Name: Lauren Johnson

Job Title: Justice Director

Company Name: Dream.Org

Bio: Johnson’s experience as someone who is formerly incarcerated informs her advocacy on issues ranging from Fair Chance Hiring to reducing sentencing guidelines for low-level drug crimes and improving prison conditions, especially for women. Before joining the Dream.org justice team, she spent almost seven years with the ACLU of Texas as a policy advocacy strategist. Prior to that, Johnson worked as an activist and volunteer to pass the first Fair Chance Hiring ordinance in the Southern U.S. that applies to private employers. She also worked to remove the lifetime ban that prevented people with felony convictions from ever receiving food assistance.

Bio 2: Johnson was a Just Leadership fellow in 2016 and inaugural fellow for the Travis County Reentry Planning Council. She is a founding member of the Texas Coalition for Incarcerated Women and the Reentry Advocacy Project and a board member and participant of Conspire Theatre. Her work has been recognized by Grassroots Leadership, the Texas Observer, Texas Council on Family Relations and the Austin Community Law Center.