA as a student prosecutor. She has experience in family law and has served both veteran and youth communities. She is involved in all aspects of the Center’s legal work.

Rachel N. Lokken

Rachel N. Lokken

Staff Attorney
rachellokken@fairsharehousing.org

“I was immediately attracted to FSHC’s advocacy work at the state and federal levels, specifically their legal and policy efforts to dismantle racial and economic barriers to affordable housing and disaster recovery relief.”

Rachel is a Staff Attorney at Fair Share Housing Center. She joined the organization in 2021. Prior to joining FSHC, Rachel worked for international and Am Law 100 law firms where she successfully represented individual and corporate clients in complex commercial litigation and business matters at the state and federal level. She has a longstanding history of service as pro bono counsel in the areas of child advocacy, musical arts, and domestic violence. Rachel has served on the Supreme Court of New Jersey District X Fee Arbitration Committee as an appointed volunteer attorney, is trained in collaborative law, and received her certificate in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace from the University of Southern Florida. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School and Oberlin College. Rachel is involved in all aspects of the Center’s legal advocacy work.  

Katherine Payne

Katherine Payne

Director of Land Use
katherinepayne@fairsharehousing.org

“I learned about Mount Laurel and FSHC in graduate school and was inspired by the immense impact the organization has had in New Jersey. What I didn’t know back then was how much of an impact FSHC was having on a national scale, translating its knowledge and experience at the state level to work on housing justice across the country.”

Katherine is the Director of Land Use at Fair Share Housing Center. She joined the organization in 2021 and works to further our goals on affordable housing advocacy, disaster recovery and climate resilience, and Mount Laurel enforcement. She holds a Master of City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania and an A.B. from Dartmouth College.

David T. Rammler

Consulting Disaster Recovery Attorney davidrammler@fairsharehousing.org

“FSHC, since its inception, has fought well above its weight class and driven the development and maintenance of affordable, racially integrated, rental residences in neighborhoods of opportunity for scores of thousands of families.”

David is a Senior Disaster Recovery Attorney at Fair Share Housing Center. He joined the organization in 2012 following Hurricane Sandy. He worked from 1998 to 2006 as managing attorney of the landlord-tenant and public benefits units at the Camden office of South Jersey Legal Services. From 2007 to 2011, he pursued resident supportive federal housing policy as Director of Government Relations in the Washington, D.C. office of the National Housing Law Project. David joined the Hurricane Sandy Recovery struggle by helping FSHC seize opportunities for fair housing and lower-income resident advocacy in the design and implementation of federally funded recovery programs.

Paola Reinoso

Administrative Assistant
paolareinoso@fairsharehousing.org

“Working in the affordable housing industry has taught me so much through the years, I now understand and empathize with those who are struggling to find a safe and decent place to call home.”

Paola is an Administrative Assistant at Fair Share Housing Center. She has been a fierce housing advocate her whole career. Prior to joining FSHC, she worked for 15 years as a Property Manager in Low Income Housing Tax Credit Properties. Paola is also a certified Occupancy Specialist for LIHTC Compliance. She has worked with various non-profit organizations who provide housing to low and very low income communities.

Alex Staropoli

Director of Advocacy and Communications alexstaropoli@fairsharehousing.org

“I firmly believe that housing justice is at the core of any fight for racial and economic equality, and it’s exciting to be at an organization working on multiple levels–local, state, and federal–to reimagine and fight for thriving and healthy communities for all.”

Alex is the Director of Advocacy and Communications at Fair Share Housing Center. Most recently, she worked as a policy consultant and strategist in New Jersey, with clients including Salvation and Social Justice and Newark Community Street Team. Prior, she held positions at the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers, Drug Policy Alliance, the Maryland Governor’s Office of Crime Control & Prevention, and the Coalition for Juvenile Justice. Alex completed her Bachelor of Science in Family Science and her Juris Doctor at the University of Maryland.

James C. Williams IV

Director of Racial Justice Policy
jameswilliams@fairsharehousing.org

I try to never forget the legacy of civil rights giants who created a space for me to exist. They created lanes not only through voting rights, housing, and education, but also through the ability to advocate for my community.”

James is Director of Racial Justice Policy at Fair Share Housing Center. He joined the organization in 2019 after working for Philadelphia Works and the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. He attended Fayetteville State University in North Carolina where he received both his B.A. and M.S. degrees. He continues to be an advocate for civil rights and social justice.