Amber Vlangas
Amber Vlangas is a founding member and Executive Director of Restorative Action Alliance. Amber is an organizer, human rights activist, survivor of sexual harm, and advocate of re-imagining how we address crime and seek justice in our society. Amber facilitates and participates in Restorative Peer Support Circles for people impacted by crime and the criminal legal system, and vicarious restorative justice processes with those who are incarcerated and on community supervision. She is a certified mindful and meditative art teacher and sound healer. She is a strong believer in the power of human connections and effective storytelling to create positive change.
Amber started her professional career in the United States Marine Corps and has over 24 years of experience in marketing, fundraising and public relations for a variety of nonprofit and public organizations. She is a frequent speaker and panelist for presentations that explore the collateral consequences of criminal justice involvement and conviction registries, and the co-host of the podcast, Amplified Voices.
She has participated at the grassroots level with the ACLU Smart Justice Campaign, Center for Rational Justice Studies, Healing Connections Restorative Justice Conference, and more. In 2019, she served as a member of the Employment Subcommittee of Connecticut’s Council to Study the Collateral Consequences of a Criminal Record. Ms. Vlangas is a prominent thought-leader in the movement to end cycles of sexual harm, abolish the sex offense registry and end civil commitment. She maintains a personal website at Amber Speaks Up.
Jason
Jason is an Executive Board member currently serving as President of the Restorative Action Alliance. He earned a B.S. degree at Tufts University and an M.B.A. at Columbia Business School. He has worked in leadership roles at Fortune 100 Companies and in smaller start-ups. Jason devotes significant time to volunteering including previously serving as President of the Board of his Synagogue and mentoring small business owners. Jason is a firm believer that people are capable of change and he became personally involved with advocacy related to criminal justice in 2018 as a result of lived experiences. In 2020, he co-created the podcast Amplified Voices to share real life, in-depth stories of fellow humans who have been impacted by the criminal legal system.
Advisory Committee
Emily Horowitz
Emily Horowitz, Ph.D is a Professor teaching courses in sociology and criminal justice at St. Francis College. She directs the Institute for Peace & Justice, and founded and co-directs the post-prison college program (a nationally recognized program that helps formerly incarcerated students earn college degrees). Her scholarly research extends from a focus on sex offenses to wrongful convictions to various topics in educational policy. She is frequently quoted in media outlets about sex offense policies, and delivered keynote addresses at two major sex offense advocacy conferences.
She’s the author of Protecting Our Kids? How Sex Offender Laws Are Failing Us (Praeger, 2015), which was a is a sociologist who studies sex offense law and policy. She is the author of Protecting Our Kids? How Sex Offender Laws Are Failing Us (Praeger, 2015), and is currently conducting research on the experience of veteranswho are on the sex offense registry. Prof. Horowitz is Professor of Sociology & Criminal Justice at St. Francis College (Brooklyn, NY), where she co-directs a program that helps those with criminal justice involvement earn college degrees.
2016 Choice Outstanding Academic Title and co-editor, with Law Professor Larry Dubin, of Caught in the Web of the Criminal Justice System: Autism, Developmental Disabilities and Sex Offenses. Her article, Timeline of a Panic: A Brief History of Our Ongoing Sex Offense War, which appeared in the Southwestern law Review in 2018.
Larry Menzie
Larry Menzie, LCSW/R received his MSW in 1994 from Columbia University. His prior experiences in the field are varied working with victims, individuals with mental health/substance abuse issues, and other marginalized populations. In 2003, he co-founded Queens Counseling for Change- a forensic social work practice specializing in the treatment of individuals at risk for, or having engaged in, acts of violence. Larry was also a NYS Parole Officer for 10 years and has been actively engaged in many community organizations focusing on justice reforms and LGBT equality. Larry is currently the President of the NYS Alliance for the Prevention of Sexual Abuse and on the Executive Board of the NYS chapter of the Associations for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers. In those capacities, he provides education, advocacy and training on best and emerging practices to effectively prevent and intervene on sexual abuse.
In all of these roles, Larry has used the intersectionality of his personal and professional experiences to obtain the most benefit to the individual and their communities by advocating that each person be seen as an individual worthy of respect, that their story be heard, and that barriers to quality services be lifted.
Josh Hoe
Joshua B. Hoe is a policy analyst at Safe & Just Michigan. Prior to his work at Safe & Just Michigan Josh help ensure passage of the federal First Step Act as a consultant. As a policy analyst in Michigan, he has been part of coalitions passing Raise the Age and Clean Slate expungement legislative packages. Josh is also the host of the Decarceration Nation Podcast. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Central Oklahoma.
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