Our Staff

Our staff of attorneys, legal advocates and researchers come from all over the country and bring decades of experience to clients in need.

Alline Alvarez

Housing Paralegal 

Alline is an SNP Housing Paralegal. She graduated from The University at Albany with a bachelor’s degree in Public Policy Administration with a concentration in world affairs. Alline loves working at SNP because of how welcoming and passionate SNP’s team members are about social justice, and she feels valued as an employee. Holding this position, Alline feels empowered and motivated as she loves to help people. Prior to joining SNP, Alline worked as a Workers Compensation Paralegal and held various positions for an elected official in the New York State Assembly. If you see Alline around, feel free to say hi, she loves meeting new people! 

Mayya Baker

Supervising Attorney

As a Supervising Attorney, Mayya manages a team of SNP attorneys who work to stabilize tenancies and expand tenant’s rights. SNP’s housing practice focused on defending indigent tenants in housing court throughout NYC, through NYCHA hearings, advocating for our client’s public benefits, conducting outreach, and educating tenants. Working in public service has been a lifelong career goal and Mayya is happy to be achieving it at SNP.

Amanda Beck

Staff Attorney

Sanai Carchi-Merrick

Operations Associate

Sanai joined SNP in February 2017 as a Housing Paralegal. Sanai received her Bachelor of Science in criminal justice and a Master of Public Administration and Policy from John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Prior to joining SNP, Sanai worked as a Family Planner with Abbott House Foster Care Agency, which is an affiliate of the NYC Administration for Children’s services and The Harlem Children’s Zone as a Student Advocate and mentor. Sanai continues student mentorship through partnering with CUNY Service Corps. and the CUNY Public Service Scholar programs to connect SNP with talented social justice advocates! Sanai became the Operations Associate for SNP in 2018.

KATHLEEN CASH

Benefits and Homeless Advocate

Kathleen has been an advocate in SNP’s Benefits and Homeless Advocacy Unit since November 2019. Prior to working at SNP, Kathleen was assistant director of benefits and resources at Safe Horizon Streetwork Project, a drop-in center for runaway and homeless youth. Kathleen is dedicated to serving homeless, low- and no-income New Yorkers to obtain permanent housing and safety net benefits through a harm reduction and social justice framework.

Ira Cyril

Law Graduate

Ira joined SNP in April 2022. Prior to joining SNP, Ira worked as an attorney in Toronto, Canada, for 6 years in Family Law and Wills and Estates. Ira has been passionate about social justice since she was a child and chose to pursue a career as an attorney to be an advocate for underserved and marginalized communities. Ira has experience working with child protection agencies as well as women who have experienced intimate partner violence. Ira’s current role at NSP aligns with her desire to work primarily in public interest law and provide legal services to underserved and unrepresented groups.

Elysée Degre

Staff Attorney

Elysée joined SNP in June 2022 after earning his LLM Degree at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. His passion for law is a lifelong journey. Elysée is Bilingual (French/English) and has experience working with startups and young entrepreneurs in Côte d’Ivoire where he earned his first and second degrees in Law. He believes that everyone should be held accountable for their actions, and as a lawyer, Elysée strives to be the voice of those in need. He’s passionate about fighting to protect and defend the rights of marginalized communities. Working with the communities is a personal commitment and an honor that gives Elysée a sense of fulfillment

Roselin Denis

Housing Paralegal

Roselin is an SNP housing paralegal. She graduated from John Jay College of Criminal Justice with a double bachelor’s in criminal justice (BS) and Forensic Psychology (BA) minoring in Criminology. Prior to joining SNP, she worked with NAICA- Neighborhood Association of Intercultural Affairs for eight years where she advocated for tenants who were facing eviction, assisted in navigating the tenants in the Bronx Housing Court and settling their cases. She joined SNP because she is passionate about helping people and learning new things along the way.

Marika Dias

Managing Director

Marika Dias is a public interest attorney who has worked in civil legal services since 2001, with a focus on providing legal services that support community organizing efforts and grassroots organizing groups. Prior to her role at SNP, Marika was the Director of the Tenant Rights Coalition at Legal Services NYC and before that, the Managing Attorney at Make the Road New York. Marika is a member of the Steering Committee of the Right to Counsel NYC Coalition, providing legal support to a variety of tenant rights and anti-eviction campaigns. Marika is also a housing rights and movement lawyering trainer, which includes work with partners such as the Right to the City Alliance, Movement Law Lab, The Law and Political Economy Project, The Action Lab, and the Shriver Center on Poverty Law.

Raven Dorantes, Esq.

Managing Attorney

Raven has worked with the Safety Net Project since 2016. She is now the Managing Attorney in SNP’s busy housing practice, which represents tenants facing eviction, conducts housing clinics, works closely with tenant organizing groups, and represents tenants to enforce their rights relating to repairs, landlord harassment, and safety.

Lauren Drake

Law Graduate

Lauren joined SNP in August 2023 after earning her J.D. from CUNY School of Law. She is a Law Graduate in SNP’s busy housing practice, which represents tenants facing eviction, conducts housing clinics, works closely with tenant organizing groups, and represents tenants to enforce their rights relating to repairs, landlord harassment, and safety.

Natalie Druce

Staff Attorney

Natalie is a staff attorney in SNP’s Benefits and Homeless Advocacy Unit. She works with homeless New Yorkers to enforce their rights and respond to laws, policies, and practices that impact them, with a particular focus on the criminalization and policing of homelessness. Her practice involves individual representation, advice work, and impact litigation. Prior to joining SNP, Natalie was a litigation associate in private practice.

Billy Eck

Staff Attorney

Billy joined SNP in 2024, after completing a one-year Stanford Law Public Interest Law Fellowship focused on access to justice and mental health law. Billy’s passion for equal treatment under the law developed as he studied ethics, argument, and law while earning his BA from Harvard University, his PhD from the University of Pittsburgh, and his JD from Stanford Law School. Motivated by the belief that the right to shelter is fundamental and foundational, Billy is proud to use his expertise to help tenants enforce the rights and protections afforded to them by the law.

Seth Frazier

Supervising Social Worker

Seth joined SNP in April 2023 as the Supervising Social Worker and is a graduate of Hunter College’s Silberman School of Social Work. Seth has spent well over a decade supporting others with their housing, health, and employment goals. He dreams of a New York that provides housing and healthcare for all.

Sandra Garcia

Housing Benefits Advocate

Jenn Hendricks

Grants & Development Associate

Jenn joined SNP in June 2024. She ensures grant compliance, tracks performance, and secures new funding opportunities. Prior to her role at SNP, Jenn was the Development Manager at City Limits. She studied Urban Policy at Hunter College. Driven by a commitment to racial and housing justice, she is passionate about advancing social equity and supporting the mission of ensuring access to housing and resources for all New Yorkers.

Roxanna Henry

Social Worker, MSW

Roxanna Henry joined SNP in October 2019. As a social worker, Roxanna works to provide advocacy and social service assistance to clients experiencing problems such as accessing public benefits, homelessness, and tenant rights. 

Roxanna started her career path as a client seeking public assistance benefits when New York City’s Human Resources Administration told her that she would not be allowed to attend college as a student receiving public assistance. Since then, she has successfully graduated, completed WRI’s two-semester Community Leadership Training Program, and earned her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Social Work from Hunter College. Roxanna’s experiences and values inspire her to declare, “I’m glad to be able to give back to the community. My focus is to advance public benefits programs in New York and make safe spaces for others with first-hand experiences to join the policy table to make a real impact on social policies.”

Kat Kerwin

Staff Attorney

Kat was born and raised in Providence, Rhode Island, where she worked as a youth organizer before announcing her plans to run for office. At 20 years old, she became the youngest city councilperson in Providence history. While in office, Kat launched a campaign to decriminalize the municipal code and worked with community activists to invest in alternative policing strategies. Kat went to law school to develop her advocacy skills. After law school, Kat was a Justice Catalyst Legal Fellow with Local Progress where she built a campaign to help cities across the country pass laws that remove police from traffic enforcement powers as a way to reimagine public safety. She is excited to bring her movement and organizing experience to lawyering with Urban Justice Center.

Josh Komarovsky

Staff Attorney

Josh is an SNP Housing Attorney. He earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School and worked as a housing attorney previously at Goddard Riverside Law Project. He supports tenant-worker power in every way he can. He is inspired by tenant organizing in New York City and their fight to take control and agency over their homes.

Lorena Lopez

Housing Paralegal

Lorena joined SNP in February 2024. Prior to joining SNP Lorena worked for 9 years as a tenant organizer at Catholic Migration Services, a legal services provider in Queens. During her time at CMS, Lorena provided support to housing attorneys, worked to build the leadership of Queens tenants while supporting tenants’ associations that could win building campaigns and supported the work of City and State-wide coalitions like R3, Rent Justice Coalition and the Right to Counsel coalition where she was a member of the Steering Committee. Lorena is happy to have joined SNP to continue supporting NYC tenants as they strive for their right to housing.

Ulysses (Peter) Malvan

Homeless Advocate

Peter is native New Yorker who became homeless from his Corona Queens residence on his 30th birthday. From the age of 15, Peter has been a caregiver to parents, patients, and friends. Peter has been on non-profit boards surrounding homelessness, worked on several research demonstration projects, and is a survivor of both WTC Bombings. Peter has lived on the streets, worked under MOC, and been a recipient of the city’s homeless services. As a Homeless Advocate at SNP, Peter utilizes this wealth of experience to engage in outreach and advocate on behalf of homeless New Yorkers in the city’s shelter system and living on the street. One motivating factor in Peter’s work, which has helped him through many traumatic disasters, was realizing that obtaining and sustaining housing for all must be achieved. Peter’s hope is that joining this phenomenal organization and team will further his progress toward that goal.

Adriana Mendoza

Benefits Supervisor

Adriana joined SNP as a Benefits Advocate in October 2016 providing direct representation to clients in public assistance and SNAP cases. Prior to joining SNP, Adriana was working at the Center for Family Life helping develop inclusive and democratically run worker-owned businesses. Adriana was born and raised in Brooklyn and is the daughter of Mexican immigrants. She received her B.A. in Sociology and is a native Spanish speaker.

Reid Murdoch

Staff Attorney

Reid joined SNP in May 2024. He has represented marginalized people in New York City across many forums. Prior to SNP, Reid practiced criminal defense, and has ample experience representing parents against ACS in family policing cases. Reid has worked at organizations including the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem and Brooklyn Defender Services. Reid graduated with honors from the University of Michigan Law School in 2016. He is bilingual in English and Spanish.

Chris Natale

Staff Attorney

Chris joined SNP in July 2022. Chris is an experienced attorney having worked across multiple practice areas including immigration, divorce and family law and general litigation in Sydney, Australia, where he gained distinction for his critical legal skills and commitment to his clients prior to joining SNP. Chris obtained his JD from the University of Sydney in 2016 and was barred in New York City in February 2023. For Chris, the focus is on the client and working collaboratively with each client to secure the best possible outcome in each case.

Kathleen Olds

Law Graduate

Kathleen joined SNP after earning her J.D. from Yale Law School and working as a legal fellow with the Worker Justice Center of New York. She has a long-term commitment to supporting tenant-worker power, in all the ways she can. She’s deeply inspired by all the tenants in New York organizing to fight dispossessive conditions.

Ed Ortiz

Senior Benefits Advocate

Ed Ortiz has worked with families and individuals since the 1980s to help them resolve their public benefits and tenancy issues. He joined UJC in 2003 after a long stint in legal services in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Ed has been active in political and social justice issues for over 40 years, including The Same Boat Coalition and the NYC Congress for Puerto Rican Rights. The coalition formed in 1985 to fight then-Mayor Giuliani’s assault on the city’s poor and homeless. He is now also active in the struggle to decolonize Puerto Rico and achieve its independence from the United States. Ed is a graduate of Hofstra University, B.S., 1992.

Ayelet Pinnolis

Housing Paralegal

Ayelet joined SNP as a paralegal in 2021. She supports attorneys in the housing practice, primarily focusing on eviction defense, apartment repairs, and government and charitable grants for rent arrears assistance. Prior to SNP, Ayelet worked at HomeStart in Boston, advocating for tenants who were facing eviction. She also served as an AmeriCorps member with City Year Boston, providing student support in a middle school classroom. Ayelet holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Chicago.

Tajvinder Rai

Legal Assistant

Ben Rosenfield

Legal Assistant

Sandra Russo

Staff Attorney 

Molly Shatzkin

Staff Attorney

Valerie Smosna

Staff Attorney

Valerie has worked at SNP since 2021. She is a Staff Attorney in SNP’s busy housing practice, which represents tenants facing eviction, conducts housing clinics, works closely with tenant organizing groups, and represents tenants to enforce their rights relating to repairs, landlord harassment, and safety.

Helen Strom

Benefits and Homelessness Unit Director

Helen joined SNP in 2011 as a Benefits Advocate. Her work was initially focused on individual benefits advocacy and fair hearings. It later changed to include homeless advocacy, organizing and policy work, and managing. In 2015, Helen worked with impacted community members to start the Safety Net Activists, who continue to organize around homelessness, housing and public benefits issues in NYC. Helen is committed to working with the team at SNP to provide high quality legal and social services, all while building power with community members to fight for a city where all residents have the housing, income, food, and resources they need to survive and thrive and are treated with dignity and respect, free of the violence that comes from sweeps and criminalization of poverty.

ALMIRA SUMAMPONG

Housing Benefits Advocate

Almira is a housing benefits advocate at SNP. Before joining SNP, she worked as a housing advocate for another organization in NYC, where she helped homeless individuals. Prior to her work in the housing sector in NYC, Almira was a case manager and organizer at a small human rights organization in the Philippines, assisting survivors of torture and organized violence.

Damian Terbiler

Staff Attorney

Tanvee Trehan

Staff Attorney 

Tanvee has been a staff attorney at the Safety Net Project since September 2018. Tanvee represents tenants facing eviction while also working to stabilize tenancies and expand tenants’ rights. She provides direct representation to tenants in landlord-tenant cases. She conducts trainings, and housing clinics, works closely with tenant organizing groups, and represents tenants to enforce their rights relating to repairs, landlord harassment, and safety.

Blake Trettien

Staff Attorney

Viomari Vargas

Benefits Advocate

Viomari joined SNP as a Benefits Advocate in November 2023. Prior to joining SNP, Viomari was working at The Red Hook Community Justice Center as a Victim Services Case Manager helping victims of crime with various issues involving housing and benefits as well as providing counseling. She received her B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Women and Gender Studies from Hunter College. She is a native Spanish speaker.

Armando Vidana

Housing Benefits Advocate

With a background in Political Science, coupled with experience in employment law, Armando is well-equipped to advocate for tenants effectively. He is committed to safeguarding tenants’ rights and plays a pivotal role in assisting individuals facing eviction by securing them with assistance with rental and utility arrears. Armando is also fluent in Spanish.

Karim Walker

Homeless Outreach Worker and Organizer

Yanek Zdanowicz

Welfare Rights Organizer

Yanek is a Welfare Rights Organizer at SNP since October 2024. He started organizing in 2009 for trans and queer liberation. Yanek immigrated to the US in 2014 and lived as undocumented immigrant for several years. Before joining SNP, he worked at Queer Detainee Empowerment Project, an abolitionist organization that supported LGBTQIA+ immigrants in ICE detention system as well as those living in NYC. He believes in creating change by building solidarity and trust between communities and is excited to continue fighting for liberation through his work at SNP.