Yolanda Taylor

Background

About Yolanda Taylor

There can not be equality without equity. 2019 Leader in the Law Recipient, and 2019 Gwyneth B. Davis Public Service Award. I believe in the power of grassroots policymaking by community residents, increased civic participation in local decision-making processes, and access to justice through high-quality legal representation of impoverished clients. I love helping my clients tackle the hard social issues that lead to systemic change for their communities. I assist communities with researching strategies that create equitable economic development, affordable housing, health equity, and food equity in under resourced neighborhoods. I connect knowledge to community concerns and ignite the power of residents to vocalize their concerns through collective action. This is done through community lawyering which provides research, education of laws and strategies that lift equity, and which promote equitable community development in higher opportunity areas and areas that have been historically under resourced but which are now gentrifying. I lead a staff of social justice attorneys and paralegals who remove legal barriers to economic opportunities for their individual clients and their communities. During my spare time, I love serving on the boards of Rolesville Charter Academy, the Arts Council of Wilson, NC, and the African American Cultural Festival of Raleigh, NC. I also love attending the board meetings of my community nonprofit clients. Lastly, I enjoy using my talents to help my husband, independent recording artist, Eugene Taylor aka The Drum Prophet, and patient nominated "Wellness Ambassador” at UNC Rex