Meet Jamila

Jamila (pronounced JAH-MEE-LAH) Taylor is a public interest attorney and a long-time community advocate. She grew up in California and Oregon with her parents and two brothers. Her father, Quintard, a history professor, and mother, Carolyn, a Girl Scout office administrator, raised her to value education and serving her community. Jamila joined the Girl Scouts in the first grade and remains a lifetime member while continuing to volunteer in King County.

​

She has served on several nonprofit boards and devoted thousands of hours to various community service opportunities including leading youth development programs and organizational development committees. Jamila joined her first board of directors in 1993 with the American Red Cross of Lane County (Oregon) while she was in high school.

 

Outside of her passion for community service, Jamila has spent most of her professional career serving the public good.  Following her graduation from high school in Oregon, Jamila attended Virginia State University where she studied Sociology. After working a number of years in the private sector, Jamila earned her law degree at the University of Oregon School of Law. While in law school, she dove into diversity and equity efforts in the legal profession via the Black Law Students Association and served on its Western Region and National Executive Boards. Among her many law school activities, Jamila also began to volunteer for an organization that would eventually become BlackPast.org, a free online resource for African American history. BlackPast.org has reached more than 31 million visitors worldwide since its launch in 2007.

 

Jamila moved to King County in 2007 to begin her legal career. Deeply impacted by the economic recession in 2008, she was unable to find work as an attorney after she passed the bar exam. In the face of this challenge, Jamila focused on volunteerism and social activism. This led her to an opportunity to provide consulting services on behalf of the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle (“ULMS”) in November 2008 for the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative (“SYVPI”). By 2009, she was hired on to be the Central Area Network Coordinator / Director of Street Outreach where she coordinated community interventions and supported hundreds of young individuals experiencing conflicts of family, peers, gangs; court involvement; school suspension or expulsion; homelessness and other risk factors. Jamila continued her efforts as the Central Area Network Coordinator when the program moved from ULMS to Therapeutic Health Services in 2011. To enhance her work with SYVPI, Jamila graduated from Leadership Tomorrow in 2013. There, Jamila connected with private sector, nonprofit, and government leaders to address a broad spectrum of regional challenges in the Puget Sound. This led to an opportunity to serve on the Highline College Foundation Board of Directors.

​

Like many people, Jamila has experienced financial challenges. In 2012, Jamila suffered a medical emergency causing her to be hospitalized in the ICU for five days. After leaving the hospital, she then faced the mounting medical bills not covered by her health insurance. Squeezed by law school, medical, and consumer debt; she could barely afford the rent in Seattle. Jamila had to move several times over the course of six years. Her struggle to find affordable housing in Seattle moved her between Belltown, Queen Anne, Southeast Seattle, and Renton.

​

In early 2014, Jamila left THS and SYVPI to launch her own legal practice and nonprofit consulting business, NW Prosper Law. Her clients included everyday people who need help with family law matters and nonprofits seeking guidance on program/organization development and workshop facilitation. Starting her own business afforded Jamila the flexibility to help care for her mother, Carolyn, and twin brother, William, who are both facing severe chronic illnesses. Jamila frequently traveled from the Seattle area to Eugene to help her mother and brother. As their needs grew, Carolyn and William decided to move to King County. Jamila, Carolyn, and William made Federal Way their new home in late 2014.

​

When Carolyn and William were comfortably settled into their new life in Federal Way, Jamila continued her community endeavors. As part of the 2016 graduate of the Washington Leadership Institute, she and her fellow co-hort members produced voter engagement videos available on www.diversevotes.org. Jamila joined Washington’s largest public interest law firm, Northwest Justice Project, in 2017. As a staff attorney she assisted crime victims and domestic violence survivors with their civil needs. In 2018, Jamila was promoted to Statewide Advocacy Coordinator where she worked to enhance community collaborations, help crime victims access civil legal services, and support crime victim attorneys across Washington state. Her work allows her to partner and collaborate with prosecutors, criminal defense attorneys, community-based organizations, and other advocates seeking to end the cycle of crime victimization. She led the Loren Miller Bar Association’s Judicial Evaluation Committee and was recognized by the organization for her efforts to reinvigorate the committee.

​

Jamila currently serves as an appointee to the Federal Way Human Services Commission and on the board of the Judicial Institute. Lastly, Jamila is completing her term as as the Vice-President of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. – Delta Upsilon Omega Graduate Chapter and helps to develop its community service efforts throughout Seattle and King County.