Meet Tonya

Tonya knew from an early age that she would commit her life to serving others.  She attended Detroit Public Schools and graduated from Renaissance High School with honors.  She worked with fellow teens to start a nonprofit organization, where high school students could read to elementary school students and teach them about African history and culture.  She received the Coleman A. Young Foundation Scholarship, established by the late Mayor Coleman A. Young to support Detroit youth going to college and returning to make a difference in the City of Detroit.  

Tonya received her bachelor’s degree with honors from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.   As an undergraduate political science student, she wrote her thesis on grassroots organizing and worked with the former Tried Stone Baptist Church to create a community garden and a farmers market to supply fresh produce for neighborhood residents.  She worked as a student organizer to organize churches to join the MOSES Conference, which was the first launch of Detroit’s MOSES organization. Tonya went on to receive her law degree from the University of Michigan Law School where she was active in organizing support for affirmative action.

Upon graduating from the University of Michigan Law School, Tonya worked for the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice where she was active in a lawsuit to force Detroit Public Schools to remediate an environmentally contaminated site.  Tonya also assisted with legal support, working collaboratively with organizers, to obtain an Executive Order from Governor Granholm on Environmental Justice.  Ms. Phillips also worked with the Sugar Law team and the Detroit City Council to strengthen the investigatory and enforcement provisions of the Detroit Living Wage Ordinance which at the time mandated workers be paid a "living wage" for their services on high-value city contracts.  Ms. Phillips was on the planning team to coordinate “The Gathering for Justice” a partnership with Harry Belafonte's national nonprofit, the late Grace Lee Boggs and the Boggs Center in Detroit, and many local activists, organizers, and leaders.  After working at the Sugar Law Center, Tonya entered private practice and represented small businesses and churches throughout the city.  She represented indigent criminal defendants to ensure all persons, regardless of their background, had the benefit of quality legal representation.  

In 2009, Tonya joined Michigan Legal Services as a housing attorney.  Tonya represented and was able to help hundreds of seniors, disabled, and vulnerable persons save their homes from foreclosure. She successfully worked with housing advocates to amend state legislation to allow homeowners five years to pay delinquent property taxes and reduce interest penalties from 18% to 6%; this enabled thousands of people to save their homes from tax foreclosure. She has successfully advocated for changes in state law to require mandatory mediation prior to mortgage foreclosure.  

Tonya also has experience serving in public office and being accountable to constituents.  Tonya served as a member of the Detroit Charter Revision Commission from 2010-2012.  As a Commissioner, Tonya treated all colleagues and community members with dignity and respect.  Most importantly, her votes aligned with her values and record of community service.

In 2015, Tonya led and championed Detroit's first "Community Court" jail diversion program where she coordinated community service and wrap-around services, in lieu of jail and/or high fines, for hundreds of people.  She is a fierce advocate for widespread criminal justice reform and changing laws that disproportionately criminalize the poor.  She was instrumental in designing an anti-human trafficking program in partnership with human trafficking survivors, service providers, the 36th District Court, and the Detroit Police Department. 

Tonya returned to the Sugar Law Center in 2019 where she serves as the Community Partnerships & Development Director.  Tonya works side-by-side with community organizations to negotiate and implement community benefits agreements and provide advice and counsel on economic issues.  Recently, Tonya represented and worked collaboratively with the West Grand Boulevard Collaborative (WGBC) to obtain a letter of understanding with Henry Ford Health System to prioritize the hiring of Detroiters and community residents through a community-led jobs pipeline, negotiated the first private community benefits agreement between a developer and community organization in Detroit, and most recently successfully advocating for the first community land trust created through the Detroit community benefits ordinance process. Tonya also assists the legal team in other actions including advocacy for increasing revenue sharing for cities, fixing the state’s broken unemployment system, and representing community stakeholders on constitutional and due process claims.  

Tonya’s leadership, compassion, and desire for institutional change are also demonstrated in her role as a Public Policy Advisor with Michigan Legal Services, where she analyzes and advocates for equitable housing policy initiatives.  She is the Project Lead for the Detroit Right to Counsel Coalition,  which is composed of 20+ organizations and supported by hundreds of Detroit residents and allies.  Tonya led a successful advocacy campaign to pass the Detroit Right to Counsel Ordinance for persons facing eviction in Michigan in 2022, the first in Michigan and the 15th city nationwide, in addition to securing $22.5 million in funding over three years.  Tonya has also worked successfully with community members, advocates, and state officials to get a statewide Right to Counsel bill introduced in 2023 to protect tenants throughout Michigan. Tonya was again honored with the Spirit of Detroit Award in 2022 for her exemplary advocacy for equitable laws and systems for vulnerable Detroiters. 

Tonya also teaches as an Adjunct Professor at Wayne State Law School, and her scholarship was published in the American Bar Association Journal of Affordable Housing in 2023.  

Tonya currently volunteers and serves on the Board of Directors for the Community Development Advocates of Detroit, Sidewalk Festival Detroit, the Community Tech Collective Advisory Board, and her neighborhood block club.  Tonya has also served on the Justice Policy Initiatives Committee for the State Bar of Michigan, the Board of Directors for Habitat for Humanity-Detroit, the Wolverine Bar Association, New Leaders Council-Detroit (A Founding Detroit Chapter Member), the National Lawyers Guild Michigan & Detroit Chapter, Mothering Justice, the Coleman A. Young Foundation, the Institute for Population Health, Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice, and many others.

Tonya resides in Detroit with her husband of 18 years and their teenage son.