Board Member. Zeara has worked with Anti-Recidivism Coalition for 9+ years. Her passion for justice work is through her personal experience with her brother serving over 25 years in prison and many friends being released after serving life sentences. She feels the most healing and therapeutic comes from being outdoors and spending time with family and close friends.

Board Member. Educator, change agent, healer. Master’s in Sociology from CSULA. Formerly incarcerated youth. Passionate about criminal justice reform, youth advocacy, and the economic empowerment of historically oppressed communities. Has 10 years of experience managing programs that address issues related to mass incarceration

Board Member. Founder of Farmer D Consulting and has spent the past 20 years designing and building biodynamic farms that nourish, connect and inspire individuals, families and communities to live healthier, happier lives.

Board Member. Edin is undocumented, formerly incarcerated, and a passionate youth advocate. He is involved in various community organizations that advocate against incarceration. Edin has his Associate’s degree in Sociology and was accepted all the schools he applied to for a BA. He is attending UCLA for Sociology.

President. An accomplished creative director/producer and core innovative leader for original branded content. In 2018 Casey made a career switch to follow her passion and start Green Arrow CoLab. Additionally, she is now a holistic life coach and trained breathwork practitioner.

Board Member. Joe was the cofounder of the greeting card publishing company Oatmeal Studios. He guided the logistical and financial growth of the organization for 31 years. The company was sold in 2011 and he retired. He now focuses on helping and contributing to smaller non-profit organizations and his local community.

Board Member. Airto’s Social/Criminal Justice career sprung from a critical consciousness that arose from having spent over a decade of his own life navigating California’s penal system. Formal and informal education was a definite catalyst to understanding the collateral consequences of incarceration and a system that has devoured people of color over the last forty years.

Board Member. Zoë has worked alongside youth and community first as a counselor and then as a social justice advocate for over 20 years. She now supports Arts for Healing and Justice Network in building the capacity, leadership and creative development of youth returning to the community from incarceration.

Los Angeles Youth Uprising (LAYUP) was formed in early 2016, as the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, Children’s Defense Fund-California, Urban Peace Institute and Youth Justice Coalition began meeting in response to the resignation of Chief Probation Officer Jerry Powers in 2016. The organizations recognized this as an opportunity to push for systemic change at the highest departmental level, with the hopes of moving LA County away from a system that punishes and incarcerates young people to a model that is committed to healing, restorative/transformative justice and youth development.

The Arts for Healing and Justice Network (AHJN) is an interdisciplinary collaborative that provides exceptional arts programming in order to build resiliency and wellness, eliminate recidivism, and transform the juvenile justice system.

Youth Passageways is an evolving network of individuals, organizations, and communities helping to regenerate healthy passages into mature adulthood for today’s youth. Youth Passageways is a cross-cultural and intergenerational network that includes a broad and diverse range of rite of passage, education, and youth and community development efforts joining together for mutual support, collaborative learning, resource and community development, and to cross-pollinate ideas and practices that foster the development of whole, healthy, and responsible human beings.

The mission of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC) is to change lives and create safe, healthy communities by providing a support and advocacy network for and by formerly incarcerated men and women. To accomplish this mission, ARC advocates for fair policies in the juvenile and criminal justice systems and provides a supportive network and reentry services to formerly incarcerated individuals.

New Village Girls Academy (NVGA) is a prestigious educational institution in Los Angeles that prides itself on providing a nurturing and empowering environment for young girls to thrive. With a commitment to academic excellence and character development, the high school offers a comprehensive curriculum that not only focuses on core subjects but also promotes creativity, critical thinking, and leadership skills.