NP Spotlight: Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones

Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Have Their Say

Tony Diaz, El Librotraficante and Political Analyst on What's Your Point on Fox 26 News, welcomes Harris County Commissioner Lesley Briones. Commissioner Briones shares her work in improving Precinct 4, an important gun buyback program taking place this November 18th, and her literacy advocacy, with her recent appearance at NP's & NEA's Big Read event in September as well as the Harris County Proclamation given to Nuestra Palabra and Tony Diaz for 25 years of cultivating community cultural capital. Join us on NP Live at a special time this Wednesday, November 8th, at 9:00 AM CST as part of our multi stream broadcast. You can check out the show on Youtube, Facebook, or Twitter! Harris County Commissioner Lesley Briones is a native Texan and proud Latina who grew up on the U.S.-Mexico border. She is the daughter of teachers, who taught her the importance of education, hard work, and serving others—values that have defined her and which she now brings to the office of County Commissioner for Precinct 4. Upon graduating with honors from Harvard University, she began her career as an 8th and 10th-grade teacher at two of the lowest-income public schools in the country. She then attended Yale Law School, where she led the Latino Law Students’ Association's public service initiatives and provided pro-bono assistance to survivors of domestic abuse and juvenile offenders. Commissioner Briones returned to Texas to practice law at Vinson & Elkins LLP, then served as General Counsel and Chief Operating Officer of the Laura & John Arnold Foundation, a major national philanthropic nonprofit. She next became the Judge of Harris County Civil Court at Law No. 4. Judge Briones was the highest-rated Harris County Civil Court at Law Judge in the 2019 Houston Bar Association (HBA) Judicial Evaluation Poll and won the 2020 HBA Judicial Preference Poll. Briones co-founded the statewide nonprofit Texas Latinx Judges and serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law Center. She and her husband, Adán, live in Houston with their three daughters and worship at St. Ambrose Catholic Church.