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MEET THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Jania Witherspoon, Board Secretary (she/her)
Jania is a 22 -year-old Brooklyn native currently pursuing her masters degree in social work at Hunter College. She has a bachelor's degree in Social Work from Marist College. Jania dedicates her time to restorative justice advocacy, a passion she discovered during her high school years at Harvest Collegiate, where she co-founded The Circle Keepers as a social justice after school club. She aspires to specialize in mental health care for young individuals. Jania's journey exemplifies her dedication to empowering and supporting the next generation, ensuring they have access to the resources and care they need to thrive.
As Director of Youth Voice & Vision, Jania advises the organization on youth culture, community relationships and youth organizing. She co-chairs the fundraising subcommittee.
Tanesh Grant, Board Member (she/her)
Tanesha Grant, a mother of three and a community leader, serves as Executive Director of Parent Support of Parents New York and Moms United for Black Lives New York City. For the past five years, she has dedicated herself to family support and social justice advocacy. As a former child welfare system-involved individual and lived experience expert, Ms. Grant leverages her expertise to secure resources for New York State communities. She and her team have developed numerous programs offering direct services and addressing digital equity.
Ms. Grant's mission is to enhance the quality of life for all families and ensure that families have every opportunity to remain together. Furthermore, as one of five members of the Youth and Family Forward grant writing committee—a group comprised of lived experience experts—she has helped allocate $1.4 million in funding to 14 community-based organizations. Ms. Grant champions empowering directly impacted individuals. Ms, Grant participates in the people and community subcommittee.
Tajh Sutton, Board Treasurer (she/her)
Tajh is a youth advocate, education activist, curator of community experiences and Black girl magic connoisseur. She is excited to have the language and praxis to understand and share her experiences for the empowerment of young people, specifically Black, Latino, underrepresented Asian, Indigenous, disabled and queer youth as well as children within the carceral and family policing systems. As an arts educator, restorative justice practitioner, author and community organizer, it is her hope to provide spaces beyond the confines of DEI and feigned togetherness where imaginative freedom dreaming can take place and be actualized.
As Director of Care, Tajh leads all community building and supports initiatives, providing trauma informed and anti racist grounding to all of our endeavors. She co-chairs the people and community subcommittee.
Dr. Denisha Jones, Esq., Board Chair (she/her)
Dr. Denisha Jones is the Executive Director of Defending the Early Years. She is a former kindergarten teacher and preschool director who spent the past 19 years in teacher education. Denisha is an education justice advocate and activist working with various grassroots organizations to dismantle the neoliberal assault on public education. She is a part-time faculty member in the Art of Teaching program at Sarah Lawrence College and the School of Education at Howard University. Since 2017, she served on the steering committee for the national Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action. Her first co-edited book, Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice, was published in December 2020 by Haymarket Books.
As board chair, Dr. Jones oversees our executive and governance sub committee and directs strategic visions and planning.
Martín Urbach, Co-Founder, Executive Director, Board Member (he/him)
Martin (pronounced mar-TEEN) Urbach is a Latine immigrant, music educator, researcher, activist and youth organizer. He has been a teaching artist, public school music teacher, dean of students and restorative justice coordinator in the NYC Public Schools since 2007. He holds a BA in jazz performance from the University of New Orleans, a MA in jazz arts from the Manhattan School of Music, an Advanced Certificate in Music Education from Brooklyn College and is currently a Doctoral candidate in Urban Education at the CUNY Graduate Center. Martin is a 5 time Grammy Music Educator Award quarter finalist. He is also the founder of Liberation Drum Circles.
As co-founder and executive director, Mr. Urbach spearheads the organization’s vision, curriculum development, pedagogy and staff/youth development.
Omari McCleary, Board Member (he/him)
Omari has 15 years of experience working with and advocating for systemically marginalized youth and families. An engaging and knowledgeable facilitator and project manager, Omari excels at building and managing teams with a racial equity and trauma-informed approach and has a background in restorative justice social work.
Ryan Clayton , Youth Board Member (she/her)
Ryan Clayton is a Freshman college student at Howard University studying Business Management with a minor in Sociology. As a Humanities and Social Science Scholar, her goal is to leave undergrad and pursue a PhD in Human Resource Management to research strategic approaches to effective and efficient hiring and firing practices with a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
Ms. Clayton co-chairs the executive & governance subcommittee.
Amber Colón, Youth Board Member (she/her)
Amber is a 19 year old culinary student, bartender, and a passionate social justice advocate. She is passionate about promoting the importance of youth voice, accountability, healing, and the power of community.
Ms. Colón co-participates in the fundraising subcommittee.
Mbathio Mbaye , Youth Board Member (she/her)
Mbathio Mbaye is a sophomore student at Tulane University pursuing a bachelor's degree in sociology with a minor in both psychology and social work! She is trained in tier 1, 2 and 3 restorative justice and has taught RJ practices in over 50 schools across NYC, and hundreds of students and staff how to implement this practice into their own schools. She is excited to keep on learning about transformative justice through a socio-psychological level through higher education!
Ms. Mbaye co-chairs the fundraising subcommittee.
Orla Flynn , Youth Board Member (she/her)
Orla Flynn is a recent high-school graduate and soon-to-be Hunter College freshman, starting this fall. Her interest in advocacy and public policy began late in high school, as she started researching career paths while observing the world around her, which led her to stay politically engaged and informed in her future, regardless of the career I chose. Throughout her involvement in The Circle Keepers, she realized the value of youth civic engagement in shaping educational policy, and more importantly, it helped her to build out her interests into something she could pursue.
Ms, Flynn co-chairs the people and culture subcommittee.
Rachel Dore-Weeks, Board Member (she/her)
Bio needed.
Jazmine Peralta, Board Member (she/her)
Jazmine is a transformative justice scholar-practitioner and relational thought leader with 18+ years of experience advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) across higher education, nonprofits, and mission-driven organizations. Jazmines’s leadership has spanned public and private institutions and national organizations, including co-founding a worker-owned justice consulting cooperative. Across these roles, Jazmine centered radical empathy, community care, and shared accountability, rooted in the belief that everyone has a vital role in shaping inclusive, equitable environments.
Currently, Jazmine serves as the Assistant Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Pratt Institute, leading DEI strategy for 7,000+ students, faculty, and staff. Jazmine advises senior leadership on equity policy reform, inclusive practices, and data-driven initiatives that shift culture, strengthen accountability, and drive sustainable systemic transformation.
Jazmine brings a trauma-informed, anti-oppressive lens to equity strategy, blending lived experience, data insights, and culturally responsive practices. Jazmin has redesigned Title IX procedures, launched intersectional training series, secured substantial funding for first-gen student success, and integrated restorative and transformative justice principles into accountability processes. Jazmine builds cross-functional partnerships to translate values into structural change.
As a doctoral candidate at Northeastern University, Jazmine’s research explores the intersection of the carceral state and higher education, centering system-impacted students, applying abolitionist frameworks to reimagine higher education as transformative and creative ecosystems for collective liberation.
As a queer, neurodivergent, first-gen professional raised in an Afro-Latine immigrant family, TCK’s work is personal.