Meet Our Staff
Leadership Team
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Kim Bobo
Kim Bobo is the Interim Executive Director, starting in mid-February, 2026. She is a experienced nonprofit director and a nationally recognized social justice advocate. Kim served in executive director positions for 27 years, founded two social justice organizations, and provided organizing and leadership training for hundreds of nonprofit organizations. She is best known for her work on interfaith advocacy, wage theft, worker rights and community organizing.
Although Kim has four published books, she claims she is not a writer, but rather an organizer who writes. In addition to her books, she has dozens of published articles and has written many organizational guides and handbooks.
Throughout her career, she has developed strong skills in board development, staff management, fundraising (both grant writing and individual donors), organizational systems, financial management, public policy advocacy, and community organizing.
Kim seeks to lead with kindness, honesty, courage, and righteous indignation for injustice. She has a track record of winning on policy issues ranging from Medicaid expansion to abolition of the death penalty to wage theft reforms and all accomplished in a bipartisan fashion.
Kim is a member of the Interim Executive Solutions Network, and the Chicago-based Intentional Interim Executive Services group. For more details, visit https://www.linkedin.com/in/kim-bobo/
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Nicole Schult
Nicole became the Legal Director in June 2020. She joined UPLC as an Attorney in 2011. She coordinates our Social Security Program, handles all of our our prisoners’ rights cases, and consults with the housing team on our tenants' rights program. Nicole graduated from Boston University Law School.
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Clearie McCarthy
Clearie returned to UPLC in April 2023 as Development Director. She leads UPLC's fundraising initiatives, and cultivates community engagement. Clearie graduated from Wayne State University's College of Fine, Performing and Communications Arts in 2016.
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Jim Garfield
Jim joined UPLC in June 2023 and serves as a key member of the organization’s leadership team, overseeing UPLC’s housing advocacy work. With a decade of experience in both private and non-profit litigation, as well as having served as chief of staff to a state senator, he now leads efforts to protect tenants from displacement and to preserve housing stability for low income residents. Jim also plays an integral role in UPLC’s outreach and community education initiatives, strengthening partnerships and expanding access to housing related legal services.
Jim graduated cum laude from DePaul University College of Law.
Legal Team
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Eryn Mascia
Eryn joined UPLC in August 2023 as a staff attorney. Her work focuses both on tenants' rights and on Social Security disability benefits. Eryn has worked as a legal aid attorney since graduating from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law in 2021.
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Ian McCollum
Ian joined UPLC as an Equal Justice Works fellow in September 2022. He works on the Pre-Release Enrollment Project, which helps soon-to-be released imprisoned people in Illinois qualify for Social Security disability benefits. Ian graduated from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law in 2022.
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Shireen Jalali-Yazdi
Shireen joined UPLC in September 2024 as a legal fellow. Her work focuses on prisoners' rights, advocating to reduce imprisonment and demanding humane treatment for those who remain in Illinois' prisons. Shireen graduated from UCLA School of Law in 2024.
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Maggie Bourke
Maggie Bourke is an Equal Justice Works Fellow on UPLC's prisoner’s rights team, where her work focuses on vindicating and advocating for the rights of women in prison. Maggie graduated from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. She began her fellowship in September 2025.
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Sofia Cabrera
Sofia joined UPLC in October 2022. Their work focuses primarily on Social Security disability benefits, where they support clients through initial and reconsideration applications, conduct research, perform legal intakes, process medical records, and support attorneys at the hearing level. Sofia graduated from the University of Chicago in August 2020.
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Stanley Howard
Stanley originally joined UPLC as an intern in May 2024 after spending 39 years in Illinois prison- 16 of which on death row. He works on processing and responding to the massive amount of prison mail UPLC receives each week. Stanley has worked as a jailhouse lawyer, organizer, and social justice advocate for over 30 years. Click this link to purchase Stanley's book, Tortured by Blue: https://www.amazon.com/Tortured-Blue-Chicago-Police-Torture/dp/1982219483/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8.
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Oliver Levy
Oliver joined UPLC in October 2024. He is a paralegal for the housing team and manages the Hibbler Help desk, connecting volunteer attorneys with pro se litigates looking for help navigating, filing, and litigating claims in federal court. He graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in Political Science & International Studies and lives in Rogers Park.
Community Engagement Team
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Aubrey Dvorak
Aubrey returned to UPLC in August 2023 as Social Worker. Her work is focused on providing mental health support to clients and staff, as well as referring folks to community organizations. Aubrey graduated from the Jane Addams College of Social Work at UIC in 2021.
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Maurice Hughes
Maurice joined UPLC in May 2023. He returned home in April 2022 after 27 years in prison. Maurice is deeply passionate about helping others—since getting out of prison, much of his focus has been spent advocating on behalf of those still inside. He is a graduate of the Future Leaders Apprenticeship Program, which prepares formerly imprisoned people for employment. In his role as Outreach Coordinator at UPLC, Maurice focuses on outreach and education for the community on issues surrounding housing rights and discrimination.
