Award Honorees

Kara Aanenson has helped draft and pass 10 laws to improve Maryland's justice system. Her success is due in part to her commitment to work collaboratively with stakeholders.

"I'm proud of being able to find ways to bring people who have different viewpoints together and make positive policy change," Kara says. "Often people advocate on behalf of someone else but don't really work in partnership with the group they are trying to help."

Kara has a master's in social work from the University of Maryland, Baltimore. She started her career at the public defender's office with a community law and action initiative called the Just Kids Campaign, an effort to end the automatic prosecution of children as adults. She worked in partnership with those who had experienced the adult justice system as teens, learned how it impacted their lives and ensured this group was part of the conversation.

She has trained countless youth leaders on how to advocate to change unjust practices in the criminal justice system. She, along with youth leaders, organized and succeeded in stopping the construction of a new youth jail for children charged automatically as adults in Maryland. In addition, she contributed on legislation to give applicants with past convictions a fair chance on job applications.

Today, Kara is Director of Family Engagement for the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services, where she partners with families to ensure they are involved with decisions impacting their children while in the juvenile system.