Connie Rice

Connie Rice is co-director of The Advancement Project and a civil rights lawyer known for successfully tackling problems of inequity and exclusion in unorthodox ways. She has received more than 60 major awards for her work in expanding opportunity and advancing multi-racial democracy. Rice graduated from Harvard College in 1978 and New York University School of Law in 1984. The credential she prizes most, however, is her first-degree black belt in the Korean martial art Tae Kwon Do. As a litigator, Rice has filed and won traditional class action civil rights cases redressing police misconduct, race and sex discrimination and unfair public policy in transportation, probation and public housing. Added to the non-litigation work, Rice and her colleagues have led campaigns and bond initiatives that transferred over $25 billion into systems that support the poor. In January of 2007, she released the highly regarded report, "A Call to Action: A Case for a Comprehensive Solution to L.A.'s Gang Violence Epidemic," which was commissioned by the City Council's Ad Hoc Committee on Gang Violence and Youth Development. Hallmarks of her work include solving problems, reducing conflict, turning opponents into allies, and winning.