Managing the Impact of Legislation: A Guide for Leaders

Go Back

Johanna has 20 years of experience leading innovative justice reform efforts in community organizations and government agencies including community driven reentry programs, schools, pre-trial services, probation, parole, prison, community corrections and behavioral health agencies. She led the design and implementation of re-entry programs for the Colorado Department of Corrections, Division of Parole and held a key leadership role in the implementation of statewide community reinvestment strategies which set aside state resources for grants to community-led organizations providing direct services to formerly incarcerated people navigating the reentry process. Leveraging her experience working in communities and in justice system organizations, Johanna specializes in working at the intersection of multiple systems to tackle the adaptive challenges of implementing transformational change. She contributed to the design of the Implementation Leadership Academy and coaches organizational leaders in the application of Implementation Science focusing on how organizations implement strategies to improve outcomes through organizational culture shift and developing the emotional intelligence of organizations to build resiliency and capacity to change. She holds a Master’s degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Colorado, a Bachelor’s degree in Cultural Anthropology and Education from UC Santa Cruz, is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT), a Goleman Emotional Intelligence Certified Coach (EICC), ACE Certified Coach, Reentry Workforce Development Specialist Trainer (OWDS), and Global Career Development Facilitator (GCDF).

Allison Tapia has over 15 years of experience leading innovation and change in the criminal justice system. After working in community-based corrections for many years, Allison became a champion of implementation science in the state of Colorado by leading a large-scale, multi-agency effort to implement Motivational Interviewing. This collaborative effort involved community-based corrections, behavioral health centers, probation offices, prisons and parole offices statewide, engaging more than 1,000 practitioners in training, coaching and local communities of practice to implement new ways of working toward positive outcomes, together. This project was the first of its kind to introduce and formally apply the National Implementation Research Network (NIRN) model to an entire state system and brought with it tremendous lessons, and practical insights that Allison brings to her work today with justice leaders implementing change initiatives. This complex and multi-dimensional implementation experience was a catalyst for Allison and ACJI to form as a team and an organization. Allison knows that the principles of Implementation Science offer game changing tools for leaders in justice agencies to achieve socially significant outcomes and is a strong believer in strategies that involve co-elevating system players. Leveraging her experience leading teams in a progressive pretrial service agency, Allison specializes in complex implementation environments that require tackling wicked, often historical, adaptive challenges that get in the way of implementing transformational change. She contributed to the design of the Implementation Leadership Academy and is instrumental in designing and iterating thoughtful and strategic tools to help leaders and organizations do their best work. As a Founding Member of the Alliance for Community and Justice Innovation, she is involved in all ACJI projects from start to finish. She provides the personal touch to all of our projects and loves supporting agencies to do their best work. She is committed to ensuring that our work together gets you where you want to go. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from Metropolitan State University.

Dr. Alexandra Walker over 20 years of experience in the field of reentry and behavioral health. She offers a diverse background in evidence-based practices, training, program development, implementation science, and treatment modalities. Dr. Walker has a Master’s degree in Criminal Justice with an emphasis in Corrections and Forensic Psychology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and a PhD in Sociology from Colorado State University. She has worked on a myriad of federal, state, and local justice initiatives and research projects. Most recently she transitioned from the Colorado Parole Board as Vice Chair to co-found and run the Alliance for Community and Justice Innovation. Dr. Walker has managed implementation efforts large and small across the correctional space in both community based and institutional corrections. She is well versed in the development, implementation, and measurement of fidelity to evidence-based practices and programming. As the Director of Community Relations and Strategy for the Alliance for Community and Justice Innovation Dr. Walker provides tools, strategies, research and evaluation support on implementation efforts, coaches staff on implementation and behavior change efforts, and develops practices and resources for specialized populations with leaders across the country.