The ACLU of Southern California named Nicole Gon Ochi as Director of Education Equity.
In the past, the Education Equity team partnered closely with Nicole on campaigns to eliminate the school-to-prison pipeline in Pomona and to support the Black Student Achievement Plan in LAUSD, among other projects. Nicole is a community- and movement-centered lawyer whose work has consistently been grounded in partnership with students, families, educators, organizers, and grassroots groups to advance racial and educational justice.
Nicole started her career clerking for Judge Pregerson on the Ninth Circuit and serving as a Skadden Fellow at Asian Americans Advancing Justice-LA, focused on education rights for low-income API students. She spent almost 10 years at AAAJ, focusing on workers’ rights, housing justice, and other civil rights issues, including the Harvard affirmative action cases. She then worked at Public Advocates on K-12 education equity litigation and advocacy, and most recently managed all five program teams at Asian Law Caucus.
Learn more about the Education Equity Project at the ACLU SoCal.
The ACLU of Southern California protects the constitutional rights of all students to equal educational opportunity. We focus on ensuring that the public education system provides the right to an equal education to all students, including those who have historically been marginalized and underresourced by the public school system, such as students of color, LGBTQ youth, and low-income youth, and that all decisions are centered on student need and success.
