Zachary Norris

Zachary Norris is the Executive Director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. He also co-founded and co-directed Justice for Families, a national alliance of family-driven organizations working to end our nation’s youth incarceration epidemic and served as the former director of the Books Not Bars campaign. During his seven years with this campaign, Norris built California’s first statewide network for families of incarcerated youth, led the effort to close five youth prisons in the state, passed legislation to enable families to stay in contact with their loved ones, and defeated Prop 6—a destructive and ineffective criminal justice ballot measure.

In addition to his degrees from Harvard and NYU, Norris is also a graduate of the Labor Community Strategy Center’s National School for Strategic Organizing in Los Angeles. He was a 2011 Soros Justice Fellow. He is a former board member at Witness for Peace and Just Cause Oakland and is currently serving on the board of Justice for Families. Norris was a recipient of the American Constitution Society's David Carliner Public Interest Award in 2015, and is a member of the 2016 class of the Levi Strauss Foundation's Pioneers of Justice. He is a loving husband and dedicated father of two bright daughters, whom he is raising in his hometown of Oakland.

—Article composed by Timo Mueller, ISHR Intern, April 2011

—Updated by Claire Kozik, Program Assistant, Summer 2018