Courtenay Strickland

Common Threads staffers come from varying backgrounds, but share a concern for children, a commitment to positive social change, and a love of good food and the communities food can create and sustain.

As Miami Development Manager, Courtenay builds corporate, individual, and foundation support for Common Threads’ program of after-school cooking classes for low-income children in the Greater Miami area. Courtenay has engaged in successful fundraising for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida, Verified Voting, the League of Women Voters of Miami-Dade, as well as other nonprofit organizations.

Prior to her post at Common Threads, Courtenay spent several years in the public policy arena. From 2007 to 2010, she worked as Director of Public Policy and chief lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida. In that capacity, she led the ACLU of Florida's legislative and field operations at the local and state levels as well as its Congressional lobbying efforts. In her five years as Voting Rights Project Director for the ACLU of Florida, Courtenay lobbied the Florida Legislature concerning post-2000 reforms such as provisional balloting and worked to end Florida’s system of felony disenfranchisement. As the past President and CEO of Verified Voting, Courtenay worked to achieve reforms that would ensure publicly verifiable elections without sacrificing voters’ access to the ballot or their privacy and independence at the polls.

Courtenay has been working in the nonprofit sector since 1998 and holds a B.A. in Latin American Studies from Yale University.  She has a weakness for lemon gelato.