LaTonya Tate

LaTonya A. Tate (born in Birmingham, Alabama) is the founder of the Alabama Justice Initiative.

Tate grew up in the North Birmingham community where she currently resides. Her father, the late Clifford Hatcher—a Collegeville native—was a retired cabinet maker in Oxnard, California, and her mother, Barbara J. Tate, worked and retired from the U.S. Postal Service.

LaTonya was educated in the Birmingham Public School System. She attended MacArthur Elementary, graduated from Phillips High School, and was a proud member of the Marching Red Raider band. LaTonya graduated from the Bevill State Community College LPN program, and from the University of Phoenix where she obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Criminal Justice Adminstration/Security. She also holds a master’s degree from Grand Canyon University in Public Adminstration.

LaTonya worked in healthcare industries for over 15 years in Jefferson County, and as a probation and parole officer for nearly a decade with the Florida Department of Corrections—prior to retiring in 2014. In 2018, LaTonya founded the Alabama Justice Initiative, a nonprofit social justice organization that works on criminal justice reform and policy initiatives.

LaTonya currently holds several important leadership roles in organizations across the country as board members, and in Alabama as a probation and parole consultant.

Plus, she is an an active member of many social justice organizations, such as Alabamians For Fair Justice and Alabama Forward. In 2020, she graduated from Emerge Alabama, an organization that trains progressive women to run for office. In 2021 she announced her candidacy for Birmingham City Council District 9 in the 2021 Birmingham municipal election

LaTonya is the mother of one son, TaDarrius A. Tate, and the grandmother of Camille Gabrielle. Her home church is Twenty Fifth Avenue Baptist Church.