For 18 years, as a legal and political communication scholar, policy strategist, and social justice advocate, Courtney has executed large-scale plans that effectuate just and equitable policy changes that address the structural causes of poverty. Correcting policies, reforming institutions, andclosing gaps that undermine the sustained quality of life improvements for underserved communities and minority populations, excellence in public policy has allowed her to serve: Legal Aid of Western Ohio, The Executive Office of the Mayor of Washington, DC, the DCI Political Communication Group, The U.S. Small Business Administration, and ultimately, the U.S. House of Representatives House Committee on Homeland Security, and the U.S. Congressional Office of Congressman Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS).
As a former School Board Member and Pre- Law Educator, Courtney has served K-12 academies in the District of Columbia Public Schools, Maryland, Mississippi, Ohio, and in Higher Education as a Professor, delivering effective and culturally competent instruction that meets the needs and enhances the stability, growth, and sustainability of learning communities. Solidifying her commitment to public policy, housing justice, and environmental parity, Courtney previously served Ohio’s regional public interest law firm, Advocates for Basic Legal Equality’s (ABLE) Housing Justice and Community Economic Development Legal Practice Group, advancing ABLE’s priorities through U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funding where she worked with low-income communities to develop community assets in areas that have suffered decades of disinvestment, protecting clients’ rights in evictions and housing discrimination cases, and working for policy change through strategic advocacy initiatives such as; community wealth building, racial justice, food equity, environmental justice, tenants’rights, eviction defense, affordable housing preservation, disaster recovery, and lead poising prevention.
Certified in Public Management and Leadership through the Institute of Government, Courtney is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 5, Environmental Justice Academy Fellow and she sits as the Director-at-Large on the National Board of Directors for the U.S. EPA Environmental Justice Fellows National Alumni. Through intentional inclusion of impacted communities and collaboration with organizations addressing equity issues, as a member of the
Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission’s Livable and Equitable Communities, Race Equity Sub-Committee, she works to develop and support policy change and systemic transformation to eliminate causes and mitigate the effects of racism and other disparities which burden communities in the region.
Leveraging strategic partnerships to advance her region, in October 2023, as a scholar in the University of Pennsylvania’s Executive Program in Social Impact Strategy, her final project led her to become 1 of 98 environmental justice grant awardees selected nationally when the Biden-Harris Administration announced nearly $128 Million for environmental justice projects in communities across the country as part of the investing in America agenda. This half-a-million-dollar project in partnership with Advocates for Basic Legal Equity and The Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission facilitates the engagement of disadvantaged communities inLocal, State, and Federal processes related to environmental health by building capacity through justice partnerships.
Currently, Courtney is the Senior Impact Officer at the Shriver Center on Poverty Law, a national poverty law firm, where she oversees and enhances the organization’s impact by developing,executing, and evaluating initiatives that address systemic inequities. Before this role, Courtney was the Policy and Advocacy Lead for Community and Family Justice at Shriver. Her work sits nationally at the intersection of policy, advocacy, and grassroots organizing.
A native of Dayton, OH, Courtney is a proud graduate of the W.E.B DuBois Honor College at Jackson State University, a Research 1 University in Jackson, MS, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, and the University of Pennsylvania’s Executive Program in Social Impact Strategy.
