Racial Justice Townhall Meeting - Part III
Go Back

SESSION INFO

Tuesday, August 24, 2021
1:30PM - 3:00PM
Session Type: Workshop
In August 2020, APPA held its first Racial Justice Townhall meeting. Probation and parole leaders talked about the impact of the recent events and spoke candidly about how racism has been an issue in the U.S. for 400 years. They also talked about how they were managing the issue in their respective communities. In March 2021, the second townhall meeting took place and the conversation continued. Both important conversations were welcomed and embraced by the masses. Thanks to continued interest in this topic, the third townhall meeting will take place in Boston. The outstanding panelists will ask and answer questions like: Why now? Why does diversity, equity, and inclusion matter? They will delve into a number of pain points related to the impact of this topic on community corrections professionals and the individuals they serve. A great deal of focus will be on generating ideas and solutions to minimize the negative impact of racism in our field. Our brave, knowledgeable, panelists are Carmen Gomez, PhD, Marcus Hodges, Alisha James, John Laing, and Joe Winkler. Join them for the session, but more importantly, join them in confronting the uncomfortable truths in our world as the work goes on to create a better society for generations to come!

SESSION PRESENTERS
Dr. Carmen Z. Gomez
Deputy Commissioner for Pretrial Services, MA Probation Service/MA Trial Court/Office of Commissioner of Probation
Alisha Shoates James
Sr. Vice President at Aventiv Technologies, The James Group


Alisha James is a dedicated member of the criminal justice community with a passion to assist government and private industry.  Alisha is the former Assistant Commissioner for Community Supervision for the TN Dept of Correction. In 2019, she transitioned to lead James Group Consulting, which consults domestically and internationally on topics related to community supervision and re-entry. In 2019, Alisha was invited to present on community supervision related topics in Portugal, Argentina, and Australia. Alisha is passionate about developing technology to support probation/parole officers in day-to-day operations. Alisha has served as a U.S. Probation Officer and a Police Officer in Nashville, TN.

John Laing
Chief Experience and Diversity Officer, MA Probation Service/MA Trial Court/Office of Commissioner of Probation
Susan Rice
Customer Success Manager, Uptrust
Dir. Joe W Winkler
Assistant Secretary, FL Department of Corrections


Joe Winkler is the Assistant Secretary of Community Corrections at the Florida Department of Corrections. Mr. Winkler started with the department in 2001 as a probation officer. He has held every certified position within Community Corrections before being appointment to the Assistant Secretary position. As the Assistant Secretary, Mr. Winkler enforces the community corrections mission by making every reasonable effort to ensure that all offenders placed on community supervision receive the appropriate level of supervision and services needed in order to protect the public and increase the offender’s chance of succeeding while on supervision. Mr. Winkler is responsible for the statewide oversight of approximately 3,000 staff, operations in over 140 State Probation Offices, supervision of approximately 150,000 offenders and a $215 million budget. He serves on the Board of Directors with the Florida Association of Community Corrections and is the Florida Commissioner of Interstate Compact.