Erricka Bridgeford is an African American activist from Baltimore. She worked to get Maryland's death penalty law repealed in 2013, and founded and co-organizes quarterly 72-hour "Ceasefire" weekends. Baltimore Ceasefire weekends began in 2017, in the hope of reducing violence. Erricka was named 2017's Marylander of the Year by The Baltimore Sun. Early life Bridgeford was born on October 9, 1972, the oldest of four children. She grew up in Normount Court, a housing project in West Baltimore. Her family was close-knit, and her parents, she said in an interview, were like "the Huxtables of the ghetto," serving as surrogate parents to other young people in the neighborhood. The area was poor but not plagued with violence until the 1980s and 90s. Since then she has lost a brother, a stepson, two cousins (who were brothers), and several friends to gun violence. As a result of Amniotic Band Syndrome, Bridgeford was born without a right hand, and with four fingers on her left hand. Career Bridgeford began her career working for an organization devoted to infant wellness. In 2001 she trained as a volunteer at the Baltimore Community Mediation Center; two months later she was hired, and in 2002 she became their director of training. In 2005, Erricka became Director of Training at Community Mediation Maryland where she provided training to the 18 community mediation centers in Maryland, as well as to state agencies and organizations. In 2020, she was named Executive Director at Baltimore Community Mediation Center. On February 3, 2018, she made a guest appearance on the online children's web series, Danny Joe's Tree House. Activism Bridgeford has been involved in community activism since the late 1990s. The death of her brother David in 2007 inspired her to focus on ending violence. Death penalty repeal Bridgeford began advocating for repeal of the death penalty in Maryland in 2009. Along with several other survivors of homicide victims, she testified before the Maryland legislature, spoke repeatedly to the press, and shared her personal story at rallies and other events. She argued that justice could not be gained through revenge, and that the death penalty was a form of revenge. "It's not justice to me to have another dead body in place of my brother's dead body," she said in an interview. Bridgeford believed the death penalty only brought more pain and failed to honor the victims; she suggested to a