Keri Nash:  B.A., New York University; J.D. University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law.

Keri Nash, Counsel for the Racial Justice Initiative of TimeBanks USA, is the daughter of Grenadian immigrants.  She was born in Brooklyn, grew up in Crown Heights and East Flatbush, and graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School before enrolling at New York University, where she earned a B.A. in Politics in 2001.  Ms. Nash moved to Washington, D.C., a month later after landing a job with a small lobbying firm on Capitol Hill.  She worked for Democratic Rep. Brad Carson for two and half years before accepting a position at the Council on Foreign Relations as assistant to the director of their Washington Program.  After becoming involved in the citizen movement for housing rights in D.C., Ms. Nash left the Council and became an organizer and trainer for Housing Counseling Services, a nonprofit organization providing resources to tenants and co-op and condominium owners.

Ms. Nash enrolled at the UDC David A. Clarke School of Law in 2006 and graduated summa cum laude in 2009.  She was Publications Editor of the Law Review and received several honors and awards, including the Raymond Hossfeld Scholarship for Dedication to Public Interest Work, the Earl H. Davis Scholarship for Clinical Excellence, and the Bristol Cone Scholarship for Outstanding Record in Public Interest Activism.  Her fierce advocacy earned her clients several thousands of dollars and prompted one professor to say that she has the “tenacity of a snapping turtle.”  She was a Teacher’s Assistant in Criminal Law & Procedure, Contracts, Civil Procedure, and Katrina Law – Disaster Relief & Beyond, and she was Academic Support Chair for the Black Law Students Association.   

Ms. Nash joined TimeBanks USA in August 2009 as the Associate for Legal Research and Outreach – Racial Justice Initiative and was recently promoted to Counsel.  As the Counsel for the Racial Justice Initiative, Ms. Nash is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the Initiative.  The Initiative was created to advance a novel social advocacy and litigation strategy to address disproportionate minority contact in the juvenile delinquency, child welfare and special educations systems.  Since joining the Initiative, Ms. Nash has spearheaded three legislative hearings focused on the juvenile justice system in Pennsylvania, co-authored several scholarly articles, made presentations before national organizations, and developed a nationwide network of juvenile justice system advocates and reformers in support of the Initiative’s strategy.  Additionally, through the use of Freedom of Information Act requests sent to the U.S. Department of Justice, Ms. Nash has secured thousands of pages of data from approximately 20 states documenting disproportionality in the juvenile delinquency system and the system-wide efforts these states have taken, or failed to take, to address DMC.

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