Dream Justice Cohort

Adam Martin, CEO and Founder of F5 Project, defied odds after facing five felonies, driven by a desire to serve overlooked individuals. F5 Project, initiated in 2016 in Fargo, ND, burgeoned into a statewide force combating recidivism, mental health, and addiction, with offices in seven cities, aiding over 520 participants monthly. Martin's journey epitomizes resilience and purpose, transforming personal struggles into a beacon of hope for those reentering society post-incarceration. His commitment to justice reform and holistic support underscores the organization's impact in bridging resources and empowering recovery. Through Adam's leadership, F5 Project showcases the potential for individuals to catalyze societal change, emphasizing empathy and determination in reshaping communities.

Anjelica is a connector, creative, and advocate. From public health to public policy, she started her career as a health education specialist and eventually transitioned to the Pennsylvania House
of Representatives. She has years of experience managing community health programs and in her current work, she explores various policy issues, focusing on social justice and health equity including maternal health and dignity for incarcerated women and housing stability.

Her passion for community, health, and communications intersect in her many roles, where she strives to amplify their collective impact. Anjelica is a certified fitness instructor and founder of Elevate Barre PHL -- a fitness fundraiser series aimed at elevating issues impacting black women and their communities.

She is also a community journalist at PhillyCam. Anjelica received a M.S. in Health Education from Saint Joseph’s University and a B.S. in Sports Science & Fitness Management from North Carolina A&T State University.

In order for a man to help others, he must first take advantage of the help he’s received. Along the way, he must show himself to be capable of helping himself as well. Charles King is the epitome of this mindset. As the founder of Helping Others With Life H.O.W.L., Charles is dedicated to the advancement of disadvantaged people.
From birth, Charles has been an overcomer. Born with a birth defect to a father who was limited due to drug addiction, Charles and his mother were left to take on the challenges of this world. The infestation of drugs and the infamous “murder capitol” era made up the backdrop of his childhood in the Northwest quadrant of the District of Columbia in the 1980s. By the age of 13, Charles was arrested for the first time. He would go on to spend the next three (3) years serving a sentence for that crime in a youth detention facility as well as a group home.

Soon after being released, Charles became a victim of a gun violence. Having been shot several times during the incident, he was left paralyzed below the waist. Despite this major setback, with the help of inpatient and outpatient therapy, Charles learned to walk again. The grip of the street life was not easily escapable. Charles would go back to the streets. This time, he would find himself charged with gun and drug possession. This landed him back in the same youth detention facility where he’d been detained at 13.

At 18, Charles returned to the streets with a mindset still anchored in the street life. As an adult, the stakes were higher in the streets and so were the perceived rewards from that lifestyle. Charles began to sell a large amount of drugs and brought in large amounts of money. The prosperous times would come with a cost. At the age of 21, Charles found his mother murdered in the basement of his grandmother’s house. Within six (6) months of her death, Charles was indicted, arrested, and tried in federal court. After the second trial, he was sentenced to 211 months of jail time.

In 2015, Charles returned home with a reformed mindset. He quickly gained employment. Service jobs with Giant and Premium Beers were the beginning of his new life as a working man. Those jobs satisfied his financial obligations. Those jobs would allow him to help himself. While helping himself, he knew he had an obligation to help others. That obligation weighed heavily on him and compelled him to put a focus on changing the lives  across the District of Columbia and beyond the District of Columbia especially those impacted by the criminal justice system and. To those who have been helped by him, he is an angel.

De'jon Joy is the Assistant Director at Empowerment Avenue, where he utilizes his lived experience in the California prison system to collaborate with incarcerated artists. His efforts focus on breaking barriers and creating opportunities for these artists to showcase their work in galleries, exhibitions, and commission opportunities while managing communications for the organization. De'jon is passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion, striving to integrate incarcerated individuals into the larger arts community. Additionally, he co-designed a curriculum that emphasizes cultural awareness, health, and wellness for incarcerated Black men. He also offers website design and consulting services to help individuals manage their sites. De'jon lives in San Francisco, CA, and is available for freelance assignments and speaking engagements.

Gina Vazquez, a passionate advocate for justice reform, is the driving force behind significant strides in language accessibility and cultural sensitivity within the criminal justice system. As a Career Advisor for the reentry community, she tirelessly promotes human rights and equitable treatment for those transitioning back into society.

Driven by a profound belief in the power of communication and understanding, Gina’s work is guided by a commitment to empathy, equity, and justice. These core values reflect her long-term vision for a more just and inclusive society. She is dedicated to ensuring that everyone, regardless of language or cultural background, receives fair treatment and access to justice.

Gina is also a fervent advocate for probation reform. She emphasizes the importance of allowing individuals on probation or parole the right to work without undue interference. "Let Them Excel" is an initiative she is focusing on building policies that ensure probation and parole agents support, rather than hinder, the employment opportunities of those under their supervision. Gina believes these agencies should assist individuals in excelling and being productive members of society by avoiding scheduling conflicts that could jeopardize their jobs and refraining from workplace visits that can cause unnecessary stress and stigma.

Connecting with diverse stakeholders, Gina has been building partnerships to amplify the voices of those most affected by the criminal justice system. Her efforts have led to significant advancements and increased public awareness about the importance of language access, cultural sensitivity, and supportive probation practices.

Gina Vazquez inspires others to join the movement for reform, passionately believing that everyone deserves to be understood, respected, and given a fair chance to succeed. Her unwavering commitment makes her a leading voice in the fight for justice reform.

Emilee Shell is a native of Mississippi. She began her advocacy work advocating for human trafficking victims who were incarcerated and shedding light in her community. Being justice impacted, she has faced many stigmas.

Emilee was asked to be a directly impacted speaker with the Mississippi Poor People’s Campaign, and that’s where she found her purpose. After a short time working on the campaign, Emilee was hired as a State Campaign Organizer to help organize the largest, mass, low-wage workers’ assembly and march on Washington, D.C., in 2022.

Emilee’s passion for helping justice-impacted people lit a fire inside of her. Being a voice and inspiring others to use their own voice has been liberating. Currently, Emilee is a GOTV National Field Organizer with the campaign and is looking forward to continuing to mobilize and organize. She is also the director of a large sober living facility in which 90% of the women are formerly incarcerated. In this position she gets to share her own experience with these ladies on a daily basis while educating and empowering them in their own recovery. Emilee is the Founder of Exchanging Pathways where she plans to provide reentry housing and programs.

Gabi Hart, longtime youth and family advocate and community organizer in Milwaukee, WI. Co-founded Program the Parks MKE Youth Initiative. WI Empathy network leader at Dream.org. Strong advocate and ally to families seeking justice for their loved ones due to police violence. Campaign manager, serial protester and strong advocate for civic education and policy engagement.

Jada Vickers is an unwavering advocate for criminal justice reform, driven by her personal experiences. In her full-time role, she actively contributes to breaking the cycle of incarceration by fostering long term relationships with individuals, grassroots organizations, and like-minded business leaders. Jada possesses a unique ability to sway hearts and minds, ensuring economic mobility and opportunities for all.

As the 2023 Dream.org Arizona State Empathy Network Leader, Jada championed critical reforms, aiming to close prison doors and open doors of opportunity. Her current objectives include advancing the Home Arrest Electronic Monitoring bill in Arizona to alleviate prison overcrowding and reduce taxpayer burdens. Additionally, she passionately advocates for Independent Oversight of prisons and upholds the dignity of incarcerated women.

Jada's remarkable journey from adversity to success underscores her unwavering commitment to positive change. Her righteous pursuit of justice resonates as a beacon of hope in a system ripe for transformation.

Meet Jasmine Woodson, a dedicated advocate for criminal justice reform and passionate leader in the fight against wrongful convictions. As the Director of Tennessee Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty and Recruiting Manager for the Blexit Foundation, Jasmine has spent years mobilizing communities and advocating for change in the criminal legal system.

With a proven track record of success, Jasmine spearheaded the exoneration efforts of Phillip Mullins, a man who has spent 24 years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit. Her tireless efforts and unwavering commitment to justice have made a tangible impact on countless lives.

With over 13 years of experience as an outspoken activist and 4 years in conservative politics, Jasmine brings a unique perspective and expertise to the table. Her warm, empathetic approach and willingness to listen have earned her the trust and respect of those she serves.

Jasmine's ultimate goal is to reform the system on a mass scale, ensuring that justice is served and freedom is protected for all. Join her in this critical mission to create a more just society for everyone.

Kat Jutras is a dedicated advocate for criminal justice reform with nearly a decade of experience in civil rights restoration. She empowers individuals to reclaim their rights and access essential opportunities post-incarceration. Throughout her career, Kat has helped many regain their rights to serve on juries, vote, and secure housing and education. She also serves as a victim advocate and community health worker, identifying gaps in care and supporting those impacted by violence to improve their mental health and well-being. Kat has held key roles in organizing, program development, and advocacy leadership within national and statewide nonprofits. Currently, she serves as Advocacy Director and Managing Partner for statewide abolition and transformative-focused organizations, leading policy reform and transformative justice efforts in her home state. Her work is driven by a commitment to systemic change and the belief that everyone deserves a second chance. and the opportunity to heal.

I am Katrina Butler, a resilient woman, published children’s book author, and social impact life coach who has transformed life's challenges into opportunities to inspire and assist others facing similar hardships. As the founder of "Different Souls on One Accord" and "So Far So Close," my nonprofit supports women survivors of domestic violence and incarceration through holistic peer mentorship and restorative justice, fostering freedom, self-worth, acceptance, and empowerment. My LLC offers post-conviction resources. My commitment to my work has led me to obtain certifications in Social Justice Life Coaching, Restorative Justice Facilitation and Certified Trauma Support Specialist. Currently pursuing higher education at Georgia State University and Strayer University, I live by the words, 'Never forget where you came from and stand on your truth no matter what!' It is only when we stand in our truth that we can foster personal growth and work towards the betterment of humanity."

Kelly Lynch is an advocate for social justice who was inspired to create change after enduring an eight month incarceration while pregnant with her daughter in Gainesville, FL. She has overcome addiction, hospitalizations, incarceration, and is a survivor of human trafficking.

As a mother of two, Kelly's children are her driving force, pushing her to create a better life for herself and a better world for her children to live in. She recently finished a fellowship at an economic justice organization called Community Spring, where she advocated to relieve the financial burden that people coming home from incarceration face because of fines and fees in the criminal justice system.

She now works at the River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding where she champions for solution-focused, non-violent conflict resolution and restorative justice practices within community systems. She hopes to one day change the current systems in place that separate incarcerated mothers from their children and their newborn babies in the state of Florida.

I'm Laporcsha Peoples, a dedicated advocate for criminal justice reform. I am a graduate of Arkansas State University attaining four degrees in criminal justice, psychology/sociology. Born inside a federal prison, The circumstances of my birth have instilled in me a deep understanding of the need for criminal justice reform and a commitment to creating a better future for all. As former Director of Bridges To Freedom, a nonprofit organization, I worked to empower marginalized communities and amplify the voices of those silenced by the criminal justice system. My activism has taken me to the forefront of critical battles for justice, including marching on Washington D.C. with the Free Hearts, Free Her campaign and participating in the Heal People, Heal People Empathy on the Hill week event. I aim to humanize the justice-impacted experience, bridge gaps between communities, and pursue restorative justice. Embracing righteousness, and uplifting the oppressed.

Lucinda Cross, media personality, and leadership trainer for women, was listed as Forbes Next 1000, stands tall as Verizon's Small Business Comeback Coach, and was honored with the Lifetime Achievement award by President Barack Obama. As the visionary Founder and CEO of Activate Worldwide, a forceful entity dedicated to women's empowerment, Opportunity Youth, and women impacted by the Justice system advocate. Lucinda is a beacon of inspiration and a true catalyst for transformation. Her voice resonates far and wide, gracing the stages of CNN, the Today Show, BET, ABC, NBC, and Essence. Lucinda brings a wealth of experience. Lucinda has immense expertise in co-convening women's initiatives, mobilizing women, and providing insights into empowerment, reentry, and development.

Mat Hazelberg is a Harm Reductionist and Drug User Activist. He has co-founded P.U.L.S.E., Wisconsin's first Drug User's Union in 2023. He has worked with people who inject drugs since 2006. He lives on Milwaukee's South Side with Hannah, his spouse; Samuel, his son; and Marge, their cat.

Matthew McCullers is a digital communications strategist and dedicated prison abolitionist, driven by personal experiences with family incarceration. As a 2024 Dream Justice Cohort member through Dream.Org, he works to dismantle harmful systems and reimagine justice through policy advocacy and narrative change. His background spans re-entry support, organizing, and digital storytelling, with experience at organizations such as The People’s Lobby USA, The Illinois Coalition to End Permanent Punishments, and Dream.Org as an intern.

Matthew has facilitated qualitative interviews, launched digital campaigns, and created impactful storytelling projects that uplift the voices of justice-impacted individuals. He currently serves as the Email Marketing Coordinator for Pray March Act in NYC and is an active member of The People’s Coalition for Safety and Freedom, a national abolition coalition, leveraging his expertise in digital engagement to drive grassroots advocacy. Through his work, he seeks to amplify human-centered narratives that challenge mass incarceration and inspire a future rooted in equity, accountability, and true community safety. He is always looking for opportunities to sharpen communications strategies in this field and is open to partner with other advocates to achieve a society that aims to heal and repair communities.

A Mississippi Freedom Fighter who spent Twenty-Three Years in in the Belly of the Beast as a first-time offender; released on the First Step Act in 2020. Since being released, Maurice served as a Chaplain/Reentry Coordinator at the Mississippi Department of Corrections for three years. He now a Chaplain with the United States Chaplaincy Corps where he is a Community Specialist and through his nonprofit S.A.I.L. works tirelessly to restore the voting rights of the disenfranchised.

Maurice is a Champion for his People!

Odell Hager is a person in long term recovery and the Community Outreach Coordinator for New Day Recovery Center in Winchester KY. Before relocating to Winchester and working for New Day, Odell was a Kentucky Peer Support Specialist for addiction recovery care in Louisa KY and St Catherine's KY. Odell was born and raised in Frankfort KY where he along with family and friends have been impacted tremendously by the drug policies in Kentucky like so many others. Today, he continues to make it his mission to help others as others so willingly helped him.

Once ensnared in Southeast San Diego's street culture, Robert transformed his life during a 25-year sentence for a drug conspiracy. While incarcerated, he tutored other inmates, mentored at-risk youth, and began serving on the Prison Scholar Fund’s board of directors. He earned an associates degree in sociology and bachelor of science degrees in small business management and marketing graduating with honors in all degrees. The First Step Act, championed by Dream.Org (then #Cut50) led to his release after nearly 18 years. He currently is on Dream.Org’s federal advisory council, he advocates for prisoner education and criminal justice reform. He also mentors at-risk youth and works to reduce violence in San Diego, California. Robert dreams of a world full of opportunity where the term, “and justice for all” really applies to all.

My name is Russell Marks. I am a federal post-conviction specialist who established the Samaritan Project and works for Attorney Tom Norrid in Springfield, Missouri. In the last three years, the Samaritan Project has assisted fifteen federal prisoners serving life reduce their sentences to time served under the First Step Act (FSA).

In 1990, I was one of the first persons charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine under Joe Biden’s 1988 Anti-Drug Abuse Act (ADDA) of 1988. I was sentenced to a mandatory minimum term of life imprisonment and served over thirty years. I was released on December 20, 2020, under the FSA.

Since my release, I have obtained a bachelor’s in criminology from Colorado State University, a bachelors in sociology from Adams State University, and an Advanced Paralegal Degree from the Center for Legal Studies. I am studying for the LSAT and intend to go to law school.

Sandra Chotia has a wealth of lived experience many could envy. A lifelong artist and musician, her life has moved to the beat of a different drum. Her preference for punk music has seen her circle of influential inspiration emphasize the importance of being an active force for change rather than a passive observer. She lives by the compass of, “If not me, who? If not now, when?” Sandra’s passionate belief is to see those who feel unseen and to care for the addict that still suffers. Her community outreach activities range from feeding the homeless in the city park, to harm reduction efforts with local activists. Sandra’s personal addictions led to her being sentenced to two, 5 to life prison sentences in 2014. After spending a total of 6 years and 4 months inside Sandra was able to earn an early release from prison. She accomplished this amazing turn around through unflinching personal reflection, participation in rehabilitative programs and becoming a peer leader among fellow residents. After completing her own high school diploma, she continued to work at the education center and assisted dozens of women in achieving their educational goals. From this experience Sandra has seen first hand how important education is to build up confidence and resolve to transform one’s life and how poorly the punitive model for justice performs in terms of limiting recidivism She believes a system based on restoration rather than punishment, used in this country, can achieve the positive outcomes systems of restorative justice see in other countries, such as the Netherlands.

Motivated and adaptable professional with a diverse background in software engineering education, adult learning education, customer service, and management. Experienced Technical Teaching Assistant at Justice Through Code, demonstrating expertise in facilitating virtual learning environments and providing technical and academic support to students. Skilled in workshop co-facilitation, with a strong commitment to building relationships and fostering community engagement. Possessing a solid understanding of restorative justice practices and a passion for promoting racial equity and social justice. Proven ability to thrive in dynamic, collaborative environments and drive impactful results.

Selena has worked on the front lines of alcoholism, addiction, and reentry for 16 years, and is passionate about policy work for sustained change. She experienced childhood trauma that led to addiction, which led her to The Healing Place, where she completed the long term recovery program, became a peer mentor and then a staff member for 11 years. After nursing school and a brief stint as a nurse, she quickly realized that recovery and reentry are her passions and began  at The Prisoner’s Hope, a non profit working with men, women and their families pre, during and post incarceration through mentoring and the meeting of basic needs. She quickly realized that the sea of people needing help through recovery and reentry would never end unless the policies perpetuating these vicious cycle were tackled. She was able to work on proactive legislation and learn about the legislative process with a group called the Smart Justice Advocates, which she now leads today. They are a group of directly impacted people who mobilize to share their lived experience with law makers in Frankfort Kentucky. She has recently partnered with Lane13 Consulting as their Vice President of Public Relations offering representation to recovery and reentry programs on a local and state level, giving them a seat at the legislative table.  Her ultimate goal in this work is to help change what reentry looks like and to take our punitive incarceration practices and gear them towards true and helpful rehabilitation.

Tammica Motley, a native Houstonian, is a devoted wife and mother of two. Her life took a profound turn in November 2023 after tragically losing her son, a Correctional Officer in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Despite grappling with immense grief, Tammica found strength to advocate for change within the criminal justice system.

Driven by her newfound passion, Tammica founded The Jovian Motley Foundation, dedicated to enhancing safety protocols and providing resources for those serving within the criminal justice system. Her unwavering commitment has earned her respect in her community, where she tirelessly works to foster positive change.

Prior to founding her foundation, Tammica collaborated with the No More Bloodshed organization, focusing on youth support and crime prevention, addressing injustices by law enforcement and the criminal justice system. She’s also a Vice President for a Financial Services firm, where she empowers families with life insurance protection and financial literacy.

My name is Tyron(Ty) LaFountain. I am a certified behavioral health peer support specialist/supervisor for One Health in Lewistown, Montana. After being unjustly sentenced to 15 years to Montana State Prison, my sentence was reduced to 6 years to the Montana State prison by the sentence review committee. This was my first felony offense; this gave me the drive to want to change our criminal legal system. When released I was not connected to services of any kind and expected to succeed. I am passionate about changing our criminal legal system, especially our re-entry process allowing people to be more successful when released from prison and reducing recidivism rates. I plan to help create forensic peer support in the state of Montana and plan to open the first Criminal Legal System Peer Support Organization in the state that connects people to services in their community before they leave prison.

Yusuf Dahl leads the national effort to repeal the Thurmond Amendment, a carve-out to the Fair Housing Act that denies protections to individuals with drug distribution convictions. He has worked as a software developer, earned prestigious fellowships from Google and Tata Consultancy Services, founded an award-winning property management company, and served as the inaugural director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Lafayette College. Yusuf is the CEO of The Century Promise and founder of the Real Estate Lab in Allentown, a program dedicated to supporting the next generation of real estate entrepreneurs from underrepresented backgrounds in the Lehigh Valley. Yusuf resides in Easton, PA, with his 16-year-old daughter, where he can be found enthusiastically cheering her on at basketball games and tennis matches.

Alex Mayo is a community advocate who believes in #SecondChances4All. As a formerly incarcerated person, he has experienced firsthand many of the ways that our laws and corporate policies work together to systematically dehumanize people with criminal convictions and exclude them from resources they need to thrive. He believes we all need to cultivate the political courage required to build healthy communities, provide hope and healing for all people, and promote prevention over punishment. Since his release from prison in 2012, Alex has devoted his life to grassroots organizing, supporting decarceration efforts, and learning how to best use his voice to replace oppressive systems. He currently serves as the Executive Director of WA Voices where he leads efforts to change sex offense laws with the goal to eventually #AbolishTheRegistry in Washington State. Alex lives outside of Seattle, WA with his parents and his dog Oliver.

Andony Corleto works as a program associate with the Vera Institute of Justice, where he provides research, communications, and technical assistance that help create high-quality postsecondary and vocational education programs in prisons and jails throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. Before joining forces with Vera, Andony provided his talents to production in the entertainment industry as a second assistant director. He also served with the paramilitary organization of Wildland firefighters in the mountains of California, battling flames in two of their record-breaking seasons, serving his obligations as an indentured servant to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. A native of south-central Los Angeles, injustice and disparity has impacted every individual Andony has known in life. Navigating his youth through the tribalism of gang culture and savagery of police officers poaching human lives into the prison industrial complex have shaped and propelled his efforts to combat the economic, social, racial, educational and political inequities within our community and country as a whole. Today those efforts remain strong.

Khalil "Army" Armstead is the Executive Director and a Founding Member of Emergent Works (EW) and has an impressive background in music and ministry. EW is a nonprofit software company that trains returning citizens and those impacted by the criminal legal system to build community programs and products to reduce the harm caused by and one-day end mass incarceration. As the Executive Director, Army takes pride in serving and stewarding this community, ensuring that it is safe for all returning citizens and that our software products stay connected to our central mission to generate large-scale systemic change in the movement to end mass incarceration. Army is setting a new standard for reentry work and is committed to extending access and opportunities provided to him as a mentee in EW's inaugural mentorship program.

Army's resilience journey was tested when he was rejected from 195 jobs and struggled with mental health issues before finding and further developing the EW community. Determined to be successful on probation and rebuilding his life, he was inspired to learn to code to gain income by building websites for his friends, but he found something much more fulfilling being a part of Emergent Works. Twelve weeks into the program, Army became EW's first employee and operations manager, overseeing and designing new programs for communities impacted by mass incarceration. Although COVID-19 disrupted many of EW's plans, Army created and launched the first EW 1:1 virtual mentorship program, which connects formerly incarcerated & justice-involved individuals with professional software engineers to build digital literacy skills and learn how to code to decrease recidivism and close the racial wealth gap.

During Army's time as operations manager, he experienced many successes along the way as he served as the product manager, supporting the development of EW's open-source not911 app, which is designed to direct people to organizations that offer counseling, mediation, and intervention services, and Poll2Poll which is a mutual-aid app aiming to be a platform for citizens to report updates on local polling sites (like closures and long lines), and connects voters to community-organized ride shares if a poll location is unexpectedly closed. Army's role as product manager overseeing all of the detailed user stories for the engineering team and exceptional communications with clients has led to not911 going viral and Poll2Poll being utilized in the 2020 presidential election.

A year after serving as operations manager, Army became Executive Director and, in three months, led EW to receive a $1,000,000 grant from the owner of Twitter and Square, Jack Dorsey's StartSmall fund. Further, Army worked closely with EW's Director of Operations, Aedan Macdonald, to successfully execute a partnership with Community Justice Exchange and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, taking ownership of the Bail Fund App. This app provides efficient and equitable access to bail funds for individuals incarcerated during pretrial detention and its continued development. These efforts helped the EW team achieve multi-million dollars within that same year. Faith and resilience have shaped Army as a steadfast champion for mental health awareness, a fervent leader, and a firm believer that through our lived experiences, we can create the solutions for the social problems impacting our communities. Army looks forward to carrying out the vision of EW while continuing to create opportunities for communities impacted by mass incarceration, including providing holistic support and trauma-informed care. We build community and social impact that is supported by and empowered through technology.

Austin is a dedicated individual who has embraced the opportunity to rebuild his life and is committed to making the most of it. Currently employed full-time as a Software Engineer, he holds 14 industry-recognized certifications and is on track to graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity in Spring 2025. Austin is passionate about leveraging his skills to combat injustice and create a more peaceful world.

Belen Enriquez, an American entrepreneur, and criminal justice advocate, has journeyed from Ecuador to the US, from academia to the courtroom, from formerly incarcerated individual to defender. She brings diverse expertise in legal and political analysis, digital arts, writing, and strategic consultation. After earning degrees in Organizational Management and Finance, she immersed herself in criminal law, awakening a passion for justice. This passion was further fueled by her encounter with the law in 2018. She used her 15-month incarceration as an opportunity to assist other incarcerated individuals, transforming a challenging period into a platform for advocacy. She amplified her contributions upon release, aiding early releases and leading the Law Offices of Paul Petruzzi in Miami as the Office Director. Featured in numerous prestigious media outlets, Belen fights for justice and aims to become an attorney.

Her enthusiasm for technology, artificial intelligence, and design thinking interweaves with her professional and academic journey, driving innovative solutions. Currently enrolled in the Executive Program in Social Impact Strategy at the University of Pennsylvania, Belen's ambition to create significant change remains unyielding. A strong supporter of immigration reform, she is particularly concerned about the challenges individuals face post-incarceration, underlining her empathy and commitment to equality, focusing on reentry and immigration consequences. Belen's life and work are a testament to resilience, transformation, and an enduring commitment to justice and social impact.

Many things can be said about Carl Fields, but lacking a transformative story isn’t one of them. After enduring a state prison sentence of almost 20 yrs, advocacy and policy change are now his life’s focus. As a Shelter Director and Community Organizer, Carl has pushed hard to ensure that people-first language, and not old-world pejorative speech, be the vernacular used to describe system-impacted people and their experiences. With an academic aptitude for communication and cognition, he has shaped local systems since his release and built partnerships where previously there weren’t any. He’s spent the last few years working on the pre- and post-side of incarceration, from bail fund and participatory defense work, to training on community power in Community Corrections.

In 2009, Coss Marte was sent to jail as the ringleader of a multi-million dollar drug operation. He was also grossly overweight and warned by his physician that his current lifestyle, if left unchecked, would likely kill him.

Faced with this grim prognosis, Coss started to get in shape using the tools he had -- his prison cell and his own body weight. Within six months he lost 70 pounds and replicated his successful formula of body weight exercises with 20 other inmates. Then he launched CONBODY, a prison style bootcamp that has gained over 70,000+ clients and has hired 50+ formerly incarcerated individuals to teach fitness classes. Since the launch of his company he’s been featured in over 200 major media outlets such as NBC, CNN, The New York Times, Men's Health and has been a 3 time TED Talk Speaker. He’s also won major pitch competitions such as Pitch for Good by TOM’s shoes and the YPO shark tank competition, which combined raised $2,000,000.

Today Coss co-founded a non-profit organization called Second Chance Studios, which trains and helps employ formerly incarcerated individuals to become experts in audio engineering, video production, and podcasting.

In addition, he launched CONBUD, which is looking to hire formerly incarcerated individuals that have been affected by the war on drugs to build a personal and impactful presence in the cannabis market in New York State through dispensaries that he's looking to open under the NYS conditional licensing program.

Cozine A Welch Jr. is the Program Coordinator for the Michigan Collaborative to End Mass Incarceration, a broad-based, statewide, non-partisan collaboration representing non-profit, faith-based, advocacy, grassroots, and service organizations whose mission is to end mass incarceration in Michigan and create and restore healthy communities.

Incarcerated at the age of 17 to serve a 22 year sentence, Cozine has used his experiences to inform and inspire his work as an educator, community researcher, and poet. As an educator Cozine has served as co-instructor of the Atonement Project and the Theatre & Incarceration courses at the University of Michigan, focusing on restorative justice, reconciliation, atonement, and the role of arts in healing and rehabilitation. As a writer and poet Cozine has had his work featured in The Michigan Quarterly Review, Plough Quarterly, the Periphery, and eleven consecutive volumes of the Michigan Review of Prisoner Creative Writing where he later served as the Managing Editor further expanding his influence in the realm of prisoner creative writing.

As an activist, reform advocate and abolitionist Cozine has served as the Executive Director of A Brighter Way, a nonprofit organization based in Washtenaw County that offers mentorship and wraparound services to individuals who have been formerly incarcerated, as well as a member of the University of Michigan’s Documenting Prison Education and the Arts team where, as a part of the Carceral State Research Project, he helped to produce the video series “Living On L.O.P.” He also has served on various councils, collaboratives, and partnerships aimed towards the reduction and elimination of the criminal justice system.

Deja Walker graduated from Mercy College with a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice with a specialization in Forensics and a minor in Psychology. Deja has worked in program management on Rikers Island working to reduce idle time with programs that assist the incarcerated population to prepare for re-entry back into society. After spending about 5 years in corrections, Deja now focuses on diverting adolescent juvenile cases from the traditional court system with restorative justice programming. Outside of criminal justice, she
spends her time traveling the world and learning and experiencing the different culture and customs of various countries.

Gem Jones is a social justice advocate who seeks out and creates opportunities to build diverse networks by utilizing her platform through public speaking engagements and proximity gatherings to bring awareness, education, and change to the criminal justice systems and policies. As a directly impacted justice involved person she stands boldly to bear testimony of what a life of redemption and one invested in by those who embody Empathy looks like. A digital content creator and sole moderator of the advocacy social media site,"What about us behind the walls". An advocacy site that lends an ear and gives a voice to our incarcerated silenced society members in the state of Arkansas. A member of the "Incarcerated Children's Advocacy Network" of the "Campaign For The Fair Sentencing of Youth"s organization, an organization that has recently been credited for the release of 1000 children across the country sentenced to die in prison and other extreme term lengths. Gem was also one of those children and the Campaign For The Fair Sentencing of Youth is one of the organizations who has invested into her life. These are just some chapters in Gem's Redemption story grab a chair and a coffee there's more.

JoyBelle Phelan, a Colorado native, has been creative since childhood, playing multiple instruments before utilizing her vocal skills all throughout high school. She was incarcerated twice, for a total of seven years behind the walls, and has successfully completed community corrections and was granted early release from parole. She passionately believes that no one should be remembered for the worst decision they ever made. She is using her lived experience to challenge the perceptions of what prison is like for women and what re-entry can look like. While inside, she fostered her love of the written word as she volunteered as a Peer Education Mentor and a 7 Habits Core Group Member. She worked as the Pre-Release Clerk and assisted in the development and implementation of the Re-Entry Unit Program at La Vista Correctional Facility. She is currently an operations associate at the Prison Journalism Project and volunteers in the Colorado Dept of Corrections, providing writing workshops. She was the first woman from La Vista to be published in The Inside Report newspaper and has an essay published in the CCJRC Go Guide about being successful on parole. She has been a guest on multiple national podcasts focused on re-entry. Her TEDx San Quentin talk can be found here.

Khorry Ramey was born and raised in St.Louis, Missouri. Recently Khorry has been closely working with Missouri alternatives to the death penalty (MAPD MO) after the execution of Khorry's father back in November of 2022. Khorry's main goal and the thing Khorry is passionate about is abolishing the death penalty in Missouri and then in all 50 states.

Kimberly Biggs serves as the founder and Executive Director of From Prison to Purpose Mississippi. A mother of four and grandmother of two grandsons, Kimberly was born in Laurel, Mississippi and grew up in Prentiss, Mississippi. After a difficult upbringing and becoming a mother at the age of 15, she started selling marijuana and cocaine to support her family and while taking classes education at Stillman College and William Carey College. At the age of 20, Kimberly got married, stopped selling drugs, and continued to build a family. During this time, she became involved in real estate and helped many people get homes in her hometown. Unfortunately at this time, Kimberly was also introduced to some illegal business practices which resulted in a 3-year prison sentence leading her to lose her marriage, children, home, and life as she knew it.

Kimberly is now an advocate for formerly incarcerated people, In 2016, she founded From Prison To Purpose Mississippi, a ministry program providing others everything they needed to succeed returning back into society from incarceration. Knowing personally what it’s like coming out homeless with little to no family or community support, From Prison To Purpose Mississippi strives to provide needed supports to help build leadership, confidence and self sufficiency.

From Prison to Purpose Mississippi also provides vocational skills training, mental health counseling services, peer support, alcohol and drug counseling, housing, life and budget skills. We also help individuals to restore their voting rights and expunge their criminal records. Kimberly is a member of the National Council of Incarcerated Women and Girls, Chairperson of the Texas Second Chance Alliance, certified Peer Specialist (MS, GA, AL), and Prison Reform Advocate (Southerners on New Ground). She also completed certification through the American Restorative Justice Leadership Program for Women.

Kimberly Biggs is an over comer of life challenges and trauma. She is a vehicle of hope for life changing tools for returning citizens. She is a kingdom builder, a servant leader. She believes in restoring and reimagining community development by meeting the needs of our communities.

Marsha King's life journey has been shaped by her personal experiences with the justice system, which taught her the critical importance of having an advocate on the outside. Her passion for the protection of inmates' rights has inspired her to become an activist, serving as a voice for incarcerated individuals and their loved ones.

Marsha is committed to providing a range of prison services that enable prisoners and their families to navigate the complex legal and administrative processes involved in incarceration. Her expertise includes consulting on the First Step Act, Criminal Case Review, Second Chance Act, and early termination of supervised release. Marsha also serves as a resource for those who have been impacted by the policies of the penal system and is dedicated to fighting for human rights in this context.

As a mother, Marsha understands the critical role that parental rights play in preserving the family structure and supporting the mental health of children. She is deeply committed to ensuring that these rights are honored even after a sentence has been completed, and she believes that this is critical for the well-being of both individuals and society at large. In addition to her work as an advocate, Marsha is also committed to promoting legislative policy that addresses the accountability of lawyers and judges who violate the rights of offenders during the pretrial phase. She believes that this is essential for ensuring that previously incarcerated individuals are able to achieve meaningful and lasting restoration. Marsha is making a tangible difference in the lives of those impacted by the justice system and is working towards a future where justice is truly just.

Mei-Ling Ho-Shing, became a gun control activist after she survived the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Florida in 2018.

She began her activism by calling and leading a press conference to amplify the voices and experiences of students of color, marking a new generation of activists aiming to be fiercely intersectional. While studying Political Science at Alabama Agricultural & Mechanical University, Mei-Ling was inspired to challenge injustice, mass incarceration, and the abuses of power within the criminal legal system. Currently, she is a Community Organizer for Chainless Change. Deeply rooted in the value of lived experience, Chainless Change, Inc. serves as a
community of recovery, advocacy, and support for those impacted by the criminal legal system.

Mei-Ling has addressed audiences on local and national platforms, including the National Young Feminist Leadership Conference, the 50 Years After King: I AM Mountaintop Conference, the Illinois Education Association Representative Assembly, and the United State of Women Summit. Mei-Ling has been featured in local and national media outlets including Ms. Magazine, Essence Magazine, Seventeen Magazine, Florida Sun-Sentinel, Westside Gazette, USA Today, and the Washington Post.

Michael LaReau is a system impacted individual living in Madison Wisconsin. His passion for policy change, along with his desire to see the use of incarceration greatly change, stem from his own experiences within the WDOC. At the age of 15 Michael was sent to an adult maximum security prison where he fought for understanding and growth. After 13 parole hearings and 22 years of incarceration he was returned to a drastically changed technological landscape.

For the past 3+ years he has been finding ways to be involved in the process of advocacy. He is looking to further his skills/knowledge as a way to bring attention to the need for more immediate access to mental health services upon release. Additionally, Michael wants to create diversion programs for those who would be better served by receiving treatment, medication and education.

Moncies Franco is a Project Coordinator/Community Engagement Specialist for the Health, Homelessness & Criminal Justice Lab at Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute. He is dedicated to community investment and sits on the Board of Directors for the following nonprofit organizations: The Aliveness Project, Minnesota Freedom Fund, and Minnesota Second Chance Coalition.

He is a formerly incarcerated individual, motivated by his lived experience to become a change agent within the justice-involved community. He is committed to public safety and engaging in collaborative efforts across partisan lines to eliminate structural inequities in the criminal legal system.

His passion for criminal justice reform derives from his personal experience as a second generation incarcerated adult; this experience has become the impetus for his commitment to breaking the cycle of incarceration for his own children.

Rafiah Muhammad-McCormick entered the fight for criminal justice reform after losing her son Rodney to gun violence in 2020. Prior to entering the public sector, Rafiah was able to rise from being a teenage parent, birthing 4 children before she was 21 years old, to becoming a top-level engineering manager in the automotive field. Unfortunately, after seeing her son gunned down in her own backyard, she no longer found purpose in this work. Since Rodney's death, Rafiah has dedicated her life to working for restorative justice, victims' support, and violence prevention. Rafiah feels our current retribution based system causes more trauma to those who are harmed or have caused harm and encourages more violence.

Rafiah volunteers with a multitude of organizations focused on justice reform. She is a board member and officer of the Nashville Peacemakers and chapter president of Mothers Over Murder. She is now employed with Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty as Community Outreach Coordinator whose primary role is educating Tennesseans about the racial injustice inherent to the death penalty and making connections with organizations focused on racial justice and criminal justice reform to lead the work for repeal.

Ray Mendoza is a Marine Corps veteran and a veteran of Desert Storm as well as a veteran of the war on drugs. After serving 17 years and 9 months of a 20 year federal sentence, he came home to work as a violence interrupter and mentor to Milwaukee’s street population. He is currently the Circle of Support organizer for FREE. And is also trained and certified as a National Credible Messenger through PCITI, Cure Violence Interrupter Trainer, Social Capital Trainer and a trained Circle of Support Facilitator and Trainer.

Richard Lee is passionate about criminal justice reform. He believes the credibility of the criminal justice system has been stretched by misaligned incentives, and that accountability is needed on both sides to restore the public’s faith. In particular, Richard is skeptical of the justification for the undisputed ‘trial penalty’, which has resulted in skipping the accused’ due process rights in favor of the so-called ‘efficiency’ of justice. Richard is currently a law student and aspiring public defender.

Shawn Wright is an entrepreneur and businessman who founded The Wright Cause Urban Youth Conservation, a nonprofit created to empower underserved youth, in 2022. Shawn is the Co-Founder of the D.R.E.S.S. Coalition. The D.R.E.S.S. Coalition collaborates with local
government agencies, organizations, businesses, religious organizations, law enforcement, and citizens to reduce recidivism, improve public safety, and ensure that justice-impacted individuals have a fair chance to thrive.

Shawn’s passion for serving the youth and ending mass incarceration comes from lived experience in underserved, under-resourced, and under-represented communities. Shawn’s misguided childhood led him to be sentenced to 27 years in prison. His experience with the failed criminal justice system and the lack of re-entry resources fuels him to advocate for reform and lead our youth toward a thriving future.

Sheena Eastburn is an advocate for justice living in Missouri. Currently a student working towards a BA in Legal Studies with hopes of going to law school. Currently working with Human Rights Watch on a National Leadership Council to end Life Without Parole. She started a Reentry 501(3)c P.R.E.P for Release working with system impacted individuals and families, and currently working on Show Me Justice For All, an organization dedicated to advocating for change. As a person with lived experience knowing how difficult navigating the justice system, she is dedicated to helping as many as she can. Sheena is always willing to be a voice for those who need to be heard. Her favorite quote is “it is never too late to be who you were meant to be”. She believes in redemption and in second chances.

Starling Thomas is a dedicated advocate for criminal justice reform and currently serves as the Communications Director at The LOHM. Her passion for this cause stems from personal experiences that have shaped her perspective. As a young child, Starling witnessed her mother endure a brutal beating at the hands of the police. This traumatic event left a lasting impact on her and fueled her determination to address the flaws within the criminal legal system. As an adult, Starling faced her unjust incarceration, a wrongful conviction that led her to spend time behind bars. Despite the immense challenges, she refused to be silenced and pursued an appeal for her case. Her unwavering determination paid off, making her part of the remarkable 2% of individuals in the American prison population who successfully win their federal case on appeal.

Starling's journey through the justice system led her to join the inaugural Faces of Women Imprisoned Cohort, an experience that further deepened her understanding of the detrimental effects that the criminal legal system can have on women and their families. This firsthand knowledge fuels her commitment to fighting for justice and advocating for the rights of those impacted by the system.

Starling holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Relations from Florida A&M University, where she developed a strong foundation in strategic communication and relationship building. She also pursued her passion for storytelling by earning an MFA in screenwriting from Regent University, honing her creative skills in crafting compelling narratives. Starling's expertise as a filmmaker and writer has garnered recognition, with her work featured in various esteemed publications such as Sheen Magazine, Rolling Out, Divine Voice, and Page Magazine. Through her writing, she aims to shed light on important issues, amplify marginalized voices, and inspire meaningful change.

Driven by her personal experiences and professional expertise, Starling Thomas continues to be a fierce advocate, striving to reform the criminal legal system and uplift those impacted by its injustices.

Born and raised in Wichita, KS, Yusef Presley is a former Youth Leader turned staff member with Progeny, a youth/adult partnership that seeks to transform the juvenile justice system in Kansas. Yusef understands well the impacts of our current system on youth, having been in the foster care system since he was five years old. He lived through over one hundred foster care placements until being adopted in 2009. He went back into the system in 2012 under the Juvenile Justice Authority. He joined Progeny to ensure other young people do not experience the hardships and lack of governance he endured in this system, and to raise awareness of foster care-to-prison pipelines. He has represented Kansas on the national level as a youth representative on the CLASP (Center for Law and Social Policy) Team and as a Youth Leader with the Youth First Initiative. Yusef recently was granted the distinguished Open Society Foundation-Soros Justice Fellowship grant, to produce a documentary about the experiences of young people touched by the foster care-to-prison pipeline in Kansas. His long-term goal is to become a mentor and role model for youth striving to overcome difficult situations. His dream is to be a Little League coach and open his own foster care transitional home.

Zach Palmer is the founder of Coalition to Abolish Prison Slavery at Iowa. He currently works as a reentry coach while pursuing a bachelors in English & Social Justice at the University of Iowa on the pre-law track. He is formerly incarcerated in the juvenile and adult system while struggling with addiction. At 17, he was arrested for misdemeanor offenses and forwarded to adult court apart of the school-to-prison pipeline. In the middle of his own legal involvement, he dealt with multi-generational parental incarceration. Zach is also a mentor, has presented at research conferences, and spoken on several advocacy panels. From a young age, he learned that adolescents are often left behind (personal & parental) in the criminal legal system. Zach’s mission is to end the school-to-prison pipeline, the 13th amendment exception, and restore dignity to justice-impacted individuals.

Alexandra (Alex) Brown is pursuing a bachelor's degree in Social Work at Central Connecticut State University. A determined social justice advocate, she uses her own lived experience and incarceration to advocate and fight for all people impacted by the criminal legal system. As a Smart Justice Leader with the ACLU of CT, Alex is an advocate at the state level for people impacted by the criminal legal system.

As a formerly incarcerated person and addict who has struggled with feeling less than human and not worthy of the good things in life, Amanda is now on a mission to change the narrative. She created her podcast, The Let Good Things In Show to share her story and stories of others like her. Amanda truly believes that there is a story behind every “bad” decision and she is determined to be a part of the change that is needed to end the stigma.

Brittany Lee focuses on striving to grow through laughter and deep conversations. Her background is in strategic planning, leadership training, graphic designing and the legal system with a focus on creating sustainability, growth and growing legacies in our community and the impact of the carceral system. Brittany graduated from UW-Madison with a degree in Legal Studies and a certificate in Criminal Justice. Additionally, she has a certificate in Coding from UW-Extension. Brittany previously worked as the Operations Manager for EXPO, an organization that focuses on policy and advocacy for those impacted by the legal system. Using her gifts in graphic designing, she is the Marketing and Communications Chair for the Urban League Young Professionals for her local Chapter. Recently she graduated from the Dream.Org Empathy Network Cohort. In her free time she ventures around taking long hikes with her dog, King T’Challa, reading, live storytelling and finding new local coffee shops often with a book in hand! She brings an acute sense of detail in understanding policies and the law. Her love for liberating people through influencing policy comes from her deep interest for people in our community thriving and utilizing the policies to do just that.

Christina Blake | Owner and Visionary of DDD, Inc. | Advocate for Human Rights | Published Author | Philanthropist

As a devoted mother and grandmother, Christina Blake embodies resilience and compassion. A national advocate for human rights, she has transformed her own experiences with domestic abuse, substance abuse, and homelessness into a powerful mission to uplift others. Christina is a successful published author whose work reflects her journey and dedication to healing. Through her philanthropic efforts, Christina has collaborated with organizations such as Dream. Org SOME (So Others Might Eat), Safe Haven, the Department of Corrections, Fairview Halfway House, Calvary Women’s Services, and CFSA Child and Family Services. Her commitment to helping individuals recover and thrive is at the heart of her life's work, making a profound impact on countless lives.

Cynetra Freeman was a star graduate of our Dream Justice cohort in 2022 and Mississippi Empathy Network state lead from 2022-2024, so many of our staff had the privilege of working with her. We are shocked and saddened by her passing, and send our love to her family, the team at the Mississippi Center for Re-Entry and the rest of her community. Cynetra was a fierce believer that those of us who understand the injustices of our system must fight to change it, even in challenging political environments like Mississippi, and we will honor her legacy by continuing to seek a fairer criminal justice system all over the country.

Daniel Justiniano is the Director of Operations and Reentry Recruitment of ConConnect. After his own re-entry struggles, Daniel wanted to help make the process easier for others. He joined ConConnect to create a seamless and efficient re-entry experience. As an entrepreneur in The Catskills of New York, he spends his time enjoying his family, hiking, and traveling.

Denise M. Caffo is the President and CEO of Society-First, a Christian 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity organization that focuses on identifying and implementing social and criminal justice reform that puts society first in all its considerations. Society-First has has aggressively pushed the abolishment of Life Without Parole sentencing and to bring a restorative criminal justice system to Florida that will heal and restore, rather than breakdown and destroy.

Drekkia Writes is a poet, artist, creator and CEO of Seven of Arts, an educational consulting firm. She is the founder of the womens empowerment organization hey, sis! and a published author of the books 17 Mirrors and The Art of Securing the Bag. She formerly served as the Arts in Education Program Manager for the state of Arkansas and currently serves as the youngest elected official on the Little Rock School District School Board and serves as a commissioner on the Arts + Culture Commission.

Erika has years of experience working with people who have been involved in the criminal justice system, those who are unhoused, suffer from substance use disorder, and those who live with mental health conditions. She is a proud mother and grandmother currently working on Bail Reform. Erika earned her Bachelor of Social work degree at The University of Louisville, Kent School of Social Work. Erika is also an Organizing trainer/facilitator for Smart Justice Advocates of Kentucky, a group of directly impacted individuals working to increase voting and access to returning citizens in the state of Kentucky. Not only has Erika been personally impacted by the criminal legal system, but she has also experienced the generational impact of incarceration in her family and community. Erika is committed to changing policies that continue to devastate black families and communities across the state.

Eugene Youngblood was arrested in 1991 at 18 years of age and released in March of 2021 at the age of 48 after serving 29 and a half years. He was set to spend the rest of his life in prison but in June 2019, the clemency and pardons board voted unanimously to recommend release after finding that his personal transformation and the work he did with other prisoners was extraordinary.

Jacinta Hunt is a survivor, scholar and advocate for women’s justice and children of the incarcerated. She was featured in the award-winning documentary film, JACINTA directed by Jessica Earnshaw. Jacinta has been directly impacted by adverse community and childhood experiences that led her to the juvenile and criminal justice system. Because of this, she is committed to improving outcomes for our justice systems and people like her who find themselves entangled in it. Jacinta is currently a student and Rising Scholar at the University of Maine Augusta and collaborates with the Justice Policy Program to inform participatory research and policy development.

Pastor James comes to the Empathy Network with ten plus years experience as a Pretrial Investigator, assisting with bond recommendations and supervision of arrested, from the initial contact to the completed disposition. After leaving the courts Pastor James found himself called into the Ministry, first in Richmond Virginia/Henrico County at Agape International Ministry, and then at "C.A.U.S.E." International Ministry. Pastor James is the Founder of Operational Manager of "Straight Talk" a weekly podcast to address those things that are not addressed on Sunday mornings.

Jessica Johnson is the Senior Justice Campaign Organizer at Dream.Org. In this role, she does legislative advocacy on the state level, empowering and supporting Empathy Network leaders to pass legislation in their home states on criminal justice issues. Jessica believes strongly in continuing education and has earned a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Sociology, a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice, and a Paralegal diploma. As a system impacted individual, Jessica is passionate about ending mass incarceration and improving conditions of confinement for those who remain behind bars. In addition to her legislative advocacy work here at Dream.Org, Jessica is a board member and policy coordinator for Arizonans for Transparency and Accountability in Corrections (ATAC) and mentors returning citizens through the Televerde Foundation. She is also a graduate of Dream.Org’s 2022 Empathy Network Advocacy Cohort.

Judith Negron is a criminal justice reform advocate with a Master’s in Mental Health Counseling, and over 20 years experience as an educator, mentor, and counselor to a diverse population in the mental health sector. As a formerly incarcerated individual, she has dedicated her freedom to advocacy. As Founder and CEO of The Freedom Glow, LLC, Judith's mission is to empower others and guide them upon their reentry process; and her passion is to give a voice to those left behind, particularly to the children of the incarcerated, who are often the silent victims of these circumstances.

Karla's passion for ending mass incarceration and advocating for second chances for youthful offenders stems from her lived experience of having a son go to prison at 18, who is currently on his 13th year of incarceration, and a husband who was released one year ago after serving 29 years in prison. She is an active volunteer in community organizations and worked at the Tacoma Urban league where she mentored at risk young girls. She was also instrumental in the planning, preparation, and implementation of “30 days of peace” where community passageways organization sent at risk youth to Los Angeles to be mentored by former gang members now working as community activists. Currently she is volunteering with a community organization where she is facilitating a healing circle for families affected by incarceration.

Kwami is a Master of Public Service (Social Change option) candidate at the UA--Clinton School of Public Service and a Master of Public Administration & Graduate Certificate of Conflict Mediation candidate at the UA--Little Rock. In addition to being recently named a member of the 2nd cohort of the Renew America Together's Civility Leadership Institute, Kwami serves as the Legislative/Political Action Committee Chair of the Jacksonville NAACP, co-director of the Washitaw Foothills Youth Media Arts & Literacy Collective, the co-convenor of the Arkansas Peace & Justice Memorial Movement, the founder of the Do-It-Yourself L.A.W. (Legal Advocacy Workgroups) and the CEO of the Investing in Black Futures.

Lisa White is a Di’ne woman from Dine’tah, the homelands of the Navajo Nation of the First Nations’ of People. She volunteered with Smart Justice & Prison to pipeline campaign (Demand to learn) thru ACLU-Az, Puente Human Rights movement, and organized “FREE THEM ALL-United for Freedom caravan” campaign during a global pandemic. She is studying the Paralegal career field and is focused on strengthening families, building stronger communities, and ensuring access to opportunity. Lisa is also the Co-Founder of Juvenile Justice Failing the Next Generation in Arizona, a 501(c) non-profit organization.

As a justice-involved individual, Moseka Nhya Edjidjimo would like to be known for more than her mistakes. She is a college-educated French bilingual born in Montreal Canada of Afro Caribbean descent. Having served as a teachers aide during her incarceration & advocating for herself in petitioning the Georgia Dept. of Corrections parole board to ameliorate key judicial errors in sentencing, she carried her educational & legal passion into graduating in paralegal studies from Kennesaw State University in 2021. Moseka’s goal is to hold space with compassion and empathy for others that are justice-involved & to spark public discourse on the difficulties in re-establishing oneself after prison.

Orrin Jackson, a native of Charlotte, is an Accountability Partner with City Startup Labs and Atrium Health, a Community Liaison with both the Exodus Project and Project Bolt, and a Dream.org Federal Advisory Council member. Orrin was forced to spend 31 years of his life in prison. Recently released from prison on June 8th, 2021, Orrin has continued the mentorship initiatives he became a part of in prison. Orrin now counsels and mentors young men caught up in the juvenile justice system and is also in partnership with organizations such as Project Bolt and Concrete Roses in an effort to continue to reach out to young men and women so that they may avoid repeating a continuous cycle of destructive, demeaning and ill-advised behavior.

Ricardo Portley is the Project Manager for R&L Plumbing. While working in the blue collar industry Ricardo has also extensively given back to his community through his involvement with Rubicon Program’s P.A.B. (Participant Advisory Board) Committee where his opinion is heard among others to restructure programs and services offered by Rubicon to the community members they serve. Ricardo Portley is also Community Health Advocate for Contra Costa County through the non-profit Healthy Contra Costa.

Steven Johnson was released from prison on January 20, 2021, but found the reentry resources he was offered in preparation for his release to have been lacking, which led him to advocacy. Since then he has almost finished earning an associate's degree in computer science.

Talitha Turner is the Executive Director of Second Chance Quest (SCQ), a nonprofit dedicated to lowering the national recidivism rate by educating the public and supporting prisoners and the children of prisoners before, during, and after incarceration. She joined Second Chance Quest with plans to add programs and support for the children of prisoners while continuing SCQ’s incredible work within prisons. Ms. Turner spent over ten years as an enlisted soldier with the United States Army, serving in several leadership roles and working closely with top-level officers.

My name is Celandria Johnson-Foster, better known in my community as CJai Foster. First, I am the wife of a former Texas death row inmate whose sentence was commuted just 6 hours before his scheduled execution. I am a Dream. Org 1st ever Leadership Cohort graduate (2021). I am a leading abolitionist against the death penalty, the Law of Parties, mass incarceration, and solitary confinement in Texas. I am the Committee Chair for prison segregation/solitary confinement with the National Trauma Education and Policy Institute. With the help of many organizations, I am leading an innovative approach to campaign against solitary confinement by building and establishing a national coalition from the ground up. My latest project has been working with an app designer based in New York to build and help launch my app.

Cinnamon Watts is a native of Hopkinsville, KY where she attended and graduated Christian County High School. She went on to attend the University of Kentucky where, in 2002, she earned her Bachelor’s of Arts in Psychology. Her passion for change in her community was innate as a child but fueled by the injustices witnessed within her community. She is currently a member of All of Us or None Louisville which advocates for formerly incarcerated individuals and their families as well as other directly impacted individuals. As an ACLU Smart Justice Advocate she has attended a legislative lobbying session with seasoned advocates in support of Breonna’s Law as well as HB 56, a juvenile justice initiative. She is also a Mother of six beautiful children, the oldest of which attends her alma mater.

Clover A. Perez is redefining what it means to be a modern woman of faith. Her message spread throughout the world, defying cultural views of what a woman who has been to prison should look like. Clover is the Founder and Executive Director of A Beautiful HEART Ministries, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve the quality of life for formerly incarcerated women and girls by providing resources, educational tools, trauma care, spiritual empowerment, entrepreneurship, safe-housing, workshops and seminars to facilitate change, restore healing and reduce recidivism. Clover is also the Founder of Clover Me'She Designs a clothing line that promotes self-love, a justice scholar at Columbia University and recently became an ambassador of The Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Clover have been working tirelessly to bring awareness to mass incarceration and the warehousing of women and girls in the Federal Prison System. Clover's concept is simple, to draw open the curtain as wide as possible so the public can get a better understanding of what it's like to be the "Faces of Women and Girls in Federal Prisons. ​

Clover's work is informed after having served time in federal prison for a white-collar crime. Her time in prison has offered her the opportunity to speak with the many women and girls who were incarcerated along with her. What she has learned is that there is a brutal familiarity and similarity in the women's stories. Women have been ripped away from their children, and families, causing psychological and financial hardship not just for the incarcerated individual, but for potentially many generations going forward. ​

While incarcerated, Clover worked diligently to bring awareness to mass incarceration and the warehousing of women and girls in federal prisons. During her incarceration she started “Girls Talk" a prison initiative that brings awareness to the marginalized and disenfranchised women and girls. In this program the women and girls were asked to share their stories. Clover always shares her story of how she and the many women and girls found themselves exiled into a system that apparently doesn't care. Clover believes that perhaps the most profound tools we have our disposal at this juncture is the simple act of telling our stories. Hopefully someone will listen and acknowledge the problem because we cannot change what we do not understand. To this end, Clover is an active speaker on this topic and plans to take her story nationwide to continue the much-needed conversation and policy changes. ​

Clover has been a featured speaker on CBS, numerous Radio Shows, spoke in Congress on the need for criminal justice reform, and received several awards. She also supports the growing momentum to bring about meaningful criminal justice reform and looks forward to working hard to bring forth changes in the criminal justice system. To get this message out to the general public, Clover has joined Gynesis Radio, and hosts her own show on Sunday afternoon.

Cynthia Brown, a Youngstown native, is the founder and CEO of Heartbeat Movement Inc, a multiracial, nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit social justice organization directed solely by Ohioans. Heartbeat Movement focuses on legislative and policy change to end systemic racism, institutionalism, injustice, and inequality. In 2021, Cynthia founded Accountability Now Ohio, the precursor to The Ohio Coalition To End Qualified Immunity. Accountability Now Ohio sought to create a civil course of action for rights deprivations via ballot initiative. Accountability Now Ohio also lobbied state legislators to introduce bills to reform policing in Ohio. Cynthia has studied criminal justice and political science at Columbus State Community College, media and communications and African American studies at Youngstown State University, and public policy and African American studies at Mesa Community College. Awards/Accolades Free Press Libby Award 2023 Hero Award 2021 Trailblazer Award 2020 Humanitarian Award 2021 Dream Corps JUSTICE, Empathy Network Leadership Cohort Fellowship 2022 Ohio Senatorial Citation 2022 Ohio Transformative Studio Cohort 2022 Slanczka Achievement Certificate for Diplomacy The Distinguished Diplomate award

An advocate and political strategist, David fights to change our justice system. An alumnus of Mary Washington College and Concordia Seminary, David served in pastoral ministry until his arrest where he spent nearly 17 months in solitary confinement-an experience that fueled his fight for comprehensive institutional change. An author, speaker, and faith leader, David led the Virginia Coalition Against Solitary Confinement and was an aide to a senior Virginia Delegate. After facing discrimination because of his record David launched Inthrive to equip people to turn their passion into policy. To change the false narrative about incarceration survivors he created the Inthrive Film Festival to inspire incarceration survivors and galvanize communities to remove barriers to reentry. He is Director of SALT (Social Action Linking Together) & Safer Virginia, serves on the Board of Directors for OAR-Richmond & Bethlehem Lutheran Church, and is the Vice Chair of Richmond, VA’s, Community Criminal Justice Board.

Denise Ruben is a grassroots Organizer from Atlanta, GA. She is formerly incarcerated and heavily involved in healing the community and bridging the gap between community and social justice reform. She is a member of Women on the Rise, Barred Business, and National Bail Out (bailing black mamas out of jail). With these grassroots organizations she works diligently to change the narrative of criminal and social justice reform. She attends and speaks at rallies and various events and is a voice for the voiceless. She partnered with her best friend and created their own nonprofit(Barred Business) to be the change the world needs to see.

Dr. Kimberly Garfield- Kelly “Dr. K” is a Doctor of Nursing Practice, Author, and Radio Host. A Birmingham, Alabama native, Dr. K, grew up in Akron, Ohio and the inner city of the civil right’s landmark. Dr. K beat the odds of the struggle by heeding to the voice of her mother on how important and necessary it is to get an education. The life of Dr. K bears witness to this evolution.

Dr. K was educated in the public school system and is a proud graduate of C. W. Hayes High School, where she is an active alumna. Dr. “K” earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.,

Dr. K began her career of service working in local medical facilities as a Registered Nurse. Disciplines under which she served included neonatal care, critical coronary care, adult travel immunizations and tuberculosis control. Her stint in public health motivated Dr. K to pursue a Masters of Science degree from the Ida Moffett Nursing School at Samford University in Homewood, AL. Her licensure as a Family Nurse Practitioner followed. She has served in direct patient care, case management, family teaching and counseling. Dr. K has conducted classes and workshops promoting a well-rounded approach to patient care by addressing ethical issues, evaluating research data and community education. Her dedication to medical care and instruction made it only fitting to pursue her Doctor of Nursing Practice from the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing.

Her hard work and studies are deemed a benefit to all those she serves as well as granting her membership in the scholastic Golden Key Honor Society and Sigma Theta Tau. She has received awards for quality management in public health to name a few. After devoting several hours daily to the care of others, Dr. K notes her greatest reward is her “second shift” at the end of her day with her two children, Robert and Gariel.

Karen Dickson-Morrison was born in Kingston, Jamaica. She moved to the Bronx, New York in 1977 and has been a resident of Virginia for 30 years. Karen graduated from Old Dominion University with a bachelor’s degree in Elementary and Middle School Education. She earned a master’s degree in Instruction and Curriculum from the University of Phoenix. In 2014, Karen discovered her passion for justice when she found out a dear friend of hers was serving life in prison for a first-time drug offense. She advocated for his release and in 2016, President Obama granted him clemency. Karen has advocated for the release of other men and women and through dedication and service, assisted with their release as well. Their story is featured in the Best-Selling Novel, A Knock At Midnight by Brittany K. Barnett.

In 2020, she founded a nonprofit organization based in Chesapeake, Virginia, called Fighting 4 Freedom. Karen continues to advocate for people serving long and lengthy sentences in federal and state prisons. Karen is a member of the Board of Directors for Interfaith Actions for Human Rights. She was the Virginia Organizer for Dream.Org. In addition to being a Research Director for Cando Foundation, Karen won her first federal clemency for Darrell Frazier, a gentleman serving life in prison. Karen works for the Ladies of Hope Ministries as the Epic Ambassador and 2nd Chance 4R.E.A.L as the Prison Liaison.

Karen is an excellent research specialist and writer. Through great storytelling, she wrote articles for Gotham City Esq. an online publication. Her articles captured media attention and inspired people to get involved.

Kenneth Nixon is a 35 year old exoneree from Michigan who spent almost 16 years in prison for a crime that he did not commit. Since being released, he has immersed himself in the realm of Criminal Justice Reform both on a local and national level. Kevin’s desire since coming home has been being the change he wants to see in the world.

Lulu Cameron is a survivor-leader whose experience with violent harm inspired her to delve deeply into restorative justice practices. Fueled by her personal journey of healing, Lulu has become a national advocate for change as a restorative justice practitioner and the founder of South Carolina For Restorative Justice. Her work focuses on bringing generational healing to communities and addressing systemic inequities in overlooked and underserved spaces. Lulu collaborates with diverse community organizations and serves as a senior board advisor for the National Trauma Education and Policy Institute. As a National Team Lead with the Essie Justice Group, she uplifts women impacted by incarceration, fostering resilience and solidarity. Lulu is dedicated to creating safer environments both within state prisons and in struggling communities and schools. Her efforts center on developing family reunification programs, restoring harmony, and rebuilding trust, all with the goal of transforming lives and fostering lasting community change.

I am from St. Louis, Mo. I am founder of a non for profit Our Lives Matter, we focus on prison reform and humane treatment, I am also fonder of Sista Support Circle where we mentor and empower girls and women. I am a published author since 2018 of "My Way Out". I will be graduating UMSL University Spring 2025, and plannign to go to Law School to become a defense attorney.

Mattie Cummins, LMSW is a neuro social worker/journey coach. She earned a Bachelor of Social Work degree from Texas A&M University at Commerce and a Master of Science in Social Work from University of Texas at Arlington. As the Executive Director of the Brain Injury Alliance of Arizona, Mattie assisted in program development and advocacy for veteran’s courts and brain injury education for criminal justice professionals. As a social worker, she has many years’ experience in working with people that have been incarcerated and have seen the results of their difficulty reintegrating into their community because of lack of employment, family support and housing availability. Personally, Mattie has experienced the hardships of families with loved ones who are incarcerated and how difficult it is to maintain emotional and physical connections within the prison system.

Melanie Bishop admits that up until a few years ago she was "blissfully ignorant" about the system and its effects on the incarcerated person, their family, and to be honest, society as a whole. Melanie is a mother, grandmother, and teacher and uses certain characteristics from each of these titles in her work on reform. A native of New York, Melanie has a Masters Degree in Education and Social Studies. Melanie’s youngest son has spent almost his entire life in and out of mental health treatments primarily due to lack of access or funds. He unofficially stopped going to school in sixth grade because he had been in and out of so many schools and suspended more times than Melanie can count. Due to a failure of society's mental health systems, lack of access to substance abuse treatment, denial of Anger Management programs that Melanie requested for him as a teenager, her son, the kid with the biggest heart that would help anyone over himself is a convicted "violent" felon, serving 14 years in a Maximum Security Prison. Inside, her son gets no treatment, no mental health care, no medical care, and is doing what he needs to do to get by and maintain as much as he can of the good parts of himself.

Melanie wants to see change. REAL Change. Her advocacy work focuses on offering opportunities for those incarcerated whether they are labeled violent offenders or not. Melanie wants to see people rehabilitated and restored to their communities. Furthermore, she wants to see restorative practices implemented. She is using her voice to implore society to open their eyes, like she was forced to and see that those who are currently or formerly incarcerated are STILL HUMAN.

Michelle  (ML) is a criminal system impacted Black woman who has advocated for system impacted people for several years. She is the Racial Justice Coordinator at Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, the only statewide capital punishment org in Missouri. In this role she advocates for the abolition of the death penalty in Missouri and federally, as well as uplifts the voices of the impacted families and communities. ML also advocates for the wrongfully convicted, reentry resources, education for those still incarcerated, and to bring attention to the inhumanity that is incarceration in the United States. ML also hosts the annual Missouri Day of Empathy.

Despite having no criminal history, I spent 36 months at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility (CCCF), the only women’s prison in Oregon, after being convicted of a class A felony. While in prison, I participated in the Family Preservation Project (FPP), which gave space for me to heal and become a fierce advocate for all matters related to dignity for incarcerated women and other social justice issues. I am a single parent of a twenty year-old son and thirteen year-old daughter. My children were twelve years old, and five years old when I went to prison. I am, and was, their sole provider.

I have been out of prison for five-and-a-half years. Since this time, I have been sharing my story, voice, and privilege on behalf of the women and children directly impacted by incarceration.

I offer my perspective, based on having been directly impacted by the carceral system, to Oregon legislators and policy makers. It is my goal to encourage authentic and systemic change targeted at developing trauma-informed and gender responsive practices in our state.

Additionally, I oversee the FPP Alumnae network. In this role, which I have held for close to five years, I organize, mobilize, and provide support networks to mothers, children and families post-incarceration. I connect women to one another, as well as connecting them to opportunities to join our growing movement of directly impacted women working to be the change we want to see in our criminal legal system. I provide support and mentorship for women to participate in spaces where decisions are being made and policies are being created.

Finally, I advocate nationally for ‘rights to realities’ reform, policy, and education on behalf of all children with an incarcerated parent. In July 2017, The Bill of Rights for Children of Incarcerated Parents, was passed unanimously by the Oregon legislature, making my state the first to recognize the rights of this vulnerable population. I was an active participant in this accomplishment. I continue to seek out opportunities to lift up voices of impacted individuals who share a “fire” to make a difference. To create sustainable change these voices must stay at the center of the conversation.

Professionally, I am a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) working as a county crisis mental health worker. I am delighted to join this network of powerful people and building capacity in Oregon to ensure dignity for all women who are impacted by our criminal legal system.

Ouida was born and raised in Racine, WI and has lived in Milwaukee since 1981. As a formerly incarcerated woman she knows first hand the barriers men and women face when released from prison.

She brings with her experience, strength, and hope that the barriers can be removed and success is then possible. She is actively working to assist women with an effective reentry plan with the organization FREE. She knows all too well how important it is to have a plan.

“Those closest to the problem are closest to the solution, but furthest from resources and power,” Glenn E. Martin founder of JLUSA.

Peggy West-Schroder is the South East WI Coordinator for EXPO based in Milwaukee, WI. Peggy is directly and indirectly impacted having been affected by Mass Incarceration since birth. After serving 14 years on the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors, the first Hispanic person ever elected to that position, she now uses her previous legislative experience to help EXPO push for much needed change in the WI Criminal Justice System, trains EXPOs leaders to pursue changes they would like to see in the system and coordinates the “Unlock the Vote Campaign” Statewide hoping to restore voting rights for people as they come out of prison. West-Schroder strongly believes those closest to the problem are closest to the solution and wants to see a WI where directly impacted people are represented on all decision making committees and task forces within the WI Department of Corrections and the State Legislature. Believing everyone needs a voice, Peggy proudly assists the ladies of the FREE Campaign to advocate for the needs of incarcerated women. Her goal with FREE is to always ensure that women are included in conversations regarding issues of incarceration as they are frequently overlooked. The work she does that she is most proud of is being a support for other loved ones of people inside the WI Prison System. Having endured her mother’s, brother’s, husband’s and nephew’s incarceration, Peggy uses that experience to help advocate for and train the families of WI’s incarcerated to be a voice for their loved ones. She hopes to help create a DOC where family is recognized as a support for the successful reintegration of our loved ones.

I was born with a passion for justice, especially Juvenile Justice and Mental Health and I hope to impact the “school to prison pipeline.” I am a retired Special Educator, living in Magalia, CA who worked with high school students who had bombed out of all possible public school programs due to behaviors stemming from childhood abuse, trauma, poverty, and severe mental health issues. These students were and are my family; unfortunately, some ended up incarcerated. They taught me that it is critical to listen deeply, love unconditionally, and to treat all people with respect and dignity. I am currently working to form a local group for the Poor People’s Campaign.