Osmer headshot

Emerson Fellow

Sarah Osmer

11th Class, 2004-2005

Sarah graduated summa cum laude from Emory University with a BA in sociology and religion, and a minor in community building and social change.  She participated in the Kenneth Cole Fellowship in Community Building and Social Change, studied abroad in Costa Rica, and wrote an honors thesis on mixed-income housing.  She has also worked for Habitat for Humanity, a substance abuse treatment center for homeless women, homelessness prevention agencies, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, where she helped develop an affordable housing plan and coordinated public benefits outreach efforts.

Field placement: Chicago Interfaith Committee on Worker Issues

Chicago, Illinois

As a Worker Rights Advocate, Sarah supported low-wage Latino workers in their struggle to improve conditions in their workplaces. She initiated collaborative partnerships between the Interfaith Workers' Rights Center of the CICWI and local anti-hunger and asset-development organizations, and designed a Worker Rights Advocate Action Manual for use in Chicago and worker centers throughout the country. She also collected workers’ testimonies on the connection between workplace injustice and poverty issues, which were included in a testimony before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Policy placement: Center for Community Change

Washington, D.C.

Sarah worked with the immigration team and the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) to develop immigration/immigrant rights research and reports on the DREAM Act (a legalization program for immigrant students) and other current immigration policies.  She also compiled a report on the hardships and injustices immigrant workers face in the workplace and organizing grassroots activities and events in Washington, D.C. for the release of the reports and other FIRM events.

Publications