Rashida Harmon, Assistant Deputy Director of Outreach and Education

Rashida Harmon is the Civil Right Department’s Assistant Deputy Director of Outreach and Education. In this role, she leads the department’s Outreach and Education unit and its efforts to prevent and redress civil rights violations by conducting training outreach across California, providing guidance materials and other tools, and engaging strategic partnerships with community organizations, advocacy groups, and other agencies. Previously, Harmon was a senior counsel in the Outreach and Education unit. Before joining CRD in April 2022, Harmon was the Bay Area Regional Director of Advocacy at Root & Rebound, a legal nonprofit that advocates for people in reentry. At Root & Rebound, she managed a team that provided direct services, legal clinics, and educational trainings. Harmon also worked in private practice (with a focus on post-conviction advocacy, such as parole hearings) and for the First District Appellate Project (handling criminal, juvenile, and other types of appeals). Among other professional experiences, she was the Interim Executive Director of a non-profit and, prior to law school, she worked as a journalist. Harmon is a long-time guitarist, an avid crocheter, and a student of herbalism.