JustLeadershipUSA Announces New President

PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 19, 2018 

Monica Novoa
monica@jlusa.org
917-971-0329

JustLeadershipUSA Announces New President

Longtime justice advocate and force for transformation, DeAnna Hoskins, to take the helm

NEW YORK — Today, the board of directors of JustLeadershipUSA (JLUSA) announced that DeAnna Hoskins will take the helm of the organization as president starting on July 15, 2018. Hoskins is a longtime advocate and visionary leader for eliminating our nation’s reliance on incarceration, reinvesting resources into communities, supporting the successful reentry of people returning home from incarceration, and advancing the rights and leadership of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people. She has worked at the local, state and national level, including time at the Department of Justice (DOJ). Hoskins began her tenure at the DOJ’s Bureau of Justice Assistance under President Obama.

“I am thrilled to be JustLeadershipUSA’s next president,” said Hoskins. “I know the system of incarceration inside out. I am excited to use what I have learned from my advocacy within government to push bold transformation from the outside. I understand root causes, having lived in under-resourced communities and having been incarcerated. I understand the policies that are not working. And I understand the need for redemption, healing and racial and economic justice. I look forward to supporting our campaigns across the country to close jails and prisons, reduce the footprint of parole and probation, and stop the rise of digital prisons. We must make sustainable groundbreaking change to build healthy communities and end crimes of poverty and survival.”

“DeAnna Hoskins is the perfect leader to continue JustLeadershipUSA’s work to redefine justice in the United States,” said Vivian Nixon, chair of the JLUSA board. “DeAnna’s personal experience with incarceration; her experience with legislation and campaigns to benefit incarcerated people; and her powerful transformative advocacy through local, state, and national government, uniquely position her to lead policy reform and to amplify directly-impacted leadership and solutions. I have every confidence that her wisdom will ensure JustLeadershipUSA’s ability to maintain its momentum, a cutting edge strategy for value based social change, and build on the effectiveness of its nationwide collaborations as we drive towards cutting the US correctional population in #halfby2030.”

Prior to joining JLUSA, Hoskins was the senior policy advisor on corrections and reentry for the DOJ’s Bureau of Justice Assistance. At the DOJ, she managed the Second Chance Act portfolio where she connected people and communities to resources through various partnerships and collaborations and managed cooperative agreements between agencies – the Department of Labor’s Clean Slate Clearinghouse, supporting formerly incarcerated people with expunging their records; the National Reentry Resource Center; the National Inventory of Collateral Consequences and Convictions; the National Institute of Corrections Children of Incarcerated Parents initiative; and more. She also served as the Deputy Director of the Federal Interagency Reentry Council.

Before her time at the DOJ, Hoskins was the founding reentry director for Ohio’s Hamilton County Board of County Commissioners, where she was responsible for reducing recidivism, increasing countywide public safety, reducing correctional spending and coordinating social services and criminal justice systems to engage and focus on populations at risk that were impacted by decades of generational disinvestment. She went on to work for the Indiana Department of Corrections, where she worked on improving conditions and treatment of incarcerated people.

“We need bold solutions to undo decades of harm,” said Hoskins. “As a Black woman, my life continues to be impacted by that system every day. I have dedicated my personal activism and professional life to moving resources to people and communities that need it most, and to support reentry, healing and structural change.”

Hoskins is also a JLUSA Leading with Conviction alumna. Leading with Conviction (LwC) is a year-long advanced leadership training for formerly incarcerated, mid-senior level leaders with a specific and proven track record in advocacy and community organizing. Hoskins embodies that core pillar of the organization, as well as the other core pillars of advocacy and membership –and JLUSA’s bold approach.

“As we transform our society, we must build a culture that seeks to prevent harm, holds individuals accountable and promotes healing; rather than a system based solely on punishment and isolation,” said Hoskins. “The status quo has failed us. I wholeheartedly believe we must shift toward restorative and transformative justice, but it can only work if we are all accountable. We must reimagine justice, safety, and the communities we need and want.”

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JustLeadershipUSA (JLUSA) is a leading national organization, dedicated to cutting the US correctional population in #halfby2030. JLUSA empowers people most affected by incarceration to drive policy reform. The organization’s three pillars are Leadership, Advocacy, and Membership.