João Paulo M. Connolly is the Organizing Director for Austin Justice Coalition. In recent years, his advocacy and mobilizing efforts have focused on housing and mobility justice, land use, and equitable urban design. With the Austin Justice Coalition, he has helped mobilize campaigns and raise funding for permanent supportive housing and services, as well as convene experiential experts, service providers, and policy-makers, in efforts to design new systems fitted to the needs of a diverse unhoused community. Joao Paulo has served on the Citizens Police Review Commission and on the Planning Commission for the City of Austin. He currently co-chairs the Leadership Council of Austin/Travis County’s Continuum of Care and continues to serve on the Community Advisory Committee for Project Connect. He is also a founding member of ‘Planning Our Communities.’ 

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, João continues to draw on his upbringing and cultural background, including his experience as an interpreter for asylum seekers, to inform his advocacy and organizing efforts. His hobbies include collecting records, reading science fiction, and arguing about the future of cities.