Panelists

Dr. Jesselly De La Cruz - Executive Director, Latino Action Network Foundation

Jesselly De La Cruz, BA in Political Science (Rider University), MSW (Rutgers University), and DSW (Rutgers University), is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in NJ. She completed a Post-Graduate Certificate in Family Therapy at The Multicultural Family Institute, Inc. in Highland Park, NJ. Having originated from an underprivileged background and being a child of an immigrant family herself, Dr. De La Cruz’s education and work has been motivated by her desire to support traditionally underserved populations. Towards that overarching goal, she has worked with Latino advocacy nonprofit agencies. She currently serves as Executive Director for the Latino Action Network Foundation. Her clinical experience includes providing emergency screening of persons in mental health crisis at an inner city hospital, outpatient and in-home child and family therapy, and clinical consultation for nursing homes with primarily Spanish-speaking residents. In addition, she has extensive experience working in the prevention of child sexual abuse by conducting forensic evaluations, individual, group and family therapy at an intensive outpatient program for court mandated youth who have sexually abused and/or have fire setting behaviors. Jesselly has also coordinated the psychological treatment of child sexual abuse survivors and their non-offending families in Hudson County, NJ. She currently serves as Clinical Director for sexual assault program in Bergen County. Dr. De La Cruz is Past President and a Lifetime Member of the Latino Mental Health Association of NJ and Clinical and Research Member of the NJ Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers. She is committed to dedicating her time to using her skills to help organizations that serve to support and empower Latino communities, BIPOC and LGBT youth, and families living below the federal poverty limit.

DeShaunta Johnson, PhD - Clinical Psychologist, Ombudsperson & Conflict Resolution Specialist,
Barnard College

DeShaunta Johnson, PhD, ABPP, is a clinical psychologist, ombudsperson, and conflict resolution specialist who divides her time between clinical practice, consulting, and activism. Until recently she served as Assistant Clinical Professor at the Yale University School of Medicine Holocaust Video testimony Project, examining the role of transgenerational trauma transmission in communities that have experienced political and cultural trauma. DeShaunta has been involved in justice-based mental health for 30 years, beginning her career assisting refugee populations in Isreal and Palestine, and later engaging in AIDS activism and advocacy in New York. She went on to run the largest case management program in the nation for people with HIV/AIDS and mental health needs at Housing Works, NYC. She’s also worked for many years in academic mental health, holding positions at Connecticut College, Yale, Barnard, and Columbia Universities as a multicultural mental health specialist, specializing in support for low-income, first generation, students of color. At present, DeShaunta maintains private practices in New York and New Jersey, where she engages in the treatment of work-related racial trauma and stress in women of color using psychodynamic and somatic psychotherapies. She is also the Ombudsperson at Barnard College, tasked with helping individuals manage conflicts on campus through offering mediation and strategic conflict solutions in addition to campus wide workshops, seminars, and teach-ins about conflict resolution and conflict communication. DeShaunta has served as chair of the Mental Health Advisory Panel and as Mental Health Advisor for StrongMinds, an NGO that treats depression in women in Sub-Saharan Africa, and was a consultant to the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women. Dr. Johnson's professional and research interests include the psychology of oppression, the treatment of cultural and political traumas, coping with the stress of oppression, and the transgenerational transmission of trauma, particularly as pertains to diasporic Africans. She has been a recurring guest on Fox 5 News discussing the management of racial stress in the Black community.

DeShaunta earned a BA in Dance and Postcolonial Studies from Sarah Lawrence College, and a PhD in Clinical Psychology from The City University of New York. She completed pre-doctoral training at Yale University and her postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia University.

Brandon McKoy - President, The Fund for New Jersey

"Brandon McKoy, President of The Fund for New Jersey, is an established leader in public policy analysis and advocacy statewide and nationally. Prior to his current position, he worked as the Vice President for State Partnerships and Co-Leader of the State Fiscal Policy Division at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, D.C.

Brandon is well known for his accomplishments from his time at New Jersey Policy Perspective, where he held several roles over the course of seven years, first as a State Policy Fellow, next as a Policy Analyst, and then as Director of Government and Public Affairs, before assuming leadership of the organization as NJPP’s President from 2019 through late 2021. Throughout those years, he researched and promoted a variety of issues including the minimum wage, paid sick leave, equitable taxation, public budget processes, the legalization and regulation of cannabis, and much more. Returning to The Fund for New Jersey in 2024 served as a homecoming given that Brandon worked as a Program Associate at the organization and served as its first philanthropy fellow from 2012 to 2014.

Brandon completed his bachelor’s degree at The College of New Jersey and earned a master’s degree from the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. He is a lifelong New Jerseyan and now resides in Hunterdon County with his family."

Dr. Monique Swift Muhammad, PsyD, LPC - President-Elect, The Association of Black Psychologists, Inc.

Dr. Monique Swift, proprietor of Swift Solutions Consultant Services, LLC, is a psychologist, a NJ Licensed Professional Counselor, and a NY Licensed Mental Health Counselor. She has over 30 years of clinical experience in the field of mental health and operates a private practice in Rahway, NJ where she specializes in couple's therapy and trauma. In addition to her clinical work, Dr. Swift also offers keynote talks, curriculum design, personal development workshops, and professional training. She consults with religious, community-based, and non-profit organizations, public and private schools, as well as with private groups. Dr. Swift is a subject matter expert on issues that form at the intersection of trauma and race. She consults with organizations that want to become trauma-informed and racially bias-resistant. Dr. Swift’s extensive volunteer work typically benefits the Black community specifically, and oppressed and under-served populations, in general. Her volunteer activity often involves grassroots and civic organizing, personal and community empowerment building, and addressing issues of racial inequality, and racial trauma. Dr. Swift actively serves on several boards including the Board of Advisors for Volunteers of America, the Newark Community Collaborative Board, the Board of Advisors for the Newark Community Street Team, and the Union County Juvenile Conference Committee under the Family Division of the Superior Court. Dr. Swift is an active member of The Association of Black Psychologist (ABPsi) where she served her local chapter for 2 terms as Recording Secretary followed by 2 terms as Chapter President. She served the National Board of ABPsi as Eastern Regional Representative for 1 term and currently sits as President-elect of The Association of Black Psychologists, Inc.

Amber Reed - Co-Executive Director, AAPI NJ

Amber is Co-Executive Director of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders of New Jersey (AAPI NJ), a statewide nonprofit founded in 2021 to champion the well-being, rights, representation, histories, and cultures of New Jersey’s 1+ million Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. During her tenure, AAPI NJ has built community power through grassroots organizing and civic engagement efforts in historically overlooked AAPI communities; developed Teach Asian American Stories, a national model for supporting K-12 ethnic studies; promoted AAPI visibility in NJ with public events attended by thousands; and worked in multiracial coalitions to advocate for voting rights, language access, immigrant rights, and police accountability, among other policies advancing the welfare of communities of color. AAPI NJ supports victims of bias incidents and hate crimes with case management and provides referrals for health and mental health providers and social services. Its innovative youth and mental health programs help build community while destigmatizing mental health services and normalizing interactions with providers.

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