Our Staff
Antonia K. Fasanelli, Executive Director
afasanelli [at] hprplaw.org, x17
Antonia came to HPRP as its Executive Director in December 2007. She is responsible for providing strategic leadership for Maryland's only legal services and advocacy organization dedicated to eliminating homelessness; communicating the mission, programs, and need of its clients to the public; developing and maintaining sound relationships with collaborators, supporters, funders and other stakeholders; providing efficient management and direction to staff and volunteers; ensuring fiscal responsibility and leading fundraising efforts; and reporting to and supporting the work of HPRP's board of directors.
Prior to assuming the role of Executive Director, Antonia was a staff attorney at the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless in the Affordable Housing Initiative, an expansion project of her 2002 Equal Justice Works Fellowship. As part of her work with the Initiative, Antonia advised, represented, or consulted on the representation of tenants or tenant associations at risk of displacement from over 3000 units of affordable housing. Antonia was an advisor to the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development on affordable housing preservation, and was an advocate for improved operations within the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs and the D.C. Housing Authority.
Antonia received her J.D. magna cum laude from the Washington College of Law, American University in 2001 and her B.A. cum laude from Barnard College, Columbia University in 1996. From 2001 to 2002, Antonia was a law clerk to The Honorable Barefoot Sanders of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Antonia is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia, New York and Maryland. In 2009, Antonia was appointed a member of the American Bar Association Commission on Homelessness and Poverty and served as its Chair from 2011 – 2014. She is a Co-Chair of the Economic Justice Committee of the ABA’s Section on Civil Rights and Social Justice, Chair of the Legal Clinics Committee of the ABA Commission on Veterans Legal Services, and continues as a liaison to the ABA Commission on Homelessness and Poverty. She is also a member of the Public Interest Alumni Advisory Board of American University’s Washington College of Law. From 2013 to 2016, she was a member of Baltimore City’s Journey Home Board, which oversaw Baltimore City’s Plan to End Homelessness.
In 2016, she was awarded the Benjamin L. Cardin Award by the Maryland Legal Services Corporation. She was a 2011 recipient of the Daily Record's Leadership in Law Award and was selected as one of the Daily Record’s Leading Women in 2013.
Carolyn Johnson, Managing Attorney
cjohnson[at]hprplaw.org, x23
Carolyn came to HPRP as the Managing Attorney in February 2007. She is responsible for the in-house legal work of the staff attorneys and monitors case trends for potential impact litigation and policy advocacy. Carolyn previously worked as a staff attorney at the Public Justice Center for two years, focusing on housing law and medical assistance.
Carolyn began her legal career as a staff attorney at the Homeless Persons Representation Project practicing in the areas of family law, public benefits and subsidized housing. Carolyn received her J.D. with honors from University of Baltimore School of Law in 1998, and a B.A. in Political Science from St. Mary's College of Maryland in 1994.
Julia Hartenstein, Director of Human Resources and Engagement
jhartenstein[at]hprplaw.org, x24
Julia came to HPRP in January 2013. She holds a Masters degree in Social Work from the University of Maryland, Baltimore.
Ingrid Lofgren, Director of Homeless Youth Initiative
ilofgren[at]hprplaw.org, x11
Ingrid joined HPRP as a Skadden Fellow in 2012 to launch the Homeless Youth Initiative, which serves youth ages 13 to 25 who are homeless or at-risk, with a particular emphasis on youth who are unaccompanied by a parent or guardian. Ingrid conducts outreach and facilitates educational workshops in the community; provides legal representation in housing, public benefits, and expungement matters; and leads HPRP’s systemic advocacy efforts to prevent and end youth homelessness.
Prior to joining HPRP, Ingrid served as a law clerk to the Honorable Susan Gauvey of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland and the Honorable Andre Davis of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Ingrid received her J.D. magna cum laude in 2010 from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, where she was editor in chief of the University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender, and Class. She also holds a Masters of Social Work and a B.S. in Family Science from the University of Maryland. In 2014, the Daily Record named Ingrid a "Very Important Professional Under 40."
Swapna Yeluri, Director of Pro Bono Programs
hprpprobono[at]hprplaw.org, x14
Swapna joined HPRP in March 2016 as the Director of Pro Bono Programs. Swapna is also the current treasurer of the Veterans’ Affairs and Military Law Section of the Maryland State Bar Association. Prior to joining HPRP, Swapna developed and ran a pro bono Veterans’ project and spent seven years of her legal career representing youth in the foster care system.
Swapna’s entire professional and legal career has been focused on working with non-profits and low-income clients. Swapna received her J.D. from Roger Williams University School of Law in 2007 and a B.A. in General Business Management from Michigan State University in 2003.
Michelle Salomon Madaio, Senior Attorney
mmadaio[at]hprplaw.org, x16
Michelle joined HPRP in 2013 to provide representation, advocacy and education to clients on public benefit matters. Michelle is co-chair of Maryland Legal Aid’s statewide Public Benefits Task Force. Prior to joining HPRP, Michelle worked as a Clinical Law Fellow with the University of Maryland Carey School of Law’s Clinical Law Program, where she taught in the Health Care Delivery and HIV/AIDS Clinic, as well as the International Human Rights Clinic in Namibia, Sub-Saharan Africa.
Michelle received her B.A. from American University and her J.D. from the University of Maryland Carey School of Law. From 2005-2006, Michelle was a Fulbright Scholar in Spain where she researched the country’s experience with citizen juries over the past ten years with the co-author of Spain’s 1995 Jury Law.
Karen Wabeke, Senior Attorney
kwabeke[at]hprplaw.org, x20
Karen joined HPRP in September 2011 as a housing attorney. Karen comes to HPRP from Toledo, Ohio, where she spent two years as an AmeriCorps attorney with Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc. litigating housing and foreclosure cases.
Previously, Karen was in private practice in Toledo representing charter school clients on a variety of matters. Karen received her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 2007 and a B.A. in History from Wellesley College in 2004.
Carisa Hatfield, Staff Attorney
chatfield[at]hprplaw.org, x32
Carisa joined HPRP in July 2019. Previously, Carisa worked at the Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse (JCADA) in Rockville, Maryland. There, she provided representation to survivors of intimate partner violence and sexual assault in both civil protection orders and crime victims’ rights work. She was also a Venable Fellow with the House of Ruth Maryland from 2016-2017.
Prior to attending law school, Carisa worked in case management at two emergency shelters for survivors of intimate partner violence in the Houston, Texas area. Carisa graduated magna cum laude with her J.D. from University of Baltimore School of Law in 2016 and her B.A. in Communications from Sam Houston State University in 2009.
Albert C. Turner, Staff Attorney
aturner[at]hprplaw.org, x21
Albert joined HPRP in November of 2018 as a Pro Bono Staff Attorney. Albert began his legal career in the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office where he worked as a law clerk in the Aim to B’more program; a diversion program for first time drug offenders who, instead of prosecution, were provided job training and placement. Subsequently, Albert worked as an Assistant State’s Attorney for Baltimore City, and, in 2017, transitioned into private criminal defense.
Albert received his J.D. from Howard University School of Law and received his Bachelor’s degree from Oakwood College.
Christian Piatt, Equal Justice Works Fellow sponsored by Northrop Grumman and Covington & Burling LLP
cpiatt[at]hprplaw.org, x13
Christian joined HPRP in August 2018 as an Equal Justice Works Fellow to represent justice-involved veterans throughout Maryland. Christian’s legal background includes serving as a law clerk in the Circuit Court for Harford County, the United States Navy Office of the General Counsel, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He is a former Army officer, a combat veteran, who served on Active Duty and in the Army Reserves before graduating Magna Cum Laude from the University of Baltimore School of Law.
Gabriela Ines Sevilla, Equal Justice Works Fellow sponsored by Pfizer, Inc.
gsevilla[at]hprplaw.org, x12
Gabriela joined HPRP in September 2019 as an Equal Justice Works Fellow to lead the DREAM (Disability Representation Education Advocacy Medical-Legal) Partnership where she represents Health Care for the Homeless clients in public benefits cases.
While in law school Gabriela represented clients with housing conditions issues in D.C. Superior Court through the Fair Housing Clinic. She also interned at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Homeless Action Center, and Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless. She was awarded Clinical Law Student of the year in 2018 and Howard University School of Law Student of the Year in 2019.
Gabriela received her J.D. from Howard University School of Law and received her Bachelor’s degree from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey – Newark in Public and Non- Profit Administration.
Alexandra Curd, Homeless Youth Advocate
acurd[at]hprplaw.org, 410-387-3126
Alexandra joined the HPRP team in October 2019 to help expand its Homeless Youth Initiative into Prince George's County. In law school, Alexandra was a student attorney in the Howard University School of Law Criminal Justice Clinic, where she represented low-income clients with criminal misdemeanor charges in D.C. Superior Court. Alexandra was also in Howard Law's Human and Civil Rights Clinic where she worked on projects pertaining to policing and criminal justice reform, as well as international human rights law and policy work in the aftermath of the shooting death of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Alexandra gained significant experience working in indigent defense and expungement matters as a law clerk with the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. She was also a legal intern with the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights where she researched the collateral consequences of mass incarceration and the effects of a criminal record on life outcomes for marginalized groups. Alexandra has devoted her professional, legal and personal life to the service of young people, returning citizens, and low-income clients.
Alexandra received her J.D. from Howard University School of Law and her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Criminology from the University of Kentucky in 2015.
Audrey Lynn Martin, AUWCL JD Distinguished Fellow
amartin[at]hprplaw.org, 410-387-3126
Audrey joined HPRP in August 2019 as a J.D. Distinguished Fellow. While in law school, Audrey specialized in representing marginalized populations with the Immigrant Justice Clinic. She has substantial experience working to alleviate the effects of rural poverty in her home state of Kentucky where she worked in the areas of public benefits, drug court diversion, and expungement. Audrey also worked as a judicial intern for the Kentucky Purchase Region Chief Circuit Judge Rene Williams as well as Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Bill Cunningham.
Audrey received her J.D. cum laude in 2019 from the Washington College of Law, American University and her B.A. summa cum laude in International Business from Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky in 2016.
Akyra Brown, Paralegal
abrown[at]hprplaw.org, x15
Akyra joined HPRP in April of 2019 as the Homeless Youth Initiative Paralegal. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English from McDaniel College in 2018.
Selena Santos, Paralegal
ssantos[at]hprplaw.org, x31
Selena joined the staff of HPRP in September 2006 and is the point of first contact at HPRP for the One Baltimore for Jobs (1B4J) clients.
Katherine Guzman, Program Assistant, Montgomery/Prince George's County Office
kguzman[at]hprplaw.org, 410-387-3126
Katherine came to HPRP in May 2018. Beginning in 2012, she worked as a Civil Attorney in Peru. Katherine has brought her professional knowledge to United States where she enjoys working with a diverse population and being sensitive to different backgrounds. She is also a full-time student at Montgomery College.
Imani Walton, Administrative Assistant
iwalton[at]hprplaw.org, x10
Imani joined HPRP in May 2018. She received her Bachelors of Science degree in Communication from Morgan State University in 2011. She is the main person of contact for the headquarters in Baltimore City.