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24 n e w h a v e n B I Z | M a r c h / A p r i l 2 0 1 9 n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m R olan Joni Young has turned her passion for making people's lives bet- ter into a successful pro- fession as a senior partner attorney with Berchem Moses Law Firm. Young grew up in Orange and now lives in Woodbridge. She graduated from Hamden Hall Country Day School and in 1978, she went to college at Dartmouth, and then graduat- ed from law school at American University in Washington, D.C., where she stayed for eight years, running the nonprofit Communi- ty Health Center Capital Corp. be- fore belatedly taking the bar exam. "at drove my family absolute- ly nuts — my father was furious with me," she jokes now. Aer her father passed away in 1991, Young, an only child, moved back to Orange to be closer to her mother, who was then only in her mid-50s. "It was kind of like the perfect excuse. I was living in Washing- ton and it was a great place to be young, but I never really put down deep roots," she recalls. At the time, Young was running a nonprofit organization that worked with community health centers. In 1992, she moved her nonprofit into what she calls a "little, tiny" office building that her father had le her and was happy to be back home. She spent some time helping community health centers around the country Taking 'Community Action' to a Whole New Level Rolan Young discovered the law was the most effective arena for improving people's lives By Melissa Nicefaro 'I've seen a lot of really incredible people doing amazing things to transform communities.' - Rolan Young Continued on Page 48 rebuild their facilities so that they could expand access to health care to the uninsured. "I was blessed to be with people who have that much heart for others and that much talent, and a willingness to teach," he explains now. "And then when they take you by the hand and you can see people who now have a better condition, it humbles you." Aer a few years back in Con- necticut, closed up her nonprofit and joined the New Haven law firm of Updike Kelly & Spellacy for the better part of a decade. ere she found herself working on a redevelopment deal with at- torney Robert Berchem, who was representing the developer. "I was representing the New Haven Housing Authority, and they were negotiating for the redevelopment of West Rock. Bob and I battled it out, and really got such a kick out of each other," she recounts. "You know, when you practice law there's a part of you that is always invested. But we just got such a kick out of each other as we waged war for our respective clients that the next thing I knew, he and I were having periodic lunches over a period of four years. I didn't realize that he was really trying to get me to join his firm." A few years and a few lunches later, Berchem invited Young to join his firm, Berchem Moses, but first, she wanted to teach a class at Yale. "She's very bright, and it's a dirty word in today's world, but we really negotiated well," Ber- chem recounts now. "When she came, she had a wealth of talent and a lot of ambition. When she became the chairperson at CH- AFA [the Connecticut Housing & Finance Authority], it took her from countywide to statewide and to a significant degree nation- al-level. Young is past chair of the Com- munity Foundation for Greater New Haven and the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority. She currently chairs Start Community Bank's board of directors and is a member of the Connecticut Housing Coalition. She continues to work with the Community Foundation and she represents the Housing Authorities of New Haven and Bridgeport, the city of Bridgeport and a host of both non-profit and private-sector developers. "Before she joined the firm, she wanted an academic challenge and took a year off and taught affordable housing [law] at Yale and she excelled in that chal- lenge," Berchem says. "We wanted to give her an opportunity to be the best she could be and she is doing that." "She's very much communi- ty-focused and works hard for others, and not just for herself. On a personal level, that's what I admire the most about her. Every organization that she joins, it's because she believes in what it is doing and she's seeing others ben- efit from her expertise," Berchem says. Practicing law didn't mean forfeiting her work in community and civic involvement; it simply provided her with a new outlet for making people's lives better. Realizing that that were so many different areas of law that inter- ested her, she knew she had to choose something that made her heart happy. "I used to bang my head against the wall a lot to try and choose what I was going to do," she says. "And I finally figured out that God just had a path for me, and I need- ed to go along. at's the honest truth about it. "ere's a part of me that want- ed to be like the Barbra Streisand of litigators — this blazing civ- il-rights lawyer." And so she is. Affair of the heart During her time in Washington, D.C., Young says she was exposed to so many creative and effective things that people were doing to improve the condition of human- kind, calling it "work of the heart." When she started in law, com- munity development wasn't an industry or practice area yet. "Now it's huge," she says. "I've seen a lot of really incredible people doing amazing things to transform communities. at just struck me that you can use your talents in ways that are meaningful for people. "It's always been in my heart, it's always been what I try to do, but sometimes I'm successful, some- W o m e n W h o M e a n B u s i n e s s PHOTO/DAVID OTTENSTEIN

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