Cathy L. C. Justice
Member
First Lady Cathy Justice was appointed to the West Virginia Board of Education in 2024. She was born in Beckley and attended public schools, graduating from Marshall University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education. First Lady Justice began her career as a teacher and taught in Raleigh County Schools. She married Jim Justice, whom she met in high school.
After moving to Lewisburg when their daughter was in high school, Cathy Justice served on the board of the First National Bank for several years. Upon becoming First Lady of West Virginia in 2017, Cathy began what would become her primary initiative: Communities In Schools (CIS). Through this initiative, she provided visionary leadership to expand CIS to all 55 counties in West Virginia, making the Mountain State the only state in the national CIS network to provide programming statewide.
CIS, our nation’s #1 dropout prevention program, provides at-risk students the support they need by placing site coordinators in schools to help provide basic needs through individualized case management.
Planning for CIS’s implementation in West Virginia schools began in 2017 with a three-county pilot program, having grown the past sever years to impact more than 117,000 students through 298 site coordinators in 285 schools. The CIS West Virginia program has led to 99% of students served, remaining in school.
Additionally, First Lady Justice introduced the Friends With Paws therapy dog program in West Virginia CIS school sites across the state, having placed 42 dogs since 2022. These highly trained dogs help increase school attendance and lead to improved social and emotional behavior in students. With plans to continue expanding the program, West Virginia will become the first state to have a statewide school therapy dog program.
Governor and First Lady Justice have been married for 48 years. They have two adult children, Jay Justice and Dr. Jill Justice Long. The Justice Family also includes Jay’s wife, Catherine Grainger Justice, Jill’s husband, Adam Long, and four grandchildren. Their home would not be complete without their beloved “canine kids”, Babydog, an English bulldog, and Ellie, a Boston Terrier.