Jay Readey
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Jay Readey 1998 fellow
Bold Idea
Strengthens underserved neighborhoods by supporting small businesses, job creation, diversity and sustainability.
Organization
Urban Solutions was established to create access to employment opportunities for teenagers and young adults in socially and economically distressed urban neighborhoods through revitalization activities. Working at the borders of nonprofit and for-profit spheres, Urban Solutions sought to create a self-sustaining revenue structure that would be simultaneously an engine of economic growth, an initiator of community revitalization, and a center for youth development. Urban Solutions closed in 2001.
Biography
Jay S. Readey is the Executive Director of CLC. Jay champions civil rights through his leadership, activism and coalition-building in broad community networks. Prior to CLC, Jay was the founder and President of the MetroAlliance, a consortium of entrepreneurial community change organizations including NeighborScapes and MetroAlliance Consulting, Inc., and had a private legal practice in community development and federal tax credit investments in low income communities. Jay also served as a technical assistance provider to Illinois ResourceNet, helping nonprofit organizations and municipalities access federal funding. Prior to his time with MetroAlliance and Illinois ResourceNet, Jay was a lawyer in private practice in the corporate group at Jenner & Block LLP, and then in the tax-advantaged investing group of the real estate department at SNR Denton (formerly known as Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal), where he was a frequent speaker at national conferences on New Markets Tax Credits. During his time as a lawyer in private practice, Jay maintained an active pro bono practice working with TLP. Jay graduated cum laude from Yale University in 1994 with distinction in both African-American Studies and American Studies, and from Yale Law School and School of Management with a JD and MBA in 2004.
