As an Environmental Science major, Simon didn’t mind getting his hands dirty for a good cause. At Colorado College, his mobile biodiesel lab picked up fry oil from local fast food restaurants, and he spent weekends blowing insulation into older homes — his first forays into the causes of environmental justice and sustainability.

Simon wanted to impart a respect for nature and appreciation for science onto the next generation, so in 2008 he joined Teach for America to teach chemistry in Harlem’s iconic public school, Frederick Douglass Academy. Four days before school started, the principal announced that Simon would not be a science teacher, as planned, but instead the new seventh- and eighth-grade special education math teacher. The special education math teacher had quit, and the principal made it clear: Simon could have the job teaching the most academically and emotionally challenged students in the building, or he would be fired.

A few months later, having thus far failed to reach his students, Simon collected 10 sets of used sports gear and brought 11 of his students to a concrete handball court next to the school building. None of the students had ever played organized team sports. Together, they built a winning team from scratch.

Simon saw an immediate improvement in his students’ academic achievement, self-confidence, and discipline. Within a year, the team was beating the best elite “Ivy Prep League” teams in the city.

Using the Fredrick Douglass team as a model, Simon built a school-based nonprofit called Harlem Lacrosse that now operates in five cities—Harlem, Boston, Los Angeles, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. Harlem Lacrosse recruits and tailors its programming to the students who are most at-risk for academic decline or dropout, including special education students, English Language Learners, and those with identified socio-economic disadvantages. The organization now serves over 1,300 students all-day, year-round, and employs over 60 people full-time in 5 cities. In his capacity of Board President, Simon helps oversee and manage a budget of over 8 million, and has helped shepherd the organization through periods of growth, austerity, and the pandemic.

In Harlem, Simon learned that the game was rigged before the whistle blew. So, while he built Harlem Lacrosse, he set his sights on something fundamental to a healthy and equitable democracy: the integrity of our government.

After Teach for America, Simon went on to law school at the University of Virginia, where he became Managing Editor of the Law Review. After law school, he clerked for one of President Obama’s federal court of appeals appointees. He was drafted during the later Obama years into the U.S. Department of Justice’s Honors Program to prosecute public corruption in the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section.

Simon went on to investigate and prosecute some of the most high-profile corruption cases in the country. Simon arrived at court game-ready, and continued to punch above his weight. He listened as opposing counsel told judges that he looked like he just got out of high school, and then won his motions at oral argument. He refined his craft, managing prosecutions of elected and appointed government officials, including federal and local law enforcement officials, politicians, and a judge. Simon has successfully prosecuted violators of federal extortion, fraud, campaign finance, and bribery laws, all with the aim of strengthening the integrity of our government.