Georgina Mendoza McDowell Joins Evident Change as Policing Fellow

Georgina Mendoza McDowell is a new policing fellow at Evident Change, bringing her expertise to the team charged with monitoring the Kern County Sheriff’s Office in California.

While new to this role, Mendoza McDowell has worked with Evident Change in the past: In October 2011, she was invited by US Attorney General Eric Holder to be a member of his National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence, for which Evident Change provided technical assistance.

Mendoza McDowell has more than 13 years’ experience working in the field of youth violence prevention and reduction—locally, nationally, and internationally. Most recently she was a senior crime and violence advisor for Washington, DC-based Creative Associates International, where her work focused on juvenile justice reform, violence prevention, and family and community engagement, with an emphasis in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Prior to that, Mendoza McDowell was a political appointee in President Obama’s Department of Justice. She served as a senior policy advisor at the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), focusing on youth violence prevention efforts and reducing and eliminating racial and ethnic disparities. She also served as the policy lead on the National Forum for Youth Violence Prevention, a White House initiative that brought diverse federal agencies to partner with local jurisdictions that create comprehensive, strategic city-wide plans to prevent and reduce youth violence.

Mendoza McDowell was the community safety director and senior deputy city attorney/city prosecutor for the City of Salinas, California, before joining OJJDP.  As safety director, she led the effort to develop and implement a strategic work plan that incorporates evidence-based strategies for gang prevention, intervention, suppression, and reentry. 

Mendoza McDowell has a bachelor’s degree in history and political science from Santa Clara University and a JD from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, California.  She is admitted to the California State Bar.