Mary Kathryn Velazquez

Prior to joining Georgia Appleseed, Mary Kathryn engaged in legislative advocacy and policy advocacy aimed at improving the welfare of Georgia’s children at the Barton Child Law & Policy Center at Emory University. She contributed to a nationally recognized report on child welfare consent decrees and was instrumental in developing a resource database for related impact litigation. Additionally, her work included providing detailed analyses of the state budget’s impact on child services, and directly advocating for legislative changes with state representatives.

Before pursuing her law degree, Mary Kathryn’s paralegal work with clients facing significant personal challenges laid the foundation for her commitment to our community’s most vulnerable. Beyond policy and advocacy, she has applied her legal research and writing experience at law firms and in Fulton County’s Juvenile and Superior Courts.

Mary Kathryn holds a Juris Doctor from Emory University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Alabama.