Network Fellows
Dr. Annie Le
Stanford
Annie Le is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Walkout! Lab for Youth Justice at Stanford University. Her research agenda focuses on the intersection of racial equity, schooling, and carcerality.
Autumn Griffin, PhD
University of Pennsylvania
Autumn A. Griffin is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Literacy, Culture, and International Education Division at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. Having previously taught secondary ELA in Atlanta, Georgia, her research explores how Black youth use literacy as a means to heal from pedagogical and curricular violence, focusing closely on digital literacies, young adult literature, humanizing and healing literacy curricula and pedagogy, and how students heal from their experiences with school to confinement pathways.
Ayo Aladesanmi
University of Pennsylvania
Ayo Aladesanmi is a current Master’s candidate at the University of Pennsylvania, pursuing an MPA through the Fels Institute of Government and a Master in Law, focusing on administrative law & regulatory policy, through the University of Pennsylvania Law School. From 2019 to 2021, Ayo worked as a Research Economist & Planning Associate with the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) in Atlanta, Georgia, and served as a National Hometown Fellow in the inaugural cohort of the Lead For America fellowship program.
Cedric Hall
NYC Department of Education
Cedric Hall is a long time educator with speciality in K-12 education starting in his hometown of Philadelphia. Hall is formerly a New York City school principal and currently serves as a school district leader and national youth development trainer.
Celia Ouellette
Founder/CEO of Responsible Business Initiative for Justice
Celia is the Founder and CEO of the Responsible Business Initiative for Justice, an award winning international nonprofit organization that exists to leverage the power of businesses to support criminal justice reform. A lawyer by training, Celia has dedicated her career to representing and fighting for those most disadvantaged by broken criminal justice systems, including spending more than a decade working on the front lines of death penalty defence. Celia frequently advises foreign governments on US criminal justice policy and practice. She is an established media commentator across major outlets and publications – including The Economist, Financial Times, Associated Press, and Bloomberg News.
Dr. Chad Topaz
QSIDE Institute and Williams College
Chad Topaz (he/him), Professor of Mathematics, is an applied mathematician and data scientist at Williams College. Chad received his AB in applied mathematics from Harvard University and his PhD in applied mathematics from Northwestern University. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation since 2006 and his work at the intersection of social justice and quantitative approaches has been covered in The Atlantic, The Guardian, Hyperallergic, MIT Technology Review, Nonprofit Quarterly, Smithsonian Magazine and numerous other outlets. Passionate about scientific communication and discourse, Chad has delivered over 160 talks at colleges, universities, and scientific meetings. His research honors include a New Directions Research Professorship at the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications, the Outstanding Paper Award of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, a Board of Trustees Award from Macalester College, and a Kavli Frontiers Fellowship from the National Academy of Sciences. A passionate advocate for inclusive classrooms, Chad won UCLA’s Sorgenfrey Distinguished Teaching Award in Mathematics and Macalester College’s Rossmann Excellence in Teaching Award. You can follow him on Twitter at @chadtopaz.
Colleen Copple
Strategic Applications International, Co-Founder
Colleen Copple has 30 years of experience as a community organizer and systems change specialist in areas of community policing, police reform, community safety and the broader related social issues. She co-facilitated The President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing in 2015 and contributed to the final report. She has authored several documents for the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (DOJ), including the Eleven Case Studies on Officer Mental Health and Wellness as part of the COPS Office Report to Congress in 2019.
Cornell Davis III, MSW, LSW
National Association of Social Workers, PA Chapter
Curious collaborator working at the intersection of systems and soul healing, because the systems that people live in, impact the way they live. My desire and focus is to strengthen communities through education, consultation, and mentorship that utilizes over a decade of professional experience in social work, management, public, behavioral, and mental health. Macro-oriented therapist whose working philosophy is that collaboration and interdisciplinary teamwork are key in achieving goals, and working towards lasting change.
Danny Murillo
Michelson 20MM Foundation
Danny is a co-founder of the Underground Scholars Initiative at the University of California, Berkeley. He was a media representative for the California Prison Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition. Danny has been featured in GQ Magazine, National Public Radio (NPR), On the Tier and the Appeal Podcast, The New Yorker Magazine, and 60 Minutes with Oprah. He is currently a graduate student at California State University, Long Beach.
Ethel Joy Bullard-Moore, MA, ML, MS, MT-BC, LPC
Senior Manager of Place-Based Initiatives, Resident Programs & Partnerships Department, Philadelphia Housing Authority; Adjunct Professor, Drexel University College of Nursing and Health Professions; and Master in Law Alumna, Penn Law Class of 2020
As a licensed professional counselor and board-certified music therapist, Joy Bullard-Moore, MA, ML, MS, MT-BC, LPC has held several clinical positions primarily focused on grief and loss; however, most recently, she has combined her clinical skill set with further education in legal studies and clinical psychology to create a foundation for her professional role as the senior manager of Place-Based Initiatives within the Resident Programs and Partnerships (RPP) department of the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA). In this role, she channels her passion for collectively working to fostering and sustaining healthy equitable communities by seeking resident input through community meetings and needs assessments; providing oversight for the provision of social services in accordance with HUD guidelines; and cultivating community partnerships to address health and wellness, safety, employment, education, and financial asset related needs of residents impacted by the federally funded Sharswood Choice Neighborhood Initiative revitalization project; North Central Choice Neighborhood Initiative Endowment; and the six neighborhood based PHA public housing sites associated with the federally funded Resident Opportunities and Self Sufficiency (ROSS) program. Additionally, in 2020, she was appointed to an adjunct faculty position within the Drexel University College of Nursing and Health Professions and currently teaches Social and Cultural Foundations of Counseling where she engages creative arts therapy and counseling graduate students in discussions and experiential exercises focused on considerations of cultural humility, intersectionality, and social justice in clinical practice.
Dr. James M. Binnall
California State University, Long Beach
Dr. Binnall is an Associate Professor of Law, Criminology, and Criminal Justice at California State University, Long Beach, where he is also the Executive Director of Project Rebound. A formerly incarcerated person and practicing attorney, Dr. Binnall represents formerly incarcerated California State Bar applicants and is the Co-Founder/Co-Executive Director of the California System-Involved Bar Association, an organization comprised exclusively of formerly incarcerated law students and attorneys. The author of “Twenty Million Angry Men: The Case for Including Convicted Felons in Our Jury Process,” Dr. Binnall’s research explores the civic marginalization of those with criminal convictions and access to the legal profession for those with prior carceral involvement.
James Copple
Strategic Applications International
Co-Founder of ACT NOW. Facilitated the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing and over 15 other national and local task forces on criminal justice reform.
Johnnie L. Campbell, Jr., M.Ed
Loyola University Chicago – PhD student, Research Assistant
Johnnie Campbell (he/him) is a current Higher Education PhD student at Loyola University Chicago. Johnnie is an emerging critical scholar whose research interests broadly concern educational policy, Black men’s academic experiences, & deficit thinking and perceptions surrounding this population. Johnnie is concerned how these pieces converge and how this convergence plagues minoritized students in various institutional environments. Additionally, Johnnie is concerned with ways in which such perceptions and practices inform and influence the policy arena, and particularly how institutions grapple with ways policy and practice impact communities of color and particularly Black communities.
Jonathan Todd
Director of Workforce Development @ Philadelphia International Airport
Jonathan Todd is a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) devotee and workforce development subject matter expert. He is an equity-centered advocate for individuals from under-resourced communities. Through impact-driving strategies, he has successfully implemented programs and initiatives that create opportunities for youth and adults to succeed and thrive.
Dr. Jude Higdon
QSIDE Institute
Jude Higdon, Ed.D. (no preferred pronouns) is Chief Operations Officer at the QSIDE Institute. Jude received a B.A. from Northwestern University, an Ed.M. from Harvard University, and an Ed.D. from the University of Southern California. With over two decades of experience, Jude has worked for numerous institutions of higher learning, including Minnesota State Mankato, the University of Minnesota, Northwestern University, the City Colleges of Chicago, the University of Southern California, and for not-for-profit organizations such as the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the American Red Cross, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Karen Walker
Persevere
Assist with the creation of the National Institute for First Chance Workforce Development, a network of national, state, and grassroots experts, practitioners, youth-led organizations, and advocates focused on the development and implementation of data-informed and racially equitable approaches to workforce development for 1st Chance opportunity for youth and young adults 16-24—known as Opportunity Youth.
Natika Washington
Prison Fellowship
Natika Washington leads Prison Fellowship’s efforts to partner with corporations to invest in public-private solutions supporting communities and individuals affected by crime and incarceration.
An international development expert, Natika previously worked for equal human rights worldwide, especially for women and girls. She served as chief development officer at Polaris, and as director of global programs and gender integration at the U.S. Department of State, managing multimillion-dollar initiatives in over 90 developing countries.
Natika is a decorated war veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Olivia Rivera, MPH, ML
Medical Student
A medical student at the University of Pennsylvania, Olivia’s passion is correctional health reform. During her Masters of Public Health in Health Policy, Olivia’s research focused on evaluating social capital and its effects on recidivism and health outcomes among system-impacted individuals. She is applying into psychiatry, and plans to split her time as a physician between clinical work and correctional health policy advocacy.
Talia Ginsburg, LSW
N/A, Full-time student
Talia is a full-time student finishing a dual-degree program at the University of Pennsylvania where she earned her Master of Social Work degree in May, 2021, and is working to complete her Master of Law degree. Talia hopes to fight social injustice in mental healthcare and the justice system post-graduation.
Yesi Morillo
RBIJ
Former Wall Street Banker with an entrepreneurial gift to empower her community, now focused on giving back to society with fierce intention