Tisha Leonardo-Santiago
Director of Outreach, New Jersey Division on Civil Rights
2023
Tisha (Tee) Leonardo-Santiago is the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights’ first Latinx Director of Outreach and Community Relations. A second-generation Latinx Hudson County native and a first-generation college graduate earning their undergraduate and graduate degrees in Criminal Justice from New Jersey City University. In 2017, Tee joined DCR as a Bilingual Investigator in the Enforcement Unit, served as the bilingual subject matter expert for the New Jersey Bias Investigation Access System (NJBIAS) that launched in November 2020, and now serves as the Statewide NJBIAS Community Liaison. In March 2021, they were promoted to the newly created Community Relations Unit as the Bilingual Community Relations Specialist before becoming the unit Director.
It is a tragic reality that hateful ideology has found fertile ground online and offline, with consequences affecting not only Americans but people around the world. We cannot stand idle in the face of bias, bigotry, and extremism. Together, at the Eradicate Hate Summit and beyond, the collective will of individuals and organizations is needed to galvanize all people of good will to protect and defend our communities.
