News & Commentary written by Gina Womack

Gina Womack is the director and co-founder of Families and Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children (FFLIC), a statewide membership-based organization dedicated to creating a better life for all of Louisiana’s youth, especially those who are involved, or at risk of becoming involved in the juvenile justice system. FFLIC worked to pass the Juvenile Justice Reform Act of 2003 and has helped reduce the number of children detained in Louisiana from over 2000 to around 300 today. FFLIC is working to interrupt the school-to-prison pipeline its Let Kids Be Kids Campaign and ACT 1225 Mapping Project.

Gina is also Vice-Chair of the Louisiana Juvenile Justice Reform Act Implementation Commission, the Louisiana Children’s Cabinet Advisory Board, the Louisiana’s Governor’s Advisory Council of the Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency and Prevention Act, is Chair of the Louisiana Advisory Council on Student Behavior and Discipline, a member of the New Orleans Children’s Youth and Planning Board (CYPB), a member of the Statewide Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative, and a host of other statewide task force that focuses on Juvenile Justice. In addition, Gina was recently named as a 2022 National Atlas Fellow.