Strength in Partnerships

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April J. Billet is the Deputy District Court Administrator – Chief Probation Officer where she oversees the adult and juvenile probation and pretrial services offices in York County for the Department of Probation Services. Prior to this, she served as the Assistant Problem Solving Court Administrator with the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts where she assisted with implementation of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Accreditation Program for adult drug and DUI courts. Previous to this, she was the Deputy Chief of the York County Adult Probation Department where she was employed for ten years. She oversaw specialized programs within the adult probation department, including sex offenders, domestic violence, intermediate punishment (restrictive probation) programs, problem solving courts, intercounty/interstate transfer cases and was the impetus behind implementation of the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) for law enforcement in York County. Ms. Billet has extensive experience writing and maintaining local, state and federal grants. Ms. Billet is currently the chair of the York County Criminal Justice Advisory Board. She is an active member of the community participating in various initiatives to reform the criminal justice system including implementation of evidence-based practices in probation, the Group Violence Intervention (GVI) initiative in the City of York, pretrial diversionary efforts, Stepping Up, the York County Reentry Coalition and work on the Community Action for Recovery and Diversion (CARD) effort to create a wellness and diversion center to divert individuals with addiction and serious mental illness from the criminal justice system. Ms. Billet is currently the President of the County Chief Adult Probation and Parole Officers Association of Pennsylvania (CCAPPOAP) and chair of the statewide Evidence- Based Practices Leadership Committee and is appointed to the County Adult Probation and Parole Advisory Committee (CAPPAC) within the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency and serves as an appointed member of the State Interstate Compact Office. She previously served as the Secretary of the Pennsylvania Association of Drug Court Professionals and both vice president and secretary of CCAPPOAP. Prior work experience includes working with individuals with serious and persistent mental illness in both the community and

Kristina Bryant, MBA, serves as a Visiting Fellow at the Bureau of Justice Assistance focused on pretrial as part of the larger criminal justice experience. Ms. Bryant also serves as a Senior Director at Rulo Strategies and has national experience as a court management consultant in justice systems. Ms. Bryant brings over 25 years of experience in community corrections as a Juvenile Court Probation Officer, Criminal Justice Planner, and Assistant Director/Interim Director of adult pretrial and probation services agency. She has worked extensively with the judiciary, elected officials, and policymakers to improve justice policies and practices, and to expand collaborative court diversion and intervention efforts. Ms. Bryant is skilled in system analysis, process and outcome evaluations, training, and leadership and has broad experience in drug policy issues. She is a trained facilitator in the Sequential Intercept Model and has facilitated cross-system information sharing and collaborations between justice and behavioral health partners for over a decade. Ms. Bryant served four years on the Executive Committee of a statewide organization after an additional five years in committee leadership positions to address legislation, training, standards, and quality assurance for probation and pretrial agencies. She has extensive experience in education and learning styles, teaching at the university level for seven years. Ms. Bryant has Master’s in Business Administration and received her BS in Criminal Justice with minors in Sociology, Psychology, and Business Administration.

Amy Evans is the Diversion & Reentry Administrator in York County Probation Services, where she oversees several diversion and reentry initiatives. Through the CARD (Community Action for Recovery & Diversion) initiative, Ms. Evans is working to collaboratively transform justice, health, and human services systems to ensure people have timely access to behavioral health care, especially those who are or may become justice-involved. Ms. Evans began her career as a community planner in Knoxville, Tennessee and in 2006 returned to Pennsylvania to continue her career at the York County Planning Commission. In 2011, her role at the YCPC expanded to include planning duties for the York County Criminal Justice Advisory Board. With the creation of the York County Reentry Coalition in 2016, Ms. Evans transitioned to overseeing the operation of the Coalition, where she worked to raise community awareness and lower common barriers to successful reentry through greater access to health care, transportation, housing, employment opportunities, and more. She began as Project Director for CARD in January 2020 and as Assistant Director in York County Human Services in Jan 2023. Ms. Evans is a SAMHSA-certified trauma-informed care trainer and serves as the Communications & Membership Chair for the Board of the PA Chapter of the American Planning Association. Ms. Evans holds a master’s degree in geography from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and is a certified planner through the American Institute of Certified Planners.

Dr. Tameka Vaught Williams is a Senior Associate at Justice System Partners. She has over 16 years of work experience in the criminal and juvenile legal systems, project management and higher education. In her current position, she provides training and technical assistance to criminal justice organizations undergoing system change. Her duties also include managing multiple projects and a diverse team, ensuring project timelines and deliverables are met. Prior to joining JSP, Tameka's career began as an adult probation officer and a juvenile court counselor, where she provided case management and oversight to court-involved adults and youth. She later transitioned to quality assurance in public safety, where she implemented, supervised, and evaluated community and evidence-based programs. After years of direct service work, Tameka joined North Carolina Central University as a Clinical Assistant Professor, where she taught criminal justice courses and directed student support. As an educator she helped develop the next generation of criminal justice leaders and prepared them for post-graduate employment. In this role, she brought a unique "real world" perspective to higher education, drawing from her experience as a leader and practitioner. She is skilled in curriculum development, student coaching, and delivering instruction both online and face-to-face. She also founded a non-profit called J.E.W.E.L.S., aimed at developing the next generation of women leaders in criminal and social justice fields. Tameka is a two-time alumna of North Carolina Central University (NCCU). She was awarded dual bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and Criminal Justice and a Master of Science in Criminal Justice. She received her Ph.D. in Leadership Studies from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Tameka’s written work and research interests focus on student professional development, correctional managers’ leadership development, barbershops and beauty salons as community anchors, the criminalization of minority youth, and the barriers to leadership for Black women in the workplace. Her life’s work focuses on making systemic and structural changes in the criminal legal system through leadership, advocacy, research, and teaching.