David Baxter

Returning Citizen (Reentry) Manager 2022-2023 Justice 4 Housing

As head of RCC, I was responsible for overseeing and development of staff that will work directly with returning citizens, which consisted of weekly group meetings, and one on one supervisions with staff.. I was also responsible for assisting J4H in policy review, and community outreach.

• Founded a public speaking and consulting company that specializes in helping organizations and individuals alike reach their highest potential
• In this role, I provide motivational speeches, presentations to universities, high schools, amd organizations, on topics from leadership, company Culture, overcoming adversity/Hardship, Embracing Change, and more.

• In this role, I oversaw statewide community outreach, partnerships and coalition-building with organizations and individual individual Volunteers with the collective goal of restoring voting rights to those with lived experience within the system.
• By using a team building and a transformative leadership approach, I am able to lead and I am highly skilled at bringing groups or individuals from diverse backgrounds together to focus and build upon our common goals.

• In this role, I am tasked with developing and maintaining relationships with community partners including, city jail officials other nonprofit organizations throughout the Commonwealth, elected officials, courts, probation, parole, and Boston Public Schools to strengthen ROCA’s relationships, in order to transform the lives of young people aged 15-24 by providing wrap-around services, including education within the jails and other sites and reentry services. In addition I’m tasked with presenting our Roca models to funders and the management of entry level staff.
• My training in cognitive behavioral theory enables these young men and women to understand and acknowledge emotions, re-wire harmful thinking patterns, and generate positive futures.

Coordinator and Educational Assistant 2022-2023 Partakers Empowerment program (PEP). PEP is a statewide reentry program between the Partakers organization and Brandeis University. In my role, I was charged with mentoring many men and women returning home from very long prison sentences and assisting in their acclamation process. In addition, my role was teaching these returning citizens in a 13 week course and workshop at Brandeis, topics ranging from civic engagement to financial literacy.

• In this role, working with the Directors of UMASS Boston’s Center for Peace, Democracy, and Development, I developed and facilitated curriculum and core programming that is based on restorative justice principles and practices, with the goal of repairing harm between offenders, victims, and community stakeholders.

• In this role, I developed and led a program whose mission is to prevent violence and deter adolescents and young adults from substance abuse, Domestic Violence, and other conduct that could result in negative outcomes.

• In this role, I was responsible for leading group activities and discussions, while encouraging open and honest communication amongst attendees
• The use of best practices with respect to dialogue and conflict resolution were paramount in this role, as well as mentoring volunteers and participants.

• In this role, I co-owned and managed commercial and private properties which included small businesses.