Maria Foscarinis is founder and executive director of the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, a not-for-profit organization established in 1989 as the legal arm of the nationwide effort to end homelessness. Maria has advocated for solutions to homelessness at the national level since 1985. She is a primary architect of the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, the first major federal legislation addressing homelessness, and she has litigated to secure the legal rights of homeless persons. Maria writes and speaks widely on legal and policy issues affecting homeless persons and is frequently quoted in the media.
Maria is a 1977 graduate of Barnard College and a 1981 graduate of Columbia Law School, where she was an editor of the Law Review. She also holds a Masters of Arts degree in Philosophy. After clerking for the Honorable Amalya L. Kearse of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, she was a litigation associate at Sullivan & Cromwell where she volunteered to take a pro bono case representing homeless families. In 1985, she left the firm to establish and direct a Washington office for the National Coalition for the Homeless before she founded NLCHP in 1989.
Laurel Weir is the Policy Director for NLCHP where she has worked since 1989. At NLCHP, Laurel is responsible for overseeing the organization's legislative advocacy. Prior to becoming Policy Director, she coordinated NLCHP's advocacy, administrative, and financial functions for five years.
Laurel received her BA from Scripps College in 1988 and a Master's Degree in Public Policy from the School of Public Affairs, University of Maryland in 2002.
Bob Nasdor is the Legal Director for NLCHP. Bob works closely with the Executive Director on designing and implementing NLCHP programs to increase resources for and promote the rights of poor and homeless people. In addition, he is responsible for supervising NLCHP program staff and overseeing the programs of the organization.
Prior to joining NLCHP, Bob was the Executive Director of the Legal Assistance Corporation of Central Massachusetts. LACCM provides free civil legal assistance to low-income and elderly residents of Worcester County. While at LACCM, Bob oversaw a $2.5 million annual operating budget and a staff of 30 employees. He also created Live Justice, an interactive website that provides real-time Internet-based legal help.
Before serving as the Executive Director of LACCM, Bob was a Civil Rights Attorney with Smith Mullin P.C., a Housing Attorney with the Passaic County Legal Aid Society, and the Founder and Project Development Director of Middlesex Interfaith Partners with the Homeless.
Bob is a 1992 graduate of the Rutgers University School of Law where he also received his B.A. in 1981.
Tulin Ozdeger
Civil Rights Program Director
Tulin Ozdeger coordinates the Civil Rights Project at the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty (NLCHP).
Tulin works with advocates to challenge city practices that criminalize homelessness. She serves as co-counsel in litigation, files amicus briefs, and serves as a resource for attorneys pursuing litigation. Tulin also writes reports, articles, and other publications to provide legal guidance and information about the civil rights issues of homeless people.
In addition, she monitors civil rights issues throughout the country and provides technical assistance to advocates who are combating criminalization measures or working on voting issues. As part of the Civil Rights Program's public education initiative, Tulin provides trainings related to strategies for challenging the criminalization of homelessness and promoting the voting rights of homeless persons.
Tulin received her B.S. from Northwestern University and her J.D. from George Washington University Law School. Before joining NLCHP, Tulin worked as a staff attorney on complex litigation matters at Arnold & Porter. Her work at Arnold & Porter also included a substantial pro bono practice.
Eric Tars
Human Rights Attorney
Eric Tars is the part-time human rights staff attorney with NLCHP. He also consults with the Coalition for Human Rights at Home where he coordinates organizations' interactions with the UN Committee Against Torture and the UN Human Rights Committee, and with the US Human Rights Network where he organizes various human rights trainings.
Prior to joining NLCHP, Eric was a Fellow with Global Rights' U.S. Racial Discrimination Program, where he trained and worked with criminal justice, domestic workers, and education rights groups to help them utilize a human rights framework.
Eric received his JD as a Global Law Scholar at Georgetown University Law Center. During that time, he served as a research assistant to Professor Mari Matsuda, a Legal Assistant at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and a Law Clerk at Harmon, Curran, Spielberg & Eisenberg, LLP.
He received his BA in Political Science from Haverford College and studied international politics in Vienna, Austria at the Institute for European Studies and at the University of Vienna.
Kathy Zeisel
Domestic Violence Attorney
Kathy is the staff attorney with the Domestic Violence Program at NLCHP. Kathy provides technical assistance and training to domestic violence attorneys and advocates and to housing attorneys and advocates around the issue of domestic violence and housing. Kathy is also developing impact litigation around discrimination against domestic violence victims in the housing context.
Prior to joining NLCHP, Kathy was the Queens Supervising Attorney for the Courtroom Advocate's Project at the Center for Battered Women's Legal Services, Sanctuary for Families, Inc. in New York, where she did direct representation for victims of domestic violence in family and matrimonial matters.
She received her J.D. degree from New York University School of Law. As a student, Kathy helped found Law Students for Human Rights and was an International Law and Human Rights scholar at the Center for Justice in International Law in Costa Rica. Kathy also represented several battered women in immigration cases and uncontested divorces. Kathy received her undergraduate degree from Georgetown University, and was subsequently a Georgetown Public Interest Fellow at Cambridge Family and Children's Service in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
LANA TILLEY
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT/PROGRAM ASSISTANT
Lana is the Executive/ Program Assistant with NLCHP. She supports the operations of the Executive Director, monitors pro bono relationships, and aids the organization's development efforts.
Lana graduated from Bowdoin College in 2007 with a Bachelor's degree in sociology. Prior to joining NLCHP, she volunteered and worked for youth and poverty-focused organizations in California, Maine and Washington, DC.
Jordan Lamb
Development and Communications Manager
Jordan Lamb is the Development and Communications Manager with NLCHP. She manages fundraising activities, public communications, and events, including the annual McKinney-Vento Awards Dinner.
Prior to joining NLCHP, Jordan served as the Assistant Director of Policy Analysis and Communications for the Accreditation Office at the American Psychological Association. She has also worked as a Residential Counselor for Threshold Services, Inc. in Rockville, Maryland, which provides residential and rehabilitative services to adults with mental illness. Jordan became interested in issues surrounding homelessness and poverty while working with men and women who had been homeless prior to receiving such residential services.
Jordan received her BA in Psychology from Wake Forest University and her MPA from American University's School of Public Affairs, where she focused her graduate coursework on nonprofit management.
Katherine Bittner
DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANT
Katherine Bittner is the Development Assistant with NLCHP. She assists the Development Manager in carrying out key donor relations and research functions, managing the organization's growing donor database, aiding in the production of grant proposals and reports, and supporting the organization's growing membership and outreach efforts.
Prior to joining NLCHP, Katherine volunteered in Honduras and Nicaragua with an NGO focused on sustainable development and women's empowerment, where she worked in development, operations and administrative capacities. She graduated from the University of Richmond with a Bachelor's degree in International Studies and spent a semester in Panama studying sustainable development.
Melanie Orhant
Pro Bono Director
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