Akeem Browder is the founder of Shut Down Rikers, a campaign aimed at ending the Rikers Island jail complex, and the Kalief Browder Foundation, which works to change laws, policies, and regulations affecting poor communities and families impacted by mass incarceration and solitary confinement.

Deon Wright is a creative, entrepreneur in world renowned business man. He is cofounder of remarkable business called Power Grid Professionals.

In 1994, Cobb was elected to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, becoming the first woman on that court.

Taylor Paul is the CEO of The League for Safer Streets, a movement to organize system-impacted individuals to be agents of change in their communities.

Chris is the founder and Managing Partner of the De-Carceration Fund.

Starling Thomas is an award-winning filmmaker, writer, and poet whose work turns lived experience into powerful cinema.

Chef Crystal is a Private Chef and Nutrition Consultant to some of the world's most talented entertainers, athletes, and health enthusiasts.

An award-winning composer/producer duo known for crafting emotionally resonant, genre-blending scores across film and television.

Monya Saunders is a dedicated Community Health Worker with the Transitions Clinic, where she provides healthcare and social service navigation for women returning to their communities. after incarceration.

Carla Crowder is the Executive Director of Alabama Appleseed, where she serves as the
organization’s chief strategic officer and voice for its mission, vision, values, and programs.

A longtime community organizer based in Selma. She brings decades of experience advocating for low-wealth Alabamians, for Medicaid expansion, and against the
death penalty.

A Montgomery, Alabama–based journalist, qualitative researcher, and policy
analyst whose work focuses on justice reform, poverty, public policy, and marginalized communities across the South.

A seasoned educator, leadership consultant, and advocate for justice-impacted individuals. She currently serves as a Training Manager at the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO), where she leads the Emerging Leaders Program (ELP), a 16-week paid internship designed to help formerly incarcerated individuals build leadership skills and secure meaningful careers.

A criminal justice fellow at Propel Capital, where he works to advance the rights, particularly voting rights, of people affected by the criminal legal system. He is also Founder and Program Director of the Civic Allyship Program.

A criminal justice reform advocate, author, and community leader who serves as Program Manager for New Visions for Public Safety at the Yale Law School's Law and Racial Justice Center.

A nationally recognized civic leader, voting rights advocate, attorney, and community organizer dedicated to advancing democracy and equitable representation in
Alabama and across the United States.

A voting rights advocate, community organizer, entrepreneur, and former candidate for the Alabama State Senate who has dedicated his life to restoring civic participation for formerly incarcerated individuals.

Chauntel Norris is one of the nation's leading experts in incarceration and lactation. She is a Certified Lactation Counselor, a DONA trained doula, and a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator.

Originally from New York City, Sisa Bueno is a Producer-Director-Cinematographer dedicated to exploring powerful ripple effects within humanity by creating a deeply resonant cinematic experience for transcendent and expansive stories.

Dawn Owens is an accomplished early childhood education leader, advocate and
strategist with more than 30 years of experience advancing policies, programs and
partnerships that improve outcomes for children and families.

Amy B. Smoyer, PhD, MSW, (she/her) is an Associate Professor of Social Work at Simmons University in Boston, MA. She has collaborated with people impacted by HIV, criminal-legal systems, and drug use since the 1990s when she began work as a community organizer and HIV housing administrator in Miami Beach.

Johanna E. Elumn, PhD, LMSW, is an Assistant Professor at the Yale School of Medicine/Public Health and core research faculty at the SEICHE Center for Health & Justice. She has 26 years of experience working with people involved in the criminal legal system and their families, along with experience in community-engaged research, sleep health, and grief and loss support.

Chris is a National Steward with White Men for Racial Justice (WMRJ) and co-leader for
the WMRJ’s local efforts in Maine. He actively supports broad-based community
organizing and building power to change systems.

Alanah L. Melton is a Birmingham native and an Alumna of Spelman College in
Atlanta, Georgia. She has served for the City of Birmingham for nearly 24 years. She
currently serves as the Director of Unhoused Strategies for the City of Birmingham
Mayor’s Office.

Ronald McKeithen is a formerly incarcerated artist, advocate, and writer who spent 37 years in Alabama prisons under the Habitual Felony Offender Act (HFOA). Ronald was convicted of robbery in 1984 and was mandatorily sentenced to life without parole under Alabama's three strikes law at just 21 years of age because of three non-violent property crimes in his past.

Kerwin Pittman is a nationally recognized social justice advocate, criminal justice reform policy expert, and the first formerly incarcerated person in United States history to purchase a prison, a transformational
milestone he is using to create a first-of-its-kind reentry and workforce development campus in Goldsboro, North Carolina.