Jenny McKenney joined the Southern Coalition for Social Justice as the SOLVE Communications Fellow in September 2022. Before she came to SCSJ, she was a College Adviser with NC State’s College Advising Corps, an intern with California State Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel’s district office, and most recently, a Kindergarten teacher.
Jenny was born in Texas and grew up in Morganton, North Carolina. She graduated from NC State University in 2018 with her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology with much of her coursework focused on criminology as well as wealth, gender, and race and ethnic inequality in the US. Additionally, she minored in Women’s and Gender Studies and Spanish.
As a student, Jenny volunteered with The Carying Place’s youth program, served as Youth Program Assistant at Project CATCH, and participated and later led an Alternative Service Break trip to Guatemala to study gender issues. Her Honors Thesis explored how immigration law and the criminal justice system impact Latine domestic violence victims’ ability to formally seek help.