Deanna Hartog, 2024-2026 Poverty Law Fellow

Deanna Hartog will serve as the Vermont Poverty Law Fellow for the 2024–2026 term and is working at Vermont Legal Aid, where her fellowship focuses on advancing justice for people experiencing homelessness in Vermont. Through her work, Deanna supports efforts to expand access to legal services for individuals facing housing instability and other intersecting legal challenges.

Deanna is a graduate of the George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C., where she pursued her legal education with a strong commitment to public service. While in law school, Deanna brought a unique and deeply grounded perspective to her studies, shaped by years of experience working as an emergency medical technician prior to entering the legal profession.

Before law school, Deanna served for many years as an EMT, beginning at the age of sixteen. Inspired by her father—a career paramedic who dedicated his life to public service—Deanna developed an early and lasting commitment to helping people in crisis. That experience instilled in her a practical understanding of emergency response, systemic gaps, and the intersection of public services, health, and human dignity—insights that now inform her legal advocacy.

Deanna’s interest in poverty law and homelessness reflects both her professional background and her broader commitment to community-centered work. Her fellowship work at Vermont Legal Aid centers on addressing legal barriers faced by people experiencing homelessness, with an emphasis on ensuring that individuals navigating housing instability have access to meaningful legal support and advocacy.

Originally from Connecticut, Deanna is excited to make Vermont her home. She looks forward to becoming part of the community, spending more time outdoors, and—true to her long-standing love of dogs—eventually adopting one of her own. Deanna brings to the Vermont Poverty Law Fellowship a combination of compassion, resilience, and a deep respect for public service, and she is eager to continue this work in partnership with Vermont Legal Aid and the broader justice community.