Felecia Tyson-Waters

Felecia Tyson-Waters is an advocate and small business owner. She brings decades of organizing and advocacy experience in the field of criminal justice reform in Michigan. She earned associate degrees in paralegal studies and business management from Oakland Community College; a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Wayne State University; and a master’s degree in administrative research from Central Michigan. Her diverse experience includes working as a teacher, analyst, and project manager, all while raising a family and advocating for criminal justice reform.

Over the years, Felecia has partnered with ACLU Michigan to form Second Chance for Youth, a nonprofit dedicated to freeing people incarcerated on juvenile life without parole sentences. That work brought her to the Michigan State Capitol to testify before legislative committees and mentor other citizen advocates to do the same. Felecia has been involved with several organizations designed to advocate for families directly impacted by the criminal legal system, including the NAACP, Michigan Liberation, and VAAC. Felecia served as a facilitator at the 2022 Michigan Reentry Convening held at Lansing Community College. The event brought together over 100 formerly incarcerated individuals, nonprofit reentry service providers, advocacy groups, and government agencies to build, share, and learn how to improve the current reentry structures in Michigan. As a facilitator, she was instrumental in managing a diverse group of people working together to make decisions concerning reentry services in Michigan.

Felecia also served as Safe & Just Michigan’s Clean Slate Summer Fellow in 2022. Her work included pre-registration of expungement fairs and running background checks on individuals seeking to expunge prior convictions in the state of Michigan. She assisted the legal team with the Wayne County expungement fair, one of the largest in Michigan’s history.