Natalia Skolnik, Community Law in Action
Natalia's Fellowship:
As a Baltimore Corps Fellow, Natalia Skolnik will be working with Community Law In Action as their director of school-based programming. She is thrilled to work with CLIA’s Law & Leadership Academy, which introduces Baltimore City students to law and policy while teaching them to be critical thinkers, problem-solvers, active citizens and community leaders. Natalia looks forward to working to build upon students' natural leadership skills by helping to strengthen the peer mediation and restorative justice programs at their schools, social justice and advocacy projects of students' choosing, and build up the network of professionals to mentor students as they navigate college and career choices. She is thrilled to work closely with students, teachers, and the community to grow this program.
Background:
Natalia has passionately worked in public education for over a dozen years as a high school teacher. While teaching in Seattle, WA and Fremont, CA, she was fortunate to work with different community stakeholders and became more comfortable advocating for policies that help our youth get the resources they need to thrive. She feels facilitating tough conversations with students and staff is part of a larger commitment towards achieving equity in our world. Natalia had the good fortune to be in spaces where she saw positive change came out of it, and she looks forward to continuing this work with the Baltimore Corps.
My students, former students and colleagues motivate me. Many of my former students are my heroes. Their creativity, ability to survive, thrive and help their peers against incredible odds keeps me going with this kind of work.
I very recently moved to Baltimore from the west coast with my family.
Why do you choose to live and work in Baltimore?
My husband recently became an assistant professor at University of Maryland's School of Medicine, so we moved to Baltimore in September with our toddler daughter. We are so excited that he was offered a faculty position in such an awesome city! I am looking forward to getting to know the social justice and arts world here.
What's one surprising fact about yourself?
For someone who is fascinated and excited about community and political organizing, I tend to be disorganized in my personal life.
Go-to snack?
Yogurt, pizza, ice cream, smoothies, cheese... I suppose anything with a cheesy or creamy base sounds like a good snack to me most of the time.
