CONNIE
RICE
Co-Founder and Co-Director, Advancement Project
Civil rights activist and attorney Connie Rice has served as a trusted advisor to MPAC on countless public policy and national security matters. Along with a team of veteran civil rights lawyers, she co-founded the Advancement Project, a multi-racial civil rights organization focused on racial justice in the legislative process.
Over her career, Ms. Rice has publicly warned about the constitutionality of the Executive Order that ordered Japanese Americans into internment camps, has been at the forefront of examining police shootings and law enforcement culture, and has been an advocate of Muslim engagement in public affairs.
Ms. Rice and MPAC President Salam Al-Marayati, alongside 44 other leaders, co-chaired a state commission which ensured that crimes motivated by bigotry were not overlooked by officials and communities, and she participated in the Interfaith Peacemaking Project with MPAC co-founder, the late Dr. Maher Hathout. A graduate of Harvard University and the NYU School of Law, Ms. Rice served as a part of the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund and has received over 50 major awards for her work on addressing problems of inequality and exclusion.