CLAIM

Gail T. Smith, Executive Director

Gail T. Smith earned her J.D. at New York University.  She founded CLAIM to provide free legal aid, client education and public advocacy for incarcerated mothers, their children and the children's guardians. She drafted legislation to ban the use of shackles on women during labor and childbirth, and working with formerly incarcerated mothers, helped to make Illinois the first state in the nation to outlaw this practice. She has testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, the Illinois General Assembly and the Cook County Board of Commissioners.  She received the 2005 YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago’s Racial Justice Award, the 1995 Chicago Tribune Tempo/Woman award, and the 1991 New York University Public Interest Law Foundation award for courageous and untiring advocacy on behalf of incarcerated mothers.  She earned her B.A. magna cum laude from Barat College, and taught high school prior to becoming a lawyer.
 

Zenaida Alonzo, Staff Attorney and Pro Bono Director

Zenaida Alonzo began her legal career in 2004 as an Equal Justice Works Fellow who created and ran a mobile legal aid clinic for homeless youth in Chicago. She came to realize that many young people are homeless because of instability due to the incarceration of their mothers. Mrs. Alonzo recognized that working with incarcerated mothers to help create stable situations for their children was the best way to address a multitude of problems, including homelessness and intergenerational incarceration. During her first year working as a staff attorney at CLAIM, Mrs. Alonzo was awarded the 2007 Chicago Bar Foundation Sun-Times Public Interest Law Fellowship for her contribution to public interest law, academic excellence in law school and outstanding character and integrity. Mrs. Alonzo earmed her J.D. from the University of Notre Dame Law School in 2004. While in law school, Mrs. Alonzo received the Andreas Academic scholarship and was a PILI intern with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless in 2003.
 

Elizabeth Kistler Coulson, Development Manager

Elizabeth Kistler Coulson earned her M.A. at the University of Manchester in Manchester, England before beginning her development career. An experienced fundraiser, Elizabeth joined CLAIM’s staff in February of 2009. Long interested women’s issues, Elizabeth is excited to be part of a vibrant organization addressing such important issues for women and children.