Photo Credit
Barbara Wieland
Safe & Just Michigan
Ashley Bellant, Grants Manager
Bellant joined Safe & Just Michigan as our social media specialist in 2021. With a history of professional experience in grants management, she transitioned to our grants manager in January 2023.
A Michigan native, Bellant returned home to attend graduate school after a decade in New Orleans, La., determined to work more closely with justice-impacted communities. While in the south, Bellant supported human services programming areas through nonprofit communications and development but was most energized while advancing criminal justice and public safety initiatives.
“I chose the social work profession because of its core belief in the dignity and worth of each human person. There are no caveats or qualifiers on that dignity and worth. That is especially important in the criminal justice system. I knew I had to be involved.”
Before joining Safe & Just Michigan, Bellant served as both a victim advocate at the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office and a mitigation specialist with the Juvenile Lifers Unit at the State Appellate Defender Office – granting her the experience of seeing the justice system from both prosecutorial and defense perspectives.
Ashley holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in social work and organization and community leadership from Michigan State University.
She lives in her hometown of Lansing.