Helen Mitchell is the Director of Strategic Planning & Policy Development for the Honorable Danny K. Davis of the 7th Congressional District of Illinois and senior policy advisor for Committees on Oversight and Government and Judiciary, domestic policy, budgetary and appropriation matters. She manages Rep. Davis’s highest priority—issues affecting black males--including criminal justice, re-entry, employment, fatherhood and drug abuse and prevention. She played a vital role managing and coordinating a group of over 200 organizations in the passage and funding of the Second Chance Act (P.L. 110-199)—four years after its original introduction—and is currently leading Second Chance Act Reauthorization and “H.R. 2979: Julia Carson Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families Act of 2009” legislative campaigns. Helen also manages the budget for the Committee on the Budget, Congressional Black Caucus and Congressional Progressive Caucus. She plans and coordinates forums/briefings for the Congressional Black Caucus and Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Legislative Conference. In her plight from Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)—to—Washington DC, Helen overcame odds through education earning Bachelor of Sciences in Accounting (‘93) and Management (‘93) and a Master of Public Administration (MPA; ‘04).

Tara Andrews is Deputy Executive Director for Policy and Programs at the Coalition for Juvenile Justice (CJJ), where she is responsible for developing guidance on best strategies for delinquency prevention and juvenile justice at the federal, state and local levels. Since 2007, Tara has helped inform and advocate legislation to reauthorize the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA), and to promote evidence-based gang and youth violence prevention strategies. Tara serves as project manager for a national multi-year, multi-partner initiative designed to promote optimal compliance with the JJDPA and address the needs and behaviors of youth charged with status offenses without formal court-processing and/or the use of secure confinement. Before joining CJJ, Tara led efforts to reform sentencing, incarceration and reentry policies in Maryland’s criminal and juvenile justice systems as Chair of the Maryland Juvenile Justice Coalition and Director of the Maryland Justice Coalition. For her work, in 2007 she was honored with the Racial Justice Award by the YWCA of the Greater Baltimore Area. Tara earned her bachelor’s degree in sociology from Bowling Green State University, her law degree from the University of Maryland School of Law.

Hazel Beckles Young Lao is the Project Director of the Record Repair Counseling (RRC) Project at the Community Service Society of New York. She oversees the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program direct service component of CSS reentry initiative that helps to ease the transition of formerly incarcerated individuals back into their communities. Hazel is responsible for the recruitment, training, deployment and management of a volunteer corps of Record Repair Counselors that help people with conviction histories understand and manage their records as they seek employment and housing. Hazel has served as a member of the CSS Strategic Planning Team and co-chaired the Community Development Committee. She also chaired the committee for the planning and design of the RSVP coach mentoring program for children of incarcerated parents and formerly incarcerated adolescents and directed the implementation of the programs. Prior to serving as the RRC Project Director, Hazel served as the AmeriCorps Supervisor and as the Community Building Project Director. In both capacities, she experienced firsthand how having a conviction history can block people looking to stabilize their lives from much needed housing and employment. Hazel attended Medgar Evers College (CUNY).
 

Judy Whiting joined the Community Service Society (CSS) in December 2009 as Litigation Director. Her work involves crafting litigation and non-litigation approaches to ending discrimination against people with criminal conviction histories, with a particular emphasis on employment and housing. Before coming to CSS, Judy was Senior Staff Attorney at the Legal Action Center, where she worked on anti-discrimination litigation and policy affecting people with criminal records, histories of drug or alcohol abuse and/or HIV/AIDS. She formerly worked as Assistant Attorney General in Massachusetts, and spent almost ten years as staff attorney with the Criminal, Civil and Volunteer Divisions of The Legal Aid Society in New York. Judy also worked as clinical instructor at Hofstra Law School’s Housing Law Clinic. She is recipient of the New York City Bar Association’s 2008 Legal Services Award, is a member of the Association’s Nominating Committee and Council on Criminal Justice, and is immediate past chair of the Association’s Corrections Committee. Judy is a graduate of Barnard College, and Cornell Law School, where she received the first Freeman Civil Rights/Civil Liberties Award.

Todd A. Cox is Director of the Office of Communications and Legislative Affairs at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Before joining the agency, Todd was a Program Officer in and Acting Deputy Director of the Human Rights Unit at the Ford Foundation. At Ford, he managed programs and strategies promoting strategic communications, legal and policy advocacy, and applied research dedicated to securing the equal rights of racial and ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples in the United States and Latin America. Prior to joining Ford, Todd litigated and conducted legislative advocacy in a number of areas at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Immediately after law school, he served as an Honors Program Trial Attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice, and was appointed to serve on the Department’s Voting Rights Protection Task Force. Before becoming a lawyer, Todd was a Senior Consultant with Andersen Consulting of Arthur Andersen & Co. He received his A.B. from Princeton University and his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.