Nisha Agarwal

As Deputy Executive Director of Impact at IRAP, Nisha oversees the departments of Policy, Communications, U.S. Litigation, Legal Knowledge and Training, Climate Displacement, and Disability Inclusion and Accessibility.

Previously, Nisha served as Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs since the beginning of the de Blasio Administration, building landmark initiatives like IDNYC, the City’s municipal identification card, and Cities for Action, a national advocacy coalition of local elected officials. For the second term of de Blasio’s administration, Nisha took on the role of Senior Advisor to the Deputy Mayor to boost civic engagement among New Yorkers and build DemocracyNYC’s efforts on immigration, people with disabilities, and justice involved communities. A child of immigrants from India, she became a public interest lawyer out of Harvard Law School, leading the Health Justice Program at the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest in 2006. She later was the deputy director and co-founder of the Center for Popular Democracy and the executive director of the Immigrant Justice Corps.

Nisha received her A.B., summa cum laude in Social Studies, in Harvard College in 2000; a British Marshall Scholarship in Oxford University, St. Antony’s College in 2003; and a J.D. at Harvard Law School in 2006, where she received a Skadden Fellowship.

Nisha is a member of the New York bar. She enjoys gaming, travel and cats.