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About THRIVE Communities

MISSION

THRIVE empowers communities to welcome and support our neighbors
transitioning from incarceration.

VISION

THRIVE envisions a world where wholeness and justice replace cycles
of incarceration and oppression—a world where communities THRIVE

 

THEORY OF CHANGE

Mission

Meet our Founders, Staff and Board of Directors

Kim Yeasir, MSW

Co-Founder &

Chief Empowerment Officer

A macro-practice social worker driven by a sincere belief in the possibility of a world in which people thrive together. Inspired after volunteering with the Alternatives to Violence Project, Kim pursues opportunities to support, heal, and bridge the gaps between communities and returning citizens in real and lasting ways.

George Halfkenny

Co-Founder

A social justice advocate, restorative justice circle keeper, and returning citizen, George has experienced the school to prison pipeline first hand. George hopes to focus his life’s work on dismantling the school to prison pipeline and organizing communities around issues of mass incarceration. In addition to all of this, he aspires to reduce recidivism by providing communities with opportunities to repair harm and proactively support returning members by way of restorative justice circles.

Lisa A. Fagerstrom

Volunteer Trainer

Lisa brings passion and experience to THRIVE with over twenty years of experience in Organizational Development, she is a Principal Consultant at OPTi—a consulting and training firm specializing in diversity and inclusion and its role in organizational effectiveness. Additionally, Lisa is certified in Spiritual Direction and has over 25 years experience in the field of addiction recovery.

Meet our founders and Board of Directors

Louie Diaz

Board Member

Navigator/Reentry, Middlesex Sheriff’s Department & Featured cast member in the documentary Beyond the Wall

Steve Kelly

Board Member

Sako Long

Board Member

Director of Programs,

Coalition for a Better Acre

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Thula Sibanda, PhD

President

Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative Reform Specialist, Massachusetts Department of Youth Services

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Charles Dickinson, MSMgmt 

Board Member

Retired Manager & Consultant

Jessica Rubin-Wills, Esq.

Secretary & Treasurer

Staff Attorney,

Committee for Public Counsel Services, Children and Family Law Division

Boston, MA

Meet our Support Team

ACTIVE MEMBERS

All of our amazing CoSA Volunteers - You could be one too!

Professor Christopher Allen, PhD - CoSA Evaluation

Pam Andrews - Outreach & Events Planner

​Audrey Bryant - Grants Director

Erica Sawyer - Marketing, PR, & Branding Coordinator

William Stockhecker - Technical Support

Mike Thomas - IT Specialist​

Coral Trivedi - Special Project: Exploring Systems Efficiency in Reentry Planning

Marc Wennberg - CoSA Consultant

ALUMNI

Though they may have moved on, we honor the contributions of our numerous administrative volunteers. They helped build a strong foundation for the THRIVE community.

2018: Frankie Caraballo - Leadership Fellow & Community Organizer (Lawrence); Tara Desmarais - UMASS Lowell Practicum, Community Outreach & Volunteer Coordinator; Yael Rhodes - Brandies COEX Practicum, Research; Rafael Santana - Leadership Fellow & Community Organizer (Lowell)

2017: Franallen Acosta - Community Organizer (Lawrence); Suji Choe - Program & Development;

Connor Stuart - UMASS Independent Study; Evaluation and Community Organizing; 

Shianne Sneider - UMASS Lowell Intern; Selin Tekin - Intern & Volunteer Coordinator

 

2016: Kelly Bradford - Marketing & Public Relations; Carly Denardis - Program Development;

Tugba Metinyurt - Program Development; Tricia Murphy - Program Development; 

Joshua Stachowski - Grants Research; Mengmeng Yu - Community Outreach 

CONTRIBUTORS

Ongoing: Generous community members, individuals just like you!

2018: Cummings Foundation, Episcopal City Mission - Urban Burgess Fund, Lenny Zakim Fund, Harvard Epworth United Methodist Church, H-EUMC United Methodist Women, Lexington UMC Social Justice Endowment Fund - United Methodist Foundation of New England, Shared Nation

2017: Cummings Foundation, Episcopal City Mission - Urban Burgess Fund, Lenny Zakim Fund,

First Congregational Church in Billerica, First Parish Unitarian Universalist Chelmsford,

Singing for Change, Harvard Epworth United Methodist Church,

H-EUMC United Methodist Women, Wesley Worcester United Methodist Church 

 

2016: Entrepreneurship for All, Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church, Lexington United Methodist Church Social Justice Endowment Fund, Sparkplug Foundation

THANK YOU!

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