Bio
Kena Cador is an Equal Justice Works Fellow at the ACLU of Northern California, where she advances racial and economic justice. Kena is currently developing a project focused on access to basic municipal services, including water, for residents in disadvantaged unincorporated communities in California’s Central Valley.
Prior to joining the ACLU as an Equal Justice Works Fellow, Kena focused on labor law and employment discrimination as the Peggy Browning Fellow at Murphy Anderson, PLLC. Before that, Kena worked on access to municipal services as a civil right at the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division. Kena has also worked on housing and employment discrimination issues in Washington, D.C., at the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless.
Kena is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center where she served as a student attorney at the Institute for Public Representation-Civil Rights Law Clinic, and Editor-in-Chief of the Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy. She is also the recipient of the 2L Public Service Award and an Exceptional Pro Bono Pledge honoree.
Kena received her M.A. in Africana Studies with special research interests in Critical Race Theory from New York University, and her B.A., with distinction, in Sociology and Black Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is the recipient of the Lorraine Hansberry Award for Academic Achievement, and Molla/Ndubaku Award for Humanitarian Accomplishments.
