Eliana Green

Hosted by Root & Rebound Reentry Advocates
Sponsored by Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Service location Oakland, California
Law school Loyola University New Orleans College of Law
Issue area Criminal Records Relief
Fellowship class year 2019
Program Design Your Own Fellowship

The Project

Eliana will work to protect and restore the rights of survivors of the War on Drugs and mass incarceration through legal clinics, community organizing, corporate partnerships, and policy advocacy led by impacted people.

The War on Drugs has resulted in the hyper incarceration of low-income communities of color across the nation. Even after release, individuals with drug convictions face many collateral consequences including barriers to housing, education, employment and public benefits. Fortunately, the quickly evolving California legal landscape has created avenues to provide various forms of relief to thousands of people impacted by the collateral consequences of drug incarceration. While California has implemented forward thinking legislation, community lawyers like Eliana are needed to make sure the promise of decriminalizing drug use and ending mass incarceration is truly realized. Her project will do just that.

Eliana passionately believes that a drug problem is a health condition and not reflective of inherent criminality. Growing up on the west side of Chicago made Eliana privy to the social disparities created by selective enforcement of drug policies and the way they contribute to the hyper incarceration of people of color. Her previous work experiences in reentry services, criminal defense, and community organizing helped her realize that holistic legal services were the best way for her to address the intersectional needs of her clients.

Fellowship Plans

Eliana’s project will address these issues by providing an integrated combination of traditional legal aid reentry services, community organizing, and policy reform centering the voices of those most affected by the War on Drugs. Her project will help individuals navigate the civil legal barriers in their life created as a result of their conviction as well as provide expungement and reclassification services. Simultaneously, her project will engage in community organizing through “Know Your Rights” programming and town hall meetings while bridging the gap between policy makers and impacted communities.