Last Friday, the REFORM Alliance team was out in full force at the third annual United Justice Coalition (UJC) Summit – a gathering of leaders, experts, and organizations doing the work of building a better justice system in the United States. We are proud to be a long-standing partner of the United Justice Coalition and the team at Roc Nation and Team Roc, who were instrumental in pulling these events together.

Held at The Shed this year, a visual and performing arts center in Hudson Yards, New York City, this year’s summit featured remarks from leaders in the field, including people with lived experience within the system. And it featured a panel on probation and parole, moderated by our CEO, Jessica Jackson.

UJC Summit 2025 Rethinking Probation and Parole panel featuring Jessica Jackson, Jay Jordan, Vincent Schiraldi, and Kemba Smith Pradia

Events like this are an essential part of the movement. They create opportunities for organizers to connect and collaborate. They provide space for experts and advocates to share best practices and latest findings. And, critically, they give all in attendance a much needed lift for the hard work ahead.

In the words of Kemba Smith Pradia, a justice reform advocate, author, and UJC panelist, “There’s something reenergizing about events like this – like a Baptist church Revival.”

Here are five standout moments from UJC 2025:

1. A view from the floor: tabling, networking, and reconnecting

Before the speaker and panels got underway, the main activity was happening right outside the theater, where staffers from some of the country’s leading justice reform organizations tabled, networked, and shared information with peers in the field.There’s something deeply nourishing about being in a space where people share the same commitment to building better, more just systems. For REFORM, this was also an opportunity to reconnect with organizations with whom we’ve collaborated in the past – groups like Right on Crime, the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA), NFL’s Inspire Change initiative, Hudson Link, Ladies of Hope Ministries, UPenn’s Quattrone Center, and many others.

REFORM New Jersey Organizer Mike Winans and Resource Coordinator Jerry Vega at the REFORM Alliance Booth at UJC Summit 2025

At the REFORM table, we talked about the meaningful work we do across the country, handed out informational fliers, and signed people up to become REFORMers – building our community of support and raising awareness about the need to modernize probation and parole systems. We also used this opportunity to interview folks for our REFORM Reports video series to learn more about their thoughts and experiences around probation and parole. Stay tuned for those clips!

2. Michael Eric Dyson set the tone

When it comes to having a speaker to kick off your event, you’d be hard pressed to find one better than Michael Eric Dyson. He addressed the crowd with his trademark blend of scholarship, moral witness, and preacherly exhortation. He quoted his pastor. He quoted JAY-Z and 2Pac. He drew our attention to “the least of these” – the millions of people stuck in the system without a meaningful path to redemption. He said, “Justice is what love sounds like when it speaks in public.”

Michael Eric Dyson gives the opening address at UJC Summit 2025

He also mentioned the recent high school spelling bee champion, whose victory was assured when he spelled the word “éclaircissement” – a word, Dr. Dyson said, was fitting for our occasion.

“What that word means,” he said, “is a cleaning up of something, a clearing up of something, a bringing enlightenment. And how appropriate it is for us to begin with bringing enlightenment to something that has often been confusing.”

The stage was set. In the panels that followed, speakers would bring enlightenment to the complex issues of justice reform – and light a path toward a system that works for everyone.

3. A panel on mental health offered commonsense solutions

Click to watch the incredible Mental Health Panel at UJC Summit 2025 moderated by Charlamagne tha God and featuring Brandon Scott, Mayor of Baltimore, Dr. Rheeda Walker, Professor of Psychology, Wayne State University, Sheldon Smith-Gray, Life Skills Instructor, ROCA, and Ernie Stevens, Author, Police Veteran, Mental Health Advocate

The conversation around justice reform must include a serious look at mental health, and a panel moderated by Charlamagne Tha God featuring Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, Sheldon “Snacks” Smith-Evans, a Life Skills Instructor with ROCA Baltimore, Dr. Rita Walker, a Professor of Psychology at Wayne State University, and former police officer Ernie Stevens did just that.

Mayor Scott detailed Baltimore’s comprehensive violence reduction strategy, which includes historic investments in community violence intervention, a large-scale 911 diversion program, and a focus on managing the city’s mental health crisis. Instead of putting the entire onus of responding to mental health crises on police, the city is building a crisis response system that prioritizes dignity and health.

Sheldon Evans, who first engaged with ROCA as a participant, spoke to the power of “relentless outreach” and understanding how emotions drive behavior. Dr. Rita Walker highlighted that unmet mental health needs don’t appear overnight; a crisis on Tuesday is often preceded by unaddressed issues on Monday. Proactive support, she argued, makes individuals “less likely to encounter police because they’re less likely to be in crisis.”

Ernie Stevens, drawing on 28 years in policing, admitted, “I was part of the problem… I was not the person you wanted responding to your home to put a band aid on a bullet wound and move on.” His journey led him to champion crisis intervention training… until we change the definition of what safety is… it’s not the absence of crime, it must be the presence of well-being,” Stevens said.

These were commonsense solutions, focused on healing and support as foundational to public and community safety. The panel reminded us that transformative change is possible when communities lead with empathy and strategic investment and it offered a hopeful blueprint for a justice system that truly prioritizes well-being over punishment.

4. REFORM’s Jay Jordan spoke about “collateral consequences” and the importance of seeing each other

Click to watch Rethinking Probation and Parole Panel at UJC Summit 2025 moderated by Jessica Jackson, CEO, REFORM Alliance and featuring Jay Jordan, VP, Community Engagement, REFORM Alliance, Kemba Smith Pradia, Justice Reform Advocate, Author & Executive Producer, and Vincent Schiraldi, Former Commissioner of the New York City Department of Probation

During the day’s Spotlight Panel, the urgent need to rethink parole and probation took center stage in a conversation moderated by REFORM Alliance CEO Jessica Jackson. Alongside justice reform advocate Kemba Smith Pradia and Former Commissioner of the New York City Department of Probation Vincent Schiraldi, REFORM’s VP of Community Engagement, Jay Jordan, shared a deeply personal account of the barriers faced by those re-entering society and on supervision, and REFORM’s fight to change these systems for the better.

Jay’s passion for REFORM is rooted in his own journey. Released after serving seven and a half years in prison, Jay hoped to land a job at a barber shop, a trade he had learned while incarcerated. “He’s like, ‘Wait a minute man, did you just leave prison? Man, you can’t cut hair,” because in California people with felony convictions were barred from getting a barbers license. “It broke my heart,” he said.

Jay then brought the audience into the crushing reality of the barriers faced by those on supervision and with felony convictions, leading the audience in a chant of the phrase “collateral consequences!” He explained these are the “40,000+ legal restrictions that kick in after you serve your time,” with 70% being lifetime bans and half being employment-related. “You’re locked out of entire industries,” particularly growth sectors like healthcare, education, and government. “So you’re stuck navigating the low wage economy.”

REFORM Alliance CEO Jessica Jackson alongside Jay Jordan at the Rethinking Probation and Parole panel at UJC Summit 2025

“If I was on parole in New Jersey,” Jay said, “I couldn’t cross that river to come to New York and get me a job.” The result? Conditions of probation and parole end up serving as “work restrictions…and become accelerants to post-conviction poverty.” This costs the U.S. an estimated $87 billion in lost annual GDP, devastates families, and leaves millions in poverty. “All I’m saying is let us work,” Jay implored. “Let me take care of my babies. I’m not asking for a handout.”

But Jay’s message was also profoundly human. He spoke of his practice in the REFORM office: “There’s an African concept, ‘Sawubona.’ It means I see you… I see you in a way where I can’t unsee you.” This, he explained, is about recognizing the humanity of formerly incarcerated individuals who navigate these immense challenges daily, often in silence. He highlighted REFORM’s commitment to being a fair chance employer, making practical accommodations, like not requiring PTO if a staff member has to leave work for a probation appointment, and he celebrated the resilience of REFORM’s impacted staff.

Jay’s message was clear: for supervision to be effective, it must transition from a system that imposes barriers to a more proactive support system focused on connecting individuals to work, resources, and opportunities for well-being – that’s the work REFORM is leading.

5. The Movement is Strong (and Finding Its Lane)

If UJC 2025 demonstrated anything, it was the strength and resolve of the justice reform movement. It wasn’t just the packed theater, or the passionate exchanges during panels, or the determined networking in the halls – it was the palpable sense of a diverse and energized community, each member committed to playing their part. Kemba Smith Pradia, an “OG in the movement,” captured this spirit perfectly. Sharing her decades of experience in this work during the probation and parole panel, she emphasized, “It’s not just about sharing your story, it’s about finding different lanes… Find your lane. There’s plenty of work out here to do.”

REFORM Alliance Gen Z Organizer Rondo Bonilla in the audience at UJC Summit 2025

From advocates for domestic violence victims to proponents of mental health diversion programs, from those fighting to end mass incarceration to those focused on creating pathways after release, everyone has a role. Vinny Schiraldi added a dose of urgency: “pick a f*cking fight!”

The energy at UJC made this clear: the movement is diverse, it is determined, and it is ready for the challenges ahead.

REFORM Alliance gathers at the United Justice Coalition Summit 2025

Leaving The Shed, the feeling was electric. UJC Summit 2025 was a place to refuel, reconnect, and recommit to the arduous but essential journey of transforming our justice system. The stories shared, the solutions proposed, and the connections built are the sparks that will continue to light the way.

REFORM Alliance is proud to be in this fight, working alongside so many dedicated individuals and organizations. The path to a fair and effective justice system is long, but moments like these remind us that we walk it together, stronger and more determined than ever.