At just 24 years old, Adam was sentenced to 213 years in federal prison with no possibility of parole. What could have been the end of his story instead became the beginning of an extraordinary journey of transformation, leadership, and impact.

During more than two decades in federal custody, Adam maintained an exemplary disciplinary record, completed more than 100 rehabilitation programs, became a certified life coach and fitness instructor, and founded the first life coaching program within the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Through this work, he trained more than 100 incarcerated peer coaches and helped create a culture of hope, accountability, and resilience.

In 2020, Adam was granted Compassionate Release under the First Step Act in recognition of his extraordinary rehabilitation. Five years later, he achieved a milestone few could have imagined: appointment to the U.S. Sentencing Commission's Sentence Impact Advisory Group, where he helps inform discussions about federal sentencing policy and the experiences of people directly impacted by the justice system.

Today, Adam is Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Legacy Impact Group, Co-Founder and CTO of Legacy Impact Technologies, and Co-Founder and Chairman of the Legacy Impact Foundation. His work focuses on helping justice-impacted individuals develop the skills, habits, and support systems needed to successfully return home and thrive.

James Dzurenda began his career in 1987 as an officer in a local jail in ConnecticutJames Dzurenda. He worked his way through the ranks where he served as a Jail Lieutenant and then working in the community on statewide Gang Task Force in Collaboration with Connecticut State Police, FBI, DEA, ATF, State’s Attorney Police Inspectors, and several local law enforcement agencies.

Following his assignment as Lieutenant, he was promoted to Captain and assigned to the Regional Office for Connecticut Department of Corrections (CTDOC) where he was the DOC Liaison for the Office of the Attorney General working on litigation for cases in State and Federal Courts in CT, as well as, 2nd Circuit Court in NYC.

Following his role as Captain, he was promoted to Major and Chief of Security for another local jail in CTDOC where he remained until appointed to Warden at several state prisons and where he consolidated the entire State’s Chronic Mentally Ill population to one Facility, developing programs which were later used as a National model.

Over the next few years, Dzurenda was appointed to District Warden, Deputy Commissioner of Operations, and ultimately Commissioner for the Connecticut Department of Correction. As Commissioner, he managed all custody and operations, which included 18 facilities, 19,000 offenders, 7,000 staff members and more than $350 million in state funding which did not include medical and mental health services. At the same time, Dzurenda also had a dual role as Commissioner of Parole and Community Enforcement which supervised approximately 6,000 offenders on Parole or Community Service.

During his tenure in Connecticut, Governor Dannel Malloy appointed Dzurenda to several legislative commissions which included the State’s Sentencing Commission, Retirement Commission and Criminal Justice Interagency Commission.

Dzurenda retired from state service in August 2014, and he then accepted a new role as First Deputy Commissioner for the New York City Department of Correction overseeing the city jails in each of the Five Burroughs, District Courts and Rikers Island. In New York City he managed 14,000 staff, 9,000 offenders and a $2.75 billion budget.

A nationally recognized transformational speaker, author, executive leader, and advocate, David's story is one of resilience, determination, and transformation. Drawing on lived experience and more than twelve years of executive leadership in the nonprofit and social impact sectors, he has inspired audiences across the country to overcome adversity, build stronger communities, and create lasting change.

Throughout his career, David has championed opportunities for foster youth, justice-impacted individuals, veterans, and underserved communities through leadership development, advocacy, and systems change.

Kerwin Pittman was born in Landstuhl Germany but raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is a National Social Justice Activist and Criminal Justice Reform Policy Expert. Kerwin advocates primarily in the social justice field, particularly criminal justice reform, in which he is a voice for the voiceless. Kerwin's lived experience of spending 11 1/2 years incarcerated, with over a year in solitary confinement, motivated him to start his own nonprofit. He is the Founder and Executive Director of Recidivism Reduction Educational Program Services, Inc (RREPS). A nonprofit geared towards reducing the recidivism rate in North Carolina. He also sits on the North Carolina Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice created and headed by North Carolina’s Governor Roy Cooper. As well as Kerwin sits on the State Reentry Council Collaborative created and headed by North Carolina’s Governor Roy Cooper. Kerwin is also a 2022 Soros Justice Fellowship recipient, to which George Soros and Open Society Foundation supports outstanding individuals with distinctive voices—to create change around the U.S. criminal legal system. He is also an Author who penned the book “Love Yours: A guide on how to love yourself”. Which is a self-help book slated towards empowerment of love in oneself.

Dr. Topeka K. Sam is a well loved and trusted consultant across many fields. She is the Founder of The Ladies of Hope Ministries, Inc. (@TheLOHM) and founder and President of EPIC Financial PBLLC, TKS Ventures LLC and Faces & Voices Inc. She Co- Founded Music Thera-P and is also the Co-Founder and Visionary Officer of MyFRSH financial services. All of these businesses and organizations serve as therapeutic tools to address trauma and promote emotional well-being for those that are justice impacted. She currently serves on the board of directors for The Marshall Project, Operation Restoration, Pure Legacee, United Justice Coalition and more. She is a strategic advisor for RBIJ and HARP as well. Since her release from federal prison on May 5, 2015, Dr. Topeka K. Sam has spoken or been a keynote at many events and has continued to grow her businesses and non-profit simultaneously. She is now developing a variety of productions as an Executive Producer for TV & Film, inspired by her fight to change the many problems that plague female incarceration. Topeka has been featured in Vogue, Essence, SalonTV, Vice, New York Times, TheCut, Rolling Stone and Variety Magazine. She continues to share her expertise across multiple fields and has received many awards for her contributions, further supporting her ability to transform the lives of women as well as men and families impacted by the criminal legal system.

Stephanie Taylor-Thompson is a lifelong resident of Idaho Falls, Idaho. She is in long term recovery and a formerly incarcerated person. She is a survivor of child abuse, human trafficking, attempted murder and sexual assault. Stephanie earned full pardons from both Idaho and Montana in 2017.

She graduated from Idaho State University with degrees in Sociology and Criminology and is currently pursuing her Masters of Social Work. Stephanie is a former Reentry Specialist for the Idaho Department of Correction and a former AmeriCorps VISTA.

Stephanie works at a national level addressing workforce readiness and development in prisons, focusing on equipping incarcerated individuals with the skills and tools they need for successful reentry into society. By collaborating with correctional institutions across the country, she helps implement programs that prepare participants for meaningful employment and personal growth after release. In addition to this, Stephanie also serves in prison ministry nationwide, offering support, mentorship, and guidance to those seeking spiritual growth and personal transformation during their incarceration.

She is a graduate of the Idaho Citizens Law Academy. Stephanie is an elected board member for numerous organizations dedicated to reentry, recovery, and mental health, as well as a council member for the Idaho State Rehabilitation Council. Most recently, she was appointed as a commissioner for the Governors Commission on Service and Volunteerism for the state of Idaho. Stephanie has received both state and national awards for her dedication to reentry and criminal justice reform. She is dedicated to ministry, criminal justice reform, reentry, addiction recovery and anti-human trafficking efforts.

Avery Ancich is a senior at San Francisco State University pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice, with a certification in pre-Law. She hopes to obtain a Juris Doctorate and pursue a career in Criminal Law. She is a strong advocate for rehabilitation over incarceration and is interested in reform approaches like implementing education into the system as a way to prevent recidivism rates. Her academic work focuses on understanding the legal system, public policy, and the broader social impacts of criminal justice practices.

Dr. Cassandra Atkin-Plunk is an Associate Professor and the Associate Director in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida Atlantic University. Dr. Atkin-Plunk examines evidence-based practices and conducts program and policy evaluations to identify what works in improving community safety. Specifically, her recent research has examined reentry programs for people returning to the community from incarceration, intervention effectiveness for violence prevention efforts, and the use of co-responder models to improve crisis response. She is the recipient of over $1,000,000 in external funding and has been the principal investigator (PI) or co-PI in the evaluation of programs and policies for a variety of agencies, including the Palm Beach County Public Safety Department, Florida Department of Corrections, Palm Beach County (FL) Criminal Justice Commission, Delray Beach Police Department, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, The GEO Group, and The Lord’s Place. As evidenced, Dr. Atkin-Plunk’s research is largely community-based, and she won the 2018 FAU Presidential Award for Outstanding Community-Engaged Research. She has published over 60 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and professional and technical reports. Her peer-reviewed research has been cited over 1,000 times and is published in Justice Quarterly, Criminal Justice and Behavior, Journal of Criminal Justice, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Criminal Justice Policy Review, and Journal of Offender Rehabilitation. Dr. Atkin-Plunk enjoys fostering dogs with Dachshund Rescue of South Florida.

Janice Bellucci is a civil rights attorney whose legal practice is limited to registrants and their families. She founded the Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL), where she currently serves as its Executive Director. Janice has filed more than 100 lawsuits challenging California’s registrant residency restrictions, proximity restrictions, school restrictions, Halloween requirements, as well as a federal challenge to the International Megan's Law. She has been recognized twice by The Daily Journal as one of California’s Top 100 attorneys. Janice is admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and every state and federal court within California.

Dr. Breanna (Bree) Boppre is a nationally recognized criminologist with more than 15 years of experience leading mixed‑methods research and evaluation on correctional programs, community‑based prevention efforts, and sentencing policy. Currently, she is a Senior Research Associate in the Justice and Safety Division at the Urban Institute, where she co‑leads federally and philanthropically funded evaluations of prevention efforts to keep youth out of detention, violence reduction, and correctional reform initiatives. Her work centers on community‑engaged, participatory approaches that elevate the voices of youth, women, and families impacted by the criminal legal system.

Dr. Boppre has authored over 70 publications, including 22 peer‑reviewed journal articles in leading outlets such as Justice Quarterly, Crime & Delinquency, and Criminal Justice and Behavior. Her research on women and families impacted by incarceration has earned multiple national honors, including the American Society of Criminology Division of Feminist Criminology New Scholar Award and the Western Society of Criminology Meda Chesney‑Lind Award.

Committed to translating research into practice, Dr. Boppre has collaborated with more than 40 correctional agencies, nonprofits, and grassroots organizations through applied research, trainings, technical assistance, and service‑learning partnerships. She has delivered over 70 professional presentations, including invited keynote and mainstage talks, and her work has informed changes in training, program design, visitation policy, and sentencing reform.

Having experienced parental incarceration herself, Dr. Boppre prioritizes scholarship that advances equity for system‑impacted people and families. She co‑founded and co‑leads the ASC Division of Convict Criminology Mentoring Program.

D’Andre Brooks holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration and a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from San Diego State University. He is the Founder and CEO of Freedom2Succeed and the author of Faces of Resilience. He also serves as Chairman of the City of San Diego Commission on Gang Prevention & Intervention and as the Site Lead for

Southwestern Community College’s Restorative Justice/Youth Justice Programs Work-Based Learning Experience Program.

D’Andre previously served as Director of the Stockton/Memorial Youth Drop-In Center and has extensive experience mentoring and supporting justice-impacted youth through initiatives such as the District Attorney’s Juvenile Diversion Initiative.

His career includes significant work with justice-involved youth as a Juvenile Justice Program Associate with the Children’s Initiative and as a Youth Program Senior Coordinator with Outdoor Outreach. D’Andre’s professional expertise is deeply informed by his personal journey. As a formerly incarcerated individual and graduate of a San Diego Juvenile Court and Community School, he is committed to transformative justice, restorative practices, youth development, and reshaping systems to create greater opportunities for underserved and justice-impacted communities.

Through his leadership, advocacy, mentorship, and lived experience, D’Andre works to turn resilience into opportunity and help individuals and communities move from justice involvement to education, empowerment, and success.

D’Andre Brooks, MPA, holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration and a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from San Diego State University. He is the Founder and CEO of Freedom2Succeed and the author of Faces of Resilience. He also serves as Chairman of the City of San Diego Commission on Gang Prevention & Intervention and as the Site Lead for Southwestern Community College’s Restorative Justice/Youth Justice Programs Work-Based Learning Experience Program.

D’Andre previously served as Director of the Stockton/Memorial Youth Drop-In Center and has extensive experience mentoring and supporting justice-impacted youth through initiatives such as the District Attorney’s Juvenile Diversion Initiative.

His career includes significant work with justice-involved youth as a Juvenile Justice Program Associate with the Children’s Initiative and as a Youth Program Senior Coordinator with Outdoor Outreach. D’Andre’s professional e

Shanice Brown is an AI Program Manager at World Wide Technology, an iOS instructor for incarcerated women, and the Founder and CEO of The Barter Shop—a platform designed to help individuals exchange goods and services in the absence of cash. Her work sits at the intersection of technology, economic empowerment, and justice-impacted communities.

She has designed and delivered a mobile app development and AI curriculum inside correctional facilities, where participants build real-world applications rather than solely preparing for exams. Her approach emphasizes practical skill-building, product creation, and immediate pathways to income.

Shanice also leads initiatives that help organizations integrate AI into their operations and has facilitated workshops for national audiences, including students, educators, and professionals in STEM. Her work focuses on removing barriers to access and creating scalable systems that empower individuals to build, earn, and thrive—regardless of their starting point.

Dr. Felisa Bryant serves as Executive Director of The IF Project, a nonprofit dedicated to reducing recidivism and empowering incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women and girls. In this role, she leads innovative initiatives focused on emotional intelligence, trauma recovery, leadership development, and gender-responsive reentry. Working alongside a dedicated team, Dr. Bryant designs and oversees programs that provide mentoring, education, and stabilization support, creating transformative pathways for justice-impacted individuals to rebuild their lives and thrive.

She is also the Founder and Principal Consultant of DFB Coaching & Consulting, a trauma-informed practice rooted in healing, transformation, and equity. Her work integrates lived experience, academic scholarship, and a deep commitment to systems change to help organizations build healing-centered, equity-driven environments.

Dr. Bryant’s personal journey—from incarceration to earning a Ph.D. in Psychology—deeply informs her leadership, advocacy, and service. Her doctoral research focused on the reintegration and stabilization of women returning from incarceration, and she brings expertise in conflict resolution, strategic thinking, case management, and leadership development to both her nonprofit and consulting practice.

Through DFB Coaching & Consulting, she provides executive coaching, curriculum design, facilitation, and policy advising to organizations seeking to implement trauma-informed, healing-centered, and equity-focused approaches. Whether training system professionals, mentoring emerging leaders, or strengthening nonprofit capacity, Dr. Bryant leads with authenticity, purpose, and heart.

She believes healing is leadership—and lasting change begins from the inside out.

My name is Shannon Cain. I have lived in Reno for the past 23 years. My professional background is the medical field and I have been a medical assistant since 1996. Then in 2019 I started with Crossroads through Catholic Charities of Northern NV. Working in recovery seemed to fit me much better than being a medical assistant. We have since changed from Crossroads to Battle Born Recovery Residences and have become NARR certified and have the first and only NARR certified program in Nevada. I am currently the intake coordinator as well as a CHW II, medical assistant, and office manager for Battle Born Recovery Residences.

Jessica Chiappone currently serves as Executive Director of Florida Justice Center, a legal aid organization that helps serve individuals who have been impacted by the criminal legal system with legal needs that assist with access to employment, housing, and civil rights.

Jessica also serves as a consultant for nonprofits assisting with strategic planning and organizational infrastructure and management. She is co-founder of Justice Impact Alliance (JIA), an organization led by individuals impacted by the criminal legal system. Through the research, programs, and policy collaborations of justice-impacted leadership, JIA has introduced several initiatives targeting inequities within legal, education, housing, and employment systems including the Justice Impact Network, a digital platform providing resources for people who have been impacted by the criminal legal system.

Jessica served as VP of FRRC from incorporation in 2011 until 2021 and served as the Fines & Fees Program Director from 2019- 2021. She was involved with the drafting and ultimate passage of Amendment 4 in Florida, which eliminated the lifetime ban on voting for people with felony convictions and instantly re-enfranchised over 1.45 million people with past felony convictions. After legislation was passed that attempted to limit the reach of Amendment 4, Jessica developed and implemented FRRC’s Fines & Fees Program which paid close to $30 million towards people’s fines and fees.

Jessica holds both a JD and Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Nova Southeastern University, and a BS from St. John’s University

Dr. Flor-Mari Crisostomo is a behavioral scientist, systems-change advocate, and justice-impacted scholar whose research centers on something most academic frameworks miss entirely: the voices of formerly incarcerated mothers navigating reentry into their families and communities. Holding a PhD in Psychology, Public Policy & Law, her work sits at the intersection of resilience science, housing and employment equity, identity reconstruction, and the policy structures that either support or sabotage human potential.

Her path to that research wasn't theoretical. A coach, entrepreneur, and mother of two, Dr. Crisostomo has navigated the systems she now studies firsthand. She secured a settlement from a developer who refused to rent to her based on her legal history despite her ability to pay, working with the City of Seattle to hold that discrimination accountable. She fought back with the support of the ACLU when a school principal tried to bar her from her own children's school events, not based on evidence, but on stigma and uninformed bias. She knows what it costs when systems treat history as destiny. And she knows what it takes to fight back.

In her consulting and coaching practice, she works with individuals navigating major life transitions, helping people move from disruption toward purpose. Her current work includes developing a participant-led visual storytelling project that invites formerly incarcerated mothers to document experiences of motherhood, reentry, identity, and rebuilding through photography and personal narrative.

Her emerging work extends into the intersection of artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and human behavior, because the people most affected by algorithmic bias, automated risk scoring, and AI-driven decision-making are the same people already marginalized by the systems she studies. She brings a perspective those rooms rarely have: someone who has been on the wrong end of a system's judgment, and who knows exactly what that costs.

Dr. Crisostomo challenges audiences to trade deficit-based narratives for something more honest and more useful: a clear-eyed understanding of what people are actually capable of when systems get out of the way.

In her other world, Dr. Crisostomo teaches terrarium workshops and caters afternoon tea and remains deeply interested in the many ways people create connection, belonging, and a little beauty in everyday life.

Michele Curiel is a graduate student in the Master of Public Administration program with a Criminal Justice option at California State University Chico. She was admitted into the Future Scholars Program of the Behavioral and Social Sciences College as an undergraduate student in spring 2024 and has since been actively involved in the research on family members and life imprisonment. Michele's future plans are to use her education to become an advocate for system-impacted families or to become an instructor and working with future students.

Grant Denton is a leader in homeless outreach, recovery, and reentry systems with over a decade of frontline experience working with individuals transitioning from the streets, incarceration, and substance use treatment back into the community. His work is shaped not only by professional expertise, but by lived experience—having personally navigated homelessness, addiction, and the challenges of rebuilding a stable life.

Grant currently serves as the CEO of the Karma Box Project, where he has developed innovative outreach and workforce-based programs focused on accountability, skill-building, and long-term stability. His approach emphasizes meeting people where they are while creating clear pathways toward self-sufficiency through employment, structure, and community integration.

He has worked extensively across Northern Nevada and beyond, collaborating with law enforcement, healthcare providers, local governments, and private sector partners to improve how systems respond to vulnerable populations. His work includes designing outreach models, reentry pathways, and workforce initiatives that align real-world job demands with the capabilities of individuals in transition.

Grant is a strong advocate for bridging the gap between compassion and accountability in reentry efforts. He believes sustainable outcomes come from combining support services with expectations, opportunity, and personal responsibility.

At this summit, Grant will share practical insights on how outreach and workforce development can serve as powerful tools in reducing recidivism, stabilizing individuals, and strengthening communities.

Katie Dixon is a Program Associate at the San Francisco Foundation and a Community Advisor to the Prospect Hill Foundation. Her work sits at the intersection of philanthropy, social justice, and systems change, with a focus on advancing equity and opportunity for communities impacted by incarceration.

Over the past decade, Katie has contributed to significant criminal justice reform efforts nationwide, including campaigns to expand Fair Chance policies; restoring voting rights nationwide for formerly incarcerated people; advocacy & litigation related to the unprecedented closure of FCI Dublin. She has worked within organizations such as the ACLU NorCal, the California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP), All Of Us Or None, Dream Corps, Code for America (to name a few) to advance policy reform, strengthen community-led solutions, and elevate the voices of formerly incarcerated people.

Driven by a commitment to ending mass incarceration and reimagining public safety, Katie works to influence policy, philanthropy, and public narrative in pursuit of a more just and inclusive society.

Shamed Dogan is a former Republican member of the Missouri House of Representatives where he chaired the criminal justice committee and spearheaded reforms such as the Missouri First Step Act that reined in mandatory minimums, implemented geriatric parole, curtailed debtors' prisons, and required state prisons and county jails to provide free feminine hygiene products to incarcerated women.

Dogan also championed marijuana reform and police accountability and transparency, co-authoring a choke-hold ban, pushing for updates to racial profiling statutes by requiring police to document more specific data during traffic stops to identify and eliminate bias, and leading efforts to restrict the use of no-knock warrants.

Fiona Engstad is a student at San Francisco State University, majoring in Psychology, Criminal Justice, and Political Science. Fiona also works as an intern at Project Rebound and as a mental healthcare professional at Mind Therapy Clinic. Fiona plans to apply principles of psychology in order to make positive change within law and government policy.

Jessie Ferguson serves as the Director of Prison and Justice Initiatives at Goodwill Industries of Kentucky, where she leads programs dedicated to the rehabilitation and successful reentry of justice-involved individuals. In this role, she is deeply committed to helping individuals transition back into society by providing them with the tools, support, and guidance they need to rebuild their lives and contribute meaningfully to their communities.

Before joining Goodwill, Jessie retired from the Kentucky Department of Corrections after more than 20 years of service, during which she held a variety of leadership positions, including Correctional Officer, Classification Treatment Officer, Reentry Coordinator, Unit Administrator, Program Administrator, Deputy Warden, and Warden. Her experience spans across three correctional facilities and central office, giving her a well-rounded understanding of both the operational and strategic dimensions of correctional management.

In addition to her extensive professional experience, Jessie holds a bachelor’s degree in social work from Eastern Kentucky University and is currently pursuing a master’s in justice administration from the University of the Cumberlands. Through both her career and education, she is driven to contribute to a safer, more inclusive society by supporting effective reentry strategies and promoting lasting success for those impacted by the justice system.

Cesar Garcia is a formerly incarcerated community advocate, independent researcher, and early-stage technology builder focused on reentry, accountability, and systems design. His work explores how lived experience can inform new approaches to safety and documentation, particularly in moments where individuals are most vulnerable.

Drawing from his own experiences with incarceration and reentry, as well as his involvement in community organizing and education, he is currently developing SCENE (Safety, Community, Empowerment, Network for Everyone), a platform that examines how real-time communication and community awareness can shift how safety and accountability are experienced. His work sits at the intersection of lived experience, research, systems thinking, and emerging technology.

Marisol Garcia, JD/MPP Candidate (Dec. 2026), is a legal scholar and policy analyst whose work examines carceral diminishment, reentry systems, ADA compliance, and the structural conditions shaping post‑incarceration pathways. Her research focuses on the developmental and legal implications of long‑term juvenile sentencing, including the post‑Miller parole landscape and the expanding demands of rehabilitative accountability frameworks. She is committed to producing accessible, interdisciplinary scholarship that advances dignity‑centered policy design and supports more humane outcomes for people living in confinement and post-release, while recognizing the whole person.

David L. Garlock is a successful returning citizen, reentry professional, and criminal justice reform advocate. David enjoys educating the next generation of criminal justice professionals on rehabilitation and advocating in various spheres for an effective and equitable justice system. He is a writer, author and poet who shares his story in many written forms. He is on numerous non-profit boards, along with being a frequent speaker at colleges and universities, criminal and social justice conferences, and community events. He was in the movie Just Mercy in 2020 and presented at TEDx Arcadia in April of 2022.

After spending a 30-year career as a prison doctor for Nevada Department of Corrections, Dr. G is now a prison reform activist, author of 30 Years Behind Bars, Trial of a Prison Doctor, and host of a new podcast. That podcast, prisonunlocked, lets the outside world hear the stories from the formerly incarcerated that affected their ability at  re-entering  society successfully or unsuccessfully and what should be done differently. It includes staff who are retired or have left the prison and how it affected them and what they thought would help those on both sides of the fence line.

When I was placed inside a male prison by the NHSC (National Health Service Corps for 4 years), I saw many men re-enter prison and I wondered why so many failed. I quickly realized that no one had helped them get ready for that dramatic change. To help them, I ran the first Gavel Club (Toastmasters), the first Health Related Recovery class that taught life skills, pulled my husband in to form the first incarcerated Veterans Chapter in Nevada with a custody officer who was a veteran,  and formed the first HIV support group. Now I'm a facilitator for Alternative Violence Project and have interacted with the transitional housing unit in Reno.

Awards - Directors Award from the National Health Service Corps ( I was placed in prison for 4 years and stayed another 26 years), Nevada's Heroes for Humanity Award and the Service to Society Award from Clark University, MA, 2019.

I'm also a member of NPEP, Nevada Prison Education Project where our group is bringing  higher education into the prisons in Nevada.

Manuel "Manny" Gomez, DSW(c), LCSW Manuel Gomez is the Founder and Executive Director of VetPhoenix, Inc., a veteran-led nonprofit providing transitional supportive housing, peer-led reentry programming, and wraparound case management for justice-involved veterans in Riverside and Los Angeles Counties, California. A Navy veteran with lived experience in the justice system, Manny holds licensure as an associate social worker and is completing his Doctor of Social Work at California Baptist University under Dr. Kenneth Nehrbass. His practitioner-scholar work integrates Veteran Critical Theory, Moral Injury Theology, and Smart Decarceration. He serves as an IAVA Cavalry Policy Advocate and co-developed the Veteran Equity Framework alongside Eric Sowers. His guiding principle, Nemo Resideo, Leave No One Behind, anchors both his organizational mission and his public voice.

Jessie serves as the Deputy Executive Director of the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission. She joined the Opioid Commission in January when Attorney General Russell Coleman took office. She is a native Detroiter, who has deep roots in Kentucky – spending summers here with grandparents and living in Louisville for more than 20 years. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and a master’s in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School. She spent 16 years as a journalist for several newspapers including the Courier-Journal and USA Today. She has had executive roles with the Jefferson County Attorney’s Office, Kentucky’s Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, Louisville Metro Police Department and the Crime and Justice Institute. 

Shelly Hazelton is a justice-impacted leader whose life experiences shape her work in reentry and workforce development. Growing up in foster care and facing addiction, abuse, and involvement in the juvenile justice system, she understands firsthand the challenges many individuals face. These experiences inspired her commitment to supporting justice-impacted youth and adults, recognizing that behavior is often shaped by environment and circumstance.

Through persistence, consistency, and a deep belief in second chances, Shelly has helped expand Next Step’s reach into federal prison, halfway houses, and partnerships with the Riverside Probation Department. Her team provides job readiness training, life coaching, and critical reentry support to individuals working to rebuild their lives.

Shelly’s ability to connect with others through lived experience allows her to build trust and create meaningful pathways forward. She is passionate about helping people see their potential and believes that even a small amount of hope can change the course of a life, just as it did for her.

Kamika Hebbert, Founder and Facilitator: Kamika Hebbert is a Playwriter, facilitator, and storyteller who leads the Write On Time workshop series, using creative writing and guided expression to help youth and adults explore identity, resilience, and healing through lived experience. Her life story is at the center of the documentary We’ve Been Sentenced, which explores the impact of family incarceration, foster care, and intergenerational trauma while highlighting her journey of resilience and transformation. The film reflects her personal experiences and the broader realities faced by many families affected by incarceration.Through her work, Kamika creates spaces where storytelling becomes a tool for healing, awareness, and empowerment. She is committed to helping others find their voice and use their stories to inspire change in themselves and their communities.

Isaiah Hernandez is an undergraduate student at California State University Chico, double-majoring in Criminal Justice and Psychology. He was admitted into the Future Scholars Program of the Behavioral and Social Sciences College in fall 2025 and has since been actively involved in the research on family members and life imprisonment. Isaiah has been interning with a non-profit reentry organization this semester and he hopes to work in this area in the future.

Jessica Hidalgo is the Division Director of Justice Services for Palm Beach County Public Safety, with nearly 20 years of experience in criminal justice and reentry. She leads the County’s reentry continuum, drives evidence-based initiatives, and participates in the Palm Beach Reentry Alliance to advance successful reintegration for individuals returning from incarceration.

Jessica provides strategic oversight of grants and contracted programs, ensuring operational excellence, program effectiveness, and compliance with federal, state, and local requirements. She has implemented nationally recognized programs, including a Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)–funded initiative that paired transitional employment with cognitive behavioral interventions, producing measurable outcomes and securing sustained federal support.

Her work demonstrates a commitment to justice system innovation, interagency collaboration, and creating meaningful opportunities for successful reintegration, positioning Palm Beach County as a model for reentry services and outcomes.

Sarah Hill serves as the Addiction Recovery Program Manager at St. Vincent de Paul Southwest Idaho, where she oversees reentry and recovery support services for individuals transitioning from incarceration. She leads the Bridge Forward program, which provides pre-release engagement, individualized wellness planning, recovery coaching, and connection to community-based treatment and resources.

Sarah works alongside the Career Development and First Day Out program managers to ensure participants receive both immediate stabilization and long-term support. Together, their work focuses on building structured, person-centered systems that simultaneously address substance use, employment, and reentry barriers.

With a background in addiction recovery and program development, Sarah is passionate about creating sustainable pathways that help individuals rebuild their lives and achieve long-term stability.

Greg currently serves as the President and CEO of Semper Resurgo, a Mentor for a Veteran Treatment Court in Reno, and works with CreatiVets as a Mentor and Guitar Instructor.

He is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Social Work at the University of Nevada, Reno after completing Associate Degrees in Psychology and Social Work at TMCC. His professional and academic focus centers on trauma-informed care, Veteran reintegration, and recovery-oriented support systems.

Greg joined The Marine Corps in 2005 seeking purpose and opportunity. After getting Medically retired he found a new purpose in helping those who may need support.

He also sits on several boards and committees in the community and at the University. He uses his lived experience with addiction in the home, the Foster System in Nevada, and Mental Health to encourage growth in his community.

Aliya Holmes, MS, PPS is a Coordinator II with Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD), where she serves as the district’s Foster Youth Services Coordinator and Educational Liaison and provides leadership for the district’s Tobacco Use Prevention Education (TUPE) programs. Aliya brings 23 years of experience in the field of education and student support. Her career has been dedicated to educational equity, student advocacy, prevention, and creating systems of support for students and families.

As the district’s Foster Youth Educational Liaison, Aliya oversees the implementation of state-mandated educational protections for foster youth, including AB 490, AB 167, AB 1933, and related legislation. She advocates for the educational rights of foster youth and collaborates across education, child welfare, juvenile justice, special education, and community systems to ensure students have access to educational stability, appropriate services, and meaningful opportunities for academic success. She also oversees direct support services to foster youth throughout the district.

In addition to her Foster Youth Services leadership, Aliya oversees SCUSD’s Tobacco Use Prevention Education (TUPE) program, which provides tobacco and vaping prevention education, Brief Intervention, cessation support, youth leadership opportunities, and community engagement. Her work emphasizes culturally responsive, trauma-informed, and evidence-based approaches to prevention and student support.

Throughout her 23-year career, Aliya has focused on strengthening systems, building collaborative partnerships, developing staff capacity, and advocating for students whose educational journeys are often impacted by circumstances beyond their control. Her leadership is grounded in the belief that every student deserves a voice, equitable access to resources, and the opportunity to thrive.

As a Reentry Navigator for St. Vincent de Paul, Erin Hourani supports individuals transitioning from incarceration back into the community. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice with a minor in Addiction Studies, providing her with a strong foundation in the justice system, rehabilitation practices, and the impact of substance use on individuals and communities.

She has spent two years working inside the Idaho State Correctional Center, building relationships with residents and helping to create comprehensive pathways for successful reentry. During that time, she completed mentor training and participated in many of the same programs offered to residents, deepening her understanding of their experiences and strengthening her ability to meet people where they are.

She is passionate about community engagement and the development of strong, supportive neighborhoods. Erin's work focuses on fostering connection, stability, and opportunity—helping returning citizens become good neighbors and create meaningful, lasting change in their lives.

Profile coming soon!

Tanaine Jenkins is an award-winning recidivism strategist, national speaker, and systems-change advocate working at the intersection of public safety, supervision, and workforce development. With over a decade of lived and professional experience navigating the criminal legal system, she has emerged as a leading voice on reducing recidivism and eliminating the “Second Sentence”—the long-term barriers individuals face after release.

Tanaine currently serves as the Florida State Campaign Organizer for REFORM Alliance and Director of the Florida Safety Coalition, where she leads cross-sector efforts to advance data-driven supervision policies and build partnerships across government, business, and community organizations. Her work focuses on aligning systems to produce better outcomes for individuals and safer, stronger communities.

A TEDx speaker and nationally recognized thought leader, Tanaine has delivered keynotes and trainings across the country, equipping stakeholders with actionable strategies to move beyond compliance-based models toward sustainable, outcome-driven approaches.

Through her signature PROGRESS Framework, she challenges institutions to rethink traditional approaches to supervision and reentry, offering a practical roadmap for reducing recidivism at scale.

Tanaine’s work is grounded in one core belief: when systems are designed for success, people—and communities—thrive.

David Johnson is a strategist, organizer, and systems-change leader working at the intersection of criminal legal reform, behavioral health, and community-led public safety. His work focuses on eliminating structural barriers and building accessible, health-centered pathways to stability and prosperity for system-involved and system-impacted communities. Grounded in lived experience, he advances strategies that shift investment away from punitive systems and toward transformative, community-based solutions.

David’s leadership is rooted in a deep understanding of carceral and health systems, shaped by more than two decades of navigating incarceration and behavioral health challenges. Born and raised on Chicago’s South Side and later relocating to Houston, Texas, he experienced firsthand the cycles of violence, instability, and systemic barriers that define reentry for many. Repeated obstacles to housing, employment, and care reinforced these cycles—until access to recovery resources, stable housing, and meaningful employment created a turning point. These opportunities were rare; his work now focuses on making them standard.

Today, David is part of a growing movement of leaders advancing wellness-centered approaches to justice and community safety. He is a harm reductionist, Mental Health Peer Specialist (MHPS), the Founder and Executive Director of The HEAL US Project, Texas State Project Manager for First Step Alliance, and the Co-Founder of the Coalition to Abolish Slavery – Texas (CAST). Across these roles, he builds coalitions, advances movements, and develops community-led strategies that reimagine systems through the lens of health, equity, and liberation.

Nora Kenney, Ph.D. leads the Rising Scholars program at Palomar College, which annually supports approximately 700 currently and formerly incarcerated students as they navigate higher education pathways. Since joining Palomar College in 2020, Dr. Kenney has advanced equity-centered programming designed to expand educational access and success for justice-impacted students.

Prior to her current role, Dr. Kenney served as a professor, administrator, and researcher across correctional education, community college, and university settings. She earned her M.A. and Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley, where she played key leadership roles in community-university partnerships, primarily in Oakland.

A proud granddaughter of immigrants and a first-generation college graduate, Dr. Kenney began her education career as a Federal Work Study student employee at MiraCosta College and University of California, Davis. She later served as an academic advisor and is featured in Almost Home: Life After Incarceration, an Emmy Award–winning documentary highlighting how Palomar College Rising Scholars facilitates liberation through education.

Sergeant Mark Kester has over 20 years of Law Enforcement experience. Born in Southern California, he has been a resident of Reno, Nevada for more than 35 years.  His wife Melyssa is a NNICU Nurse at renowned hospital. Together, they have 5 children: Maddy, Kennedy, Ryan, Brilynn, and Hayden.

Sergeant Kester has worked all areas of a detention facility:

• 4 years working in the jail
• 5 years working in the inmate management unit, classification office
• 5 years as a field training officer
• 4 years as a deputy assigned to the detention services unit
• 3 years as a Sergeant and currently assigned as supervisor over DSU and IMU/Classification

Education: Master of Social Work (MSW) Student, University of Nevada, Reno

Current Role: MSW Student and Behavioral Health Counseling Intern with over 2,000 hours of experience providing substance use and behavioral health counseling under a Nevada intern license.

Motivation & Impact: Passionate about community health, workforce development, behavioral health education, and improving access to care for underserved populations. Brings strong communication, group facilitation, counseling, leadership, and relationship-building skills developed through diverse professional and clinical experiences.

Future Plans: Continue advancing in behavioral health, community health, and workforce development through leadership, education, and direct service roles that support underserved populations.

Two things to know about Amy Krause. First, if she believes in something, she believes with her whole heart. And then there’s this other thing: She is relentless. With over 30 years as an advertising producer, working with budgets ranging from huge to tiny, Amy has acquired a formidable set of skills and connections. Of late, she’s turned her talents to directing and producing documentaries with a focus on eliciting social change.Her first short film, We’ve Been Sentenced, is about the impact of incarceration on families. Sensitively produced on a shoestring budget, it was a featured selection in several prestigious film festivals.Now she’s using a lifetime of inside knowledge to produce a film celebrating Jewish culture in the face of rising antisemitism. Warm and witty like Amy herself, Latke Vs. Hamantash is a hilarious look at the Jewish tendency to obsess and banter about everything, told through the lens of a famed scholarly satirical debate about Jewish food. After 30 years of juggling producing with the parenting of two children, Amy currently resides in San Diego with her husband Paul and dog Farfel. She is still producing but now enjoys yoga and Pilates, passionately supports the arts, and cheerfully multitasks most days.

Jennifer L. Lanterman is a Professor of Criminal Justice and the Director of the Grant Sawyer Center for Justice Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno. She is also a member of the Nevada Sentencing Commission and the Board Secretary for the Ridge House. Her research and evaluation activities are focused on improving effective program and service delivery to people assessed as having high risk of legal system involvement, scaling up carceral education programs, and restorative justice facilitator training practices. She adopts an applied research approach and is widely published on these topics. Her work has been recognized by the American Society of Criminology Division on Corrections and Sentencing, the Western Society of Criminology, and the University of Nevada, Reno ASUN Service-Learning Faculty Award for her work with the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program.

Stacey LaRoe is the Program Manager for St. Vincent de Paul Reentry Career Development & Navigation. She is a Criminologist who built a trauma-informed, wraparound reentry program based on data-driven techniques, modern theories in reentry, and 30 years of experience working with vulnerable populations. She currently works to empower individuals as they transition out of incarceration and into community and employment.

Stacey has been part of emergency response teams serving at-risk communities in 4 states and 2 countries, growing her passion for meeting people exactly as they are. She takes that passion into the prisons of Idaho, hoping to spark self-love, hope, and growth in each individual she meets.

Stacey raised her 3 children in Hawai'i, a place that nurtured her passion for community and connection. Her ohana is her everything.

Marc A. Levin is the Chief Policy Counsel for the Council on Criminal Justice and a pioneering figure in justice reform, having founded the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s criminal justice program in 2005 and the Right on Crime initiative in 2010.

A renowned author and attorney, he has testified before Congress and numerous state legislatures, and has advised international leaders, including in Uruguay and Australia. Levin’s work, focusing on sentencing, reentry, and reducing overcriminalization, has contributed to significant declines in incarceration. He serves on various advisory boards, including The Marshall Project and the Aspen Institute Criminal Justice Initiative.

Amanda Littrel is a national advocate working at the intersection of reentry, justice reform, and higher education in prison. She serves on the Board of Directors for the National Association for Rational Sex Offender Laws, was the past Executive Director of Iowans Unafraid, a NARSOL state affiliate, and is also a Fellow with the Rockwood Leadership Institute's Leadership for Higher Education in Prison program. Drawing from lived experience as a transgender woman and someone navigating life on the sex offense registry, Amanda works to bring her voice as a directly impacted individual into conversations about policy, reentry systems, and community reintegration. Her work focuses on building bridges among returning citizens, service providers, and policymakers to strengthen pathways to stability and opportunity after incarceration. Amanda speaks nationally about her lived-experience leadership, barriers to reentry, and the role that education and community support play in successful reintegration.

Jennifer Loyless works as Program Coordinator for The Palm Beach County Public Defender’s Office. In her 20+ years with the agency she has assisted in the implementation of many programs to assist incarcerated and recently released individuals in hopes of reducing recidivism. Jennifer began her work in reentry by assisting in the implementation of a pilot county-jail program in 2002. Over two decades that work has grown to assisting in the implementation of programming for jail and prison populations in partnership with the MacArthur Foundation, Florida Department of Corrections, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and numerous community-based service providers. Additionally, Jennifer assists Palm Beach County’s elected Public Defender in community outreach work advocating for criminal justice policy change locally and statewide.

Ashley Lunt, BSW, is the Forensic Peer Program Manager and CIT Specialist at NAMI Northern Nevada. She leads the development of a jail-based Forensic Peer Recovery Support Program in partnership with local justice and behavioral health agencies and supports the integration of certified peer specialists within crisis response systems, including collaboration with law enforcement mobile outreach teams. Her work focuses on strengthening diversion pathways, enhancing cross-system collaboration, and embedding lived experience within crisis system transformation efforts. Ashley holds a Bachelor of Social Work with an Addiction Treatment minor and is currently pursuing a Master of Justice Management at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Peter Lyndon-James is the Founder and CEO of Shalom House, one of Australia’s largest residential rehabilitation organisations, operating 150 residents across 13 facilities in Perth, Western Australia. He is the developer of the A–E3 Framework — a practical methodology for identifying addiction progression, assessing genuine readiness for change, and designing recovery environments that produce lasting outcomes across rehabilitation, reintegration, and resocialisation.

Peter’s qualifications are not academic. He spent 26 years inside the Australian prison and justice system from the age of nine — first as a child placed in a locked facility, then cycling through institutions, homelessness, and serious offending including trafficking. He knows the system from every angle it is possible to know it.

In 2005 he became a volunteer prison chaplain at Acacia Prison in Western Australia, spending five years working three days a week with the men he had grown up alongside. In 2012 he mortgaged his home and founded Shalom House. What began with four residents in a single property has grown into a fully accredited, 100% self-funded organisation with no government operational funding of any kind.

Shalom House outcomes across 15 years: 70% programme completion rate, 80% long-term sobriety, graduates leave with employment, independent housing, cleared debt, and restored family relationships. The cost to government is zero.

Peter holds the GAICD, QBE and CitWA, was named West Australian of the Year 2017–18 and Australian of the Year Finalist 2018. He is a bestselling author and international speaker presenting across Singapore, London, Boston and the United Kingdom in 2026.

Adam Martin is the Founder and CEO of F5 Project, a nonprofit working to eliminate overdose, crime, and suicide by empowering recovery, reducing recidivism, and fighting poverty. After overcoming five felony convictions, Adam transformed lived experience into leadership, launching F5 Project in 2016 to support individuals reentering society from incarceration and addiction. Today, F5 operates across North Dakota and Minnesota, serving over 1,000 participants each month through peer-driven housing, workforce, and recovery services.

Adam has founded multiple peer-led initiatives and serves in several leadership roles, including as Chair of the Reentry Committee for the Great North Innocence Project and a member of the North Dakota Reentry Task Force. He was appointed by Governor Doug Burgum to serve on Recovery Reinvented and has served on various nonprofit boards focused on trauma recovery and social impact.

Karen McDaniel is the Founder and Executive Director of The Place4Grace, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting families impacted by incarceration since 2009. With a Master of Arts in Educational Psychology and over 25 years in Early Childhood Education and Human Development, Karen advocates for marginalized communities affected by the justice system.

Her commitment is personal; she raised her two children while their father served a 24-year sentence, which fuels her passion for humanizing the lives of families facing similar challenges, particularly in BIPOC communities disproportionately affected by mass incarceration.

The Place4Grace is more than an organization—it's a movement. Programs like Home2Stay provide tailored reentry services for family reunification, while Family2Child Literacy connects incarcerated parents with their children through reading. Another program, Camp Grace, offers a restorative justice-based environment for fathers to rebuild relationships with their children through music and art.

Karen's efforts have received significant recognition, including honors from the U.S. Congress and the California State Assembly, as well as the UnCommon Hero Award from UnCommon Law. Her role as chair of the Inmate Family Council at various prisons highlights her influential advocacy for justice-involved individuals and their families.

At the core of Karen's work is the belief that every family deserves the opportunity to heal and thrive, regardless of their circumstances. Through her leadership, The Place4Grace is driving systemic change, ensuring families impacted by incarceration not only survive but flourish.

Tim McKay is the Operations Deputy Warden for Idaho State Correctional Center, a 2,128-bed men's prison south of Boise, Idaho, which houses minimum-security, medium-security and close-custody residents. It is Idaho’s largest prison.

Tim is known for a hands-on leadership style that emphasizes active engagement with staff and residents. He brings an operational perspective grounded in frontline correctional leadership, offering insight into how programs and policies are implemented within a secure prison environment. His work supports the broader mission of maintaining institutional safety while contributing to efforts that prepare individuals for successful reentry.

His leadership approach prioritizes practical problem-solving and consistent presence in the facility, and he is a major contributor to ongoing efforts to strengthen institutional culture and improve staff and operational effectiveness. His work reflects a commitment to maintaining safety and stability while supporting efforts that prepare individuals for successful reentry.

As the Program Director at Televerde Foundation, Oonagh oversees the PATHS programs, which equip currently and formerly incarcerated women with the certifications and skills they need to secure meaningful employment and build successful futures. She is dedicated to creating programs that foster personal and professional transformation, helping women break barriers and access new opportunities in the workforce.

Through a combination of hands-on training, mentorship, and community support, Televerde Foundation's programs empower women to overcome challenges, embrace continuous learning, and confidently step into their next chapter. Oonagh's focus is on driving sustainable impact that not only benefits participants but also enriches the communities they rejoin.

I am the CEO of a Life Changes Inc, a reentry program in Northern Nevada. I started with one home in the Reno area and now have progressed to 20 homes in 20 different programs and accounting facility in an outreach center. We are working on our first rehab this year. I myself have battled with addiction and turned it around to help people in a positive way.

Sherri has been working in the re-entry for the past 13 years. First as an advocate for criminal justice reform with ACSOL, then working to help connect individuals coming out of jails/prisons with jobs, and now manages a team of employment specialists with individuals suffering from mental health challenges and/or justice impacted at Bay Area Community Services (BACS) within the Sacramento and Fairfield regions.

Since her time working with re-entry population, she has been able to identify job opportunities for individuals who have been convicted of stigmatizing crimes, and have been able to get them back into the workforce. Understanding and implementing Trauma Informed Care helps me and my staff to understand that no one is the worst thing they have ever done - knowing that people can, and do change.

Jonathan is an influencer in the justice reform space and a frequent speaker at national conferences. He is a current PhD student and Dean's Fellow in Criminal Justice at University of Cincinnati examining mental health in formerly incarcerated populations, restorative justice, and collateral consequences. As a formerly incarcerated leader, Jonathan uses his unique knowledge to inform his research and create change.

Serving as Founder and Executive Director of Florida Justice Center, the state's only legal aid organization dedicated to helping justice-involved people overcome legal barriers to success, Jonathan positively impacted over 12,000 lives.

Jonathan holds Master of Business Administration and Master of Science in Criminal Justice degrees.

Demetrice is the Housing Director of Ladies of Hope Ministries. Growing up with incarcerated parents, Demetrice faced challenges in connecting with others, shaping her dedication to helping those in need. With over 10 years of experience as a Mental Health Therapist and Child Abuse Prevention advocate, she trains adults on effective child stewardship and is a National Facilitator for Darkness to Light.

Lanae Morris is a family member impacted by incarceration who now works to bridge the gap between prison and community by helping create pathways for connection, opportunity, and contribution. Drawing on firsthand experience navigating incarceration alongside loved ones, she focuses on restoring dignity and purpose for individuals before release occurs. Lanae collaborates with incarcerated artists, returning citizens, and community supporters to develop initiatives that allow people inside to contribute meaningful work, build identity beyond their conviction, and establish connections that support reentry. Her work emphasizes humanizing individuals involved in the justice system and creating structures that allow their voices and talents to be recognized while they are still inside.

Colleen is a second-year law student at California Western School of Law in San Diego, California. She is also the founder and CEO of Collective Power Consulting, LLC, a consulting firm dedicated to expanding access to education and strengthening reentry efforts across the San Diego region. Her work centers on justice-impacted individuals seeking to overcome structural barriers to higher education and professional advancement.

A formerly incarcerated woman, Colleen experienced homelessness after being denied employment and housing because of her criminal record. She credits community-based support and educational access as the turning points in her transformation. She began her academic journey at community college, supported by the Rising Scholars Program. She continued her education at the University of California, San Diego, where she completed dual undergraduate degrees in Sociology—Law and Society and Political Science while receiving invaluable mentorship and financial support through the Underground Scholars Initiative. As a current law student pursuing her Juris Doctorate, she co-founded and serves as president of the System Impacted Law Students Association (SILSA), where she continues to create educational pathways for system-impacted students pursuing a legal education. 

Her lived experience combined with her academic training grounds her abolitionist commitment to education as a pathway to liberation rather than punishment as a response to harm. Colleen speaks from both personal and professional vantage points about practical strategies justice-impacted individuals can use to access and persist in higher education despite legal barriers.

Outside of her academic pursuits, Colleen is an active member of her community. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Legal Aid Society of San Diego, is a member of Soroptimist Inter

Judith Negron is a criminal justice reform advocate with a Master’s in Mental Health Counseling, and over 25 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 advocate for those that have been directly and indirectly impacted by the criminal justice system, assisting in the pathways to fairness and equality in their future.

Founder and CEO of The Freedom Glow, LLC, her mission is to empower others and guide them upon their reentry process; and her passion is to give a voice to those left behind, through education, mentorship and tutoring. Judith is also a Managing Partner at Reentry Innovations, the Unlock Higher Education Coalition Policy Team Lead and The Ladies of Hope Ministries Partnership Lead.

She is an Uplift and Prison-to-Professionals scholar and mentor, and the Speaker’s Bureau member. She is a graduate of the JustLeadershipUSA Emerging Leaders and LwC fellow, The LOHM Pathways for Equity Fellow and is the Epic Ambassador for Florida; a DreamCorps Justice Empathy Cohort alumni and current Women Organizing for Justice & Opportunity cohort participant. Judith sits on the Board of Directors for Evolution Reentry and Exchange for Change.

Jarret Orcutt is the Coordinator of Educational Partnership Programs at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, Nevada, where he leads college access, workforce development, and reentry initiatives serving justice-involved students, displaced homemakers, and individuals receiving public assistance. His work includes partnerships with the Nevada Department of Corrections, Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, and Nevada Division of Social Services.

Orcutt serves as a Commissioner on the Nevada Sentencing Commission and is a 2026 Fair Chance to Advance Fellow with Jobs for the Future. Drawing on his own experience of 17 years of incarceration in Nevada, he works across higher education, corrections, workforce systems, and state policy to expand pathways from custody to college and career.

He graduated summa cum laude from Truckee Meadows Community College with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Career and Technical Education Leadership and is currently pursuing a Master of Public Administration at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Mishae Parker, LMFT, Founder and CEO of Experience M86, is a Visionary, Strategist, and Maximizer. Her professional training and background in Project Management and Event Planning have allowed her to be an exceptional asset to any partner, client, or company. Additionally, Mishae has a Master's degree in Counseling Psychology, and is Licensed as a Marriage & Family Therapist by the State of California.

David Parpart, D.C., brings a unique perspective as a behavioral health consumer, healthcare provider, and Silicon Valley health-technology strategist and innovator. For more than two decades, his work has focused on patient-centered care and systems designed to improve treatment adherence, earning more than five national healthcare-industry awards.

After years of work primarily addressing adherence in chronic illness, Dr. Parpart founded Welvida to focus on behavioral health and public-health infrastructure. Through SoberHomes, Welvida developed 46 recovery-housing beds across two properties and eight units in Washoe County during its first year.

Welvida is also developing SoberPals.ai, currently in beta, as a provider operating system and consumer application designed to support treatment adherence. Its initial focus is supporting the delivery of manualized Twelve-Step Facilitation and helping individuals translate behavioral-health treatment recommendations into practical, measurable actions in daily life.

Lisel Petis leads the Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties team at the R Street Institute, focusing on reducing recidivism and advancing reform through research and policy analysis. Previously, she was executive director of a victim services organization, established a Child Advocacy Center, and served on Colorado policy committees.

As a former prosecutor, city council member, and litigator, she brings extensive legal and municipal experience to her work, including expertise in bail reform. Petis has also contributed significantly to policy discussions through publications and expert participation in national, municipal-level, criminal justice forums.

Danell Puglisi-Knutson is a

• Woman Forced to Register
• Advocate for Justice Impacted Persons and Persons Required to Register 2021-present
• Advocacy Speaker 2021-present
• Founder & Facilitator SHINE-VOICES Women Required to Register Support Group 2022-present
• Executive Director Women Against Sexual Harm (W.A.S.H.) prevention advocacy organization (in development) 2025-present
• Board Member, Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) 2024-present
• Board Member, Education, Advocacy & Prevention Committee Co-Chair, Florida Action Committee (FAC) 2022-present
• Member of Washington Statewide Reentry Council Housing Working Group 2026
• University of Washington Graduate BA Political Science

Miamah holds a Master's Degree in Social Work as well as a Bachelor's in Sociology and Child and Family Development. with over 15 years of experience in K-12th education, including Foster and dependency Youth, unhoused folks, and kiddos with Special needs. She's found that one constant rings true--in order to capture the minds of young people, you must first reach their hearts. Belonging is the cornerstone of connection, and the springboard for learning.

Chris Reichart is the founder and CEO of Critical Data Group, a compliance infrastructure firm that builds real-time, audit-ready documentation systems for organizations providing licensed residential, reentry, and supervised care services. His work centers on a single question: can a program prove the service it delivered actually happened, the way it says it did?

Chris previously co-founded iFormBuilder, one of the earliest mobile field data collection platforms, and served as Chief Innovation Officer at Elwyn, a national human services provider. That combination — building the technology and running it inside a large provider — shapes how CDG works today: systems designed around the person holding the phone in the field, not the person writing the audit report.

CDG’s platforms are in production across reentry programs, IDD and behavioral health providers, county human services agencies, and residential facilities. A Pennsylvania native, Chris now lives and works in the Reno–Lake Tahoe area.

Vanessa Rojas is a passionate advocate for prison and sentencing reform whose work is rooted in lived experience, resilience, and an unwavering commitment to justice. A California native, Vanessa served four years in federal prison before being released through the compassionate release provision of the First Step Act. Her release became possible after she wrote a letter to FAMM, which helped connect her with the Federal Defenders of San Diego. They successfully filed and argued her compassionate release motion, giving Vanessa a second chance at life and purpose.

Since returning home, Vanessa has dedicated herself to advancing justice, second chances, and meaningful reform. She is currently pursuing a degree in Law, Public Policy, and Society, focusing on changing the very systems that once confined her. Her advocacy centers on ensuring that directly impacted people have access to freedom, dignity, opportunity, and a voice in shaping policy.

Vanessa is now a nationally recognized reentry professional, honored with multiple awards for her leadership and her work advancing reentry initiatives across the country. She is also an accomplished public speaker who uses her story to inspire action, challenge harmful narratives, and advocate for change. In addition, Vanessa mentors both women and men before and after release, helping them navigate the transition home and empowering them to build successful futures.

Jonas Ulysses Royster is an award-winning and best-selling author, national speaker, and the founder and CEO of Hood Proverbz, a leadership development organization focused on self-leadership, emotional intelligence, and personal accountability. He is the co-author of The Cheat Code, a widely used resource designed to help justice-impacted individuals successfully navigate probation, parole, and the reentry process.

Jonas develops and facilitates leadership and personal development curricula used in schools, workforce development programs, community organizations, and reentry initiatives. His programs focus on helping individuals identify transferable skills, build emotional intelligence, and develop the mindset necessary for long-term success.

He has delivered keynote presentations and workshops at conferences, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations across the country, including events focused on workforce development, juvenile justice, and reentry. Through his work, Jonas equips practitioners and program leaders with practical tools to support transformation, economic mobility, and leadership development among justice-impacted individuals.

Dr. Doris Schartmueller has been a faculty member in the Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice since 2015. She received her doctoral degree in Political Science at Northern Arizona University. She also holds a master’s degree in Applied Criminology from Northern Arizona University and a master’s degree in Political Science with minors in Finnish and Swedish languages from the University of Vienna (Austria).

Dr. Schartmueller’s research interests include long-term imprisonment and comparative criminal justice policy. She regularly teaches classes such as corrections, criminal justice ethics, and theories and practices of justice. She has also taught classes on comparative criminal justice policy as well as transnational and international crime.

The Reno music scene would truly be incomplete without the guitar wizardry of Scott Schlingheyde. He currently plays guitar for bands including Cyanate, From the Ruins, Alice Unchained and Reverse the Cycle. He’s got one hell of a musical resume—and some electrifying skills handling a guitar to back that up.

Chris Shanahan is the Peer Relations Project Manager for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul Southwest Idaho, where he supports the development of healthy, pro-social peer networks for individuals returning from incarceration. In this role, he collaborates with peer mentors, community partners, and reentry programs to create spaces that foster confidence, connection, and long-term stability. He designs participant-centered emotional intelligence and leadership workshops for adults navigating reentry, transition, and personal growth. His work blends curriculum design, trauma-informed communication, and practical skill-building to strengthen self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship skills.

His background includes completing the Idaho Department of Correction’s LEAD Courageous Leadership series, Train the Trainer, and Crucial Conversations training, as well as serving four seasons with the Idaho State Correctional Center/Boise State University Prison Debate Initiative. Chris has helped train more than 200 peer mentors across nine Idaho Department of Correction facilities and earned a Multimedia Producer credential through the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Apprenticeship, strengthening his use of digital media and storytelling to elevate lived-experience leadership.

Chris has contributed to national reentry conversations through panels with organizations such as Chicago Beyond, written for written for the Idaho Law Review, and has guest-lectured for both the College of Idaho and Northwest Nazarene University. He has served on the board of the Idaho Prison Arts Collective and currently sits on the Idaho Department of Correction's Citizen Advisory Council.

Chris is committed to building communities where people feel seen, supported, and capable of growth.

Carlos Simpson Sr. serves as a Sentencing Planner and Case Manager for the Detention Diversion Advocacy Program (DDAP) at the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice in San Francisco. Raised between East Palo Alto and San Francisco, Carlos’s early life was shaped by instability and trauma as his parents struggled with addiction. These challenges contributed to choices that led him into the California Youth Authority and eventually state prison. Today, his work is deeply personal—what he calls “the ultimate gift of righting my wrongs.” By sharing his lived experience, he supports young people navigating the justice system, offering guidance rooted in accountability, resilience, and hope. Working in the same building where he was once incarcerated serves as a powerful daily reminder of his transformation and the value of second chances.

Carlos is driven by a belief in early intervention, often emphasizing that “it’s a whole lot easier healing broken boys than broken men.” Beyond his professional role, he finds renewal in nature—whether at the beach, along a river, or in the woods—grounding himself and reconnecting with a sense of peace. A devoted father and grandfather, he also contributes to his community as a football and baseball coach and volunteer. Looking ahead, Carlos envisions expanding his impact by training and employing dozens of men with similar lived experiences to serve as credible messengers, helping young people build emotional awareness, heal from trauma, and create lasting, positive change in their communities.

Kardell Sims is a nationally recognized reentry consultant, 13-time published author, national speaker, and Master Certified Empowerment Life Coach with over 20 years of experience in corrections and criminal justice. He is the Founder of On The Inside Re-Entry Academy — delivering reentry programming inside 40+ correctional facilities across 8 states — and Block Elevate Technologies, developer of the Elevate 360 Second Chance Operating Ecosystem. Kardell's curriculum is integrated into CoreCivic's Go Further Discovery platform across 16 facilities, making it one of the most scalable reentry education deployments in the private corrections sector. His philosophy — Reentry starts On The Inside, of Prison and of Self — and his H.A.V.E. principle (Hustle, Attitude, Vision, Education) underpin all of his work. He is a CPD-Accredited Life Coach, a Reentry Peer Support Specialist, and a graduate of The Standing Ovation Speaker's Academy. He hosts the Second Chance Sessions and The Reentry Journey Podcast and has delivered programming nationwide.

Gabriel Singer is a formerly incarcerated Project Rebound student at San Francisco State University. Having spent 16 years incarcerated, Gabriel developed a deep understanding of systemic oppression within the criminal justice system.  He is passionate about research on criminal justice reform, especially Restorative Justice. 

Gabriel earned a Distinguished Student Award from the Criminal Justice Department upon graduating with his bachelor’s in criminal justice. He is currently pursuing his master’s degree in international relations at SFSU. Due to Gabriel’s life experiences, he is committed to working with incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals to find their freedom through education, as he has. Gabriel believes that liberation from incarceration can happen through education.

Noelan Vandergoot is a returning citizen who has navigated reentry within the past year and now works to support others making the same transition. Drawing from lived experience, he focuses on peer mentorship, identity rebuilding, and helping individuals move from survival to stability after incarceration. Through his involvement in collaborative initiatives with incarcerated individuals and community members, Noelan works to ensure that reentry efforts reflect the real barriers people face when returning home. His perspective centers on accountability, opportunity, and the importance of being seen as more than one’s past.

Teara Voris is a dedicated Peer Support Specialist, Peer Support Supervisor, and Community Health Worker II committed to empowering individuals and strengthening communities. Through her work with NAMI Western Nevada, and Freedom Bridges, and Empowered. Teara supports individuals in their recovery journey by providing guidance, resources, and compassionate, peer-driven care.

Teara believes in meeting people where they are, promoting resilience, and helping others build a path toward stability, growth, and long-term success.

I'm a mom above all and very proud grandmother to three. I believe in supporting individuals because I know how it feels to be feel alone.

Cody Wagner is currently the Program Director of the Nevada Community Health Worker Association (NVCHWA), a position he has held for about two years now. He has been with the Association since 2018, mainly working in training CHWs throughout Nevada. The growth of the Community Health Worker field in our state has been one of his proudest accomplishments. Cody was raised in Fernley, graduating from Fernley High School in 2003. He also graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno with a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Chemical Engineering. He also runs a small business, The Tap Wagon, and serves on the City of Fernley Planning Commission, Lyon County Regional Transportation Commission, Boys & Girls Club Board in Fernley and the Lyon County CASA Board of Directors. Cody enjoys coaching high school basketball, as well as spending time with his wife, Valerie, and two sons, Reese and Jett.

Judge Egan K. Walker serves as the Chief District Judge for the Second Judicial District Court in Washoe County, Nevada. He was first appointed to the bench in 2011 by Governor Brian Sandoval and has since served in both the Family Division and the General Jurisdiction Division, providing him with a unique, comprehensive perspective across the court system.

Throughout his judicial tenure, Judge Walker has presided over a wide range of cases, including guardianships, child welfare and delinquency matters, specialty courts, family law, and adult criminal and civil cases. His work has emphasized problem-solving approaches and system collaboration, particularly in areas intersecting behavioral health and the justice system.

Judge Walker currently serves as Co-Chair of the Nevada Juvenile Justice Oversight Commission and the Nevada Guardianship Commission. He is a former member of the Board of Directors for the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and is a frequent presenter on judicial innovation, specialty courts, and cross-system collaboration at both state and national levels.

Prior to joining the bench, Judge Walker served as a Deputy District Attorney in both Carson City and Washoe County, where he prosecuted a wide range of serious offenses, including multiple homicide and complex abuse cases. He also worked in private practice, where he represented victims and families in civil litigation.

Judge Walker graduated from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in 1991. While attending law school, he worked as a Registered Nurse in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at the University of California, Davis Medical Center. From 1982 until 1990, Judge Walker was a member of the Army National Guard and Army Reserves, working as a medic, flight medic, and nurse.

Danny Weiss spent decades in the Nevada prison system before enrolling at Truckee Meadows Community College through the Justice-Involved Education program while residing at Northern Nevada Transitional Housing. He studied Computer Information Technology and graduated with a 4.0 GPA. Through his educational pathway and Nevada's fair chance hiring policies, Weiss secured full-time state employment and currently serves as an IT Technician IV with the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. He is co-presenting from the perspective of someone who navigated the full arc — incarceration, education, credential attainment, and state employment — and can speak directly to what worked, what nearly didn't, and what the system looks like from the inside out.

Chris Woolley is a beacon of resilience and hope, a devoted father, loving husband, and a powerful example of transformation after incarceration. Over the past seven years, he has worked tirelessly to rebuild his life and support others on similar paths, using his experiences to guide and uplift his community. As a Reentry Coordinator at The Place 4 Grace and President of one of LA County’s largest support platforms, The Source LA reaching over 157,000 people, Chris provides vital resources around reentry, housing, employment, and financial literacy. His story of perseverance and compassion inspires others to overcome adversity and pursue brighter futures.