cohort 1 bios
Greer Ellis
Greer Ellis is a Program Manager at the Center for Justice at Columbia University. In addition to running two leadership development programs focused on interdisciplinary analysis and capacity building for formerly incarcerated and directly impacted people, she advances human and healing justice though community engagement and restorative practices. She seeks to dismantle the carceral system and build liberatory practices grounded in human dignity and mutual respect. She is also a Lecturer in the Columbia School of Social Work. She moderates panels and speaks widely at conferences and webinars. Ms. Ellis has a BA from Spelman College and a MSW from Fordham University Graduate School of Social Work.
Brandon Sturdivant
Brandon Sturdivant (he/him) helped build the capacity of East Bay organizations through co-founding the Justice Reinvestment Coalition, which secured half of state realignment funds in support of reducing probation terms and policies that expand opportunities for employment and access for community services for formerly incarcerated people. As co- founders of Mass Liberation Project, an abolitionist organization that works to train, coach, and develop black organizers who are directly impacted by incarceration, Alex and Brandon helped to seed the creation of four new femme-led abolitionist organizations: Mass Lib Arizona, Michigan Liberation, Mass Lib Nevada, and Life After Release (DMV). In addition, working on the principle that transforming systems requires transforming ourselves, Mass Liberation Project has instituted “Return & Reclaim,” taking black formerly incarcerated organizers to Ghana to reclaim their ancestral heritage as an act of generational resistance.
Martina Kartman
A survivor of violent crime as a young woman, Martina was ultimately incarcerated in federal prison in Washington and then spent years on federal probation. This left her with a deeply felt sense of the dehumanizing and exploitative approach to addressing harm in prison. Over the past two decades, she has represented both lifers on parole hearings and crime survivors advocating for restorative responses to harms they have experienced; supported class actions protecting the rights of people in prisons; led grassroots coalitions addressing life and long-term sentences, reentry, and meaningful community-based resources for survivors; and facilitated and mentored community-based restorative justice efforts.
As a 2017 Soros Justice Advocacy Fellow, Martina co-founded Collective Justice, an organization committed to shrinking the carceral system and seeding community-based healing. She holds a law degree from the University of Washington School of Law, where she was a William H. Gates Public Service Law Scholar and a Human Rights Fellow at the Rethinking Punishment Project.
Mike Milton
Mike Milton is the executive director of the Freedom Community Center, working to eradicate injustice and to empower communities through a combination of grassroots organizing, nonprofit leadership, and gospel ministry. Through his work, Mike is dedicated to building a movement of survivors of harm that will meaningfully address violence, both interpersonal and systemic in St. Louis. Prior to founding the Freedom Community Center, Mike served as the Statewide Policy and Advocacy Manager for The Bail Project, a national organization working to eliminate the use of cash bail and decriminalize poverty through a revolving bail fund.
Akeil Robertson-Jowers
Philadelphia-based artist Akeil Robertson is an artist in transition. As a black artist who found his artistic voice in the American Criminal Legal System, Akeil is often drawn to explore and
delve into what the repercussions of criminalization means for his practice and his life. Rejecting the traditional binaries in stories of Black Excellence and Hood Narratives, Akeil’s work seeks
alternative ways of framing his and others' trauma. He challenges us to find new ways to tell stories that don’t fit into the traditional mold of black being depicted and marketed for
consumption.
His work has appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer (2023), “Reading Works'' by Xaveria Simmons (2022), and he was Artist in Residence at Haverford College’s Visual, Culture, Arts
and Media Center (2023). Currently, Akeil is exhibiting a series of original photographs called “Blues” that depict his thoughts on the US parole system and critique the American history of
anti-blackness as a part of the "Wherever there is Light" fellowship at Tilt Institute for the Contemporary Image (2024).
Matthew Kama’aina
Matthew Kama’aina moves with the ways of his ancestors and their teachings of “all our relations.” He is Kanaka Maoli, born in Maui, and grew up in circle and sweat lodge on the Puyallup Indian Reservation. He believes in the power of community-based healing that center dignity, agency and collective care . He locates his circle work in movements to end mass incarceration and state repression. Matthew's unwavering dedication to creating a world free from all forms of violence is driven by his own experiences as a survivor, second-generation gang member, and third-generation formerly incarcerated person. Matthew is the Restorative Dialogue Director and circle facilitator at CJ (Collective Justice). He has facilitated many circles in the aftermath of serious harm, holds an Associates of Arts degree through University Beyond Bars.
Lakeisha “KeWee” Hamilton
La’Keisha “KeWee” Roselle is a co-founder of The Black Rose Collective (TBRC), an organization rooted in healing, education, and liberation. The name itself reflects her belief that soil, seed, and soul mirror the human spirit; that even under pressure, beauty and resilience can grow. Like the black rose, KeWee carries the weight of struggle yet represents new beginnings, hope, and the power of transformation.
In 2018, after surviving 13.5 years of incarceration, KeWee was legally liberated. Her family’s story; marked by four generations of incarceration, poverty, addiction, and systemic oppression, fuels her commitment to break cycles of harm and to heal generational wounds. She believes, “People don’t change, they heal. And when people heal, systems change.”
Today, KeWee leads in multiple spaces: as Director of Multi-Systems Development and Community Support Specialist for TBRC and as Liberation Scholars Program Lead with the Evergreen Liberation Education Network.
Tammar Cancer
As Assistant to the Executive Director and Director of Special Projects, Tammar Cancer supports the development of the Executive Director’s organizational agenda through a wide array of activities, including participating in Advocacy and Organizing rallies at the State Capitol, lobbying New York City Councilmembers, and acting as liaison to CCA’s Board of Directors. Tammar is also leading CCA’s efforts to open its first cannabis dispensary in Syracuse and develop youth services programming in Albany. An alum of the Bard Prison Initiative, Tammar earned his bachelor’s degree in 2017.
Alex Muhammad
Alex Muhammad (she/her) works as the Co-Founder of the Mass Liberation Project. The Mass Liberation Project is an Abolitionist National Organization that serves as a political home for personal transformation, training, coaching, healing and analysis development for Black Organizers who are directly impacted by systems of oppression and incarceration.
A directly impacted, Southside Chicago native, Alex was born to Dena Hornsberry and Imam W. D. Muhammad II. As the great granddaughter of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, she was raised in a close community of Black Muslims. From childhood, she spent her time outside of schooling working for the family business; W.D.M Publications and fundraising for The Mosque Cares Annual Saviors Day National Convening. After graduating from the University of Illinois, Alex began her career in organizing at SOUL in Chicago in partnership with The People's Lobby.
Richie Reseda
Richie Reseda is a cultural organizer, social entrepreneur, creative director, and music, film, and content producer who was freed from prison in 2018. He co-created and co-hosts the Spotify podcast Abolition X. Reseda produced songs on Defund The Sheri- (The Album) to uplift transformative ballot initiatives in Los Angeles during the 2020 election.
During his seven years in prison, Reseda started the independent, abolitionist media collective Question Culture, and released his first EP, Forgotten But Not Gone. He also launched Success Stories, the feminist program for incarcerated men chronicled in the CNN documentary “The Feminist on Cell Block Y,” and Initiate Justice, which organizes people directly impacted by incarceration to change criminal justice laws. One of the laws he worked on, Prop 57, freed him from prison two years early.
Kiki Dunston
Kiki Dunston is a strategic visionary and a dedicated advocate for justice-impacted individuals, committed to transforming systems and creating opportunities for those affected by the criminal legal system. With a deep understanding of systemic challenges and an innovative approach to problem-solving, Kiki has spearheaded numerous initiatives that provide support, resources, and pathways to reintegration for formerly incarcerated individuals. Her work has been instrumental in driving policy changes, fostering community partnerships, and raising awareness about the unique struggles faced by justice-impacted populations. Kiki's unwavering dedication to social equity and their ability to inspire and lead others make them a powerful force for positive change in the pursuit of a more just and inclusive society.
Kiki remains inspired by the anonymous quote: “A successful woman is one who can build a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at her.”
Richard Cruz
Richard Cruz and Sonya Shah are executive directors of The Ahimsa Collective, which provides a restorative justice approach to cases of sexual, intimate partner, and interpersonal violence, centering agency, liberation, dignity, and transformation.
The Collective facilitates processes that lead to dialogue between people and also works one-on-one with both survivors and those who have caused harm who are looking to heal and explore accountability. Shah is also an associate professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies, a Buddhist, and a first-generation immigrant from India. Cruz has been with the Collective since 2018. He is native American through his mother and is certified as a substance abuse treatment counselor and communications technician.
Shawn Young
Shawn Young is an organizer, educator, and liberation strategist whose work sits at the intersection of learning, healing, and community power. An alumnus of the Bard Prison Initiative, he leads Upstate Reentry & Capital Region Initiatives at Bard College, advancing an education-centered model of reentry that frames knowledge, stability, and community as foundations of long-term freedom. He builds housing pathways, regional partnerships, and learning ecosystems that support formerly incarcerated people in reclaiming agency and directing their own lives beyond state control.
His leadership merges experience, scholarship, and practice into a grounded and transformative approach to freedom work.
Shawn is the Co-Founder and Director of Development at All Of Us, a Black-led grassroots organization that uses political education and youth leadership to build community power across the Capital Region. His organizing has contributed to statewide victories including Clean Slate NY, bail reform, and the repeal of 50-a, strengthening transparency and decarceration movements in New York.
He also works nationally and internationally through BPI’s National Consortium, OSUN/Bard global exchanges, and the Legacy Project, helping create cross-diaspora restorative-care and leadership spaces for youth and movement organizers.
Grounded in lived experience, Shawn’s work pushes communities toward freedom by transforming how we learn, how we lead, and how we take care of each other.