The People Behind the Mission – Shadel

“What I enjoy most is knowing that I’m a part of doing good things in my community.”

For Shadel Cole, Deputy Director of Paralegals with Build Up Justice NYC’s Preserving Affordable Housing – Brooklyn (PAH-B) team, that connection to community is personal. Brooklyn is home—and nearly six years after BUJNYC unexpectedly found its way into her career, she’s helping ensure that New Yorkers facing housing challenges have knowledgeable, confident advocates in their corner.

“I always say that the organization found me because I genuinely don’t remember applying for the job,” she laughs.

At the time, Shadel was returning to the workforce after spending several years at home with her first child. She had previously worked as a paralegal with the City of New York and in plaintiff-side asbestos litigation, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to continue on that career path. She almost skipped her interview with BUJNYC altogether.

“My dad encouraged me to just do it and see what happens,” she recalls. “I went in not expecting much, and I remember being surprised by how much my mind changed just from talking with the people who interviewed me.”

Today, there’s little doubt in her mind.

“Getting here was accidental, but staying here is not. I’m glad the organization ‘found me’!”

Building Better Advocates

As Deputy Director of Paralegals, Shadel helps keep the many moving pieces within PAH-B moving—identifying where attorneys and paralegals need support and developing systems and processes that strengthen the team as a whole.

But one of the most rewarding parts of her role is developing the next generation of advocates.

“I’m very invested in my paralegals,” Shadel says. “I don’t want them to just know how to complete a task because somebody told them to do it. I want them to understand the bigger picture—why they’re doing it, what’s happening with the case, what should happen next, and who it’s affecting.”

For Shadel, that means helping her team develop the confidence to think independently and ask an important question: “What else can we do?”

“Watching that click for my team and realizing that I now have this little army of really well-rounded advocates who can advocate passionately for our clients is probably my favorite part of what I do now.”

When a Housing Case Becomes Something More

One former client has stayed with Shadel throughout her time at BUJNYC.

He was an older man facing a nonpayment case. When Shadel first met him, he was fiercely independent, but for over five years, she watched as his health declined, and it became increasingly difficult for him to care for himself.

Eventually, it became clear that resolving his housing case alone would not be enough.

Shadel reached out to a BUJNYC social worker, setting in motion a team effort involving his attorney, paralegals, and social worker. After repeated advocacy, Adult Protective Services accepted his case. The team helped him access medical treatment and rehabilitation while working to ensure his home would still be there when he was ready to return.

Eventually, he did return—with income and support services in place, a home health aide, appropriate medical equipment and the ability to pay his rent.

“That case stayed with me because we didn’t just resolve someone’s Housing Court case,” Shadel says. “We were able to affect his actual quality of life while still respecting what he wanted for himself.”

For Shadel, the experience captures what civil legal services can mean beyond a courtroom outcome.

“No one else may ever know, but it matters.”

What Shadel Wants Every New Yorker to Know

After years of working in housing advocacy, Shadel has one message she wishes more tenants knew:

“Just because someone tells you that you have to leave your home doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to leave. It’s not the end.”

Her advice is simple: ask questions and seek help before assuming you have no options.

“The eviction process and going to court with fast-talking people can be intimidating, especially when you don’t know the system,” Shadel says. “But tenants have rights, and there are organizations and resources available to help you understand those rights.”

For Shadel, that’s at the heart of the work: making sure New Yorkers don’t have to navigate complicated systems alone—and helping her team become the knowledgeable, confident advocates clients need in their corner.