The NAACP Legal Defense Fund
The NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is America’s premier legal organization fighting for racial justice. Using the power of law, narrative, research, and people, we defend and advance the full dignity and citizenship of Black people in America. As a Public Relations Associate at Allen & Gerritsen, I’ve helped field and coordinate various announcements, interviews and news-worthy moments. See below some of the hits I’ve helped secure!
Alabama Educators and Students Challenge Discriminatory Censorship Law
Since the passage of Alabama's Senate Bill 129 in October 2024, Black professors and students, LGBTQ+ students, and other students of color have voiced its undue harms — including restrictions from engaging in certain discussions involving race-based and sex-based inequalities, discriminatory restrictions on funding, and removing inclusive campus spaces offered to student groups who are perceived to hold viewpoints regarding race and sex that are disfavored by the Alabama legislature.
In response to this, LDF filed a lawsuit arguing that SB129 violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution by imposing viewpoint-based restrictions on educators and students that are discriminatory and vague. I led local and national media outreach, coordinating and staffing interviews with both plaintiffs and counsel to amplify the filing's announcement and urge the courts to reject this discriminatory censorship law.
See several examples of coverage I secured for the filing of this lawsuit:
LDF Advocates For Arkansas Congressional Redistricting Lawsuit To Go To Trial
In October of 2024, the state of Arkansas filed a motion for summary judgment, seeking to dismiss without trial a lawsuit contending that the Arkansas state legislature discriminated against Black voters in Pulaski County – where Little Rock is located – by cracking the Black community in southeastern Pulaski County across three different congressional districts. In response, LDF filed a brief arguing that the evidence shows that the legislature discriminated against Black voters in Pulaski County and that the lawsuit should go to trial. A hearing was held on December 2, 2024, for which I led media outreach.
See several examples of coverage I coordinated and secured regarding the brief and hearing below:
Fifth Ward Elementary serves more than 300 children aged four to nine, the majority who are Black and Latinx, and is located only a few hundred feet from a toxic industrial plant that emits a chemical compound known to cause cancer and genetic mutations in young children. The St. John the Baptist Parish School Board voted to close Fifth Ward Elementary School before the 2025-26 school year, calling for the children attending the school to be relocated. The decision came after a federal district court hearing on a motion filed by the Legal Defense Fund seeking the school’s closure due to its highly hazardous conditions.
See several examples of coverage I coordinated and secured regarding this vote below:
St. John the Baptist Parish School Board Votes to Close Fifth Ward Elementary
What Project 2025 Means for Black Communities
Published by The Legal Defense Fund (LDF)’s Thurgood Marshall Institute (TMI), this report explains how the extremist of Project 2025, which does not directly name Black people as targets, would nonetheless operate to attack and undermine Black communities political power, civil rights protections, and economic and educational opportunities. In direct contrast to the regressive agenda of Project 2025, this report offers an affirmative vision for how Black communities can thrive.
See several examples of coverage I secured for this report below:
Thousands of campus and other protesters have been arrested and detained—sometimes with egregious use of force—by officers from university, state, and local police departments, some of whom university administrators have called to break up peaceful protests. A letter signed by more than a dozen organizations, including the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, asked the Justice and Education departments to “take immediate action to address possible civil rights violations committed by university officials in connection with peaceful protests on campuses.”
See several examples of coverage I coordinated and secured regarding the letter below:
Named in honor of the legendary civil rights attorney and LDF founder Thurgood Marshall, and iconic civil rights litigator Constance Baker Motley, the Marshall-Motley Scholars Program (MMSP) is a groundbreaking commitment to endow the South with the next generation of civil rights lawyers trained to provide legal advocacy of unparalleled excellence. I conducted local and national outreach for the revolutionary program’s fourth cohort and prepared scholars for media inquiries and interviews.
See several examples of coverage I secured for 2024’s cohort below:
