State of Mississippi Judiciary

Chancellor Debra Giles receives Kellogg Foundation fellowship

January 8, 2026

Chancellor Debra M. Giles of Greenville has been awarded a fellowship from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation in a program designed to help community leaders grow so that they can lead transformational change on behalf of children, families and communities.

Judge Giles and 16 others from across Mississippi were chosen for the 18-month fellowship. Others from the legal field are Sara Cotten of Ridgeland, Case Referral Coordinator for the Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project, and Seirra S. Williams of Pearl, MVLP’s Foreclosure Prevention and Community Redevelopment Program Staff Attorney.

They are among 80 people who will participate in programs provided by the Community Leadership Network with the Center for Creative Leadership. Most of the participants are from Mississippi, Louisiana, Michigan and New Mexico, and include members of Native American sovereign tribes. Programs start in January and will include six in-person and three virtual gatherings.

Judge Giles said, “This fellowship will be a chance for me to connect and grow and lead, to make transformational changes to bring about a healthier and safer community. What’s most important is you will learn from people across the country about ideas for strengthening leadership skills, new ideas to better serve the community. We want to make sure that we are truly meeting the needs of children and families.”

Judge Giles said that she looks for ways to help children and families outside the courtroom, based on the need that occurs in the courtroom. For instance, she reached out to the Department of Public Safety to make arrangements for the DPS mobile unit to visit the Delta. It’s an opportunity for people to get or renew a driver’s license or get an identification card. The mobile unit visited Indianola on Dec. 22 and returned on Dec. 30 because of the number of people seeking licenses or IDs. The unit is scheduled to be in Belzoni on Jan. 23 and at intervals every other month in both counties.

Judge Giles said that lack of transportation makes it harder for people to drive to a DPS office in Cleve-land, Greenwood or Greenville, and people who don’t have an ID can’t get a job. Making the process easier to obtain a driver license or ID opens employment opportunities that can support families.

She said, “I’ve always made a point to invest in the community and find ways to ensure there is access to justice. It’s great to make sure your caseload is moving, but you also have to make sure you are addressing the needs in the community.”

Judge Giles presides as a chancellor and Youth Court judge in Humphreys and Sunflower counties. She is the only chancellor in the state who also presides over Youth Court full-time.

Judge Giles got her first experience with the legal profession in high school when she was assigned to the District Attorney’s office in an after school work program. However, she was interested in medicine, and earned an undergraduate degree from Tulane University and graduate degrees from the University of Alabama, Birmingham School of Public Health and the UAB School of Health Related Professions. She also did post-graduate studies in children’s mental health and co-occurring disorders at the University of Iowa College of Public Health before going to law school.

She earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law. She served as a public defender in the Delta for a decade and maintained a private law practice. She was elected for the first time in November 2018 and took office as a chancellor in the Ninth Chancery Court in January 2019.

Other Mississippi recipients of Kellogg Foundation fellowships are: Shequite Wilson-Johnson of Indianola, Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Sciences at Mississippi Valley State University and co-founder of the GAP Leadership Program; Chiquikta Fountain of Cleveland; Amia Edwards of Jackson, found-er and Executive Director of the Amiable Arts Foundation; Devin Winsett of Jackson, Director of Social Services at the Refill Jackson Initiative; Marcus D. Burger of Jackson, Vice President and Shareholder with Ross & Yerger Insurance; Pauline Rogers of Jackson, founder and Executive Director of the RECH Foundation; Madison N. Upendo of Brandon, Chair of the Wells APAC Theatre Department within Jackson Public Schools; Marilyn Johnson of Canton, Deputy Executive Director of Mom.ME; Quiton Garrett of Madison, Program Director for Mississippi Reading and Math Corps; Errolyn Gray of Columbus; Mavis A. Creagh of Hattiesburg, Executive Director of R3SM, Inc.; Rachel Tyrone of Monticello, Assistant Professor and Pro-gram Coordinator in the John D. Bower School of Population Health at the University of Mississippi Medical Center; Tess Johnson of Oxford, Instructional Assistant Professor and CEPH Accreditation Coordinator in the Department of Public Health at the University of Mississippi; and Tracy Galloway of Ocean Springs, founder and Executive Director of Galloway Family Farm & Education Center.

For more information about the Kellogg fellows, go to https://wkkfcln.org/meet-the-fellows/.

####