Episode 61: Katherine Katcher and Carmen Garcia, Root and Rebound

Daily Matters: The changing face of the legal industry

“Our systems are certainly setting people up to fail,” says Katherine Katcher, Founder and Executive Director of Root and Rebound—an organization working to restore power and resources to the families and communities most harmed by mass incarceration through legal advocacy, public education, policy reform, and litigation.

In this episode, Katherine and Carmen Garcia—Root and Rebound’s Deputy Director of Operations and a formerly incarcerated woman—speak about:

• The ways in which racism persists in the criminal justice system
• Root and Rebound’s three-pronged approach for making an impact
• Common misperceptions people may have about incarcerated people
• How legal professionals can get involved

To learn how Root and Rebound uses Clio to do its important work more effectively, read the case study here.

Katherine Katcher and Carmen Garcia work for Root and Rebound, which restores power and resources to the families and communities most harmed by mass incarceration through legal advocacy, public education, policy reform, and litigation—a model rooted in the needs and expertise of people who are directly impacted.

Katherine is an attorney and the Founder and Executive Director of Root & Rebound. Since founding the organization in 2013, Katherine has facilitated R&R’s growth into an organization that is national in scope: with four California offices working in five regions of the state, an office in South Carolina, and national education and policy programs. Katherine has 16 years of work in the nonprofit sector, with a broad range of roles and experiences, including teaching adult education, working with survivors of trauma and violence, and advocating in the criminal justice sector. In her time at Berkeley Law, Katherine worked at the Texas Defender Service, the Berkeley Law Death Penalty Clinic, the Prison Law Office, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, and UnCommon Law.

Carmen is the Deputy Director of Operations at Root & Rebound. As a formerly incarcerated woman, Carmen realizes the importance of education in the prison system, as well as post-incarceration. At Root & Rebound, Carmen works closely with the Executive Director to create a sustainable annual budget & multi-year plan while also preparing for steady growth as Root & Rebound scales up to new locations. Carmen is a Psychology major from City College of San Francisco and San Francisco State University. While at SFSU, Carmen worked at City College of San Francisco as a Teacher’s Assistant to Dr. Terry Day in the Psychology Department. Carmen also interned at City College of San Francisco’s Second Chance Program, which helps previously incarcerated students achieve their full academic potential.