Niketa Brar

Sustainable Cities Director of Policy and Technical Assistance

Niketa Brar, Sustainable Cities Director of Policy and Technical Assistance, is a policy strategist and systems organizer working to grow community self-determination through new models of democratic governance. In her role leading the Policy and Technical Assistance team for the Sustainable Cities project, she works with 25 cities across the Midwest and South to seize the potential of historic federal climate investments, redesign how local governments work with communities, and drive investments to Black neighborhoods that unlock new realities for all of us.

Prior to joining PolicyLink, Niketa worked to seed and grow equity efforts in her hometown of Chicago. In her role as co-founder and executive director of Chicago United for Equity, she worked to transform civic systems to be designed by the communities they serve. She organized Chicago's first public Racial Equity Impact Assessment, a community process that set national precedent for stopping a school closure on the grounds of racial discrimination, designed the Vote Equity Project, an award-winning citywide voter guide built by thousands of residents, and co-created the People's Budget Chicago, a popular education model and community budgeting process.

Niketa comes to this work from a long commitment to transforming government to build a truly multiracial democracy. She is grounded in her understanding of what's at stake from her experiences working at the DC Public Defender Service and as a middle school math teacher and dean. She's tackled the work of government reform as a policy adviser to leaders from school board to city and state government. She left government to expand her lens on civic reform, by supporting leaders working across policy issues and civic institutions as they work to build a more equitable future for all. Niketa has been recognized for her work through the 2020 Trailblazer Award from Reform for Illinois, the inaugural Civil Rights Visionary Award from Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, and the 2022 Changemaker Grant from the Center for Racial Justice at the University of Michigan.

To reach Niketa, please use the PolicyLink Contact form and state the reason for your inquiry. Thank you!

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