Meet Sarah

Sarah is a Democratic candidate for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District.  Before that, she was a CPS student, an attorney, an environmentalist and an organizer.

She grew up in a home that flooded every time it rained and knows the toll that flooding basements can take on a working class family. 

She believes that the government should work for the people, and that means managing taxpayer money responsibly, facilitating public participation and acting transparently and ethically. 

She learned environmental values from her father who kept a garden, tracked rainfall, repurposed coffee cans, and crushed and recycled soda cans.

Sarah fell in love with the Chicago River in high school when she worked for a small business called Riverbikes, which operated a pilot program that allowed patrons to ride an upright bike on the river. 

Sarah has lived (green circles) and attended school (blue circles) in a number of Cook County neighborhoods:

When Sarah was born, her family lived in Back of the Yards.

She grew up in Clearing / Garfield Ridge and attended CPS schools for grade school, Whitney Young High School and Daley College.

As a student at Roosevelt University, Sarah lived in Noble Square before heading off to DC for graduate school at American University’s Washington College of Law and School of International Service. 

Sarah lived in Oak Lawn and Uptown before choosing Rogers Park as her home. 

She has experienced the impact of flooding in many neighborhoods.

As a volunteer with Sierra Club’s Chicago Water Team, Sarah researched whether suburban municipalities posted yearly reports about their efforts to mitigate heavy rain as required by their stormwater permits, and she contacted non-compliant municipalities to urge them into compliance. She also tested the water in the Chicago River for phosphorus and dissolved oxygen with other team members.

As Water Issue Specialist of League of Women Voters of Illinois, Sarah tracks legislation in the Illinois General Assembly and informs members about the bills.

As Dale Bryson Water Quality Fellow at the Alliance for the Great Lakes, she drafted letters to governmental agencies about water pollution, compared legal developments around phosphorus across midwestern states, and explored ways to protect the Great Lakes through existing laws and regulations.

As Vice President of the League of Women Voters Lake Michigan Region, Sarah managed outreach and participated in advocacy and educational efforts, including presenting a watershed model to the public to demonstrate how pollution gets into our water. She now serves as Treasurer.

As Secretary of Loyola Park Advisory Council, Sarah fundraises to support park upkeep and programs.

Sarah is an attorney.  As a part of the rules of professional conduct, even when they are not giving legal advice, attorneys have a heightened fiscal and ethical responsibility, and she would bring those values to the board.

Sarah earned a joint JD/MA at American University. While in graduate school, Sarah had internships with the City of Chicago’s legal department, the US EPA, the Center for International Environmental Law, and the DOJ. She worked on the International Law Review and the Sustainable Development Law & Policy Brief. She also was selected to attend the UNFCCC COP. For her master’s degree writing requirement, she wrote about the impact of gardening on the global fight against climate change.

Though she works in discovery on corporate matters, she devotes the rest of her time to environmental and other equitable causes.

Because Sarah believes in showing up in the way that is needed, she became an organizer. 

She ran field in the 49th ward for Maria Hadden’s aldermanic campaign and for Bring Chicago Home’s ballot campaign, knocked doors for Obama in Virginia, collected signatures alongside Debra Shore for Cam Davis, phone banked for Stacy Abrams, text banked for Joe Biden and so on. 

She is currently co-managing field for Ebony DeBerry’s elected school board campaign and organizing for Operation Swing State in the 49th ward.