João Paulo M. Connolly

João Paulo Connolly is the Organizing Director for Austin Justice Coalition and Co-Chair of the ATX Leadership Council, the board for the Austin/Travis County Continuum of Care. He also serves on the City of Austin Planning Commission and Community Advisory Committee for Project Connect, a mass transit infrastructure program. Previously, he has served on the Citizen’s Police Review Commission.

In recent years, his advocacy and mobilizing efforts have focused on housing and mobility justice, land use, and equitable urban design. With the Austin Justice Coalition, he has worked to build power for local tenants and bus riders, advocated for permanent supportive and low-barrier housing, and organized within the homeless response system to increase opportunities for leadership of people with lived expertise, while challenging the criminalization and dehumanization of people experiencing homelessness.