As Chief Strategic Growth Officer and a member of the Executive Team, James brings our community safety vision and strategies nationwide, helping cities, counties, and states learn from our experience and plant seeds of justice all across America. James has helped introduce numerous new programs that move the Center’s work “upstream,” emphasizing community empowerment, economic development, crime prevention and other approaches that build safety and reduce the need for justice system involvement. James implemented methods to measure the effectiveness of the Center’s crime-prevention work and using data to improve programming and implement new solutions. In addition, he provides expert assistance to jurisdictions around the country to support the implementation of community safety and crime prevention programming.
Since joining the Center, James has held numerous leadership roles. As director of Community Development and Crime Prevention, he co-developed a first-of-its-kind resident-driven community organizing initiative in over 30 public housing developments throughout New York City. He was also the lead planner and inaugural director of the Brownsville Community Justice Center, which today provides the blueprint for much of the Center’s community-focused work through its focus on creating safe public spaces and business corridors and providing mobility out of poverty through a combination of entrepreneurship training and incubating local small business ideas. James has also led the Center’s Community Court projects, the Red Hook Community Justice Center, and NYC Community Cleanup. James has over 25 years of experience in developing and implementing community-driven solutions to complex challenges. He is a graduate of Saint John’s University and is a New York State certified mediator.