Join GPSEN in welcoming our new Executive Director, Jonathan Ostar!
Jonathan is a Civil Rights attorney and environmental justice advocate with a passion for sustainability, community organizing and cooperative enterprise. He has worn many hats and explored many pathways to advancing social change. Jonathan first cut his teeth as a plaintiff’s employment lawyer with the Dolan Law Group PC, specializing in racial discrimination and sexual harassment litigation. He then shifted gears to co-found and serve as the Executive Director of OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon, a community-based nonprofit focused on transportation equity, inclusionary housing and climate justice in low-income communities of color in the Portland metro region. During this time, he was appointed a member and served as Vice Chair of the Oregon Environmental Justice Task Force, and oversaw clinical legal work as an adjunct professor at Lewis and Clark Law School and Willamette University School of Law. After transitioning out of OPAL, Jon served brief stints as the Civil Rights Administrator for Multnomah County and the Director of Operations for the August Wilson Red Door Project, a non-profit theatre company focused on changing the racial ecology of Portland through the arts. He spent some time in the Bay Area, working as a consultant with Street Level Advisors and joining the legal fellowship program with the Sustainable Economies Law Center based in Oakland, CA, developing expertise around affordable housing policy and limited equity housing cooperatives. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Lewis and Clark Law School, Jonathan is excited to be back home in Portland and to collaborate and work in solidarity with GPSEN and both new and old partners to achieve a collective vision for a sustainable, equitable metro region.
Check out more details on our GPSEN leadership team here.
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