Class of 2014
Originally a finance major, in her sophomore year Jordan Metoyer lost her childhood home in Inglewood, Calif. — where her grandmother was living — to foreclosure. As her grandmother was forced to move, Metoyer read as much material on the housing crisis as she could get her hands on, prompting her to switch her focus to urban planning around low-income communities and housing issues.
Metoyer turned a lot of her efforts to local issues in Austin. She founded the school’s City Relations Task Force, a coalition of students and members of the wider campus community to tackle the rising cost of housing options near campus that, many times, forced many low-income students to drop out of college.
Metoyer and her team learned that the Austin City Council would vote on a planning ordinance to limit affordable housing near campus even further, so they contacted media outlets and student groups to bring attention to the vote and rent inequality, and garnered over 2,500 signatures through anti-ordinance petitions. Metoyer presented their position to City Hall and facilitated conversations with leaders from both sides. City Council ultimately postponed the vote, and recently passed an affordable housing bond — a huge move.
A Truman Scholar and Archer Fellow, this spring Metoyer will begin working for the City of Austin filming a documentary on growing suburban poverty.
Metoyer would like to get her master’s in Urban Planning and Public Policy, possibly from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, after which she plans to continue her community participation by serving in local office.