Welcome Salimah Hankins, Esq., new USHRN Deputy Director

Jun 19, 2019

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Dear Member,
 
I am pleased to announce that on June 17, Ms. Salimah Hankins, Esq. will join the USHRN as Deputy Director. In her role as Deputy Director, Salimah will oversee the administrative processes within the organization to manage, design and implement leadership programs and work closely with the Executive Director in strategic planning, community relations, and organizational administration.

Salimah Hankins, Esq., Deputy Director

Originally from New Orleans, Salimah has worked with the Network since 2013, serving as a human rights consultant advising domestic civil and human rights groups on their advocacy efforts before various United Nations human rights bodies. In 2014, she organized the civil society side of the US government review before the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in Geneva. Salimah has produced the last six USHRN annual Human Rights Status Reports, which chronicle human rights abuses in the United States through the lens of local grassroots groups and national organizations.
 
Before joining the USHRN, Salimah worked as a community lawyer, organizer, and civil rights coordinator in Baltimore, Boston, and Brooklyn. She began her legal career as an associate at the ACLU of Maryland, advocating for the rights of low-income communities of color living in Baltimore’s public housing. Salimah most recently served as Senior Staff Attorney for Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto, CA, where she worked with community groups to secure an affordable housing fund worth $75 million as the result of a settlement from Facebook. 
 
Salimah received her undergraduate degree from Northeastern University where she studied International Law and Comparative Politics, and her law degree from Suffolk University Law School in Boston. Salimah was given the Marriage Equality Advocate award from the ACLU, served as a human rights fellow at the Urban Justice Center, and was selected for the Whitney M. Young fellowship at Columbia University.
 
We are honored to welcome Salimah to our Coordination Center and look forward to working with her and with national, state and local partners to ensure a vibrant and active human rights community in the United States through building a stronger Network in 2019 and beyond.
 
In Solidarity,
 
Dr. Rosalee Gonzalez
Executive Director