Building Community-Driven Solutions in Probation and Parole: Starting the Journey to Collaborative Action

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James Czarniak is a seasoned professional with a rich background in both non-profit and government sectors. He has held significant roles, notably serving as the Deputy Commissioner for the Onondaga County Department of Children and Family Services, overseeing the Child Welfare Division. His career trajectory also includes a pivotal position as Director of Juvenile Justice for the County, where he managed the juvenile probation department and the local secure detention facility. He led the county in several reform efforts including expansion of community-based services, prioritizing kinship care, reducing the use of congregate and group care for children and youth across all county systems, and detention and juvenile justice reform efforts aimed at decreasing system involvement all with a focus on addressing system inequity. Today, Jim serves as the Principal at Brightpath Strategies, a forward-thinking social and public sector consulting firm. Brightpath Strategies envisions a world where communities are recognized and resourced as those best situated to serve their neighbors. Its mission is to activate the expertise and capacity within each local community for transformative solutions to the needs they identify and toward the equitable future each deserves. Jim is a member of the Annie E Casey Foundation’s Applied Leadership Network, demonstrating his commitment to advancing equity and inclusion in the juvenile justice system at a national level. He is also the co-creator and facilitator of SPEAR (Shifting Power for Equity and Results), SPEAR brings together diverse systems and community groups to co-create positive change to bring about more equitable outcomes for those served by our education, child welfare, juvenile justice, mental health, and other service systems. It gives voice and power to those with firsthand knowledge of the hopes and needs within each neighborhood. James earned his bachelor’s degree from Washington College (MD) and has several certifications and training including being an Advanced Practitioner in Results Count and Results Based Facilitation, certified in Appreciative Inquiry and has received certificates in Data Sharing and Multi-System Integration from Georgetown University Center for Juvenile Justice Reform. Jim’s leadership style is characterized by a focus on listening to stakeholders and developing tailored st

Hasan A. Stephens long dreamed of using his talents in hip-hop culture to help shift youth culture and its perspectives. During his career and work as a leading youth advocate, mentor, entrepreneur and educator, Stephens recognized many of the same people continued to revisit youth detention facilities. In response, he started the Good Life Youth Foundation to help prevent youth recidivism, violence, poverty and incarceration. An educator and co-contributor to the book Rebel Music: Resistance Through HipHop and Punk, Stephens currently serves as a professor of Africana studies and hip-hop at the State University of New York College at Cortland where one of his courses is "Evolution of Hip-Hop Culture". He also is an active member of the Onondaga County (Syracuse, New York) Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative Steering Committee, and the Central New York State Regional Youth Justice Team. In addition, Stephens is a leadership consultant for the Central New York Community Foundation, Inc., The Leadership Classroom. He currently serves on the board of the Upstate Minority Economic Alliance (UMEA), a minority chamber of commerce for Upstate, New York. Stephens is a member of the Madden School of Business Advisory Board at Le Moyne College, and serves as an entrepreneur in residence for the Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship.

Opal West is a senior associate with the Annie E. Casey Foundation. As part of the Foundation’s Juvenile Justice Strategy Group, her work focuses on youth probation, the disposition most often imposed on young people who enter our nation’s juvenile justice system. West is helping to transform youth probation nationally into a focused intervention that promotes personal growth and long-term success for youth who pose significant risks for serious offending. Also, she guides juvenile justice agencies to treat families as partners. West began her career as a juvenile probation and parole officer in Louisiana. Working for state government there, she led efforts to improve conditions of confinement in detention centers across the state. She also led statewide expansion efforts for the JDAI® approach to building a better and more equitable youth justice system and was appointed to serve on a task force to develop standards of care for state-run secure facilities and local detention centers. West is a graduate of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.