Our Team
Norris Henderson
Executive Director
Norris Henderson is the Founder and Executive Director of both VOTE and our sister organization, Voters Organized to Educate. Norris is a former OSI Soros Justice Fellow, and has had tremendous success impacting public policy and discourse about reentry, police accountability, public defense for poor and indigent people, and reforming the notorious Orleans Parish Prison (OPP), also known as the Orleans Justice Center (OJC). In 2018, Norris served as the statewide campaign director for the Unanimous Jury Coalition, a ballot campaign that ended non-unanimous juries, and thus Jim Crow’s last stand in Louisiana..LEARN MORE
Checo Yancy
Policy Director
Checo Yancy is the Policy Director of our sister advocacy organization, Voters Organized to Educate. He works alongside the Department of Corrections and the legislature, laying the groundwork for formerly incarcerated people like himself to strengthen their capacity to fight for their rights. He and our Executive Director, Norris Henderson were both incarcerated at Angola and released the same year, 2003. With roughly 1,000 people getting released from prison every month in the state of Louisiana, Checo knows there is a lot of work to do..LEARN MORE
Colleen Kane Gielskie
Director of Operations
Colleen Kane Gielskie is a farmer's daughter from the Catskill Mountains of New York, and has lived in New Orleans for more than a decade. She was the Assistant Director for Communications and Operations at the ACLU of Louisiana from 2009 to 2018, was an active member of the Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition (OPPRC) from 2010 to 2017, and is a lifelong participant in liberation movements. After taking some time off to write and make theatre with Southern Rep, Colleen joined VOTE in May 2020 as the Special Projects Manager...LEARN MORE
Jennifer Janowsky
Database Administrator
Jennifer was originally an artist and biologist at Tulane University before she began her work with VOTE in 2016. She has since watched VOTE grow as a movement and transform lives. Jennifer is now the Data Administrator, working to keep track of our valuable members and expand VOTE’s reach through statewide campaigns and digital organizing. She hopes to continue her life eating, creating, and resisting in New Orleans....LEARN MORE
Bruce Reilly
Deputy Director
Bruce Reilly is Deputy Director of both VOTE and Voters Organized to Educate. He is a writer, and founding member of the Formerly Incarcerated, Convicted People and Families Movement (FICPFM). Bruce provides expert analysis on discrimination in employment, housing, and voting rights. Originally born into foster care, he found his identity as a young jailhouse lawyer for 12 years before his parole, and a 2-hour bus ride to a minimum wage job. Bruce put his knowledge to work by joining Direct Action for Rights & Equality in 2005, and played a vital role in passing significant criminal justice reforms, such as the restoration of voting rights, eliminating mandatory minimums, statewide Ban the Box, the Good Samaritan Overdose Prevention Act, unshackling incarcerated pregnant women, and probation violation reform.. LEARN MORE
Devin Davis
Director of Political Operations
Bruce Reilly is Deputy Director of both VOTE and Voters Organized to Educate. He is a writer, and founding member of the Formerly Incarcerated, Convicted People and Families Movement (FICPFM). Bruce provides expert analysis on discrimination in employment, housing, and voting rights. Originally born into foster care, he found his identity as a young jailhouse lawyer for 12 years before his parole, and a 2-hour bus ride to a minimum wage job. Bruce put his knowledge to work by joining Direct Action for Rights & Equality in 2005, and played a vital role in passing significant criminal justice reforms, such as the restoration of voting rights, eliminating mandatory minimums, statewide Ban the Box, the Good Samaritan Overdose Prevention Act, unshackling incarcerated pregnant women, and probation violation reform.. LEARN MORE
Nziki Wiltz
Political Coordinator - New Orleans
Nziki is a New Orleans native who has cultivated a lifetime of care and support for her community. Since she was young, Nziki knew that she wanted to be an educator. Growing up, she had a strong desire to support the other children in her neighborhood, from making sure that those in need had access to food, to inviting people into her church. On January 24, 2019, Orleans Parish charged Nziki with racketeering on with her juvenile son, even though she had no knowledge or involvement with the crime. That sparked a passion in her to fight for the justice reform needed in our community...LEARN MORE