Carmen Daugherty

Carmen Daugherty joined Advancement Project in 2022 as Deputy Executive Director, bringing more than two decades of advocacy, legal expertise, and movement-building experience to the role. As Deputy, Carmen leads and supports directors across the Opportunity to Learn, Justice Project, and Power and Democracy programs, and steers Advancement Project’s cross-programmatic strategy, helping to knit together legal, policy, and organizing efforts into a unified vision for racial justice.

Before joining Advancement Project, Carmen served as Policy Director at the Youth First Initiative, where she helped drive state-based campaigns to end youth incarceration and redirect resources toward community-centered alternatives. She previously spent nearly a decade at the Campaign for Youth Justice, also as Policy Director, championing efforts to stop the prosecution and incarceration of young people in the adult criminal legal system. Carmen began her legal career in D.C. as a staff attorney and later Deputy Director of a special education advocacy organization, grounding her work in the experiences of young people and families navigating systems stacked against them.

Carmen has contributed her expertise to the American Bar Association’s Section on Civil Rights and Social Justice and has served for several years for a D.C.-based youth justice advisory group. She is a proud graduate of Vassar College and earned her Juris Doctor from Tulane University School of Law.

Born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Carmen now calls Maryland home even as her heart forever remains in New Orleans.