Bakari Levy serves as a Government Affairs Associate for NCRC’s Government Affairs and Policy team. Originally from New York, Bakari received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Central State University and went on to pursue a career in the technology sector after graduating. He subsequently transitioned into international development with an emphasis on the Caribbean and Latin American regions while working as a policy analyst at the Institute of Caribbean Studies. He has worked on collaborative projects with the Center for Afro Diasporic Studies at the University of ICESI in Cali, Colombia, focusing on coalition building and technical innovation. Bakari is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Global Affairs from the University of Oklahoma.

Nichole Nelson, Ph.D. is a Senior Policy Advisor at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. Prior to working at NCRC, Nichole was a Mellon/ACLS Public Fellow and Policy Analyst in the Economic Justice Program of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. At the Institute, she worked on initiatives to help increase the homeownership rate for Black and Brown New Jerseyans. She was the primary author of the Institute’s report Black Homeownership Matters: Expanding Access to Housing Wealth for Black New Jerseyans and wrote “New Jerseyans Deserve Fair Housing and Fair Futures,” an op-ed on NJ.com that discussed the importance of fair housing in New Jersey. Nichole also wrote amendments to and advocated for New Jersey’s Fair Appraisals Act (S777/A1519), which as of December 8, 2022, passed the New Jersey State Senate’s Committee on Community and Urban Affairs and the New Jersey State Assembly’s Committee on Regulated Professions.

Nichole received her Bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Pennsylvania and graduated magna cum laude in 2011. While at Penn, she was the Vice President of the Onyx Senior Honor Society, a historically-Black honor society that emphasizes leadership, scholarship, and community service for Black undergraduate students. After graduating, she worked as an intern at the American Philosophical Society, worked as a Research Assistant at Bryn Mawr College, and later held an internship at the National Urban League. In 2014, she received her Master’s degree in History from Vanderbilt University.

Nichole is a 2020 graduate of Yale University, where she earned her Ph.D. in American History. Her dissertation examined how white supremacy diluted the Fair Housing Movement because a moderate view of fair housing that stressed integration prevailed, effectively overshadowing equitable models of fair housing that called for reinvesting in African-American neighborhoods. At Yale, Nichole was one of three presidents of the Andrews Society, which is Yale’s History Graduate Students’ Association, and served as a member of the History Department’s Diversity Committee. She is also a member of the Yale Chapter of the Bouchet Graduate Honor Society.

Meet Rion Dennis, NCRC’s new Senior Government Affairs Director. Rion will be essential in overseeing policy priorities and working to influence the federal government along with members of Congress in seeking their support.

Rion comes to NCRC from AFR/AFREF, acting as their Advocacy and Legislative Director. He has 20 years of experience in progressive efforts and advocacy, having led voting rights campaigns, lobbied for the corporate accountability campaign alongside The Change to Win Labor Federation and worked toward medicaid expansion as Regional Director of the NAACP. He also worked with ROC United in creating campaigns on the federal, state and local levels for minimum wage increases. He served as the Executive Director of Progressive Maryland, leading legislative and electoral campaigns to support underserved groups.