Ashli Giles-Perkins

Ashli joined LAJC in June 2026, bringing over 15 years of experience in youth-centered civic advocacy, grassroots community organizing, and building movements both locally and nationally . Before joining LAJC, Ashli spent 5 years at Education Law Center-PA, specializing in special education law, students’ disciplinary rights, and juvenile justice policy reforms. Additionally, Ashli worked to combat wrongful discrimination against LGBTQ+ students by ensuring welcoming and inclusive school environments. She further represented young people in residential facilities to exercise their rights to quality education; and advocated for reforms to limit truancy laws, make dress-and-grooming policies affirming, and challenged discriminatory school discipline like automatic transfers and expulsions.

Ashli graduated from Loyola University Chicago in 2020 with a Juris Doctor and a Master of Education in Cultural Educational Policy Studies. While in law school, she served as a writer for Loyola’s Public Interest Law Reporter, organized to obtain a community benefits agreement for residents living near the Obama Presidential Library, and co-taught an inaugural cohort of law students the history of legalized segregation in America using “The Color of Law”. Ashli also externed with Advocates for Children of New York and the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, while serving as a research assistant for Dean Michael J. Kaufman.  In her free time, Ashli enjoys attending concerts and comedy shows, writing poetry, reading thrillers, practicing yoga, learning Japanese, and perfecting the craft of mixology.