Team Members

Charity Hope

Charity Hope serves as a convener for the National Resource Center for Reaching Victims (NRC), and is responsible for bringing together the NRC’s nine partners to form a collaborative that …
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Charity Hope

Charity Hope serves as a convener for the National Resource Center for Reaching Victims (NRC), and is responsible for bringing together the NRC’s nine partners to form a collaborative that is working together to help community-based advocacy programs, system-based responses, and policymakers to better identify, reach, and serve survivors from underserved communities. She fosters collaboration among partner organizations; provides strategic direction and guidance to the complex change initiatives undertaken by the NRC and its partners, makes connections between partners and key stakeholders in the crime victims and related fields; and serves as a liaison to project funders. Charity’s role on the NRC builds on her more than 18 years of experience overseeing training and technical assistance projects and working in nonprofit sectors. As the Deputy Director of the Center on Victimization and Safety at the Vera Institute, she also oversees the Institute’s work to support “for Deaf, by Deaf” anti-violence programs and enhance hearing anti-violence programs’ capacity to provide culturally and linguistically specific services to Deaf survivors. Charity has worked on a variety of social justice issues, including housing and homelessness, violence against women, and in her current position, on various aspects related to services for victims and survivors of crime. Charity has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and a master’s degree in public administration with an emphasis in organizational behavior from the Henry W. Bloch School of Business and Public Administration at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Vera Institute of Justice
Nancy Smith

Nancy Smith serves as a convener for the National Resource Center for Reaching Victims (NRC), a project of the Vera Institute of Justice, and is responsible for bringing together the …
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Nancy Smith

Nancy Smith serves as a convener for the National Resource Center for Reaching Victims (NRC), a project of the Vera Institute of Justice, and is responsible for bringing together the NRC’s nine partners to form a collaborative that is working together to help community-based advocacy programs, system-based responses, and policymakers to better identify, reach, and serve survivors from underserved communities. She fosters collaboration among partner organizations; provides strategic direction and guidance to the complex change initiatives undertaken by the NRC and its partners, makes connections between partners and key stakeholders in the crime victims and related fields; and serves as a liaison to project funders. Nancy’s work on the NRC builds on her more than 15 years of experience as the Director of the Center on Victimization and Safety at the Vera Institute of Justice. In this role, she designs and oversees change initiatives that center the needs of survivors of crime, especially those most marginalized from healing services and system-based responses. A main focus of her work has been on ending violence against people with disabilities and partnering with Deaf communities across the country as a hearing ally to end violence against Deaf people. She has worked closely with advocates, first-responders, and policymakers around the country to improve services for survivors with disabilities and Deaf survivors; is a national speaker and trainer on a wide-range of issues related to disability, Deaf culture, and victimization; facilitates national roundtables on topics ranging from preventing sexual abuse of children with disabilities to enhancing law enforcement responses to Deaf victims; and has written numerous reports on the topic, including Forging New Collaborations: A Guide for Rape Crisis, Domestic Violence, and Disability Organizations, Sexual Abuse of Children with Disabilities: A National Snapshot, and Culture, Language, and Access: Key Considerations for Serving Deaf Survivors. Nancy has a bachelor’s degree in criminology and women’s studies and a master’s degree in women’s studies with a concentration in feminist policy studies from the Ohio State University.

Vera Institute of Justice
Radairis Diaz

Radairis Diaz is the meeting and events planner for the National Resource Center for Reaching Victims, as part of her work with the the Center on Victimization and Safety at …
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Radairis Diaz

Radairis Diaz is the meeting and events planner for the National Resource Center for Reaching Victims, as part of her work with the the Center on Victimization and Safety at the Vera Institute of Justice. She has experience in planning meetings and events specifically at The Roger Hotel and Pfizer. At Vera, Radairis assists in the logistical planning of all CVS conferences, trainings, and roundtable discussions. She works closely with our programmatic staff and event venue to provide premium service for our attendees. Radairis holds a BA in Philosophy Politics and Law and a BS in Human Development from Binghamton University.

Vera Institute of Justice

+ (212) 376-3163
Anneliese Brown

Anneliese Brown is the lead on the National Resource Center for Reaching Victim’s work to enhance victim services to better reach and meet the needs of crime victims with disabilities …
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Anneliese Brown

Anneliese Brown is the lead on the National Resource Center for Reaching Victim’s work to enhance victim services to better reach and meet the needs of crime victims with disabilities and Deaf crime victims. Anneliese has been working to address domestic and sexual violence for over 15 years, and in 2014 began working closely with community collaborations striving to improve services to victims of domestic and/or sexual violence who have disabilities or are Deaf. In recent years, she has expanded this work to include supporting college campuses in enhancing their response to student survivors with disabilities and Deaf student survivors. She has also provided technical assistance and training to communities working to create or enhance supervised visitation services for victims of domestic violence. Additionally, Anneliese has coordinated statewide efforts in Vermont to improve the response of the criminal and civil justice systems to domestic and sexual violence, including the provision of advocacy services to incarcerated women who have experienced domestic and/or sexual violence.
Anneliese has presented to national audiences on a variety of issues related to domestic and sexual violence and victimization, including providing accessible services to victims with disabilities and Deaf victims, working with students with disabilities and Deaf students who experience domestic and sexual violence on college campuses, supervised visitation and exchange in cases of domestic violence, developing policies that account for access and victim safety, and creating and sustaining successful collaborations. Her work is grounded in her experience serving victims and children in Maine, Vermont, Alaska, and California. Anneliese has a bachelor’s degree in women’s studies and psychology from Bates College in Maine.

Vera Institute of Justice
Zoë Flowers

Zoë Flowers is author, content creator and writer with the Huffington Post. Her poetry and essays can be found in Stand Our Ground; Poems for Trayvon Martin and Marissa Alexander, …
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Zoë Flowers

Zoë Flowers is author, content creator and writer with the Huffington Post. Her poetry and essays can be found in Stand Our Ground; Poems for Trayvon Martin and Marissa Alexander, Dear Sister: Letters from Survivors of Sexual Assault and the new anthology, Love WITH Accountability: Digging Up the Roots of Child Sexual Abuse. Her articles and interviews can be found on The Grio, Bloom Magazine, and several online journals.

In 2004, Zoë interviewed women about their experiences with domestic and sexual violence. From Ashes to Angel’s Dust: A Journey Through Womanhood is the book that emerged. ASHES – is a play that breathes life into the original stories chronicled in Zoë’s book and includes new stories about the media, campus sexual assault, body image, and the journey to self-love. ASHES has had many successful performances including; Yale University’s Fearless Conference, The White House’s United State of Women Summit in
2016, National Coalition against Domestic Violence’s National Conference, Smith College and Brown University in 2018.

For the past twenty years, Zoë’s worked at several state domestic violence coalitions and spent the last 8 years at the Women of Color Network where she started as a consultant and transitioned to the Director of Survivor Programs. Zoë also served as a holistic healer at the Joyful Heart Foundation (JHF) which was founded in 2004 by Mariska Hargitay (aka Det. Olivia Benson on Law and Order SVU).

In 2012, Zoë left JHF to launch Soul Requirements, Inc. a healing centered consulting company that combines her artistic endeavors, domestic violence expertise and holistic healing practices. Since then, she’s facilitated individual and group healing sessions, retreats, and workshops from New York to Ecuador. She returned to JHF as a consultant to run the trauma center the organization shepherded after the Newtown school shootings. Months later she joined the organization’s retreat team. The organization’s retreat model and healing techniques conducted by Zoë and hercolleagues were evaluated by Georgetown University and can be found in Traumatology, 23(2), 143–152.

Zoë has appeared on National Public Radio, was the keynote speaker for The Florida Coalition Against Sexual Violence statewide conference, The New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and The Maryland Women of Color Network’s Conference.

In 2019, she presented a workshop entitled, “Utilizing Performance as an Intersectional Response to Violence Against Women in Fez, Morocco and conducted listening sessions in London, UK and Edmonton, CA. She was also the keynote speaker at SUNY Adirondack’s We. Say. No Conference, Delaware’s Victim Service Conference, and returned as keynote for The New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Prevention Summit.

In 2020, she’ll be speaking in front of 4 classes at the University of Florida and will speak and teach 1 class at Skidmore College. This fall, she will be keynote speaker at the National Latin@ Institute in New Orleans, LA, the Victim Justice Symposium on October 5, 2020 in Des Moines Iowa, and for the Oregon Coalition Against Domestic Violence on October 7, 2020.

Women of Color Network, Inc.

+ 1-844-962-6462 ext. 706
Juanita Davis

Juanita Davis leads the National Resource Center for Reaching Victims work around older victims. In this role, Davis is responsible for providing technical assistance, information, and supports to entities within …
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Juanita Davis

Juanita Davis leads the National Resource Center for Reaching Victims work around older victims. In this role, Davis is responsible for providing technical assistance, information, and supports to entities within the crime victims field to enhance older victims’ access to healing services and just outcomes. Davis also oversees the development and implementation of project initiatives specifically focused on older victims. Davis provides leadership, technical assistance, and other guiding supports to Center’s partners, grantees, and other collaborators as relates to the unique needs of older victims as well as critical analysis and input in a variety conversations within the Center on a variety of cross-cutting activities which advance the mission of the NRC.

In her past work, Davis represented survivors of domestic violence in family law cases and coordinated leadership development opportunities for survivors and advocates of color in Wisconsin. She has also assisted domestic violence programs enhance their outreach and services to marginalized populations.

She received her law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School, (cum laude). Davis has a Master of Arts in Special Education from San Francisco State University.

National Clearinghouse on Abuse in Later Life (NCALL)

+ (608) 255-0539
Allison Hastings

Allison Hastings oversees the body of work focused on improving access to healing services for formerly incarcerated survivors for the National Resource Center for Reaching Victims. She works to raise …
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Allison Hastings

Allison Hastings oversees the body of work focused on improving access to healing services for formerly incarcerated survivors for the National Resource Center for Reaching Victims. She works to raise awareness of these survivors’ needs and barriers to services using a variety of strategies, including virtual trainings, conference presentations and in-person trainings, and publications. She supports work at the intersection of incarceration, reentry, and healing by providing technical assistance to service providers and co-convening a virtual learning community of professionals already working at the intersection and seeking to deepen their skills and expand their networks. At the Vera Institute of Justice, Allison has spent more than a decade working to eliminate sexual abuse in correctional facilities and improve conditions of confinement. She manages Vera’s partnership with the National PREA Resource Center (PRC), which entails developing resources, providing technical assistance, and serving as faculty for various PRC-led trainings. She holds a Master of Science in Justice, Law and Society from American University and a Bachelor of Arts with Distinction in English from Southern Methodist University.

Vera Institute of Justice

+ (425) 307-1435
Loree Cook-Daniels

Loree Cook-Daniels co-leads, with michael munson, FORGE’s Executive Director, the LGBTQ-centered work of the National Resource Center for Reaching Victims. Their primary NRC work involves providing training and technical assistance …
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Loree Cook-Daniels

Loree Cook-Daniels co-leads, with michael munson, FORGE’s Executive Director, the LGBTQ-centered work of the National Resource Center for Reaching Victims. Their primary NRC work involves providing training and technical assistance to victim services providers on how to better outreach to and provide services to LGBTQ victims of crime. They also have undertaken specific products, the latest being a suite of materials, “Supporting LGBTQ+ Youth is Violence Prevention.”

FORGE, Inc.

+ (414) 559-2123
Chelsea Kirk

Chelsea Kirk serves as the coordinator for the the National Resource Center for Reaching Victims work on boys and men of color. Presently, she is the HealingWorks Program Coordinator, a …
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Chelsea Kirk

Chelsea Kirk serves as the coordinator for the the National Resource Center for Reaching Victims work on boys and men of color. Presently, she is the HealingWorks Program Coordinator, a national field-building project committed to the advancement of healing equity for underserved survivors of violence. Prior to joining Common Justice, Chelsea worked on political campaigns and with community-based advocacy groups focused on housing justice in Los Angeles. Chelsea also participated in a research initiative to address and design solutions to the housing crisis and population displacement through the University of Southern California. Chelsea holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Southern California.

Common Justice

+ (929) 264-6542
Richard Smith

Richard Smith leads the National Resource Center for Reaching Victims work around boys and men of color. In this role, he is responsible for facilitating an expert working group of …
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Richard Smith

Richard Smith leads the National Resource Center for Reaching Victims work around boys and men of color. In this role, he is responsible for facilitating an expert working group of 13 individuals and delivering technical assistance and training nationally aimed at helping mainstream and community-based organizations better identify, reach, and serve boys men of color who have survived violence.

As the National Director of United for Healing Equity, Richard oversees Common Justice’s effort to build a movement that ensures that people of color who experience violence identify and act on their legitimate authority as survivors; that people of color are positioned and equipped to leverage collective power for healing equity; that system actors establish an explicit commitment to healing equity in their institutions and are held accountable; and, in partnership with the leaders on the ground, that policy solutions are identified and secured.

With over two decades of experience in leading and developing community-based programs, Richard’s work has supported the healing process of historically oppressed groups, specifically currently and formerly incarcerated youth and adults and youth of color. He also provides training and technical assistance to agencies across the country, using an approach grounded in empowerment theory and critical race theory.

Currently an assistant professor at LIU Brooklyn’s Social Work Department, Richard has guest lectured at numerous colleges and universities on issues such as systemic racism, mass incarceration, and trauma and healing.

Richard has received numerous awards and fellowships: Citizens Against Recidivism Award, New Leaders Council Fellowship, and Just Leadership USA LeadingWithConviction Fellowship. He was recently awarded the Robert Wood Johnson Forward Promise Fellowship for Leadership.

Richard holds an M.A. from the University at Albany in Africana Studies and is a doctoral candidate at SUNY Albany’s School of Social Welfare where his research focus is male survivors of child sexual abuse. Richard lives in New Jersey and is the proud father of two sons, Kaden (5) and Kaleb (7).

Common Justice

+ (518) 772-9140

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