asha bandele joined the organization in April 2005, a few months after the historic implementation of the first reforms to New York’s draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws. She directs the Advocacy Grants program, an initiative that funds organizations dedicated to reforming drug policy through education and activism.  In this capacity, she works with and learns from an incredible array of drug policy reformers across the United States.

A former Columbia University Revson Fellow who earned her B.A. at The New School and her M.F.A. at Bennington College, bandele has spent much of her career documenting issues of social concern through her work as journalist.  She has published a wide range of stories in outlets as diverse as The New York Times, Family Circle, Essence and Vibe, among others. bandele is the author of four books including the award-winning memoir, The Prisoner’s Wife, and recently finished her fifth, another memoir about raising a child who has an incarcerated parent.