Dr. Khalilah M. Harris joins Public Justice Center as Executive Director after over two decades in policy and justice. She recently served as Executive Vice President of Program Strategy at the Center for Policing Equity and as a campaign advisor for a mayoral campaign in New York City. Dr. Harris brings a unique perspective to her work from an extensive career fighting to expand access to opportunity through a racial equity lens. Over the course of her career she has organized and been an advocate on a range of issues including access to quality K-12 public education, economic development, policing reform, women’s rights, Black maternal health and building an inclusive workforce. Native to Brooklyn, New York and nurtured by Baltimore, Maryland, Khalilah is also a proud mother to three amazing children and daughter to Costa Rican and Jamaican immigrants – all of which grounds her work and shapes her global perspective.
Dr. Harris serves as a Commissioner on the inaugural Community Reinvestment and Reparations Commission for Baltimore City and was recently elected Vice Chair for grantmaking. She is also an appointee to Maryland’s Police Training and Standards Commission and president of the board of the Charm City Pearls Foundation, Inc. Dr. Harris previously served as the first Deputy Director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African-Americans in the Obama administration and later served in the Biden administration as chief of staff at the US Office of Personnel Management. Between the two administrations she served as managing director of the K-12 education policy team at the Center for American Progress. Khalilah has been a contributor on news networks such as Black News Channel, MSNBC, and, The Real News. She’s published research and opinion pieces and been sought after as a reputable and knowledgeable source in a variety of news outlets including the Washington Post, Education Week, The 74 Million, the Baltimore Sun, the Hill and others.
Dr. Harris is a proud alumna of Morgan State University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in political science. She obtained her law degree from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law and later earned her doctorate in Educational Leadership and Organizational Development from the University of Pennsylvania. Khalilah is licensed to practice law in the state of Maryland and serves in support of a number of local and national civic organizations including as a life member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
Phone: (410) 625-9409
Email
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