Lisa Cylar Barrett, Monique Dixon, Rashida Ogletree-George
and Zahra Mion Take on New Roles
The NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is pleased to announce the following changes to our Policy Department.
“At this critical moment in our country, I am excited that we are able to bring additional staff and resources to the work of our stellar Policy Department,” said Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel of LDF. LDF began making shifts to strengthen its Policy Department last month, announcing that Lisa Cylar Barrett would become Director of Policy, and that LDF’s longtime Deputy Policy Director, Monique L. Dixon, would take on the additional position of Director of State Advocacy.
Ms. Cylar Barrett joined LDF in November as a Senior Policy Counsel where she has played a leadership role in our federal efforts on voting, judicial nominations, and economic justice. She has been an excellent strategic thinker and partner, working closely with LDF’s Director-Counsel and Associate Director-Counsel. Before joining LDF, Lisa was the Managing Director of Federal Policy for PolicyLink where she oversaw the development and execution of strategies to advance racial and economic equity.
“Monique Dixon, who has been with LDF since 2014, will remain as Deputy Director of Policy, and has also assumed the new position of Director of State Advocacy for LDF,” continued Ifill. “Monique’s additional focus and expertise will allow LDF to deepen our state and local work, as we move towards the development of our new southern office in 2020.”
“Although Monique Dixon will also continue to serve as Director of LDF’s Policing Reform Campaign, we are excited to announce that Rashida Ogletree-George is joining LDF as the Managing Director of the Policing Reform Campaign,” said Ifill. “Rashida will be assuming day-to-day management of the campaign as well as bringing additional critical strategic insight to our work seeking to ensure unbiased and responsible policing practices and a new vision for public safety.”
Ms. Ogletree-George comes to LDF from the Special Litigation Section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, where she served as a special counsel working primarily on leading investigations into and enforcing consent decrees with police departments to remedy unconstitutional policing practices. Prior to joining the Justice Department in 2010, Ms. Ogletree-George was a staff attorney with the Public Defender Service of Washington, D.C. for five years. She is a 2005 graduate of New York University School of Law.
In addition, Zahra Mion will join LDF’s policy team as a Policy and Research Associate. Most recently, Zahra worked at the Center for American Progress (CAP) as a Research and Outreach Coordinator where she worked on issues related to housing policy, criminal justice reform, employment and public benefits. Before CAP, she served as a Policy and Communications Associate at the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS. She has her B.A. in African American History and a Minor in Legal Studies from the University of Pennsylvania.
Additional LDF policy positions will be announced in the coming months.
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Founded in 1940, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is the nation’s first civil and human rights law organization and has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957—although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the NAACP Legal Defense Fund or LDF.
