d-mars.com Top 50 Black Professionals & Entrepreneurs of Texas
Tarsha Jackson 2022 COMMUNITY HERO
of color. As Harris County Director for TOP, Tarsha launched TOP’s first criminal justice campaign after the death of Sandra Bland, which TOP now runs in the three counties it serves - Harris, Dallas and Bexar. Tarsha’s advocacy has expanded over the years to work on issues like ending ICE and police collaboration in immigration enforcement, fighting for affordable housing and equitable recovery after Hurricanes Ike and Harvey, and economic justice for Houston’s oftenforgotten communities. As council member, Tarsha is focusing on tackling long-standing problems in her district, including flooding, illegal dumping, poor infrastructure, lack of economic development and poverty. She’s also the co-founder and co-director of the Urban Community Network, a nonprofit that helps families of at-risk and system-involved youth find the help they need to thrive.
T
arsha Jackson was born and raised in Houston. She spent her formative years in Acres Homes, Greenspoint and North Forest. She raised her children here, went to school here, and has been fighting for the people of District B since the early 2000s. While raising two young boys and working as a mortgage lender, Tarsha’s life changed when her oldest specialneeds son Marquieth was arrested at his elementary school for a classroom disruption. Just ten years old at the time of his arrest, Marquieth was sentenced to three and a half years in jail for an offense that should’ve been resolved with detention. Tarsha and her family lived the painful
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injustices of a system that criminalizes children instead of helping and supporting them. She became a parent-advocate and community leader, organizing other parents to fight for - and win - juvenile detention reform. In 2004, she cofounded Texas Families of Incarcerated Youth with two other mothers. And in 2007, Tarsha’s testimony and advocacy helped win passage of Texas Senate Bill 103, which bans the criminal justice system from jailing children for minor misdemeanors, preventing the injustice that happened to her son from happening to others. In 2013, Tarsha joined the Harris County office of the Texas Organizing Project (TOP), Texas’ leading organization for building political power in communities
TOP 50 BLACK P&E 2022 - 10TH ANNIVERSARY
Tarsha’s organizing and advocacy work has been recognized locally and nationally. She is the recipient of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Natalie S. Bimel Award, the Soros Justice Fellowship, the Texas Observer’s Tyrant’s Foe Award, the American Leadership Criminal Justice Fellowship, and the Bill of Rights Defense Commission Patriot Award for her yearslong campaign to raise families’ voices in advancing juvenile justice reform. In 2017, Tarsha served on the transition team of Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg. She is currently completing her BA in Political Science at Texas Southern University, and lives in Fifth Ward. Tarsha Jackson Council Member, District B Houston City Council Co-Founder Texas Families of Incarcerated Youth Co-Founder and Co-Director Urban Community Network City Hall Annex 900 Bagby, First Floor Houston, Texas 77002 (832) 393-3291 districtb@houstontx.gov
