Staff
Susan Burton, Founder and Executive Director
Susan Burton and her story of perseverance in overcoming overwhelming odds is an inspiration to women across the United States, particularly formerly incarcerated women and women in recovery from addiction to alcohol and drugs. After cycling in an out of the criminal justice system for nearly fifteen years, Susan gained freedom and sobriety and founded A New Way of Life Reentry Project in 1998. She opened her doors to other women returning home from prisons and jails, offering shelter, safety, leadership, and support to those seeking to rebuild their lives. Dedicating her life to helping other women break the cycle of incarceration, homelessness, addiction and despair, Susan became a recognized leader in the criminal justice reform and reentry rights movements. Susan was recently nominated as a CNN Top 10 Hero in the category of “community crusader.” She was also awarded the Citizen Activist Award from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 2010. She has been a Soros Justice Fellow, a Women’s Policy Institute Fellow, and a former Community Fellow under the Violence Prevention Initiative of The California Wellness Foundation. Susan is a longtime Board Member of the Los Angeles Sober Living Network that provides housing for thousands of people in in Los Angeles who would otherwise be homeless. In 2007 Susan was appointed to Governor Schwarzenegger‘s Little Hoover Sentencing Reform Commission and Gender Responsive Strategies Commission. Susan completed a Chemical Dependency Certificate course at Southwest College in Winter 2002, as well as certificate programs in Non-Violent Organizing and Three Principles of Human Development at UCLA. Susan can be reached at susan@anewwayoflife.org
Flozelle Woodmore, Assistant Director
Flozelle is among the rare few to have gained freedom after being sentenced to life in prison in California. At 18 years of age, Flozelle shot her abusive partner, plead guilty to second-degree murder, and was sentenced to 15 years-to-life. At the time of Flozelle’s prosecution, California law did not recognize abuse as a viable self-defense that could lead to acquittal. The law was changed in 1992. While in prison, Woodmore obtained her GED, completed a vocational certification program, assisted with creating a battered women group, and became a member of an initiative to support youth at-risk of becoming ensnared in the criminal justice system. She also fought for her release and connected with activist groups, legal supporters, and the media, who joined the effort. After 10 parole hearings (and being found suitable six times), Woodmore was finally released from prison in August of 2007 and came to work with A New Way of Life. In 2010, Flozelle was awarded the Soros Justice Fellowship to organize friends and family members of people serving life sentences to advocate for change in the parole system. Flozelle can be reached at flozelle@anewwayoflife.org
Mei-Ling Malone, Director of Programs and Housing Advocate
Mei-Ling teaches part-time at Southwest College in efforts to provide accessible education in the community that is empowering, critical and transformative. She recently received her doctorate degree from UCLA in Education and has researched the history of the prison industrial complex and its impact on and relationship with urban schools in California. We are honored to have Mei as the newest addition to the ANWOL team. Mei will serve as the coordinator of the Women Organizing for Justice Project and the “Changing Hearts and Minds” communications campaign, as well as the housing advocate. Mei can be reached at mei@anewwayoflife.org
Joshua Kim, Staff Attorney
Joshua is one of a small but growing number of attorneys in the United States on the front lines of exploring new legal strategies to challenge the discrimination faced by people with past criminal convictions. Joshua joined our staff in 2008. He has a JD with a concentration in Critical Race Studies from the UCLA School of Law. He attended Deep Springs College prior to obtaining a BA in Rhetoric from the University of California, Berkeley in 2001. Joshua can be reached at joshua@anewwayoflife.org
Evelyn Ayala, Social Worker
Evelyn Ayala has been the Social Worker at A New Way of Life since 2009. She began as an intern from California State University Los Angeles where she earned her BSW. She was asked to join the staff after demonstrating tremendous capacity to identify and meet the needs of residents. Evelyn is highly skilled in the areas of case management, facilitation, referrals, and client advocacy. Evelyn can be reached at eayala@anewwayoflife.org. Se habla espanol.
Claire Arce’, Development Associate
Claire comes to A New Way of Life from Utah with an extensive background in grant writing and project management. Claire can be reached at claire@anewwayoflife.org
Fanya Baruti, Community Organizer
Fanya is a formerly incarcerated individual who brings 17 years of organizing experience to the table. While incarcerated, he organized other prisoners to fight for better conditions, educational and self-development opportunities, and pre-release programs. Since his release, he has worked with Black Awareness Community Development Organization (BACDO), the Reentry Workforce Development, and the International Council for Urban Peace, Justice and Empowerment around issues of black-brown unity, gang prevention and intervention, conflict resolution, youth empowerment, voter mobilization, three-strikes abolition, and reentry. As a recent graduate from the fourth class of Professional Community Interventionist Training Institute in Los Angeles, he was instrumental in helping to bring nine fresh students to the fifth class. In addition to being a certified addiction interventionist, Fanya holds a certification in conflict resolution and is a former California Wellness Violence Prevention Community Fellow. Fanya can be reached at fanya@anewwayoflife.org
Georgette Breland, Administrative Assistant
Georgette is a formerly incarcerated woman who brings 12 year of experience to A New Way of Life. She previously served as program assistant at Center for Restorative Justice Works. There she helped to coordinate the Crossover Program, inviting people from the community into women’s prisons to change their perceptions about incarcerated women. She is also a “Get on the Bus!” coordinator for the Watts area, a program that takes children to see their incarcerated mothers on Mother’s Day. While in prison, Georgette started a women’s self-empowerment group called Women of Wisdom (WOW), and continues to visit the prison once a month to co-facilitate the group. During her time behind bars, she also earned an Associate’s degree and wrote her own writ of habeas corpus for her release. She is currently pursuing her BA in Business Administration. Georgette can be reached at georgette@anewwayoflife.org
Board Members
Gregory Burks, President
Regional Director, Los Angeles Community Development Department
Kendall Martin, Vice President
President & Ceo, KGM Marketing
Nancy Fareed Moreno, Tresurer
Owner, Circle Marketing International
Gretchen Heidemann, Secretary
PhD Candidate, USC School of Social Work
David E. Bower
Attorney, Law Office of David E. Bower
Julius Alcorn
Accountant, Los Angeles Police Dept.
Craig Gilmore
Community Activist
Terri James
Former ANWOL Resident & Stage Producer
Judith Sydner-Gordon
Retired Educator
Sharae Love-Foster
Director of Employer Relations, ICDC College
Volunteers
Charsleen Poe
A former ANWOL resident and graduate of the 2008 Leadership Training Institute, Charsleen was given an organizing internship in 2009 which was renewed in 2010 as a result of her impressive work. Charsleen now oversees the coordination of our monthly reentry legal clinic, including fielding phone inquiries, registering clients, and ushering them through the process on the day of the clinic. Charsleen has emerged as a leader and is truly a role model for other women.
Linda Washington
A former ANWOL resident, Linda volunteers for the Distribution Warehouse. She makes the weekly pickup of goods, and keeps the warehouse organized and operating efficiently. Linda has been a volunteer since 2008, and we are so grateful for her many contributions.
