Staff + Board

Larell has been in Baltimore since 1991. Originally from Boston, Massachusetts she came to Maryland to attend the Historically Black University, Morgan State University. During her senior year she began her career in the Non- Profit sector as an intern at the Court Appointed Special Advocate Program of Baltimore City. It was during that internship when her passion to empower, uplift, and support inner city youth began to take form. After interning for a year, and graduating from Morgan State, Larell extended her services to the Baltimore Child Abuse Center, formerly known as the Child Advocacy Network. During her 11 years of employment at the Child Abuse Center she refined her skills as a child and community advocate.  Larell joined the Community Conferencing Center (now Restorative Response Baltimore) as a Case Coordinator and Facilitator in 2010.  Along with her strong communication skills, she also learned how to multi-task, organize, and create a structured atmosphere that lends to a strong working environment. Larell is excited to be part of an agency that allows members of a community to have a structured environment to effectively work out their conflicts.

Community Conferencing has helped Larell to learn that it is important to express how we feel, in order to feel a sense of wholeness and to help others to learn from our experiences.

Maisie is a youth advocate and organizer originally from Baltimore. She comes to Restorative Response Baltimore after working in pre-trial intervention and diversion programming in Western Massachusetts, where she served on the Berkshire United Way’s Positive Youth Development Impact Council and in the Berkshire Youth Development Project. She is passionate about community healing and building, racial justice, and reforming the juvenile justice system. Maisie holds a B.A. in History and Afro-American studies from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Liz’s background is in nonprofit administration, and she has spent her career building administrative infrastructure and support for progressive nonprofits including the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, Working America AFL-CIO, Clean Water Action, and the Center for Global Policy Solutions. Liz has expertise in office management and event planning. She serves on the board of Friends of Hampden School #55 and is deeply committed to advancing social and economic justice and equity in public education. She resides in Baltimore with her two daughters, Lola and Penelope.

Bobbi, once an at-risk youth, is dedicated to improving the quality of school life and building community for the children of Baltimore through restorative practice. Through advocacy, Bobbi educates school communities on discipline disparities among children based on race and gender. Her research includes increasing self-awareness and positive identity-building through targeted responsive circles for Black and Brown girls exclusively. Baltimore born and raised, she holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Masters of Science in Negotiations and Conflict Management both from the University of Baltimore. Bobbi is currently a doctoral student at Morgan State University studying Urban Educational Leadership, and her research focuses on the circle-keeping practices of Black women RJ practitioners and implementing RJ at home for Black caregivers.

Bobbi can be reached at barbara@restorativeresponse.org

Priya (she/her) supports RRB with outreach, partnership development and coalition-building, and RRB’s work with the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Juvenile Justice Strategy Group’s youth engagement strategy. Priya grew up in Annapolis, Maryland and has called Baltimore home since 2011. Priya is a group facilitator, educational equity advocate, restorative practices practitioner, and currently a student in the Masters in Social Work program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore where she focuses on school-based social work and participatory social work research practices.

Jade, born and raised in Southern Maryland, has always had a passion for mental health advocacy, racial equity, and youth empowerment. From a young age, she took this passion and went to work becoming one of Maryland’s youngest community mediators in 2016, as well as a founding member of Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s youth advisory council. Jade has had extensive experience in conflict management and small business operations. She is excited to learn and grow with the Restorative Response Baltimore team!

Kasai has lived in Baltimore his entire life. As a writer, he has always loved storytelling. Analyzing race, gender, and class in America and abroad, his essays and reviews have appeared in Salon, Vice, Good, Apogee Journal, The Root, Baltimore City Paper and more.

He comes to Restorative Response Baltimore after nearly a decade in the long-term mental healthcare field. He is currently writing a book on male anger and its place in our lives.

Andria is a former special educator, restorative practices specialist, community conferencing facilitator, dialogue circle keeper, writer, and mother of two. She taught middle and high school for 13 wonderful, difficult years and still maintains relationships with many of her students. In 2015, she co-founded A Revolutionary Summer, a critical reading and writing program dedicated to shifting harmful narratives about Black women and girls through literature, art, political education, yoga, and friendship.

Sydney (she/her), is a restorative justice practitioner and youth advocate. She has had a strong passion for antiracism, youth development, and facilitation since adolescence. Sydney grew up in racially and socioeconomically diverse communities, having lived all across Baltimore City and in numerous surrounding counties.

Sydney graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Human Development & Community Engagement from Temple University’s College of Education, and she is now earning her M.A. in Restorative Justice from Eastern Mennonite University’s Center for Justice & Peacebuilding. She has spent several years working towards racial equity for Black families in Howard County experiencing high levels of normalized racism and elitism in intense academic environments, as well as supporting Baltimore City Public School students in academic and personal development. Her practice focuses on using restorative approaches to address and transform conflict in multicultural spaces related to identity, culture, and power dynamics, and to facilitate racial trauma healing spaces specifically for black youth and adults.

Thea is a proud Baltimore native with a background in higher education administration and writing for nonprofit organizations. She holds a B.A. in English from McDaniel College and an M.S. in Professional Writing from Towson University. Passionate about advancing social justice and equity, she actively volunteers with several local grassroots organizations throughout Baltimore. Thea is a member of the 2021 cohort of the Coalition for Community Writing Emerging Scholars. Thea can be reached at thea@restorativeresponse.org