Board of Directors
Coco Guthrie-Papy
Vice Chair
Coco Guthrie-Papy is a community organizer, restorative justice practitioner, public policy expert and born-and-chosen Southerner by way of Savannah, GA. She works as Deep Center’s director of public policy and communications, where she develops the organization's positions on education and criminal/juvenile legal reform, as well as serves as the organization’s lobbyist.
She received her training as a restorative justice practitioner at the International Institute for Restorative Practices, and has been a Highlander Education Center Greensboro Justice Fellow, a PEN Prison Writing Fellow, a People for the American Way Front Line Leader Fellow, a Take a Breath fellow at The Action Lab and, most recently, a fellow for Ignite the South.
Coco has served on several Southeastern regional boards including Planned Parenthood Southeast, Georgia 9to5 and the City of Savannah Cultural Affairs Commission. She currently serves as a SWOP Behind Bars prison mentor and a legal observer for the ACLU of Georgia. Additionally, she has consulted on multiple electoral campaigns regarding policy development, communications strategy and movement building in the Deep South. She also serves on the boards of Access Reproductive Care Southeast and GfADP.