Donna Rojas has over 20 years of public administration experience, program coordination, project management, public health, case management, and training/coaching experience. For more than nine years, she was actively engaged on the “frontlines,” working with pre-and-post released incarcerated individuals in Montgomery County, MD. Donna is dedicated to improving the lives of justice-involved individuals by delivering passionate and inspirational education and reentry programming.

Donna received her degree in Criminal Justice with a concentration in Human Services. She is certified as an Offender Workforce Development Specialist (OWDS) and National Global Career Development Facilitator (GCDF). She has relentlessly worked on assisting citizens re-entering the community and workforce. She has developed partnerships with various community and faith-based organizations, which shows her ability to serve this very vulnerable population.

In her community, she serves as Chair of the Montgomery County Commission for women. She also serves as the liaison and advisor for the commissions’ female re-entry program. She is also a Mid-Atlantic States Correctional Association member and faithfully serves her church community. She is the proud mother of two adult children who are successful in their professions.

Donna’s mission is to serve, empower, and motivate those reintegrating into “OUR” community.

Julia Mascioli is the Deputy Director at Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop, a DC-based nonprofit that uses literature and creative writing to build community with incarcerated youth and adults. Julia has a BA in English and an MFA in Creative Writing. Julia began working with Free Minds in 2010 and has worked in different roles, including Interim Program Manager and Director of Development & Communications. As Deputy Director, Julia oversees the development and communications at Free Minds, as well as all pre-release programming and Free Minds publications (including anthologies and the Free Minds Connect magazine). Julia is also a published author whose fiction has appeared in several literary magazines, including Witness, Bellingham Review, District Lit, and Buffalo Almanack

Charles Turner is a member of Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop and also serves as a Poet Ambassador and a leader of the Free Minds reentry Planning Committee. He joined Free Minds while he was incarcerated in the Bureau of Prisons, serving a life sentence for a crime he did not commit. He served over 36 years, all in maximum security facilities across the country. Charles was granted parole and returned home to DC in June 2020. Charles served in many leadership positions while incarcerated, rising to manage the work program in the UNICOR prison industries. He trained to work as a chef and is a certified personal trainer. He was selected to facilitate the Victim Impact Program for over 10 years. Charles loves to learn and is an avid reader, especially in the fantasy genre. Since Charles has been home, he has worked assisting those experiencing homelessness and is now maintaining the newly renovated Martin Luther King Jr library in DC. He loves helping others by volunteering in the community. Charles’ story is featured in the Free Minds anthology When You Hear Me (You Hear Us): Voices on Youth Incarceration.

Joe Houston Jr. is a DC native, wellness professional, motivational speaker, and actor. Joe has been a dedicated member and Poet Ambassador of Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop since 2010. After entering the criminal legal system at 16, Joe gained a passion for giving back and transforming the lives of those who have experienced similar struggles as he did growing up. Joe founded WeFitDC, a fitness, and wellness company, in 2020 to address underlying health disparities in the District of Columbia. Joe is passionate about empowering his community through health and wellness, along with his 10+ years of fitness experience. He is a strong force of motivation in his community by providing over 90 free community fitness activations. Joe has been featured on Fox5, WUSA9, Men’s Health Magazine, and Capital News. He also competed in American Ninja Warrior. Joe's consistent work in the community made him into a superhero.

Lashonia is the Executive Director of Peace for DC www.peacefordc.com. In the recent past Lashonia was the Co-Chief of the Violence Reduction Unit at the DC Office of Attorney General (OAG). In her role as Co-Chief of the Violence Reduction Unit Lashonia worked closely with the District’s Violence Interrupters and Outreach Workers to support them in their mission of preventing gun violence in target neighborhoods in DC.

Lashonia is an experienced Restorative Justice facilitator and a 2017 Just Leadership Fellow.

She has worked at the Corrections Information Council and (MORCA) The Mayor's Office on Returning Citizen Affairs. Lashonia has lived experience and expert knowledge in understanding prison conditions, gender-responsive criminal justice reform, reintegration and transformative justice.

She is skilled at mobilizing communities, and consulting on policy innovations that center people. She has served on the Local Control for DC Parole Advisory Committee, The Jails and Justice Taskforce, The Comprehensive Homicide Elimination Strategy Taskforce and the DC Reentry Taskforce.

Lashonia is also the Executive Director of The WIRE – Women Involved in Reentry Efforts www.thewiredc.org. The women of the WIRE joined together to provide peer support & peer advocacy to women currently incarcerated and women returning from incarceration. A graduate of Trinity Washington University, she holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Human Relations.

Lashonia is the author of Through the WIRE: My Search for Redemption; a story about trauma, youth violence, and incarceration.

Lorig Charkoudian, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of the Community Mediation Maryland. Her work includes developing partnerships with state agencies including the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Service, Maryland State Department of Education, Family Court Administration, and others, to bring collaborative conflict resolution to new and unique forums. Lorig serves as a trainer and provides technical assistance to the 16 community based mediation programs serving Maryland, including mentorship for collaborative public policy facilitation. Lorig’s research examines the impact of specific aspects of the mediation process on experiences for participants as well as broader cost-benefit analysis of community mediation. Community Mediation Maryland and Lorig have received national attention for the innovative work on prisoner re-entry mediation. Lorig is also a State Delegate, representing District 20 in the Maryland General Assembly, where she serves on the Economic Matters Committee. Lorig has been honored three times as Maryland’s Top 100 Women by the Maryland Daily Record. She likes to run really far to raise money for causes she believes in.

Erricka Bridgeford trains mediators, teaches conflict resolution skills, co-organizes a movement that rallies Baltimore City to avoid violence during three-day weekends and performs rituals for people who are murdered in Baltimore. Her life has been impacted by murder since she was 12 years old, and she has been working for over 20 years to ensure that murder does not have the last say. From addressing rape culture, to advocating for death penalty repeal, Bridgeford's ability to influence social injustice is fueled by her commitment to transform her personal pain into "hope in action."

Bridgeford is the Executive Director at the Baltimore Community Mediation Center, co-founder and co-organizer of Baltimore Ceasefire 365, and an inspirational speaker. Her awards and recognitions include: Outstanding Volunteer Contribution to Victim's Services by the Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention (2015), Best Baltimorean by City Paper (2017), and Marylander of the Year by The Baltimore Sun (2017).