NACo is excited to announce members of the County Officials advancing Racial Equity (CORE) in Justice Network. The Network aims to strengthen the capacity of county leaders to identify and assess their community’s current barriers to identifying and eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal legal system and share scalable and transferable policies and programs.

Over the next two years, members of the CORE Justice Network will learn about and deploy policies, programs, practices and resources that make communities safer and more equitable, as well as reduce the collateral consequences of justice system involvement, particularly for communities of color. The group will engage with peers, participate in peer exchanges to communities with model practices and policies and receive guidance from subject matter experts.

The county elected officials participating in the CORE Justice Network are:

• Commissioner Mary Ann Borgeson, Douglas County, Neb.
• Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome, East Baton Rouge Parish, La.
• Commissioner Charlie Cavell, Oakland County, Mich.
• Commissioner Erica Crawley, Franklin County, Ohio
• Supervisor Latifah Faisal, Story County, Iowa
• Supervisor Tara Gaston, Saratoga County, N.Y.
• Sheriff John Idleburg, Lake County, Ill.
• Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick, Clark County, Nev.
• Commissioner Lloyd LaCroix, Pennington County, S.D.
• Commissioner Donna Miller, Cook County, Ill.
• Commissioner Mary Beth Murphy, Guilford County, N.C.
• Supervisor Dana Pellebon, Dane County, Wis.
• Commissioner Alana Sanders, Newton County, Ga.
• Commissioner Lori Stegmann, Multnomah County, Ore.
• Commissioner Vivian Thomas, Henry County, Ga.

NACo is grateful for the interest and commitment from the leaders across the country who applied to improve racial equity and justice for all community members. You can learn more about NACo’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives here.

The CORE Justice Network is supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation as part of the Safety and Justice Challenge, which reimagines local criminal justice systems with equity-based solutions to reduce jail incarceration and protect public safety.