Anisha Steephen
Former Senior Policy Advisor for Racial Equity, U.S. Department of the Treasury/p>
New York, NY
Experience
- Former Senior Policy Advisor for Racial Equity, U.S. Department of the Treasury
- Fellow, Economic Security Project
- Founder, Just Economy Lab
Expertise
- Federal economic policy design and implementation
- Economic and income inequality
- Racial, gender, and class disparities in tax and fiscal policy
- Clean energy policy
- Public finance and public investment strategy
- Tax credits for low-income people and underinvested places (including clean energy, low-income housing tax credit, new markets tax credit, child tax credit)
- Community finance, CDFIs, and affordable housing investment
- State and local economic development, zoning, and land use policy
Education
- B.A. in Urban Studies, Columbia University
- M.S. in City & Regional Planning (Housing and Economic Development), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- M.A. in Economics, City University of New York
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About Anisha
Anisha Steephen (they/them) is a nationally recognized expert in domestic economic policy and mission-driven investing. They have over 15 years of experience advancing public policies that address structural inequality across the economy.
They served as the first Senior Policy Advisor for Racial Equity at the U.S. Department of the Treasury under Secretary Janet L. Yellen. In this role, they played a key part in implementing the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act—the largest clean energy investment in U.S. history—to ensure that economically underserved people, businesses, and communities benefit from these transformative laws.
Anisha is the founder of Just Economy Lab, a bold policy project that pushes new ideas to shift economic power and transform how the economy is governed. They currently serve as an Economic & Tax Policy Fellow at the Economic Security Project.
Beyond public policy, Anisha has held leadership roles in public finance and mission-driven investment, consistently championing innovative approaches to direct capital toward underserved communities. They previously served as Executive Director of Spaceworks NYC, Senior Investment Officer at LISC, and in the Urban Investment Group at Goldman Sachs.
Anisha holds a B.A. in Urban Studies from Columbia University, an M.S. in City & Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an M.A. in Economics from the City University of New York. They are a first-generation American and live on the Lower East Side of New York City.
Anisha also contributes regularly to Notes on the Crises, where they write about fiscal democracy, tax policy, and the future of public institutions.
