Welcome and Opening Remarks

Champion of Justice Restoration of Rights Award and Keynote Address

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Award presentation by Norman L. Reimer, Executive Director, NACDL

Presented to Sally Q. Yates, Partner, Special Matters and Government Investigations, King & Spalding, Former U.S. Deputy Attorney General

Setting the Stage: Moral and Economic Obligations to Restoring Rights and Opportunity

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This panel explores the moral principles and economic innovations that are essential in alleviating collateral consequences of an arrest or conviction. The panel also examines racial implications associated with collateral consequences. Key Issues: ban the box, certificates of relief, tax incentives, licensing

• Moderator: Rick Jones, NACDL Immediate Past President and Executive Director, Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem
• Marc Levin, Vice President, Criminal Justice Policy, Texas Public Policy Foundation, Right on Crime
• Teresa Hodge, Co-Founder & Director of Strategy & Innovation, Mission: Launch
• Mark Holden, General Counsel & Senior Vice President, Koch Industries

Plenary - I Am My Brother’s Keeper: Guiding Principles of Re-Entry

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This plenary features formerly incarcerated men and women who have successfully re-entered their communities. Panelists will be prompted with themes relative to effectively and efficiently navigate the process of reentry.

• Veteran: Christopher Ervin, Founder & President, Lazarus Rite, Inc.
• Novices: Dominique “Lil Baby” Jones, Recording Artist and Aspiring Entrepreneur
• Randy Lanier, Behavioral Health Technician, Recovery First
• Kevin Skidmore, Owner, FourFourtyTrucking, LLC

The Road to Re-entry: Navigating Systems Players and Building Coalitions

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This panel focuses on developing relationships with state power players and seeking unlikely and likely allies in building coalitions for lasting and meaningful reforms.

• Moderator: Roberta “Toni” Meyers, Director, H.I.R.E. Network
• Ngozi Ndulue, Senior Director of Criminal Justice Programs, NAACP
• Mary Price, General Counsel, Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM)
• Divine Pryor, Executive Director, The Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions

Champion of Justice Restoration of Rights Award

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Award presentation by Drew Findling, President, NACDL

Presented to Nathan Deal, Governor of Georgia

Forgiving: The Campaign Against the Scarlet Letter

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• Moderator: Cynthia Roseberry, Vice President for Institutional Advancement & Executive Director of The Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Wilberforce University, and Former Project Director, Clemency Project 2014
• Jason Hernandez, commutation recipient from President Barack Obama
• John Koufos, National Director of Reentry Initiatives, Right on Crime
• Margaret Love, Director, Collateral Consequences Resource Center

Presidential Reception Featuring Comedian Mike Epps

Criminal Justice Leaders/Authors Panel

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This panel features authors of several autobiographical criminal justice related books. Authors read from their books and the discussion focuses on life post incarceration as a leader in the criminal justice field.

• Moderator: Nkechi Taifa, Advocacy Director for Criminal Justice, Open Society Foundations
• Susan Burton, Becoming Ms. Burton, A New Way of Life
• Anthony Graves, Infinite Hope: How Wrongful Conviction, Solitary Confinement, and 12 Years on Death Row Failed to Kill My Soul, Smart Justice Initiatives Manager, ACLU of Texas
• Omar Howard, The Omar Howard Story

Forgetting: Alleviating Collateral Consequences Through the Legislative & Referendum Process

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This panel will focus on several states that have addressed progressive solutions to alleviating collateral consequences through the legislative and referendum process.

• Moderator: Monica L. Reid, Senior Manager for Advocacy, NACDL
• Marissa Dodson, Public Policy Director, Southern Center for Human Rights
• Desmond Meade, President, Florida Restoration of Rights Coalition
• Lee McGrath, Managing Attorney for Minnesota and Senior Legislative Counsel, Institute for Justice

And Justice For All: Voices from Court

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• Moderator: Divine Pryor, Executive Director, The Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions
• Dave LaBahn, President and CEO, Association of Prosecuting Attorneys
• Judge Shawn LaGrua, Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia
• Stephanie Woodard, Solicitor-General, Hall County, Georgia

Champion of State Criminal Justice Reform Award

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Award presentation by Angelyn C. Frazer-Giles, Senior Advisor for Special Projects, NACDL and Michael Iacopino, Co-Chair, State Legislative Affairs Committee, Criminal Defense Attorney, Brennan Lenehan Iacopino & Hickey

Presented to Second Chance Center in Aurora, Colorado, accepted by Executive Director Hassan Latif

This Side of the Law: Reentered, Reformed, & Reinvented

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Panel features individuals formerly incarcerated whose second chance led them to pursuing a career in law.

• Moderator: Amy Solomon, Vice President of Criminal Justice Policy, Laura and John Arnold Foundation
• Jarrett Adams, Attorney, Law Offices of Jarrett Adams, PLLC
• Shon Hopwood, Associate Professor of Law, Georgetown Law
• Serena Nunn McCullers, Defense Attorney, Atlanta Circuit Public Defenders Office, commuted by President Bill Clinton & pardoned by President Barack Obama

Entrepreneurship and Training: Harnessing Your Power for Success

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This panel focuses on existing efforts and strategies to ensure the best outcomes for those who have been justice involved.

• Moderator: Michael DiLauro, Director of Training & Legislative Liaison, the Rhode Island Department of the Public Defender (RIPD)
• Marcus Bullock, Founder & CEO, Flikshop
• Brandon Chrostowski, Founder of EDWINS Leadership and Restaurant Institute and CNN Hero
• Tracey Syphax, President and COO of Phax Group Construction & Design LLC, From the Block to the Boardroom

Faith-Based Conversation

Video of this conversation is not available. 

Exploring how the faith-based community can partner with other communities to achieve progressive criminal justice reforms. In addition, how can the faith-community shape policy in a progressive way via protest action, letter-writing, legislative advocacy, etc. The discussion also explores the ideas of redemption and forgiveness in the form of political, economic and social justice policies.

• Tiffany Williams Roberts, Attorney at Law
• Reverend Aundreia Alexander, Esq., Associate General Secretary for Action and Advocacy for Justice and Peace, National Council of Churches
• Attiyah Ali, Founder, A Loving Act

Screening of the Sundance Audience Award The Sentence featuring Cindy Shank released from prison via Clemency Project 2014, followed by a panel discussion

Video of this conversation is not available. 

The Sentence tells the story of Cynthia “Cindy” Shank whose incarceration propels her brother to document via film Cindy’s daughters as they grow up without her. The story further explores the family bond Cindy maintains with her parents, siblings and children through her brother’s relentless advocacy. It culminates with efforts to seek clemency for Cindy via the Clemency Project 2014, an Obama Administration and NACDL initiative.

• Moderator: Angelyn C. Frazer-Giles, Special Projects Consultant, NACDL
• Rudy Valdez, Director, The Sentence
• Marjorie Peerce, Partner, Ballard Spahr, LLP
• Cynthia W. Roseberry, Vice President for Institutional Advancement & Executive Director of The Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Wilberforce University, and Former Project Director, Clemency Project 2014