Author Profile
Biography
As a member of the executive team, Ashley Harrington serves as a liaison between the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) president, executive leadership, and team leaders and policy staff that manage day-to-day advocacy and operations at CRL. Based in the DC office, Harrington works with senior managers to mobilize organizational resources around new CRL initiatives. Harrington also takes a lead role in CRL’s federal policy and advocacy efforts related to student loans and works closely with various organizations on student loan issues and works hard to ensure that all conversations include the disparate impact of college in-affordability and lack of access to higher education resources and services on people of color and women.
Prior to joining CRL, Harrington served as Special Assistant to the Chief Diversity Officer in the Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, working on projects and initiatives ranging from ensuring the language accessibility of state agencies to creating strategies to improve and increase state workforce diversity. Harrington received her JD from New York University School of Law and her BA in Public Policy Analysis from UNC-Chapel Hill.
Author's Essays
Access to higher education is a longstanding civil rights issue. In the past, the exclusion of students of color from college campuses was accepted as standard operating practice — or even legally sanctioned. While students of color are no longer legally excluded from campuses, today …
Once upon a time, higher education loans were valued as “good debt.” Today, these loans, once considered stepping stones on the path to the American Dream, are stripping wealth from individuals and communities and saddling many with a long-term financial obligation—and little prospect of…