Our Board

(Names listed in alphabetical order.)

Susan Folk

Susan Folk is a Learning Professional and Coach who helps organizations and individuals learn to thrive. She uses her extensive background in leadership, organizational development, and emotional intelligence to help people of all ages live their best lives.

Susan received both her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Master’s of Science in Personnel and Industrial Relations from The American University in Washington, DC.

Susan retired as the Chief of Learning and Career Development for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Throughout her 31 years of employment in the prison system, she served in a variety of capacities, including Associate Warden at a medium-security male facility for 1,500 inmates and the Administrator of the Secure Female Facility, which housed 750 female inmates.   Susan is passionate about reentry and remains very active in facilitating positive reentry opportunities.

Susan is also a Board Certified Coach and Certified WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Plan) Facilitator, working with individuals and organizations to help improve their performance and engagement.   She is currently working with paws4vets, a non-profit organization which trains Assistance Dogs for veterans to help mitigate their symptoms from post-traumatic stress, military sexual trauma, traumatic brain injuries, and moral injury. She has designed a number of interactive training programs to bring hope and healing to veterans and their families.

Trina Robinson (Picture forthcoming.)

Trina Robinson is a certified Family Development Specialist. She became a
certified Family Development Specialist while attending a summer session at
Cornell University. Trina has over 18 years of experience working in the field of
Social Services, and she has worked at several DC Government agencies
including:

• Child and Family Services Agency, where she was employed as a Social Services
  Assistant
• Department of Human Services, where she served as a Social Services
  Representative
• The Department of Health for the Board of Medicine, where she was employed as a
  Health Licensing Assistant
• The Department of Behavioral Health, where she served as a Staff Assistant and
  Data Management Specialist

In addition to above positions Trina Robinson has worked for several local
nonprofit agencies, such as Bread for the City and The Family Support
Collaborative, where she served as a Family Support Worker.

Trina is one of the founding members of Women Involved In Reentry
Efforts (The WIRE), a grassroots agency that supports women who are returning from
incarceration. She is also runs her own business called Sisters Over-standing
the Struggle (SOS), empowering and mentor females through a holistic approach. She
works closely with the Mayor’s Office on Returning Citizen Affairs (MORCA) and various
district agencies providing wrap around support services the returning citizens
community.

Trina Robinson is also a board member at the Fairview Halfway
House for women in DC. She is also currently an Intake Specialist at MBI Health Services and a Community Support Worker in the Returning Citizens Division. Trina Robinson is a born leader who is a mother, a mentor and a true champion in
her community.

Louis Sawyer (Picture and biography forthcoming.)

Charles Thornton (Picture and biography forthcoming.)

Nancy Ware, Former Director, Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of Columbia

Nancy Ware has over three decades experience in the management and administration of juvenile and adult criminal justice programs on the local, state and national level. Prior to assuming leadership of CSOSA, Ms. Ware guided the Agency’s compliance with the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act of 2010 (GPRA), focusing on strategic planning and performance measurement.

Her professional career includes serving as the first Executive Director of the DC Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC), where for eight years she developed the infrastructure to promote collaboration between the District of Columbia government and the executive and judicial branches of the federal government on critical public safety issues. One of Ms. Ware’s proudest accomplishments at the CJCC was the development of the technical capability to support criminal justice information sharing among CJCC member agencies.

Nancy M. Ware was appointed in 2011 by President Barack Obama to serve as the Agency Director of the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of Columbia (CSOSA). In that capacity, she led over 800 federal employees in providing community supervision for approximately 14,000 adults on probation, parole, and supervised release in the District of Columbia.

In this capacity, she worked to not only promote best practices in community supervision, but also to promote best practices in organizational leadership and employee engagement. She brought a number of initiatives to CSOSA including incentive focused supervision to augment sanctions based practice; smaller caseloads based on specialized needs; improved supervision-treatment coordination; the expansion of training in motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioral interventions and trauma informed intervention; and the launch of the young adult initiative that targeted young men. In addition, she leveraged technology by upgrading the case management system and dashboard, and upgrading staff tools using I-Phones and tablets to improve supervision. She expanded the use of videoconferencing to facilitate the reentry process for DC code inmates prior to their release from prison and to facilitate virtual visits of incarcerated mothers with their children in DC.

Ms. Ware’s other professional experience included serving as Director of Technical Assistance and Training for the Department of Justice’s Weed and Seed Program and Director of National Programs for the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs. Early in her career she also served as Executive Director of the Rainbow Coalition, Executive Director of the Citizenship Education Fund and Executive Director of the District of Columbia Mayor’s Youth Initiatives Office.

Nancy Ware is a native Washingtonian who has devoted her professional career to public service and has spent the last several years working to ensure that the nation’s capital remains safe for residents, workers and visitors, and that juveniles and adults who have become involved in the criminal justice system are provided opportunities to contribute and thrive. Ms. Ware holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from Howard University and has three children and three grandchildren.