Elizabeth Reynoso

Washington, DC - Elizabeth J. Reynoso believes that social justice thrives because of healthy people and healthy environments. In 1994, Elizabeth began promoting human rights worldwide as a media liaison for Human Rights Watch. After the execution of Nigerian activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, she was inspired to tell stories of injustice to large audiences and pursued a career in documentary film with ABC News and PBS/Frontline. When she traveled to pursue her own film project on Basque political prisoners she became enamored of life as farm worker when she worked on community-supported agriculture farms and family-owned organic orchards throughout the Basque Country and Spain. Returning to the U.S. in 2003, Elizabeth focused on US drug policy and the reentry journey of former prisoners on film projects, which then led to her direct service work with families and communities beleaguered by the criminal justice system in Newark, NJ. From 2006-2010 Elizabeth worked with the NJ Institute for Social Justice where she created a green transitional jobs program for men and women returning home from prison. A package of prisoner reentry bills hailed as “a model for the nation” based on her on-the-ground work was passed by the NJ State Legislature in 2010. Elizabeth was a co-chair for the City of Newark's Green Futures Summit, a member of the Leadership Newark class of 2010. She currently resides in Washington, D.C. and is implementing a Pathways Out of Poverty green job-training grant in six cities nationwide with Goodwill Industries International.


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