Courtney Jackson is the Executive Director of Ride New Orleans (RIDE), a nonprofit transit advocacy organization that envisions a region where taking transit enables full access to jobs, education, healthcare, and other needs, ensuring the equitable, thriving community that all residents deserve. 

Prior to working in transit advocacy with Ride New Orleans, Courtney spent 8 years in mental health advocacy for children and adults. There, she witnessed the importance of equitable and reliable transit for clients and how, without it, access to support—that could change their lives—significantly lowered, if not disappeared. 

In her work at RIDE, she’s focused on expanding the grassroots network of transit riders through direct organizing, relationship building, and uplifting those voices, ensuring their needs are centered in decisions made by local and state leaders. Through these conversations, her team creates rider-centered, data-driven policy recommendations that, along with compelling transit rider stories, have enabled RIDE to win real, tangible change for the Greater New Orleans Region.