SLC Steering Committee

Veronica Morales

Veronica Morales spent 35+ years in the corporate world of banking, information technology, and childhood education. She currently spends her time managing her own rental properties and advocating for social and criminal justice. She volunteers and does service work for mental health care and the addicted. She became familiar with social justice at a young age through family members who were in and out of the mental health and criminal justice systems. Her hope is to inspire a different perspective of how mental health and addiction are related to crime. Her goal is to make a difference in how our society handles these issues by changing legislation. Realizing this monumental task requires the dedication to chip away at one policy at a time, so she keeps her chisel sharpened and ready!

Maggie Luna, JI-RPS

Maggie Luna is a graduate of Anthony Graves Smart Justice Speakers Bureau at Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University. During Texas’ 2019 legislative session she participated as part of the Women’s Legislative Team, which successfully passed legislation defending the dignity of incarcerated women. Her work led her to become a Hogg Foundation Peer Policy Fellow at the Texas Center for Justice and Equity (TCJE), where she now serves as a Policy Analyst and the Community Outreach Coordinator. Since 2020, Maggie has coordinated the Statewide Leadership Council and advances local and state policies to transform the criminal legal system. Maggie was first arrested in 1996 as a juvenile and began to cycle in and out of the system; her last arrest was in 2017, and she now uses her 20 years of justice system involvement to help address the needs of system-involved women and their families. She serves as a member in multiple organizations and coalitions working to transform youth and adult justice systems to promote safer communities. She believes in elevating the importance of justice for women, as well as speaking with policymakers, judges, and CASA workers about improving safety for children when Child Protective Services in involved. Maggie is interested in expanding the use of certified peers to connect people with recovery-based supports following release from jail or prison, and she holds a Peer Re-Entry Specialist Certification.

Savannah Eldrige

Savannah Eldrige is a registered nurse and the founder of Be Frank 4 Justice, which works to education and empowerment of justice involved individuals and their families. Be Frank 4 Justice was formed in veneration of Savannah’s brother Frank. In her effort to aid him through his appeal process and support him during his incarceration, Savannah recognized barriers in the post conviction process, and its’ sometimes devastating impact on all involved. Since then, she has been committed to creating clearer pathways for post-conviction relief, and advocating for the rights of justice involved persons and their loved ones. Savannah works as a registered nurse in the San Antonio area. She is the co-founder of Coalition to Abolish Slavery-Texas, Texas Incarcerated Families Association Board Chair, and a member of the Academic Consortium on Criminal Justice Health.

Mark Anthony Vasquez

Mark Anthony Vasquez was raised in the border communities of South Texas and is active in local and regional efforts to resist the over-saturation of law enforcement and the criminalization of marginalized communities on the border. Formerly convicted himself, Mark is determined to cultivate a voice of resistance for the system-impacted and continues to work to introduce programs and local initiatives to derail the targeting and over-incarceration of what are some of the most under-represented and impoverished communities in South Texas. Committed to the struggle against border injustice, Mark is co-founder of The John Manuel Project, created in 2018 as a family-run organization, which advocates for those held captive beneath the full weight of the criminal legal system in the Rio Grande Valley.