Jessica Therkelsen

Jessica Therkelsen is a nonprofit strategist, social housing advocate, and human rights lawyer who advocates for the rights of families, immigrants, people of color, women, and children. Jessica is the founding Executive Director of Trusted Homes, a community land trust that is building permanently affordable homes for working people. Jessica formerly served as the Director of Legal Protection at HIAS, an international refugee rights organization. As the Director of the Pro Bono Justice Program at OneJustice, she organized life changing legal services for travelers trapped by the 2017 travel bans, survivors of 2017 wildfires across California, DACA recipients losing status, and immigrants seeking defense from deportation. As Global Director of Advocacy and Communications at Asylum Access, an international refugee rights nonprofit, Jessica worked closely with leaders in refugee response at the UN - and in the US, Ecuador, Tanzania, Thailand and Malaysia - to advocate for systems, laws and policies that help refugees build a new life. Her work has focused on access to jobs and labor protections for refugees around the world. Jessica has been a Guest Tutor at the University of London, and an Adjunct Professor at the University of San Francisco, School of Law (USF Law). She received her JD and Honors Certificate in International Law from USF Law, and her BA from the University of California, Irvine.

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Sub-specialties: Affordable Housing, Shared Equity Housing, Social Justice, Human Rights, Refugees