LaTonya Tate

About LaTonya

• I grew up in North Birmingham, Alabama.
• After high school, I went to community college, became a licensed practical nurse, and worked in healthcare for over 15 years.
• When my son got into trouble and was incarcerated at 19 years old, I had no knowledge of the system in order to help.
• I decided to get into law enforcement and spent nearly 10 years as a probation parole officer for the state of Florida.
• As I learned more about the criminal justice system, I found myself wanting to become more involved with reentry.
• I struggled to find a job in reentry until being accepted into the Open Society-U.S. Soros Justice Fellowships program—I was one of 16 people selected out of almost 2,000 applicants!
• I started the Alabama Justice Initiative in 2018 with the mission of activating people directly impacted by the criminal justice system in order to end mass incarceration.
• In addition to my work with Alabama Justice Initiative, I decided to run—and was elected—for Birmingham City Council because I wanted to have a greater impact on my community.