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Anita Earls
Executive Director
Anita Earls has been a civil rights attorney for over 20 years, working on issues of structural racism, voting rights and community empowerment. She is an adjunct professor at UNC School of Law, where previously she was Director of Advocacy for the Center for Civil Rights. Ms. Earls served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice from 1998-2000. Anita also worked for the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in Washington, D.C. Ms. Earls is a 1988 graduate of Yale Law School, where she was a Senior Editor for the Yale Law Journal. She graduated from Williams College and was awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to study cooperative work organizations and the role of women in Tanzania, Italy and England.
Avery Book
Census Outreach Coordinator
 Avery comes to the Southern Coalition for Social Justice from two and half years of grassroots community organizing in working class and poor communities around racial, economic, and social justice issues. Before moving to Durham, he was studying and living in Oberlin, Ohio, working on fair housing, environmental justice, affordable housing, the cooperative movement, and anti-racist organizing. At SCSJ, he is responsible for organizing in ten counties around the state, building grassroots coalitions of people of color and working class led nonprofits and community organizations around ensuring a fair and accurate 2010 Census Count and building infrastructure for long term grassroots engagement in redistricting, electoral organizing, and policy advocacy and organizing. Strangely enough, Avery received a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Oberlin College in 2004.
Chris Brook
Staff Attorney
 Chris Brook grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. Wanting to branch out and see the rest of the world, he attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for his undergraduate and law degrees. During these years, he was active in the social justice movement, including serving a legal intern at the UNC Center for Civil Rights. After graduating from Carolina Law in 2005, he worked in private practice for three years at the Raleigh civil litigation law firm of Cranfill, Sumner and Hartzog. He has served as an adjunct professor at Carolina Law since 2007, teaching Researching, Reasoning, Writing and Advocacy. Most importantly, he is glad to be back working for social justice with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice.
Elena Everett
Community Media Director
 Elena Everett is a videographer, organizer, and activist. Her family is predominantly from rural Georgia, and she spent her childhood in Texas and Florida. In 2005, she graduated with an interdisciplinary degree in Media Studies and Public Policy from North Carolina State University. Elena began as a campus organizer while at NC State and continues to work with youth and students to build leadership - both with high school and college age youth. She works with a grassroots media collective, led by youth, women, and people of color. Together they produce media that highlights community organizing and efforts for economic, environmental, and social justice. Youtube channel
Rebecca Fontaine
Immigrant Rights Organizer
 Rebecca dedicates her time to Immigrants' Rights organizing and casework as a bilingual immigration paralegal. She brings a long history of participating in Latin America Solidarity work including trade justice campaigns, equitable development, demilitarization, and immigrants rights activism. Before coming to SCSJ she worked in Nicaragua’s Atlantic Coast for over two years doing community-based development with rural families and coordinating experiential education for international delegations. Most recently she worked in a resource office at an immigrant-led community center in Durham. Rebecca graduated from Bowdoin College in Maine in 2005.
Becky Jaffe
Staff Attorney, Heirs' Property
 Becky Jaffe is a staff attorney whose work focuses upon heirs’ property cases. She graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School, where she served as President of the Harvard Mediation Program. Becky first worked with the Southern Coalition as a clinical student from the Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program. This past fall, she served as a lecturer for the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. She has also worked in a Kenyan refugee camp, helping refugees at risk of violence within the refugee camp. Before attending law school, she served in the Peace Corps in Uzbekistan. She spent two years working with rural Uzbek villagers to help them improve health conditions in their community. She received her B.A. from Yale University.
Jillian Johnson
Office Manager
 Jillian Johnson is a community organizer and activist and has lived in Durham, NC for 10 years. Originally from northern Virginia, she has also spent time in Richmond VA, Chicago, and Gallup NM. She originally came to Durham to attend Duke University and received a B.A. in Public Policy Studies in 2003. She has worked with labor, feminist, human rights, and queer groups in the Triangle, and has done international human rights work in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Palestine. She is also on the board of the Common Sense Foundation and the NC Nonprofit Workers Union and is a producer with Independent Voices media collective.
Anthony Maglione
Census Outreach Organizer
 Born in Sleepy Hollow, New York, Anthony spent most of his childhood in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, and Lenoir, North Carolina. He recently graduated college from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and still lives nearby. While in school, he was an active member in service-learning, labor and feminist groups on campus. In addition to his organizing with SCSJ, he is a teaching intern for a social justice course at UNC-CH. He enjoys his newly acquired road bike, Harry Potter on audio, manual photography and meals from his Puerto Rican and Italian grandparents.
Allison Riggs
Staff Attorney, Voting Rights
 Allison Riggs grew up in West Virginia, and then made her way down to the University of Florida for college. She liked Gainesville so much that she decided to stick around for a decade. She also received her Master's Degree and J.D. from the University of Florida. During law school, she was the student coordinator for the Restoration of Civil Rights Project--a student organization that provided assistance to applicants seeking to have the state of Florida restore to them their civil rights following a felony conviction. She is happy to once again be living in a state with seasons!
Marty Rosenbluth
Staff Attorney, Immigration
 Marty Rosenbluth is a staff attorney with SCSJ, where he coordinates the organization’s immigrant rights work. He also heads efforts to integrate internal human rights standards and conventions into its programs and work with clients. Prior to coming to SCSJ, Marty worked as a human rights researcher, trade union organizer, videographer and adjunct university professor. He is a graduate of Antioch College, Wayne State University and UNC School of Law.
Michelle Smith
Paralegal & Development Assistant
 Michelle Smith has been working in fundraising for over 5 years, organizing fundraising efforts for various political campaigns and community organizations. For 2 years she owned a political consulting firm that helped raise over $2 million for various congressional campaigns. She also has experience in legal support and has worked with congressional leaders and attorneys in North Carolina and Washington, DC. Michelle is a member of Greensboro Jaycees, Epsilon Pi Tau National Honor Society, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, NAACP, and other organizations. She serves on the board for Girls, Inc and Brevard College for Alumni Affairs. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Brevard College in 2001 and a Master’s of Science Degree from NC A&T State University in 2003.