The New Jersey Reentry Corporation, which works with returning citizens, employers and community partners to remove barriers to employment, will hold its annual conference on April 17 focused on survivors of domestic violence, sexual abuse and human trafficking.
This free event, which will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the MacMahon Student Center at St. Peter’s University in Jersey City, provides a platform for advocates, physicians, and survivors to discuss how to support women who have suffered trauma through diversionary criminal justice programming and reentry support. The goal is to empower survivors and make programmatic and legislative changes to support them.
Key topics will include access to healthcare, legal assistance, psychological counseling, safe shelter, housing support, safety planning, risk assessment, case management, and employment support.
NJBIA President & CEO Michele Siekerka will serve as a panelist on the afternoon discussion “Critical Services for Women Survivors of Violence.” NJBIA will also be part of the morning networking breakfast for conference sponsors and attendees to connect and share resources.
Former Gov. Jim McGreevey, chairman of the board of the New Jersey Reentry Corporation, said the event is the largest reentry conference on the East Coast that regularly attracts upwards of 900 attendees, including state legislators, advocates and other stakeholders.
This year, New York Times contributing opinion writer Rachel Snyder, who is a professor of literature and journalism at American University and author of numerous books on domestic violence, will be part of a panel discussion on killings that occur in self-defense.
The discussion on “Criminal Justice Diversion for Women” includes two federal judges for the District of New Jersey – the Hon. Madeline Cox Arleo and the Hon. Katharine S. Hayden – as well three state lawmakers: Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin (D-19), Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Ruiz (D-29) and Assemblywoman Eliana Pintor Marin (D-29).
The roster of more than 50 speakers and expert panelists also includes Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley who is renowned for her work with refugees and immigrants; Michele Bratcher Goodwin, a legal scholar who is currently the Linda D. & Timothy J. O’Neill Professor of Constitutional Law and Global Health Policy at Georgetown University Law Center; and Gloria Bachmann, M.D., associate dean of Women’s Health at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School; as well as other leaders of key agencies.
Go here for more information or to register to attend the Annual Reentry Conference, “Domestic Violence, Sexual Abuse, Human Trafficking: A Trilogy of Evil – A Journey of Deliverance.”
