CCJ 4681 UCF Carvana Cloud Serves as Bureau Chief of Special Victim Journal Reflection

Carvana Cloud is the Founder and Executive Director of Community Empowerment Solutions(CES). CES is a social justice collaborative designed to support and empower underserved communities by creating conditions that reduce violence and promote positive outcomes where people live, learn, work, and play. Carvana began her legal career as a prosecutor with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office and completed her most recent stint as an executive prosecutor serving as the Bureau Chief of the Special Victims Bureau dedicated to enhancing victim safety and offender accountability in regards to domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, and human trafficking crimes.

By leveraging her litigation skills, violence prevention expertise, coalition building, and management experience, Carvana created CES to establish strategic partnerships with governmental and private entities to streamline access to the supportive resources individuals and their families need to be safe and healthy in their respective communities.

Carvana is Vice-President of RESPOND Against Violence and a core faculty member of the University of Texas Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. Carvana’s other professional accomplishments have informed the creation of several trauma-informed homicide prevention prevention initiatives such as the Harris County Domestic Abuse Response Team (DART), the Cultural Outreach Program (COP), and the Harris County Domestic Violence High Risk Team (DVHRT). She frequently trains on strangulation, the role of expert witness testimony, and the importance of culturally specific advocacy in criminal investigations and prosecutions.