2023 Summit Recap

Thank you to our Sponsors, Committee, Volunteers & Participants for a successful 2023 Summit!

 2023 ACAR Reentry Summit Recap

Friday, April 28, 2023

CCAC Allegheny (North Side) Campus

Forerster Student Center

Sponsors

Agenda

7:30am - 8:15am: Registration and Networking

8:30am – 8:45 am: Opening Remarks – AM Session

9:00am – 10:15 am: The Reentry Experience

10:30am – 11:30 am: Breakout Sessions (30 min. each) (Classrooms)

● The Coach Approach

● Reentry Coaching Academy (ReCA)

● Work Opportunities Matter

● Jason Whyte, National Reentry Workforce Collaborative

● Mark Lay, A1 Disaster Services

● Ed Stevenson, Neighborhood Legal Services Association

11:45am – 12:45 pm: Keynote Speaker 

Dr. Joël Núñez, “Being Trauma Informed & Responsive”

12:45pm – 1:15pm: Lunch Break

1:20pm - 1:30pm: Welcome – PM Session

1:30pm – 2:30 pm: Life Coaching – Reentry Coaching Academy (ReCA)

2:30pm – 4:30 pm: Breakout Sessions (Choose 2 Sessions)

Session 1 – 2:30pm-3:30pm/Session 2 – 3:30pm-4:30pm

● Education/Financial Aid – Kyle Mosley

This presentation offers an opportunity to learn about the financial aid application process and what types of assistance is available for covering the cost of education. Students are to realize the investment that they are making in themselves to move towards a better future. Applications, deadlines and other pertinent information will be shared.

● Entrepreneurship – Jeremy Burnworth

Jeremy of BreakIT Entrepreneurial Incubator will share tips, stories and resources to help you become a successful business owner in spite of a criminal record. 

● Financial Literacy – Dr. Charles Howell

● Health and Wellness/Trauma - Father Paul Abernathy

4:30 – 5:00 pm: Closing Remarks & Giveaways

Speakers Bios

Jason Whyte is the Founder and Chairman of the National Reentry Workforce Collaborative (NRWC), a network of organizations that spans across 173 cities in 40 states. He is responsible for casting the vision and guiding the collaborative’s strategic direction. A leader with a keen aptitude for social justice and a strategic thinker, Jason is also the Director of Partnership Strategy at the Latino Coalition for Community Leadership (LCCL). In this role, he develops strategies and build relationships to expand the organization’s national footprint. Before joining the LCCL, Jason led operations and strategy for the OIC of America national network, where he secured over $30M in federal and foundation funding; replicated national initiatives, programs and projects that support the organization’s ambitions of breaking the cycle of poverty; and expanded a national reentry program from one to ten cities. Jason served on a committee that provided expert advice to the Office of America Innovation at the White House. Jason holds a BS in Business Administration from Biola University and an MBA in Economic Development from Eastern University.

Mark D. Lay, Senior Consultant G.A.P. Literacy, LLC, Mark D. Lay is a Senior Consultant at G.A.P. Literacy, LLC, a consulting company, which serves private and public sector clients both domestically and internationally. In this role, Mr. Lay uses case-by-case methods to examine the outlook of his clients’ businesses in order to create actionable and sustainable solutions for short and long-term growth. Possessing more than two decades of experience within the finance industry, Mr. Lay specializes in identifying strengths, weaknesses and opportunities in order to best position businesses for success. Prior to his role at G.A.P. Literacy, LLC, he was Founder, Chairman and CEO of MDL Capital Management Inc., the fourth largest minority-owned money management firm in the country. Additionally, Mr. Lay was appointed by the Pennsylvania legislature to the Board of the Commonwealth Finance Authority to develop innovative ways to spur economic development and growth throughout the state. Mr. Lay’s most deeply rooted interests lie within the realms of community and real estate development. As such, he has teamed with groups and organizations to maximize reinvestment in low income, distressed areas by way of newly created legislation called Opportunity Zones. Not less important are his ongoing efforts to raise capital for projects he deems valuable, and pragmatic based upon financial projections and the economic landscape. Mr. Lay is a graduate of Columbia University where he majored in Economics. He has been the recipient of Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year award in Western Pennsylvania and, for his stellar career in finance and entrepreneurship has been featured on the cover of Black Enterprise magazine as one the publication’s top 50 African Americans on Wall Street.

Edward Van Stevenson, Jr. 

OCCUPATIONAL HISTORY:

Assistant Administrator with the University of Kentucky College of Law School Program in Lexington, Kentucky from April – August, 1970. I taught criminal law/procedure and counseling to twenty (20) pre-law school students.

Librarian Assistant with the University of Kentucky College of Law School from January – May, 1972. I provided librarian assistance to the law school student body.

Staff Attorney with the Neighborhood Legal Services Association in June, 1972. I have worked in eight (8) different neighborhood offices that only the Central Office remains today in Pittsburgh.

MANAGERIAL EXPERIENCE:

In March 1978 I was promoted to the managing attorney position in the Braddock Office. In the fall of 1982, I was the managing attorney for the Southside Office and in 1984 I was the manager for Hill District Office. In November 1987 I became the manager in the McKeesport Office. In July of 1998 I was assigned as one (1) of the managers in the

Central Office. My duties as a manager included supervision of staff attorneys, paralegals and secretaries. I also negotiated leases, ordered supplies, reviewed maintenance contracts, administered client escrow and litigation accounts, recruited and trained new attorneys and administered disciplinary actions. I also maintained a client caseload. I

was involved in many neighborhood community groups in the different neighborhood offices. In my current assignment as manager I am involved with supervising attorneys, reviewing office policies, exercising disciplinary actions, supervising law students at the University of Pittsburgh Law Schools, teaching at the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Program, reviewing budgets and grants, drafting proposals, attending managerial meetings, do outreach in the communities, conducting CLE classes, attending Allegheny County Bar Association functions, in addition to maintaining a caseload. Presently I am assigned to the Employment Law Unit in our Program that deals with economic issues affecting low-income clients in the substantive areas of wage claims, unemployment compensation, public benefits, expungement and sealing criminal records, discrimination, and transportation matters.

Dr. Joël Núñez is a New Jersey state licensed clinical psychologist. In 1996, he

earned a Bachelor’s Degree with Honors in Psychology from Drew University in

Madison, NJ. He earned a full scholarship to study psychology at Penn State

University in University Park, PA graduating in 2003 with a Ph.D. in adult clinical

psychology. As a graduate student, he was awarded the prestigious Soros Fellowship

for New Americans on the basis of scholarly merit, academic promise, and potential

to contribute to public life in America. He completed his clinical internship at the former Robert Wood Johnson Medical School/UMDNJ in Piscataway, NJ.  Following internship, he worked as a bilingual clinical psychologist at the Meadowview Psychiatric Hospital in Secaucus, NJ and at the North Jersey Developmental Center in Totowa, NJ. He earned his license to practice psychology independently in 2006. Presently, Dr. Núñez owns and operates Prov 205, a dual-purpose agency providing both: 1) comprehensive professional, student, and parental development services to local and national school districts, colleges, and universities as well as workforce and service delivery solutions to private and public sector agencies; and 2) a psychological group practice in Bayonne specializing in the treatment of individuals, couples, and families facing various challenges in living. He, his wife, and three children live in northern New Jersey.

Kyle A. Mosley

A graduate of Tuskegee University with a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and a minor in Economics, Kyle Mosley has dedicated his life journey to helping others achieve their dreams during his 30+ years in higher education. The experience he has garnered from working alongside executive teams has inspired him to continuously develop additional ways to build pathways to success for students. 

In the current role as Northwest Regional Director of Financial Aid at the Community College of Allegheny County, Kyle consistently has the opportunity to analyze data and sharpen his problem-solving skills while making the most out of the opportunities presented.

Kyle has continued to take on the challenge of reinstating the CCAC Men of Merit Initiative. This platform is a catalyst for connecting and providing information to underserved populations. It allows him to meet with those that could benefit from direct attention and steer them forward and overcome obstacles. As a motto with customer service at the forefront, Kyle is able to “deliver what he believes”.

Like a knife that needs sharpening over time, Kyle continues to learn from others by studying fans at the MLB, NFL, and NHL sports venues on game day as part of guest relations. However, his greatest joy comes from watching his son experience musical milestones, navigating the skies over South Fayette through the eyes of a Drone, and celebrating his daughter’s experiences in her first collegiate year as a zoology major and a member of Humboldt women’s rowing crew.

Jeremy Burnworth started his first company, an IT consulting firm, at age 19 with his last half-paycheck of $250 in spite of never going to college. With much hard work that business blossomed into seven companies ranging from marketing & web development, construction & real estate development to political, business and nonprofit consulting companies and even a bakery. He proudly served approximately 3600 collective clientele for more than 20 years. While running these enterprises, he also had the privilege of serving on the board of directors of approximately 35 nonprofit organizations as well as numerous other volunteer roles, enjoying the ability to be a philanthropist that could make a difference in the community.

All that progress came to an abrupt end as a result of having to spend 3 years in the prison system. While there he decided to humbly make the best of the experience and seek to understand those also labeled. He read 250+ books, created a think tank, surveyed hundreds, journaled each day, taught and graduated 35 of their GED, helped 3 men learn to read, fostered the development of an GBT "car" of about 135 folks and wrote a musical titled 'One Day' that tells the story of what he witnessed and learned there. Perhaps most importantly, he was able to experiment with inspiring those with entrepreneurial passion by teaching an extensive custom-made 16-week business curriculum to approximately 200 men with miraculous results.

Upon returning he worked to build a structure to provide entrepreneurial training and resources for those unwelcomed in other organizations & incubators. Jeremy now serves as the Executive Director of Break IT, or Break Institution Trauma, an entrepreneurial  incubator which rejects no one. BreakIT focuses on underserved populations, particularly justice system impacted, and LGBTQ+ people. Through a lifetime of personal experience around the harmful effects of rejection and the understanding of how it can lead to many of our societal problems, Jeremy now works to change that by breaking down societal barriers and rebuilding lives through entrepreneurial solutions. He believes that we can 'Rebuild Better'.

Rev. Dr. T. Charles Howell IV has served in numerous capacities in the city of Pittsburgh. His experience has been primarily working to expand equity and opportunity through education, vocation and ministry for under-served populations in Allegheny County.

Dr. Howell is the current Director of Workforce Development and Financial Coaching for Mon Valley Initiative. He also works, alongside his wife, as co-owner and pastoral counselor at Agape Wellness Centre.

Rev. Paul Abernathy: Father Paul Abernathy is an Orthodox Christian priest and the founding CEO of the Neighborhood Resilience Project. Since 2011, Fr. Paul has labored with his community to address Community Trauma with Trauma Informed Community Development; A framework that facilitates the transformation of trauma affected communities to resilient, healing and healthy communities so that people can be healthy enough to sustain opportunities and realize their potential. Under Fr. Paul’s leadership, innovative trauma-informed grass-roots strategies have been developed and implemented to address acute, historical, transgenerational and complex trauma on a community level. In addition to programming, millions of dollars in various kinds of support have also been distributed to the Greater Pittsburgh Area with his direction. Community groups from across the nation have worked with Fr. Paul to be trained in the Trauma-Informed Community Development framework. 

He has a B.A. in International Studies from Wheeling Jesuit University and holds a master's in public and international Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh. He also holds a Master of Divinity from St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary and was selected for Harvard Business School’s Young American Leaders Program. A former Non-Commissioned Officer in the U.S. Army, Father Paul is also a combat veteran of the Iraq War.  In addition to his work with the organization, Fr. Paul is and has been a member of multiple community, state, and national boards and has received numerous community awards. Fr. Paul is the pastor of St. Moses the Black Orthodox Church, an author, and a husband and father of two children.