Ahmaad Robinson
Ahmaad is a first-generation college graduate. In 2013, he graduated from the University of Bridgeport with his bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice and in 2015 from the University of New Haven with his master’s degree in Public Administration. Ahmaad currently works for the Department of Labor in the employment services division. His experiences working in the non-profit sector providing social services have fueled his desire to pursue a career in law focusing on business contracts and legal literacy. He believes that following a law career will allow him to continue to serve as an advocate for the destitute, empowering them with the necessary skills and tools to understand the law. In his spare time, Ahmaad enjoys creative writing, traveling, and spending time with family and friends.
Jacqueline Purcell
Jacqueline Purcell is an entrepreneur and motivational speaker empowering women through accountability, transparency, and authenticity.
In 2001, Ms. Purcell founded a successful title search company and has built it to become the largest title search company in Connecticut today. She is an expert in property title and investigative research with an extensive background in developing and executing processes and procedures that improve efficiencies in the field.
Leaving her Title Search company to her daughter Jacqueline has moved into the next phase of her life still pursuing her passion for research and criminal justice reform. In 2016, Jacqueline founded Evolution Reentry Services, focusing on the needs of women who have been impacted by the Criminal Justice System. Her research and collaboration with federal and state agencies for women in reentry has helped create new programs in reentry. Evolution Reentry empowers women to regain their lives while being accountable and transparent through the use of effective methods in dialectical behavior and trauma therapy significantly improving their day-to-day living and personal relationships. Jacqueline speaks at conferences and symposiums throughout the country motivating and empowering justice impacted women and their families helping them move forward in their lives through truth while educating communities through her research surrounding the stigma of incarceration.
Jacqueline leads weekly online support groups through zoom for women and families who are justice impacted. These groups are focused on lifting and empowering justice involved women and their families as they rebuild their lives before and after incarceration. Currently over 75 women and families throughout the country have joined giving support to one another removing the isolation that often comes with being justice impacted.
Jacqueline also hosts a monthly podcast, Criminal Justice Café, educating communities on the realities of the criminal justice system and working to help change the stigma of justice impacted individuals and their families.
Ms. Purcell holds master’s degrees in Business Administration and Social Work and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology. Most Recently she graduated Summa Cum Laude from Albertus Magnus College where she earned her master’s degree in Criminal Justice with a Concentration in Correctional Administration.
Tiffany Minakhom
Tiffany Minakhom is a passionate, first-generation, Lao woman dedicated to addressing power imbalances and ending mass incarceration. Tiffany believes that any change is possible through fierce community organizing and advocacy. She lives by the Bryan Stevenson quote, “our humanity depends on everyone’s humanity.”
As a daughter of Lao refugees, Tiffany acknowledges the significance of creating opportunities for exploited communities. Through fierce advocacy in the face of injustice, she believes we all have the power to create powerful change together.
Tiffany is currently a paralegal at the Center for Children’s Advocacy in Hartford, a racial justice non-profit law firm dedicated to advocating for Connecticut’s most vulnerable youth. Tiffany works with the Youth Justice Project, specifically working with youth who have been impacted by the juvenile justice system and assisting them through the challenges of re-entry. At the Center, Tiffany assists in facilitating Know Your Rights training for youth 24 and under at Manson Youth Institution. During these trainings, she discusses their civil legal rights when returning back to their communities, with an emphasis on education, and potential collateral consequences.
Tiffany is an advocate for ending mass incarceration and believes we should create a world where everyone’s basic needs are met. She is also a member of the Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice, a community organization dedicated to ending mass incarceration and the drug war in Connecticut. With Katal leaders and members, she has moderated #CutShutInvest community conversations to discuss the importance of cutting down the number of people incarcerated in jails and prisons, shutting down the number of prisons, and investing in communities most harmed by systemic racism and mass incarceration, into opportunities of housing, healthcare, education, and jobs. Tiffany has also emceed #FreeThemNowCT community-based protests at the Hartford Correctional Center and spoke at the State Capitol to raise awareness about COVID disparities and unsafe environments inside jails and prisons and demand that our state leaders and Governor do better.
In addition to her work at Katal, she is also a Mentor for GoodWorks, a non-profit dedicated to empowering women in recovery from the criminal justice system to make positive behavioral changes in their life.
Tiffany is also a personal trainer. Being a plus-size woman, Tiffany knows how vital it is for people to have a safe place to move their bodies and take up space without judgment. She is “anti-BMI” as she advocates for functional training, being stronger, having more endurance, gaining mobility, and moving your body because you want to.
In her downtime, you can find Tiffany reading, lifting, boxing, listening to scary podcasts, cuddling with her cat, Sweet Pea, re-watching The Office, and being around family and friends. Tiffany holds an Associate of Arts degree in Paralegal Studies at Manchester Community College and received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Legal Studies at Bay Path University.
Babz Rawls Ivy
Babz Rawls Ivy is a native of New Haven, Connecticut. She grew up in Church Street South Housing complex in the Hill Section. Upon graduation from Eli Whitney RVT High School, she enrolled and was accepted into Barber-Scotia College in Concord, North Carolina (HBCU). A decade after earning her undergraduate degree in Marketing, she went on to graduate school, earning a Master’s in Public Administration as a National Urban Fellow at Baruch, City University New York. She also holds certification as a Spiritual Director from the School of Spirituality & Practicum, The Mercy Center in Madison, Connecticut.
Babz has held numerous positions of leadership as an employee and as a volunteer. She has served the Greater New Haven communities through Mayoral appointments, Board Commitments, and Community Activism.
She is currently Editor-in-Chief of the Inner-City News. The Inner-City News is a 30+ year old award-winning weekly print publication published by Penfield Communication, Inc. in New Haven Connecticut. It is the oldest continuous Black owned published print publication in New England.
Babz is a nationally recognized popular blogger and social media influencer currently managing several blogs on various social media platforms. She is a popular podcaster and a frequently sought after guest for local and national radio, television, and podcast appearances.
Babz is the much listened to morning radio personality and producer of LoveBabz LoveTALK show, Monday-Friday 9:00 am to 11:00 am. Every morning Babz converses with the most interesting people in and around New Haven. She chops it up with reluctant, but always down, Station Manager Harry Droz. WNHH-LP is a hyper-local community radio station under the New Haven Independent news outlet. www.newhavenindependent.org
Babz is also the co-host of Criminal Justice Insider (CJI) with Jeff Grant, a radio show and podcast on 103.5 WNHH-LP. CJI highlights and showcases matters and issues about the criminal justice system. There is more to criminal justice than going to prison. The prison system is a complex multi-layered entity with a great many moving parts and players.
Babz is an avid reader, a social butterfly, and enjoys fine food and drink. You can find her in various bars and eateries around town. She hosts salons on her Porch in Newhallville, feting artists and intellectuals alike. Building community is her favorite thing. The mother of four beautiful children she and then-husband adopted during their marriage. Motherhood was and is the greatest adventure in her life. Babz served time in Danbury Federal Prison Camp and is a white-collar Felon.
She readily speaks about that time in her life’s story when asked and invited. Serving time in federal prison affected her profoundly, so much so she created and founded The Freed Woman Fund with the Prosperity Foundation of CT. The FWF is a fund to aid Black Women exiting prison returning back to community. It is currently an endowed fund with the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.
Leiyanie “Lee” Osorio
Leiyanie "Lee" Osorio was born in New Haven. She spent her early elementary school years within our Fair Haven community, later returning from Puerto Rico during middle school. Lee resided with her family in both the Hill and Dixwell communities throughout high school. The nomadic lifestyle ignited her interest in community policing, educational law, and juvenile justice practices, lighting her dedication to the restorative justice development of youth policies and services. Lee quickly became enthusiastic about creating youth programs central to the idea of developing humans from all walks of life. “Meeting them where they are” is the core of positive change. Helping youth achieve their goals and passions contribute to the positive expansion of our communities of color. As a proud member of the LGBTQIA family, Lee's niche is establishing safe spaces, representation, and advocacy for unfair systems where social norms violate the fundamental rights of human development. Lee truly enjoys all outdoor activities and traveling the world with her family, while enjoying nature's wonders and beauty and all delicious cuisines.
Cashmere Unique Streater
Ms. Cashmere Unique Streater graduated from Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, North Carolina with a Bachelor of Science in Social Work. She attended Albertus Magnus College in New Haven where she earned a Master of Science in Criminal Justice Administration. Cashmere is an entrepreneur and also dedicates her time working at EMERGE Connecticut Inc.. At EMERGE, she assists people returning home from incarceration in personal development, emotional intelligence, and ways to advertise their skills in today's job market by facilitating Employability Workshops and one-on-one case management.
Arden Santana
Arden Santana has over 25 years of experience in education administration and methodology. She’s had the honor of working with esteemed administrators, teachers, and a host of youth and families, since landing her first professional position at her high school alma mater in New Haven, Connecticut. Arden’s calling as a teacher began in 2001, when she was recruited as a secondary language arts instructor for Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland and quickly scaled up to in-service leadership. After living, substitute teaching and serving as chief operations advisor and case manager for a family-owned counseling and education service in Houston, Texas, Arden returned to her hometown where she continued to teach secondary grades and adult education. She has been consistently praised for dedication, professionalism, and efficacy among school principals’ most lauded teachers. Arden resigned from New Haven Public Schools in 2010 and has since served as an educator in home-based communities of learning. In 2012, Arden co-founded Rootabagas Care & Learning Place in New Haven, Connecticut and has been the principal educator for her two daughters. Rootabagas’ early learning curriculum elevated children's social, language and cognitive skills to enable them to enter and thrive within mainstream, kindergarten classrooms. In response to parents’ overt dissatisfaction with school systems across the country after COVID-mandated closings, Arden founded SĀHGE Academy online, literacy, arts and civics focused collective of home educators in the greater New Haven, Connecticut area, the City of Philadelphia, and County of Baltimore Maryland. SĀHGE Academy now provides fundamental skills and core subject development onsite for learners aged six and up. Having taught under No Child Left Behind in public education systems, Arden witnessed the erasure of history, civics, government and the arts from educational curricula. SĀHGE Academy’s vision is to restore these critical subject areas in a re-imagined academic paradigm that fosters purposeful, knowledgeable engagement in the global society. Beside teaching, Arden enjoys reading, hosting guests and loved ones, and studying law and government. She identifies as a self-taught legal consultant and is being called now to earn a juris doctorate. Alongside her husband and children, Arden is committed to self-reliance within communities of like mind and culture. She obtained her undergraduate degree in English from Southern Connecticut State University and her Master of Arts in Consciousness Studies and Transpersonal Psychology from the Graduate Institute for Holistic Studies. Arden is a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow and a Raising Highly Capable Kids (RHCK) Facilitator. RHCK is an evidence-based parenting curriculum developed to build stronger families by empowering parents with the confidence, tools, and skills they need to raise healthy, caring, and responsible children.
Karina Lopez
Born in Ecuador, as one of nine children, Karina came to the United States when she was 18 and has been living in New Haven ever since. For 14 years, Karina was undocumented. This experience helps her understand the challenges many immigrants experience in terms of culture, language, and legal status among other issues. She spent four years with Apostle Immigrant Services (AIS) in New Haven as an accredited representative helping people navigate the immigration system. While working for AIS, Karina obtained her associates degree in Liberal Arts at Gateway Community College. Currently, she is a senior at Southern Connecticut State University where she will obtain a degree in Sociology with a minor in Spanish. Karina also works at Loaves and Fishes in New Haven, a food pantry that serves the New Haven community with food and clothes. Besides helping the underserved population, Karina has a passion for reading, watching documentaries, kayaking, and taking small hikes when her schedule allows her to. She adores spending time with her family which includes her son and husband, a cat, and two sisters.
Earl Bloodworth
Mr. Bloodworth is the current Director of Reentry for the City of Bridgeport, overseeing the Mayor’s Initiative for Reentry Affairs (MIRA). Mr. Bloodworth is a native of New Haven and graduate of the University of Connecticut. Mr. Bloodworth is a proud active member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc – Chi Omicron Chapter. He was most recently the director of the Warren Kimbro Reentry Project 2016 to 2019, the city of New Haven’s effort to provide support to incarcerated individuals returning to the greater New Haven community up to 12 months before their release to ensure a healthy and successful re-entry to society. The program provided support for housing and employment and coordinated other services on the behalf of the formerly incarcerated. Mr. Bloodworth also served as interim director for New Haven’s project Fresh Start from 2018 to 2019. Mr. Bloodworth currently oversees the Reentry department for the City of Bridgeport which encompasses the Mayor’s Initiative for Reentry Affairs (MIRA), technical advisement for the ARPA recipients that received 4.3 million dollars over the next three years for reentry work in the city of Bridgeport. He also oversaw the allocation and disbursement for the funding.
Mr. Bloodworth has launched the reentry department’s Bridgeport Family First reentry programing working with incarcerated parents and their families in the community building a bridge of family reunification. He has also launched the city’s first ever pardons and expungement program in partnership with Quinnipiac Law School, Connecticut Legal Services of Bridgeport, Career Resources Inc. and The WorkPlace to assist those that are seeking a clean slate after having served their time. Mr. Bloodworth also started the first municipal direct partnership with the CT DMV to assist the reentry population with much needed ID procurement. Mr. Bloodworth is also involved in various organizations: Chair of the New Haven Reentry Round Table 2016 to Present Graustein Foundation Community Leadership Program Alum 2017.
Maya Martindale
Maya Martindale is a native of New Haven and matriculated through the city’s parochial and public schools. She completed her undergraduate studies at Clark Atlanta University where she obtained a degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing. She also holds a dual master’s degree in Management and Business Administration from Albertus Magnus College, a master’s in Entertainment Business from Full Sail University, and a Professional Certificate in Digital Marketing from Cornell University. Maya currently works at Yale University within the Shared Interest Groups department of the Yale Alumni Association where she engages alumni to the university and to fellow alumni through project management and event management. She is also the co-chair of the Yale African American Affinity Group where she leads YAAA to strive and provide opportunities for staff to engage, build community and make connections at Yale and the broader New Haven community. Maya has a strong passion for the arts and her community. She strives to make a difference in both areas by being an active member of the New Haven Alumnae chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., serving as co-chair of Regional Service Day for two consecutive terms, and executive board member of the Brockington Arts Institute Inc. In her personal time, Maya loves to spend time with family, friends, and sorors, listening to music and traveling the world.
Kellie Jones
Kellie Jones is a native of New Haven where she currently resides. Mrs. Jones attended the New Haven public schools until her family relocated to Georgia when she was in high school. She suffered a family tragedy in May of 2003 when she lost her oldest sister to domestic violence. Following this incident, her passion to assist domestic violence victims led her to become more interested in a legal path. She was a part of the first graduating class from Peachtree Ridge High School in 2004. While at Peachtree Ridge, Mrs. Jones was the President of Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), mock trial, and earned national honor roll. After completing high school, Mrs. Jones attended Georgia State University where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science with a concentration in Pre-Law Studies. While at Georgia State, Mrs. Jones completed an internship at the Partnership Against Domestic Violence as a Legal Advocate. Following her studies at Georgia State, Mrs. Jones returned to New Haven and received her Master of Science in Criminal Justice from Grand Canyon University. Mrs. Jones was on the Dean’s List while at both Georgia State and Grand Canyon Universities. Mrs. Jones continues to be an advocate for domestic violence awareness through her work with the Family Center Services of Connecticut located in New Haven. In 2016, she established a fund in the memory of her sister called Patrice’s Angels Emergency Fund with the help of Family Center Services. This fund is designed to assist victims of domestic violence in emergency situations. Mrs. Jones is currently the Manager of the Annuity Department at Knights of Columbus and has been with the company for 13 years. She also volunteers for United Way of Greater New Haven. Outside of working and volunteering, Mrs. Jones is a devoted wife and mother of two boys, ages 5 and 15 who attend school in NHPS. Aside from cheering for her oldest at baseball games and assisting her husband with coaching tee ball, she also enjoys hiking, reading, and writing.
Anton Pettiford
Anton is a current resident of the town East Hartford. His connection to the New Haven community, interestingly, stems from involvement with the criminal justice system in 2006 when, at age 17, Anton was court-mandated to spend 3 months at New Haven’s Youth Center for Change—a residential program located within 2 miles of Yale Law School. Anton understood how the uniqueness of his own circumstances—having earned a high school diploma and employed part-time just prior to his placement at Youth Center for Change—might have influenced the judge to impose a sentence of probation instead of prison, but he wanted to understand why racial disparities existed within the criminal justice system, why mass incarceration disproportionately impacted people of color. Moreover, Anton sought to learn how to build off his own experiences and to draw upon the lessons he learned to make a difference in the lives of others, so as to help them avoid the same mistakes he made as a youth.
Anton enrolled in the Criminal Justice program at Manchester Community College (MCC) in 2010, becoming the first in his family to pursue a college degree. At MCC, Anton went on to serve, in successive years, as Criminal Justice Club president (2011-12) and president of the Alpha Upsilon Alpha Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa: International Honor Society (2012-13). Under his leadership, the Criminal Justice Club held several community events such as Bears that Care—a holiday toy drive for children of incarcerated parents. As president of Phi Theta Kappa, Anton helped to raise funds for breast cancer research, provided school supplies to hundreds of Manchester Public School students, held a Community College Completion Corps event where over 100 MCC students pledged to complete their associate degree requirements, and helped to create MCC’s “Pay It Forward: Coaching for Student Success” student mentorship program. Anton was named to the All-Connecticut Academic Team in 2013 and earned the MCC College Student Leadership Award. Anton earned a BA in Criminal Justice from the University of Hartford in 2015.
Since then, Anton has worked as a Behavior Manager in the East Hartford Public School system, Client Supervisor at a residential program (similar to Youth Center for Change), and Youth Development Specialist at a Hartford non-profit organization dedicated to empowering youth to succeed in education and employment. In his current role as Guided Pathways Advisor at Middlesex Community College, Anton helps first-generation and low-income students overcome barriers to college success. Additionally, Anton also serves as co-advisor for the MxCC chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, where he continues to share his experiences as a student leader to promote the benefits of academic excellence. Anton serves as a community member on the East Hartford Black Caucus where he shares in the organization’s mission to “build black political and economic equity through advocacy and community collaboration.” Anton is excited to begin his journey with the Access to Law School Program and looks forward to sharing his perspective as someone who was impacted by the justice system.
Anna Rose Thelemaque
Anna Rose Thelemaque is a senior at the University of Connecticut pursuing a dual degree in human development and political science. Through her studies, Anna is learning how human development – the brain and its growth physically, emotionally, and socially – overlaps with politics and the law. Anna’s experience and involvement in state-level advocacy work led her to choose this course of study. Anna presented on what additional support, training, or improvements could be made to aid foster youth in finding and maintaining housing at Connecticut's “Youth at the Capitol” event in February 2022.
Anna aspires to pursue a law degree after her undergraduate studies because she is highly motivated to use both her experiences in academics and as someone with lived experience in foster care to advocate for clients who come from backgrounds of trauma. In summer 2022, Anna participated in the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute's (CCAI) foster youth internship program. She has published a policy report titled, “Eliminating the Foster Care to Homelessness Pipeline” in which she discusses her own personal experience dealing with housing instability after leaving the childcare system. She highlighted that, “each year, more than 20,000 youth in foster care turn 18 years old and are expected to start their lives on their own – looking for a job, a place to live, food to eat, and other basic necessities to survive all at once. The transition from foster care often places young people at risk of homelessness and housing instability due to the loss of support the child welfare system should provide.” Anna is heavily interested in policy work and aspires to be a civil rights lawyer and humanitarian. Aside from academics, she aspires to one day open her own holistic medicine practice to help people recover and let go of trauma, unforgiving, suffering, PTSD, and other issues so they can live a healthy life.
Jarrell E. Daniels
Jarrell E. Daniels is Project Director and Community Management Liaison at Columbia University’s Center for Justice. He is a Bronx, New York native, Truman Scholar and graduate of the School of General Studies at Columbia University. In 2019, one year after coming home from prison, Jarrell Founded the Justice Ambassadors Youth Council (JAYC) at Columbia’s Center for Justice. The Justice Ambassadors is a 12-week social justice educational seminar centered around leadership development and life skills building for 18- to 25-year-old, disadvantaged young adults. Throughout the program, youth and local government officials work collaboratively to co-author policy proposals aimed at transforming systems, driving institutional change, or addressing community challenges. Jarrell’s commitment to youth development and policy reform led to him giving a TED Talk that highlights the factors that led to his incarceration and introduces an innovative approach to collaborative education between community members and public officials. Jarrell is an aspiring civil rights and criminal defense attorney and educator. His primary focus is bridging the divide between lawmakers, academic institutions and marginalized communities. As a lawyer, Jarrell will use strategic court advocacy and impact litigation to help establish national models, for state to state and county by county reinvestment blueprints, to serve as restoration plans for under-resourced communities. His methodology is rooted in legislative action, key funding sponsorships, sustainable implementation policies and community empowerment.
Nnedinma Umeugo
Nnedinma is a New Haven native born and raised. She is the daughter of a Nigerian father and African American mother. Her parents always instilled the importance of education in her due to the adversities that they faced growing up. Nnedinma graduated from New Haven public schools. As she furthered her education, she graduated from the historical black college Bennett with a bachelor’s in mass communications.
As Nnedinma entered into adulthood she started her working career as a substitute teacher. From there, she went on to become a case manager at The Connection Inc. where she helped clients with dual diagnosis reintegrate into the community. She then went on to further her career as a Gender Responsive case manager at Bridgeport Alternative in the Community. This program helped Nnedinma look deeper into law and the disservice of underprivileged people. She was the lead case manager and liaison between the women offender’s unit at Bridgeport Probation. She received many awards and accolades that included: case management award, outstanding client engagement, and champion status in assessments. She always felt as though she needed to give more. Nnedinma helped clients with substance abuse counseling, finding shelter, and clothes-- but she always felt as though she could never help them when it came to their complicated cases. She felt hopeless and inadequate at times. She knew that she needed to do more. She hopes to become the person that they can depend on the legal side, a lawyer that some people at a disadvantage desperately need. She now works for the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services as a MHA1. Nnedinma also volunteered at several nonprofit organizations which included, Ronald McDonald house, United Way, Connecticut Food Bank, Salvation Army, St. Ann’s Soup kitchen, and the Special Olympics.
Marcus T. Harvin
Marcus T. Harvin is a son of the city of New Haven; one who believes deeply in the potential of his birthplace. Marcus is an aspiring minister and community leader who is dedicated to the cause of delivering his hometown from the blight, and socio-economic barrenness that has morphed this metropolis into a slum. He is presently pursuing an undergraduate degree in General Studies at the University of New Haven (by way of his participation in the Yale Prison Education Initiative program while he was imprisoned at MacDougall C.I.). He is a 2022-23 Yale Prison Education Initiative College-to- Career fellow; a participant in the Yale University School of Medicine/ FORDD Clinic Formerly Incarcerated Recovery Support Training program; a graduate of the Blackstone Career Institute Legal Assistant program (with distinction; he also earned graduate certifications in: Civil Litigation; Criminal Law; Immigration Law; and Personal Injury). However, in his eyes, his greatest accomplishment thus far has been creating his two beloved daughters-Mariah Lorraine Harvin, and Mi’ah Evelyn Harvin. Harvin’s aspiration to become a criminal defense attorney is the byproduct of his prolonged personal battle with the pervasive injustice and inequity within Connecticut’s criminal justice system. The actualization of this aspiration would also serve as the fulfillment of a promise he made to his late-beloved grandmother Sally Mae Harvin. Through law, he has discovered a way to turn the pain which accompanies imprisonment into passionate purpose; and he is determined to be the answer to the prayers of the imprisoned, impoverished, and impotent.
Daniel Dunn
Daniel Dunn is a government transparency advocate, community organizer, and systems designer in Hamden, Connecticut. Daniel is currently fighting for police transparency and accountability as a member of the Hamden Police Commission. As a member of the Hamden Traffic Authority, Daniel collaborated with community members to create a more accessible public workflow for prioritizing and responding to traffic safety issues. Daniel previously managed the open data program for the Town of Chapel Hill, making data about the town and its operations easily accessible online. In 2019, Daniel developed OpenGovernment.io to encourage municipalities to increase transparency and facilitate access to information. With over a decade of experience as a technology consultant and systems architect, Daniel hopes to use his skills to enhance legal fact-finding, improve local governments, and directly address issues related to class and racial inequality. Daniel is a first-generation college graduate with a BA in Philosophy. He enjoys cooking, percussion, robotics, and building new things in his workshop.
Alanna Herskowitz
Alanna Herskowitz is a proud first generation and multi-race New Haven native. She attended the University of New Haven in West Haven, Connecticut for both her undergraduate and graduate studies. She graduated with a B.S. in Criminal Justice with a focus in English in May of 2020. She graduated in August of 2021 with a Master of Public Administration. She is an active volunteer within her local community, having worked to organize toy drives for Toys-For-Tots and service the greater New Haven area through clean-ups and food drives. While completing her undergraduate studies, she became a published author, created an honors course focused on the rehabilitation of incarcerated people, and developed an honors thesis that extensively examined the role of overt bias in modern day policing through the scrutinization of departmental policies, training, and the recruitment process. Her thesis abstract was selected for presentation at the 57th annual Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS). Upon completion of the thesis, she felt challenged to create new and innovative solutions to problems that greatly impact varying communities and to produce a comprehensive and effective remedy for an overwhelming and ongoing issue. As a graduate student, Alanna continued to pursue policy analysis in the hopes to further explore policies, laws, and other factors at play when seeking to enact change. She focused a majority of her graduate work on exploring the policy and procedure surrounding or influenced by various criminal justice topics. Currently, Alanna works as a court clerk for the State of Connecticut Judicial Branch. There, she engages with many people of varying races, backgrounds, ideologies, incomes, and experiences. She finds great joy and pride in being a public servant, which has also played a part in helping her decide to go to law school. In her free time, Alanna is an avid concert attendee and academic journal consumer. She enjoys keeping up to date on the latest advancements in criminal justice and developing policy to aid in eventually making New Haven a better and more equitable place to live.
Tracey Foskey
Tracey Foskey is a native of New Haven, Connecticut and attended the city's public schools from grades K-9. Tracey completed her undergraduate degree at Delaware State University with a degree in Sociology Criminal Justice. Tracey is a Social Worker for the State of Connecticut Department of Children and Families. Tracey’s son Troy (TJay) was diagnosed with autism at the age of three and has inspired her to start a non-profit organization- Total Joy Are You (TJAY) Autism Foundation. TJAY is a non-profit organization determined to raise public awareness about autism spectrum disorders (ASD), empower families, and provide resources to assist families raising children on the spectrum. Tracey is a member of God's Miracles Unlimited Outreach Ministries where she serves as Youth Advisor for the Youth Department. Tracey is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.