J
onathan Sheffield Jr. has a passion for
issues of housing and homelessness.
That may have come from his own
housing instability growing up in a
single-mother household after his
parents divorced when he was just one year old.
Now Sheffield, who expects to graduate in May
2015, is pursuing his ideal career: making a difference
in community development and housing issues,
perhaps with the US Department of Justice or the US
Department of Housing and Urban Development.
With a near-perfect grade point average, his
skills as managing editor of the
Loyola University
Chicago Law Journal
and the
Public Interest Law
Reporter
, and five scholarly and news articles already
or scheduled to be published, Sheffield is well on his
way to making that dream a reality.
Florida native
goes national
Sheffield is a second-generation Floridian. Long
after his parents’ divorce he became a big brother
to two much younger half-siblings, one from his
mother’s side and the other from his father’s side.
“I was pretty much an only child,” he says. “I didn’t
grow up with my half-brothers, but I felt a profound
connection with them when they were born, and I’m
always concerned about them getting everything I
feel like my little brothers should have.”
In high school, Sheffield was heavily involved
in his church and spent a lot of time having long
conversations about abstract topics with his friends.
A bachelor’s degree in philosophy and political
science from the University of Florida was a logical
next step. While an undergraduate, Sheffield began
to combine his involvement in his church with his
passion for community service.
He became a Jesuit volunteer and served as a
young adult leader for high school students doing
mission work. He traveled several times to Maytown,
a 250-person community in the Appalachian
Mountains in eastern Kentucky. He headed to New
Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. And he served in
a small town on Florida’s Lake Okeechobee with a
sizeable migrant worker population.
After he graduated, Sheffield joined the
Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC). He first traveled to
Portland, Maine, to work at a nonprofit assisting
HIV/AIDS patients. He then headed to New York
City to continue social justice work at Common
Ground’s Times Square residence, a supportive
housing facility for 650 formerly homeless, special
needs, and low-income residents.
He was particularly inspired by the founder
of Common Ground and her get-it-done
approach to the seemingly unsolvable challenge
of homelessness. While walking through Times
Square, the founder was struck by the vast number
of homeless people in the area, particularly since
there was a vacant hotel within steps of those
needing shelter.
“It was a 1920s-era hotel literally off
Times Square,” recalls Sheffield. “I became really
fascinated by how the founder of the organization
saw this problem of homelessness and put two
and two together.”
Taking inspiration
from the S.J.s
The Jesuit pursuit of social justice was also
speaking to Sheffield. “A lot of people in the JVC
went to Jesuit universities for undergrad,” says
Sheffield. “I often talked to them about their
experience, the culture, the faculty, the classes, and
the retreats that were offered, and I really wished
I’d had that experience.”
So Sheffield shifted gears, passing up the
opportunity to attend another law school so he
could experience those things at Loyola. “Most
students come here because it’s a good law school,”
he says. “I came here for that reason, but also
because I want to engage in this Jesuit institution-
inspired work toward social justice.”
That term means different things to different
people. “For me, it’s the idea that everybody has
inherent worth and the same level of human
dignity,” Sheffield explains. “Work toward social
justice recognizes that dignity in each person. When
people are living without homes through no fault
of their own, that’s a social injustice that should be
rectified. When children are going to inadequate
schools, that should be fixed. Pursuing law at a Jesuit
school allows me to think about what social justice is
and pursue it.”
Today, Sheffield is focused on graduating and
the judicial clerkship he’ll begin in fall 2015. That
leaves him with less free time than he’d like, but
he maintains interests in amateur photography,
cooking, and gardening. Sheffield boasts of growing
what’s reputed to be the hottest pepper in the
world—the ghost pepper.
He’s a year-round biker, astounding his
friends by pedaling to school even on days when
others might consider the weather a challenge too
great. “Unless there’s a huge threat to safety,” he says,
Sheffield will bike it.
When he has a chance, Sheffield likes to go
fishing and hiking. “I was close to my grandpa
growing up, and he taught me to fish,” he says. “Even
though he’s passed on, every time I do it, it’s a very
powerful feeling of being in his presence.”
■
Creating solutions
to real-life problems
STUDENT PROFILE
3L parlays a passion for philosophy into hands-on action
“For me, it’s
the idea that
everybody has
inherent worth
and the same
level of human
dignity.”
—J ON S H E F F I E L D
3L Jon Sheffield powers
himself around town.
This rider’s
also a writer
Although he won’t graduate until next
spring, Jonathan Sheffield is amassing
a body of scholarly work. His articles
already published or scheduled for
publication include:
›
“Are Homeless Bills of Rights
Moving U.S. Policy Toward a Human
Right to Housing?,” 22
Georgetown
Journal on Poverty Law and Policy
(forthcoming 2015).
›
“Resident Health and HUD’s Choice
Neighborhoods Initiative,” 23
Journal
of Affordable Housing and Community
Development Law
117
(2014).
›
“At Forty-five Years Old the Obligation
to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing
Gets a Face-lift, but Will It Integrate
America’s Cities?,” 25
University of
Florida Journal of Law and Public Policy
(forthcoming 2014).
›
“Cook County Prevents Source of
Income Discrimination from Begetting
Unlawful Race Discrimination and So
Should Illinois,” 19
Public Interest Law
Reporter
86
(2014).
›
“A Homeless Bill of Rights: Step by Step
from State to State,” 19
Public Interest
Law Reporter
8 (2013).
FALL 2014
13
12
LOYOLA LAW
