NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., Director of Policy

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) has named Demetria L. McCain, JD as the Director of Policy. In this role, she will lead the organization’s policy team and its diverse policy advocacy portfolio, including working with senior leadership to set the strategic direction for the organization’s legislative, policy, and advocacy work in criminal justice, economic justice, education, and political participation.  

McCain joins LDF from the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), where she served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary since September 2021. As the head of FHEO, she worked to advance the office’s mission to eliminate housing discrimination, promote economic opportunity, and achieve diverse, inclusive communities.

Prior to her role at HUD, McCain served as president of the Inclusive Communities Project (ICP), a Dallas, Texas-based affordable fair housing nonprofit. Within her various leadership roles at the ICP over fifteen years, she oversaw operations, research, and public education campaigns, and the Mobility Assistance Program, a housing mobility program for low-income voucher families. She also created and oversaw “Voices for Opportunity,” an advocacy training program for low-income renters, neighborhood groups, and allies. McCain also served as a staff attorney for the National Housing Law Project and the Neighborhood Legal Services Program of Washington, DC.

McCain earned her J.D. from Howard University School of Law and MFA and BFA degrees from Brooklyn College and New York University.

Ernest Brooks led this search with Kennedy Kearney and Lehman Robinson, supported by Caroline Corry.