Vivien Blackford: Founder and Chairman, is a retired organizational consultant. She is currently a member of the Connecticut Sentencing Commission and co-chairman of its recidivism-reduction committee. Vivien was a commissioner of the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities for six years, and she has chaired the boards of directors of nonprofit organizations in the sectors of health services, education, legal services, and social services.
Stephen Chinlund: is one of the deans of reentry and in-prison group work in NYC. He began this work in 1960’s, which was early in his career as an Episcopal priest and pastor. He has been a warden of two NY state corrections facilities, and served as Chairman of the Commission of Correction in New York State. He founded the reentry nonprofit, Network Communities, which has operated groups in numerous prisons and other settings for four decades He is the author of the book, Prison Transformations, The System, the People Inside, and Me.
William H. Cuddy: is a retired business lawyer. His forty-two year legal career was at the law firm, Day Pitney, where he was chairman of the firm for six years. He co-authored some of Connecticut’s corporation law, and taught courses at the University of Connecticut law school. He chaired the boards of directors of a mid-size brokerage firm, two private schools and two dance companies. He currently works with inmates weekly in a Rhode Island prison program.
Senior Advisors
Olevia Boykin: is a second year student at Yale Law School. She has been an intern in the Office of the Public Defender, working on indigent criminal defense. She also interned at the New York law firm, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. In addition to her studies and clinical practice, she holds chair positions in the American Constitution Society and the Black Law Students Association. She graduated cum laude from the University of Notre Dame.
Randall Huntsberry: has been an International business coach and trainer to Fortune 500 companies thirty years. He has also been a marriage and family counselor and mediator. He is currently a trainer for facilitators in restorative justice. He taught at Wesleyan University and Smith College for ten years and has published four books. He has a PhD from Harvard University in sociology and cultural psychology.
Danielle Wolffe: is a journalist and ghostwriter. She previously served as the Communications Director for addiction treatment center in Fall River, Massachusetts. Her work has appeared in the Huffington Post, Salon, the Associated Press, Alaska, Outside, The Elephant Journal, Telling Our Stories Press, Anchorage Daily News and in numerous daily and weekly publications. She is the recipient of a George Polk Grant for Investigative Reporting.
Senior Consultants
A. Stephen Lanza, serves as Phoenix’s Project Director. He brings 25 years’ experience in community justice, human development, and clinical practice. Along with his background in research, program development, policy, and nonprofit management, Steve holds faculty positions at the University of Connecticut in Human Development & Family Studies and in Norwalk Community College’s Criminal Justice Program. He is a visiting lecturer in the Human Rights Program at Trinity College. He formerly taught in the Graduate Program for Marital & Family Therapy Program at Fairfield University. Among his publications, a recent co-authored paper received the American Journal of Public Health Paper of the Year Award.