Meet Megan Haberle, NCRC’s new Senior Director of Policy! Megan will be instrumental in developing and leading NCRC’s policy priorities and goals.
Megan came to NCRC from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, where she was a Senior Policy Counsel leading LDF’s economic justice policy work. Her portfolio at LDF included fair housing, environmental justice, community development, equitable infrastructure, and other aspects of a fair economy. Prior to that, she worked at the Poverty & Race Research Action Council for nine years, most recently as PRRAC’s Deputy Director.
To help get to know Megan better, we asked her a few questions.
Welcome, Megan!
What drew you to NCRC?
I’m a devoted economic justice advocate, and am excited to be somewhere that is harnessing deep staff expertise, creative thinking, and a strong racial justice frame in the interest of that work and much-needed reforms. I worked in fair housing for much of my career, so was drawn to the opportunity to advance that work from a different angle than I have in the past, while also exploring new strategies to push for equity in our communities, markets, and the design of government.
Also, when I was at PRRAC, we were housed on NCRC’s Just Economy Club floor, which gave me the chance to get to know and appreciate the organizational culture here. I’m looking forward to meeting more of the staff now that I’m on board.
What are you most proud of in your career?
My consistency in working for racial justice. I’ve had the great fortune to have jobs that have challenged me to always keep learning, something I fully expect to continue at NCRC. An important part of this has been in seeing the ways that our country’s history of discrimination and segregation continues to impact people’s lives in the present – and how inequity has a fundamental impact on quality of life, in so many different ways.
What’s your favorite nonwork activity?
I love the outdoors. I grew up in New Hampshire and have a special fondness for the White Mountains up there, but have explored hiking destinations around the country and farther afield. Over the past two years, I’ve enjoyed getting better acquainted with the wilds of West Virginia and North Carolina, as well as trail running here in DC. I’m also an avid reader – currently reading Rebecca Solnit’s Orwell’s Roses, which probes some of the ways in which individual human beings are shaped by and respond to both social movements and immediate sources of joy, and the interplay between those things. Plus Dr. Jenny Schuetz’s new book on housing policy, Fixer-Upper.
More: Megan Haberle’s bio
