| Rep. Epps learned resiliency and fortitude at an early age, traits that would serve her well throughout life. Born in North Carolina, raised in Carolina and Virginia, Elisabeth's mother died of breast cancer at age 33, when Elisabeth was just 9. Her father was a veteran and 29-year union member. She attended a dozen schools in ten years before finishing high school early, when she became a single parent herself at age 16.
Rep. Epps was a precocious child and a tenacious teenager, who loved theatre, literature, puzzles, Model U.N., and writing letters to the editor of her local newspapers. Her tendency to be always curious, often questioning, and consistently calling out injustice foreshadowed the woman she would become.
After graduating early from high school, with her newborn baby often on her hip, Elisabeth worked dozens of jobs to make ends meet. She nannied, provided in-home child and adult care, was a bank teller, insurance underwriter, delivered phone books, worked at multiple call centers, and was a patient care coordinator at a free health clinic. In 2004, Elisabeth was featured in the book The Ways of Black Folks- A Year in the Life of a People, with a chapter dedicated to her story
Elisabeth took undergraduate coursework at public and private universities, community college, studied abroad, moved to Virginia to study Biomedical Ethics in graduate school, and ultimately graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law with her JD. Like many students not born to wealth, education saddled Rep. Epps with crushing 6-figure student loan debt. Even after law school Rep. Epps had to work multiple extra jobs (cocktail waitress and hostess, tutor, test prep, copy-editor, ride-share driver, and more) to provide for her family.
Rep. Epps has worked and volunteered on many issue-based and candidate campaigns since childhood. Her first entry into Democratic politics was volunteering on a presidential campaign at age 12. Since then she's worked on the ground to elect Democrats in North Carolina, Virginia, and Colorado. Future-Rep. Epps also worked as a legislative aide in the U.S. Senate for Senator Mary Pryor (D, Arkansas).
After volunteering with the campaigns to elect Rep. Periello (D, Virginia) and then-Senator Obama in 2008, Elisabeth and her son were selected to attend the inauguration of Pres. Obama during her first year of law school. In a moment of life coming full circle, 4 years later Rep. Epps again worked to [re-]elect Pres. Obama, this time as an organizer for Colorado Democratic Party based in Arapahoe County in 2012.
Rep. Epps is a member of Working Families Party and Democratic Socialists of America - groups also supported by the most progressive Democratic Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, as well as Congresspersons Cori Bush, Summer Lee, Jamal Bowman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and other true progressive legislators in Congress.
Migration is a human right, and like so many of our neighbors Rep. Epps moved her young family west to Colorado to pursue opportunity. Rep. Epps got to Colorado as fast as she could to accept her dream job working as a state employee representing our most vulnerable neighbors as a Deputy State Public Defender. As a single mom, Rep. Epps raised her son in Denver, where he graduated as a scholar and athlete from Denver East High School.
In addition to always working her way through school, Rep. Epps has also always been a renter. Rep. Epps has been uninsured, under-insured, and as a young single mom was often reliant upon critical government support for health care and food security. Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley reminds us that the people who are closest to the pain, should be the people closest to the power. When it comes to issues like housing insecurity, lack of access to healthcare, student loan debt, and being over-policed, Rep. Epps has faced those challenges. Her lived experience informs her policy work and it also guides her to always center directly impacted people in every policy decision.
In 2018 Rep. Epps founded Colorado Freedom Fund (CFF), an abolitionist organization which works to end wealth-based detention through legislation, litigation and direct action. CFF has bought freedom for over 1000 Coloradans. From 2018-2021 Elisabeth worked with ACLU of Colorado as Pretrial Justice Organizer and Smart Justice Organizer. Rep. Epps helped create the Bring Our Neighbors Home campaign and worked on issues like supporting the repeal of Colorado's death penalty, and advocating for clemency through the Redemption campaign.
In 2020 Rep. Epps was one of thousands of non-violent protestors who endured unjust brutality by Colorado law enforcement, and she sued the City and County of Denver for the violations of her First Amendment rights to free speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom to petition, as well as for violations of Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment prohibitions on unreasonable seizures and excessive use of force. After a multi-week trial the federal jury agreed with Rep. Epps and her co-plaintiffs on every claim, awarding $14 million to the 12 plaintiffs. [Epps et. al. v. City and County of Denver.] As of 6/1/2024, more than 2 years after the verdict Rep. Epps and her co-plaintiffs still have not received any part of the verdict.
Rep. Epps knows we cannot sue our way out of police brutality, but that litigation - like legislation - is one tool of many to help communities access justice and improve opportunities for wellness. Herself a survivor of police violence and intimate partner violence, Rep. Epps understands how cops, courts, and cages fall short in protecting victims and preventing crime. That lived experience led her to dedicate her life to keeping the most vulnerable members of our community safe, free, and healthy. And in 2022, those experiences led Rep. Epps finally said Yes when community members asked her to run to represent us in the Colorado State House. |