2026 SRRT Afternoon of Social Justice

Kristen M. Budd, Ph.D. is the Voting Rights campaign lead researcher. She has written about the link between voting rights and public safety and racial disparities due to state-level voting bans as a result of felony convictions. She also conducts research on criminal justice law, policy and practice, including sentencing for sex-related offenses, the link between incarceration and crime, and criminal legal reforms. She presents her work to academics, practitioners, and general audiences, and has been featured in outlets including USA Today and Yahoo News. Prior to joining The Sentencing Project, Dr. Budd was an Associate Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

Julius Irving is an activist, humanitarian, (r)evolutionist, and modern-day alchemist devoted to the liberation, healing, and elevation of people and communities. Born and raised in Gainesville, Florida, Julius lives at the intersection of purpose, freedom, and collective awakening, guided by a deep commitment to raising the vibrational consciousness of the world.

He served as a Field Organizer with the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, helping secure the historic passage of Amendment 4, which restored voting rights to more than one million returning citizens across Florida. In 2020, his organizing work with the Florida Immigrant Coalition around voter registration earned national recognition with features in The New York Times in both print and podcast formats.

Julius is also a 2026 Represent Justice Ambassador, using his voice and lived experience to challenge mass incarceration and advocate for a more just and humane criminal legal system. A dedicated community builder, he hosts monthly letter-writing events that connect loved ones and community members to those who are currently incarcerated—creating hope, dignity, and sustained human connection. Through his storytelling workshops, Julius creates transformative space for individuals to reclaim their narratives, heal through truth, and sharpen their voices as tools for personal and collective liberation.

While his public work continues to grow, Julius remains grounded in what he considers his greatest purpose and legacy: fatherhood. Above all titles and achievements, he is most proud to be a present, intentional father, raising his children with love, discipline, and consciousness.

Lenora M. Easter, Esq. is Senior Counsel at the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, where she leads a statewide legal program focused on helping returning citizens restore their voting rights. In this role, she works with courts, clerks, State Attorney Offices, volunteer attorneys, and community partners to expand access to post-conviction relief and remove legal barriers to civic participation.

Lenora brings more than 18 years of experience in public defense, post-conviction advocacy, and policy and justice reform. She previously served as a Public Defender (PD) and supervising attorney, here in Orlando Florida and the Bronx, NY. As a PD, she represented clients, led legal teams, and advanced community-centered approaches to criminal legal advocacy. Lenora also trains attorneys, mentors law students, and speaks regularly on public defense, voting rights, and access to justice.

The National Black Lawyers recognized her work with a Top 40 Under 40 honoree award, the New York Law Journal named her a 2022 Distinguished Leader, and Barry University School of Law presented her with the Distinguished Alumni Social Justice Award.
 

Antoinette Ratcliffe is the Executive Director of Initiate Justice, a community-based organization that works to build the civic and political power of Californians who have been impacted by incarceration. Antoinette oversees the organization’s operations, resources, and strategic efforts to empower system-impacted people to be civically engaged and to lead policy change across the state. Antoinette’s passion for this work stems directly from lived experiences advocating for the freedom of her loved ones.

Antoinette has facilitated dozens of trainings to equip system-impacted people with tools for effective policy change and legislative advocacy; presented on Initiate Justice’s work and the principles of abolition in a variety of classrooms and conferences all over the state and nationally; and organized alongside thousands to advocate for policies rooted in humanity, equity, and community.

Robert Stewart, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland. He studies the social, political, and collateral consequences of criminal records and criminal legal involvement with an emphasis on the accumulating effects of criminal legal interaction and criminal records on impacted people and communities. Prior to joining the Maryland faculty, he was the founding Research Director of the Minnesota Justice Research Center, a nonprofit organization focused on community-focused and accessible research. In addition to his training, he draws on his lived experience as an additional vantage point from which to understand these issues.

Hannah L. Walker, Ph.D. is an associate professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research examines the impact of the criminal justice system on American democracy with special attention to minority and immigrant communities. She is the award winning author of “Mobilized by Injustice: Criminal Justice Contact, Political Participation and Race” (Oxford University Press, 2020). She received her PhD in 2016 from the University of Washington.

Kat Calvin is an activist, author, and philanthropy advisor who has spent nearly two decades working at the intersection of democracy, civic participation, and social change.

She is best known as the founder and executive director of Spread The Vote + Project ID, a national organization that has helped tens of thousands of Americans obtain the identification they need to vote, work, access healthcare, and fully participate in civic life. Under her leadership, the organization built one of the largest ID-access infrastructures in the country, launched innovative programs such as Vote by Mail in Jail, and helped advance federal legislation including the IDs for an Inclusive Democracy Act.

Kat is also a trusted advisor to philanthropists and institutions seeking to move beyond symbolic giving toward durable, real-world impact. She has advised major donors and foundations on strategy, governance, and long-term investment, including serving as a philanthropy advisor to the Hewlett Foundation.

Kat is the author of American Identity in Crisis and a frequent speaker and media contributor on democracy, voting rights, and civic belonging. Kat currently serves on the board of Amnesty International, where she brings a U.S. democracy and human rights lens to global advocacy.

David Daley is the author of the national best-sellers "Antidemocatic: Inside the Right's 50-Year Plot to Control American Elections" (HarperCollins/Mariner) and "Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn't Count" (Norton). He is considered one of the nation's leading experts on gerrymandering, voting rights and the Roberts Court. His journalism has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Atlantic, and many other publications. David has taught political science and journalism as a visiting professor at Wesleyan University, Smith College and Boston College. He is the former editor in chief of Salon, and a senior fellow at FairVote.

Most importantly, David spent multiple teenage summers as a public library volunteer in his hometown of South Windsor, Connecticut.

Dr. Selene M. Gomez currently serves as VoteRiders' National Field Director. Prior to joining VoteRiders, Selene spent four years working with the Mi Familia Vota Education Fund to increase Latine/x voter turnout through voter registration, education initiatives, citizenship programs, and GOTV campaigns. Her previous experience includes serving as a congressional staffer in the U.S. House of Representatives in one of the nation's most competitive districts at the time. Over a decade of deep involvement in the nonprofit sector forms the foundation of her advocacy. Dr. Gomez has worked with the League of Women Voters as a member, Youth Transitioning into Adulthood as a board member, the San Antonio Immigrant Youth Movement as the Director of External Affairs, the Texas DREAM Alliance as director, the Council for Minority Student Affairs as founder and president, United We Dream as a field organizer, and the Workers Defense Project as a fellow. She also continues to consult with progressive organizations and coalitions through Nitlapiani Consulting. In addition to her work as a practitioner, Dr. Gomez’s research focuses on political behavior, voter access, and state-level variation in democratic institutions. Her research examines the intersections of election law, political participation, racialization, and structural racism to analyze how institutional designs and policy regimes shape unequal access to democratic participation. Dr. Gomez obtained her Bachelor of Science from Texas A&M University – College Station. She earned both her Master’s in Public Administration and her PhD in Applied Demography from the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Emily Polak is Vot-ER's Senior Vice President of Partnerships and Organizing, where she works to help ensure Vot-ER's health center, association, hospital, health system, and academic partners have the resources and support they need to weave nonpartisan civic engagement materials into healthcare spaces. Prior to her time at Vot-ER, Emily spent over a decade at Community Catalyst advancing health advocacy work at the local, state and national levels. She holds an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School and a B.A. in sociology from Wesleyan University.  

Chris Rudd is an award-winning designer, community organizer, and founder of ChiByDesign, a Black-owned and people-of-color-led social and civic design firm. Chris has a deep background in social equity work, systems change, and youth development. He’s worked with youth and community residents across Chicago, supporting them in designing new anti-racist infrastructures to enable an equitable future. 

Chris is a former Clinical Professor of Practice and Lead of Community-led Design at the Institute of Design (ID) at IIT, where his work focused on advancing the co-design practice and developing an anti-racist design field. Chris is a former Stanford Institute of Design (d.school) Civic Innovation fellow, a 2021 Illinois Science and Technology Coalition Researcher to Know, and a 2022 World-Changing Ideas honoree.