Sam Tuttle, JD | Curriculum vitae

Principal Consultant | 773-480-3711 | sam@danucenter.org

Sam Tuttle has dedicated her career to fighting poverty and injustice through public policy, community engagement, and litigation. Sam is Director of the Danu Center’s Policy Project, where she partners with organizations, advocates, and activists to advance social justice through public policy. Her work includes providing strategic advice, policy research and analysis, legislative and administrative advocacy, coalition support, and training for social justice organizations. Sam’s recent work has included:

• Coordinating the Responsible Budget Coalition and efforts to advance progressive revenue solutions in Illinois;

• Supporting the launch of the Fully Free Campaign, convened by Heartland Alliance, through training, strategic advice, and legislative analysis. 

• Leading the legislative advocacy for Legal Action Chicago, a new litigation and policy subsidiary of Legal Aid Chicago, which provides free legal services to people experiencing poverty and injustice. 

Until 2018, Sam was the Director of Policy and Advocacy at Heartland Alliance, a 130-year old social service agency dedicated to advancing human rights. In this role, Sam spearheaded the organization’s policy work, helped transform its policy platform, supported the agency in navigating complex collaborations with government agencies and partner organizations, and developed strategic alliances to advance change. Under Sam’s leadership, Heartland Alliance achieved policy victories in a wide variety of areas, including human trafficking, criminal justice and reentry, worker rights, housing, asset-building, consumer protections, health care, immigration, and public benefits. 

Prior to joining Heartland Alliance, Sam was an attorney at the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, where she advanced policy solutions on behalf of low-income tenants, homeowners, and survivors of violence and served as counsel in litigation to preserve federally subsidized housing and enforce fair housing laws. Sam began her career representing low-income families in civil litigation at Legal Aid Chicago. 

Sam received her law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 2002 and earned her BA summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota in 1999. She clerked for Judge Terri Stoneburner at the Minnesota Court of Appeals immediately following law school. In her spare time, Sam enjoys falling down internet holes (about gardening), her bicycles, and cultivating her nieces’ interest in science fiction and fantasy.