As the CEO and Founder of Hang Time, I am uniquely qualified to facilitate and support the proposed research initiative. My extensive 36-year career in law enforcement includes the distinction of being the first African American to be promoted to the rank of Detective in Hamden, CT, in 1995. Throughout my career, I have worked in several cities plagued by guns, gang violence, poverty, and intergenerational incarceration, both as a police officer and as a detective with the statewide narcotics task force. These experiences fueled my passion for creating community-based programs in Connecticut, focused on supporting vulnerable populations, notably, the formerly incarcerated. In 2014, I founded Hang Time to provide a neutral space where individuals reintegrating into the community after prison could safely express their needs and vulnerabilities and seek guidance without judgment. Our mission is to offer a positive environment, reduce the stigma associated with seeking help, and navigate specialized supports to reconnect these individuals with their communities.

 

To me, law enforcement is a calling guided by laws, order, and pragmatism. Throughout my career, I have gained deep insights into the demographic and descriptive aspects of criminal behavior. However, it is the behavioral understanding of these acts that taught me how change can be accomplished. I have become acutely aware of the struggles low-income communities face when dealing with violence and loss, leading me to seek practical ways to engage and communicate effectively within these communities. While running an anti-violence program in Bridgeport, CT for the US Attorney’s office, I realized that scare tactics were ineffective and founded Hang Time on the belief that to combat violence, I needed to better understand it. By creating a neutral location and forum for formerly incarcerated gang members to share their experiences in a safe environment. Hang Time began with just eight known rival gang attendees and rapidly grew, providing a vital voice for the formerly incarcerated community. Ninety (90%) percent of the Hang Time Staff are formerly incarcerated individuals that have turned their lives around.

 

Today, Hang Time encompasses a range of impactful programs, such as the Hall of Change, which honors formerly incarcerated individuals for their community work, and memorializes them in  CT State Museum; CHOICES, an urban high school mentoring program targeting school athletes as a framework due to the likely lure of the street life and their potential influence on their peers; college scholarships; and Her Time, a support program specifically for women. Recent data shows that Hang Time has engaged over 9,000 attendees, with 95% not returning to prison, and connected over 1,500 participants to jobs or needed services. Our gatherings involve hundreds of ex-offender volunteers, new attendees, myself, and many judicial and law enforcement professionals who wish to be involved. The Hang Time paradigm is being adopted to scale by state officials in Maryland, Missouri, Kentucky and Michigan. This extensive knowledge, experience, and sense of community empower my current work in support of the HOME project, in collaboration with my academic partners at the Yale School of Nursing.