Calvin John Smiley, Ph.D. (Founder/Director) is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Hunter College-City University of New York. He has spent nearly half his life working to combat mass incarceration. As the son of a system-impacted father, Smiley has done work to abolish the death penalty, reentry, and education in jails and prisons. Since 2021, he has been the lead facilitator of a restorative justice program inside Horizon and Crossroads Juvenile Centers in New York City. Smiley is the co-editor of Prisoner Reentry in the 21st Century: Critical Perspectives of Returning Home (Routledge, 2020). He is also the author of the award-winning Purgatory Citizenship: Reentry, Race, and Abolition (University of California, 2023) and Defund: Conversations Towards Abolition (Haymarket Books, 2024). Smiley’s research on justice and inequality has been published in academic journals and public outlets. Yet, it is his advocacy, organizing, and praxis that motivates Smiley as Chairman Fred Hampton said, “Theory without practice is empty and practice without theory is blind.”

Jemma Clarke (Assistant Director) is a recent graduate from Hunter College-CUNY, majoring in Sociology with a focus on law, and currently a MSW candidate at the Silberman School of Social Work. Radicalized by mental health, race, and social justice issues, Jemma works at Horizon Juvenile Center and Crossroads Juvenile Center, helping facilitate restorative justice programming. As Assistant Director of Till Everything Better, LLC., a company focused on expanding restorative justice to be accessible across communities, especially those that are justice-affected, Jemma is integral in creating zines, curriculum, and leading groups with young folks.