About Jason

OUR HOME

Michelle, Oliva, and I have made Lakewood our home. After graduating law school, we chose Lakewood because of the city's walkability, beautiful parks, excellent schools and, most of all, its strong sense of community.

EDUCATION

I graduated from the Florida State University,

magna cum laude, where I double majored in Political

Science and Religious Studies.

I graduated from the Case Western Reserve University

School of Law, cum laude. As a student, I worked for the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland’s Housing Practice Group, where I focused on helping low-income individuals and families secure and retain decent, affordable housing, and helped enforce tenants’ rights, by addressing issues such as housing conditions, evictions, and housing discrimination. I earned the Saul S. Biskind Public Interest Fellowship that is awarded to law students with a demonstrated commitment to legal work in the field of public interest law. I also served as a legal intern in Case Western’s Criminal Justice Clinic representing people who could not afford an attorney, worked for the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Criminal Division, and served as an Executive Note Editor on the Health Matrix: Journal of Law and Medicine.

Jason is licensed to practice law by the Ohio Supreme Court, the United States District Court, Northern District of Ohio, and the United States Supreme Court.

MY CAREER

Oliva, Jason, and Michelle.

I am currently an Assistant Director of Law for the City of Cleveland. My primary responsibilities are representing and advising the Division of Public Safety and working on complex legislation for the Administration.

I was an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in the Lake County Prosecutor’s Office Criminal Division for nearly eight years. My job was to seek justice and I took that responsibility seriously. I worked with law enforcement officers to help ensure the safety of the community and provide a voice for victims.

MY BACKGROUND IN PUBLIC SERVICE

I have committed my life and career to public service. As an undergrad at Florida State University, I volunteered as a counselor at Camp Boggy Creek, an overnight camp for children with serious illnesses, and interned for Children and Nutrition Program at the Capital Area Food Bank in Washington, D.C.

Jason as an AmeriCorps VISTA fellow with M.C. Terrell Elementary's parent leaders.

Following college, I served as an AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) fellow for the non-profit Turning the Page. There, I encouraged and assisted parents in better advocating for their children's education. I also interned in Cleveland for the community organizing branch of Empowering and Strengthening Ohio's People, where I built the capacity of both the Concerned Citizens (Mount Pleasant neighborhood) and Hough Residents in Action (Hough neighborhood) organizations as a community organizer.

MY ACCOMPLISHMENTS ON COUNCIL

Jason seeking input from a community member.

I drafted and successfully passed a number of ordinances during his first term on Council, including
ordinances that expanded outdoor dining, permitted beekeeping, and amended the noxious weed
ordinance to allow the planting of milkweed and restrict the planting of invasive running bamboo. I
am also proud that I introduced legislation that led to a city-wide policy that protects residents from
invasive government investigations related to abortion care.