Zach Norris is the former Executive Director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, author  of  Defund Fear: Safety Without Policing, Prisons, and Punishment and co-founder of Restore Oakland, a community advocacy and training center based in his hometown. Norris helped build California’s first statewide network for families of incarcerated youth which led the effort to close five youth prisons, passed legislation to enable families to stay in contact with their children, and defeated Prop 6, a destructive and ineffective criminal justice ballot measure. In addition to being a Harvard graduate and NYU-educated attorney, Zach is also a graduate of the Labor Community Strategy Center’s National School for Strategic Organizing in Los Angeles, California.