david rogers is a program officer on the Gender, Racial, and Ethnic Justice team with over 25 years of progressive social change organizing and policy advocacy experience.

Prior to joining Ford, he served as executive director of the ACLU of Oregon, where he sharpened the organization’s focus on criminal justice reform. He also launched one of the country’s first comprehensive district attorney accountability campaigns. During his four-year tenure, the ACLU of Oregon was a key leader in statewide advocacy efforts that led to the elimination of adult mandatory minimums for youth, defelonization of simple drug possession, and passage of one of the country’s first district attorney transparency laws.

Earlier in his career, david served as executive director of Partnership for Safety and Justice (PSJ). He was instrumental in developing a holistic advocacy model for uniting the voices of all impacted people: people accused and convicted of crime, survivors of crime, and their families. He was also the founding director of the Safety and Justice Action Fund, an affiliated 501(c)(4), created in 2007 in order to leverage political power in support of legislators and district attorney candidates advocating for smart justice reforms. He has also served as an executive committee member for a range of successful ballot measure campaigns to protect and advance criminal justice reform, immigrant rights, and reproductive justice.

david’s work history includes six years as a trainer and field organizer for Western States Center and five years with the Peace Development Fund. In 1997, he was a recipient of a Charles Bannerman Fellowship for Organizers of Color from the New World Foundation. david holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and international development from Clark University in Massachusetts.