We welcomed John Cooper (left) as our new policy director on April 17. John has extensive experience working on complex criminal justice policy issues in Michigan – both as the founder of the Coalition of Justice Voters and as special counsel for criminal justice policy for Rep. David LaGrand (D-Grand Rapids). John will be working closely with the lobbying team to advance our legislative priorities.
Many of you have met Herasanna Richards (center), our crime survivor program coordinator, as she joined us in February. Herasanna recently attended the Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice (CSSJ) Conference on behalf of CAPPS. She will be working closely with the Alliance for Safety and Justice (ASJ) to develop Michigan CSSJ chapters. We are thankful for her expertise and enthusiastic leadership in this work.
Kate McCracken (right) joined the team as communications director on April 3. Kate recently relocated to her hometown of Mt. Pleasant after a decade of work on public safety issues in California. She guided key aspects of the communications and policy work at both the Mayor Edwin M. Lee’s Office of Violence Prevention and at the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice in San Francisco. Her experience and expertise on a range of issues will be invaluable to our reform efforts.