District Of Columbia 2025-2026 Regular Session

District Of Columbia Council Bill PR26-0080 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

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3	3	______________________________ 1
4	4	Chairman Phil Mendelson 2
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6	6	4
7	7	A PROPOSED RESOLUTION 5
8	8	__________________ 6
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10	10	IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 8
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13	13	To reappoint Ms. Nkechi Taifa to the Corrections Information Council Governing Board. 11
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15	15	RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this 13
16	16	resolution may be cited as the “Corrections Information Council Governing Board Nkechi Taifa 14
17	17	Reappointment Resolution of 2025”. 15
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19	19	Sec. 2. The Council of the District of Columbia reappoints: 17
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21	21	Ms. Nkechi Taifa 19
22	22	27th Street, N.W. 20
23	23	Washington, D.C. 20015 21
24	24	(Ward 4) 22
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26	26	as a member of the Corrections Information Council Governing Board, established by section 24
27	27	11201a(b) of the National Capital Revitalization and Self-Government Improvement Act of 25
28	28	1997, effective October 2, 2010 (D.C. Law 18-233; D.C. Official Code § 24-101.01(b)), for a 26
29	29	term ending December 7, 2026. 27
30	30	Sec. 3. The Council of the District of Columbia shall transmit a copy of this resolution, 28
31	31	upon its adoption, to the appointee, the chairperson of the Corrections Information Council 29
32	32	Governing Board, and the Office of the Mayor. 30
33	33	Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately. 31
34	34	. 32 1
35	35	Nkechi Taifa, Esq.
36	36	Comprehensive Bio / Curriculum Vitae (January 2023)
37	37	Preferred pronunciation
38	38	(Neh-KEE-Chee Tah-EE-fah)
39	39	Nkechi Taifa is founder, principal and CEO of The Taifa Group LLC, a social enterprise firm whose
40	40	mission is to advance justice. The Taifa Group’s portfolio of client services includes coalition-
41	41	building, convenings, government relations, meeting and retreat facilitation, strategic planning,
42	42	trainings and as an expert and inspirational speaker. She is founder and executive director of the
43	43	Reparation Education Project, a 501 C(3) organization that supports the escalating movement for
44	44	reparations as a resource for those exploring historical and current information and analysis on
45	45	reparations. She is founder and convener emeritus of the Justice Roundtable - a broad network
46	46	of advocacy groups advancing progressive justice system reform, and she serves as a Senior
47	47	Fellow for the Center for Justice at Columbia University. Nkechi also serves on the governing
48	48	board of the Corrections Information Council, an independent monitoring body that provides
49	49	oversight over the conditions of District residents imprisoned throughout the Federal Bureau of
50	50	Prisons and the D.C. Department of Corrections. She is a founding member of the National
51	51	Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA), and an inaugural commissioner of the
52	52	National African American Reparations Commission (NAARC).
53	53	Nkechi served as the Advocacy Director for Criminal Justice for the Open Society Foundations and
54	54	Open Society Policy Center from 2002-2018, focusing on issues of sentencing reform, law
55	55	enforcement reform, reentry, prison reform, executive clemency, and racial justice. She also
56	56	founded the Justice Roundtable coalition while at the Open Society. As the Roundtable convener
57	57	for 19 years, Taifa was in the leadership of the coalition responsible for passage of both the
58	58	Second Chance Act reentry legislation (2008) and the Fair Sentencing Act crack disparity
59	59	legislation (2010). She helped to fuel the mobilization of the Obama administration’s clemency
60	60	initiative, which resulted in the early release from unjust imprisonment of over 1,700 people and
61	61	successfully advocated for the inclusion of sentencing provisions within the 2018 First Step Act.
62	62	Nkechi was founding director of the award-winning Equal Justice Program at Howard University
63	63	School of Law from 1996-2002, where she also directed the Law School’s Externship Program and
64	64	taught popular seminars on “Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice System,” Public Interest Law,”
65	65	and the “Law of Corrections and Prisoners’ Rights.” She taught as an adjunct professor at
66	66	American University Washington College of Law as well as Howard Law until 2006 and taught
67	67	high school students criminal law as part of the National Bar Association’s Crump Law Camp from
68	68	2001-2019.
69	69	Taifa served as legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union from 1991-1996 where
70	70	she was the principal spokesperson on criminal justice and civil rights issues; policy counsel for
71	71	the Women’s Legal Defense Fund from 1989-1991; staff attorney for the National Prison Project 2
72	72	from 1984-1987; Office Manager and Network Organizer for the Washington Office on Africa
73	73	from 1980-1983; elementary school teacher at NationHouse Watoto School from 1977-1980, and
74	74	as founder and director of a Saturday School for youth during the 1970s. She also maintained a
75	75	general criminal and civil law practice in the District of Columbia between 1987-1991,
76	76	representing indigent adult and juvenile clients, and specializing in employment discrimination
77	77	law.
78	78	Nkechi Taifa served as co-chair of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) Steering
79	79	Committee on D.C. Statehood (1993-95) which resulted in a historic first vote in Congress; and
80	80	on the Leadership Conference’s Task Force on Voting Rights (1991- 93) which resulted in passage
81	81	of the National Voter Registration Act (Motor Voter bill). She helped to mobilize the successful
82	82	campaign against implementation of the death penalty in the District of Columbia in the early
83	83	90’s and served as coordinator and trainer for the 1995 Million Man March Legal Observer
84	84	Committee. Taifa served as chief prosecutor for the 2021 International Tribunal on Human Rights
85	85	Abuses; and as the prosecutor delivering the Opening Statement for both the 2007 International
86	86	Tribunal on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the 1997 International Tribunal for Justice for Mumia
87	87	Abu-Jamal.
88	88	Nkechi Taifa has testified before the U.S. Congress, the United States Sentencing Commission,
89	89	the Council of the District of Columbia, the American Bar Association Justice Kennedy
90	90	Commission, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the U.S. Helsinki Commission,
91	91	and the California State Task Force on Reparations. She served as an appointed Commissioner
92	92	and Chair of the District of Columba Commission on Human Rights from 2007-2014. On April 4,
93	93	2022, she delivered a poignantly moving TED Talk, “Reparations: An Issue Whose Time Has
94	94	Come.”
95	95	Attorney Taifa has had six law review articles published, “Let’s Talk About Reparations” (Columbia
96	96	Journal of Race and Law (Spring 2019); “Integrative Solutions to Interrelated Issues: A
97	97	Multidisciplinary Look Behind the Cycle of Incarceration” (Harvard Law and Policy Review,
98	98	Summer 2009 – co-authored with Catherine Beane); “Codification or Castration – the
99	99	Applicability of the International Race Convention to the U.S. Criminal Justice System” (Howard
100	100	Law Journal 1997); “Cracked Justice: A Critical Examination of Cocaine Sentencing” (Univ. of West
101	101	Los Angeles Law Review, 1996); “Three Strikes and You’re Out – Mandatory Life Imprisonment
102	102	for Third Time Felons” (University of Dayton Law Review, 1995); and “Civil Forfeiture vs. Civil
103	103	Liberties” (New York Law School Law Review, 1994).
104	104	She was the Project Chair for the publication, Tulia: Tip of the Drug War Iceberg, and author of
105	105	the chapter, “Social Policy Implications of Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System,”
106	106	published in The Color of Social Policy. She is also the author of ground-breaking White Papers
107	107	and Issue Briefs, such as “Race, Mass Incarceration, and the Disastrous War on Drugs” (Brennan
108	108	Center for Justice May 2021); “Reparations: An Issue Whose Time has Come,” ACLU; “Clemency:
109	109	An Inside Story from a Progressive Advocate” (Federal Sentencing Reporter June 2017); “Racism
110	110	in the Criminal Justice System: Institutionalized Genocide” (American Constitution Society 2016);
111	111	“A Bittersweet Moment in History: Passage of the Fair Sentencing Act (NACDL Champion 3
112	112	Magazine 2010); “Roadblocked Reentry: the Prison After Imprisonment” (National Bar
113	113	Association Magazine 2006); and “Reflections from the Frontlines: An Insider’s Perspective on
114	114	the Crack Cocaine Controversy” (Federal Sentencing Reporter 1998).
115	115	Nkechi Taifa served as the principal author of the Advancement Project’s report, “Re-
116	116	Enfranchisement! A Guide for Individual Restoration of Voting Rights in States that Permanently
117	117	Disenfranchise Former Felons” (2002). She was a contributing author to Black Reparations:
118	118	American Slavery and its Vestiges; and Reparations Yes: The Legal and Political Reasons Why
119	119	Blacks Should be Paid for the Enslavement of Our Ancestors; and Decolonization U.S.A. (1987).
120	120	Nkechi served on the Legal Advisory Team of the Legacy of the GU272 Alliance (descendants of
121	121	the 1838 Jesuit sale of 272 enslaved persons which ensured the survival of Georgetown
122	122	University); and is a past president of the DC Chapter of the National Conference of Black Lawyers
123	123	and former co-chair of the Legislative Commission of the National Coalition of Blacks for
124	124	Reparations in America.
125	125	Reported civil and criminal legal cases with Taifa as counsel include Shepherd v. American
126	126	Broadcasting Companies, 864 F. Supp. 486 (D.C. Cir. 1994); 62 F.3d 1469 (D.C. Cir. 1995); U.S. v.
127	127	Whitehorn, 710 F. Supp. 803 (1989); U.S. v. Marilyn Buck and Mutulu Shakur, 690 F. Supp. 1291
128	128	(SDNY) 1988; and Knop v. Johnson, 655 F. Supp. 871 (WD Mich 1987).
129	129	Nkechi has served on the boards of numerous organizations, and has received many awards,
130	130	accolades and honors, including the “Champion of Justice Award” from the National Association
131	131	of Criminal Defense Lawyers (2021); “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the 17
132	132	th
133	133	Annual A Love
134	134	Supreme Trane Tribute (2021); “Distinguished 400 Award” from the 400 Years of African
135	135	American History Commission (2021); “Black Resistance Matters Award,” from the Malcolm X
136	136	Commemoration Committee (2017); “Equal Justice Award” from the UDC David A. Clarke School
137	137	of Law (2017); Dad’s Award from Hope House (2016); “Wiley Branton Award” from the National
138	138	Bar Association (2016); “Legacy Award” from the Institute of the Black World 21
139	139	st
140	140	Century (2016);
141	141	the “Marcus Garvey Award” from the Universal Negro Improvement Association (2015); the
142	142	“Cornelius Neil Alexander Humanitarian Award” from the D.C. Commission on Human Rights
143	143	(2015); the “Wiley Branton Award” from the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights
144	144	and Urban Affairs (2014); the “Umoja Award,” from the National Black United Front (2014);
145	145	“Certificate of Achievement for Outstanding Advocacy” from Congresswoman Maxine Waters
146	146	(2011); the “President’s Award” from the Washington Council of Lawyers (2005);” the
147	147	“Rosmarian Award for Excellence in Teaching and Service (2000); ” “Professor of the Year
148	148	(1999),” “Outstanding Social Engineer Award (1996),” and “Distinguished Faculty Author Award”
149	149	-- – all from Howard University School of Law; Certificado De Participation, Universidad de la
150	150	Habana, Sociedad y Derecho en Cuba;” the “Pro Bono Publico Award” from the American Bar
151	151	Association for outstanding leadership of Howard Law’s Equal Justice Program (1996); and the
152	152	“Appreciation Award” from the Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland (1996).
153	153	Taifa was honored as one of Essence Magazine’s 100 Woke Black Women Advocating for Change
154	154	(2019); celebrated as one of Essence Magazine’s Unsung Black Women Making Strides in the Law 4
155	155	(2018); and was showcased in a feature article in People’s Magazine (2020). She has served as
156	156	consultant to various organizations and projects and is interviewed and quoted extensively in the
157	157	national and local electronic and print media.
158	158	Nkechi is the author of five best-seller books: Reparations on Fire: How and Why it’s Spreading
159	159	Across America (2022); a memoir, Black Power, Black Lawyer: My Audacious Quest for Justice,
160	160	and three best-seller books for children, Shining Legacy (1983) which highlights twelve Black
161	161	heroes and heroines through moving stories accentuated with rhyme; Three Tales of Wisdom
162	162	(1983), and The Adventures of Kojo and Ama (1992) which contains seven wisdom-filled stories
163	163	combining excitement, fun and suspense with lessons in pride and heritage. These classics were
164	164	re-published in 2021 for a new generation of youth. She performed spoken word with the group
165	165	“BlackNotes” as part of its 1998 debut CD project, leading her original creation, “While Malcolm
166	166	Preached, Trane Played.”
167	167	Nkechi is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals for
168	168	the District of Columbia Circuit, and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. A native
169	169	Washingtonian, she received her Juris Doctorate from George Washington University Law School
170	170	(1984) and graduated magna cum laude from Howard University (197). She is the proud mother
171	171	of an adult daughter, Mariama Taifa-Seitu.
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