Yolanda Johnson

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Yolanda Johnson is a proud resident of the Adams Park Community of Southwest Atlanta, and serves on the Adams Park Foundation Board. She is a product of the public school system, and a practicing attorney who has been actively engaged in the community since she made Atlanta her home more than a decade ago.

In her present capacity as Supervising Counsel for the Georgia Department of Corrections, Yolanda interacts with many of the 55,000 inmates within the state's custody to ensure that the inmates have access to the justice system.

Through her work, she has witnessed the complexity of circumstances that can destroy the promise of a child's future. A good many of our incarcerated are former students of our public schools. She knows that education changes lives.

She began volunteering with the Atlanta Public Schools (APS) when she agreed to serve on a committee redeveloping the curriculum for the Law and Government Magnet at Therrell High School. This experience gave her unique system insight and firsthand knowledge of how even a small group of dedicated people can make differences in the lives of our children: our future.

Yolanda is a former President of the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys (GABWA) and served for five years on GABWA's Executive Board.

She has demonstrated her commitment to public education through her involvement in numerous community activities and volunteer efforts. She developed an after-school tutoring program during law school, and has participated in many youth-oriented programs, such as Career Days and Big Brothers/ Big Sisters. She even organized and facilitated a citywide Youth Empowerment Summit in 1998 through an American Bar Association (ABA) initiative.

A culmination of these experiences led Yolanda to study issues that impact student achievement, evaluate leadership and governance models, and examine how schools are funded. Through her service as the District 6 Representative on the Atlanta Board of Education, Yolanda commits the time, energy and most of all the vision to ensure the promise of our children's future.

Additionally, Yolanda serves as the Chair of the Budget Commission of the Board, which oversees a combined budget of more than 1 Billion Dollars. She also serves as the Board’s appointee to the Atlanta Pension Fund Board of Trustees as its Vice-Chair.

EDUCATION

• Juris Doctor, University of Oklahoma College of Law, Norman, Oklahoma, 1994
• Oxford University Summer Law Studies, Oxford, England, 1992
• Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, 1991

PROFESSIONAL AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

• Admitted to the State Bar of Georgia, 1996, the Georgia Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Georgia, 1999, and U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Middle Districts of Georgia, 2001.
• Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys, Member and Past President
• Volunteer Involvement Program (Non-Profit Board Training), 1998 Graduate
• Atlanta Alternative Life Paths Program, Former Board Member