Niki Cross

Niki Cross (they/them) is a staff attorney on NYLPI’s Environmental Justice team. Before joining NYLPI, they worked with Indian Law Resource Center (ILRC) as a Justice Catalyst Fellow, advocating for environmental justice and indigenous sovereignty in the U.S. and the Brazilian Amazon. For ILRC, Niki drafted a Handbook for Conservationists describing the rights and political context of indigenous peoples in the U.S. in relation to the environment, and the leadership of indigenous peoples in environmental justice movements. Niki was a Public Interest/Public Service Scholar at American University Washington College of Law. During school, they worked as a student attorney for the Civil Advocacy Clinic and as a clerk or intern for the Center for International Environmental Law, the Native American Rights Fund, and the Eviction Defense Project of Legal Action Wisconsin. Prior to law school, they used play and games to teach social and emotional skills to over one thousand students as a Site Coordinator with the nonprofit Playworks, and trained school staffs in experiential teaching. With Playworks, Niki also ran Junior Coach leadership development programs for fourth- and fifth- grade students at five schools. Prior to Playworks, Niki worked as an AmeriCorps member for City Year at a middle school in Milwaukee. Niki received their B.A. in Philosophy from Whitman College. They love playing speed chess and soccer, roller-skating, DJing, making music, and spending time outside.