Joyce Hamilton is Senior Strategy and Special Projects Advisor at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida and is based in the organization’s Tampa office.
Since 2008, she has served in a variety of roles which include advocacy, policy, and development work. She has worked with local, state, and national organizations to address a range of civil liberties and civil rights issues including felon disenfranchisement, voting rights, immigrants’ rights, LGBT rights, juvenile justice, criminal justice, racial justice, and police practices.
She previously served as a psychiatric social worker at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Connecticut. She also worked as the Director of the Office of Multicultural Programs at the University of Hartford. In that capacity, she developed and implemented programs to assist with the recruitment and retention of students of color and to address broader issues of diversity and inclusion on the university’s campus. For twenty years, Joyce was an Adjunct Professor at the University of Hartford. She taught African American Studies in the Departments of Sociology and Psychology.
Her areas of expertise include race and ethnic relations, Caribbean immigrants, voting rights, and civic and political engagement. She is known nationally and internationally for her contributions in the field of social work. In June 2001, she was the recipient of the National Association of Social Workers (Connecticut Chapter) Social Worker of the Year Award. She is the author of No One Asked Us: The Under-representation of African Americans and Latinos on Local Boards and Commissions.
Hamilton received a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Development and Family Relations from the University of Connecticut, a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Connecticut School of Social Work and a doctorate degree in Social Policy from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.