Sarah Medina Camiscoli

  • Peer Defense Project, Inc.

  • 2022 Global Fellow

Sarah Medina Camiscoli professional headshot
  • Peer Defense Project, Inc.

  • 2022 Global Fellow

bold idea

Dismantle systemic racism in New York City schools, courts, and government by designing legal tools, fostering legal networks, and increasing legal knowledge with grassroots youth organizers.

organization overview

The Peer Defense Project (PDP) transforms how youth leaders engage with law. PDP’s web platform links attorneys to youth leaders and provides youth grassroots organizations with the legal tools to support advocacy for youth civil rights issues such as school integration, the abolition of youth policing and incarceration, and voting rights. PDP manages a legal network, a yearly summit, and a freedom law school for grassroots youth leaders. Using a hybrid model, PDP’s lawyers and youth leaders are dismantling systemic racism in schools, courts, and government.

Personal Bio

Sarah Medina Camiscoli is a first-generation, LGBTQ+ attorney of the Puerto Rican diaspora from NYC. She works as a Justice Catalyst Legal Fellow at Public Counsel and a lecturer at Yale College. Before law school, Sarah worked as a public school teacher in the South Bronx, where she founded IntegrateNYC—an organization in which young leaders work toward integration and equity. Upon graduating from Yale Law School, Sarah co-founded the Peer Defense Project, working alongside her intergenerational co-founding team, Aneth Naranjo, Obrian Rosario, and Maryam Salmanova.

  • Organization/Fellow Location ?

    Our most recent information as to where the Fellow primarily resides.

    Astoria, United States

  • Impact Location ?

    Countries or continents that were the primary focus of this Fellow’s work at the time of their Fellowship.

  • Organization Structure ?

    An organization can be structured as a nonprofit, for-profit, or hybrid (a structure that incorporates both nonprofit and for-profit elements).

    Nonprofit

  • Visit website