Housing Story:
When I was in college, I developed a very close relationship with several of our housekeeping staff members. They were like second parents to me. I quickly learned that several of them were struggling to pay their rent and barely making ends meet despite working two jobs or more. Staying housed was a core concern for many of them. Learning that our incredibly wealthy institution was unwilling to pay our predominantly Black janitorial staff a living wage, I organized alongside staff and fellow students to fight for it.
This process showed me how racial disparities directly threaten a person’s ability to stay housed. For our staff, a living wage wasn’t abstract; it was what stood between them and losing the places they called home. It was at this moment that I committed to stepping directly into housing justice work.
Bio:
June is the Menlo Park Community Builder. Working closely with Menlo Together, he is tasked with helping expand the pro-housing community in the area. Previously, June interned at the Philadelphia Housing Action, an unhoused activist coalition formed during the Occupy PHA movement, where he developed a strong grassroots understanding of fighting for housing justice. June graduated from Swarthmore College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Political Sociology in 2025. He was deeply involved in labor organizing during his time in college. In his free time, June likes to listen to music and watch European soccer highlights.