Tarsha Jackson

Tarsha Jackson is the Harris County Director with Texas Organizing Project (TOP) in Houston TX, where she leads the effort improve the lives of low and moderate income families through direct action organizing, grassroots lobbying and electoral organizing led by working families in Texas.
Before joining TOP, Jackson was the Co-Director of Texas Families of Incarcerated Youth, where she spearheaded an effort to ensure that directly affected youth and their families play a meaningful role in the efforts to reform policies and reduce racial and ethnic disparities within juvenile incarceration. Her work also involved advocating on behalf of affordable housing, education reform and the Texas Reconciliation Project to unite Latino and African-American communities in promoting social and economic equity and justice. Jackson is a 2011 Soros Justice Fellow and is currently a 2014 American Leadership Criminal Justice Fellow. Amongst many recognitions, Jackson has received the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Natalie S. Bimel Award and the Bill of Rights Defense Commission Patriot Award as affirmation of her years-long campaign to raise the prominence of families’ voices in advancing juvenile justice reforms and social change.