Our Team
Aaron Suganuma (YJF Vice President Executive Board)
Aaron Suganuma is the Executive Director at A Brighter Way, a mentoring and social support program for men and women returning to Washtenaw County from incarceration. He also works as a prison-based substance abuse counselor and is an Executive Board…
Belinda Dulin (YJF President Executive Board)
Belinda Dulin’s Masters in Dispute Resolution from Wayne State gave her the technical skills to excel in her chosen field, but the hallmark of her tenure as the executive director of the Dispute Resolution Center has been to take the DRC out into t…
Deborah LaBelle (YJF Founding Board Member)
Ask any human rights lawyer to describe Deborah LaBelle and you’ll likely hear tireless advocate, visionary, and groundbreaker, noting that she artfully blends litigation, documentation, and advocacy strategies into an integrated model for reform.…
Joe Summers (YJF Board Member)
The Rev. Joe Summers has been a community activist since his teenage years. In high school and college, Joe worked for a more just society by getting involved with efforts such as the anti-war movement, the Catholic Worker movement, and the United Fa…
Marvin Gundy (YJF Board Member)
Marvin Gundy was born in Brooklyn, New York and was raised mainly in low-income neighborhoods in central New Jersey. When describing his early years, Marvin talks about the challenging social climate of inner-city poverty and communal peer pressures.…
Monica Jahner (YJF Board Member)
Monica Jahner is the Program Manager of Advocacy, Reentry, Resources, and Outreach (ARRO), an Ingham County grassroots program working to eliminate barriers faced by people released from prison. When Monica sits down with someone who has recently com…
Simone Strong (YJF Treasurer Executive Board)
Civil liberties, the freedom to exercise one’s rights as guaranteed by the laws of this country, are not something Simone Strong takes for granted. Simone has been engaged in civil and human rights issues for most of her life, working as a Legislat…
Aaron T. Kinzel (YJF Executive Director)
Aaron T. Kinzel is a Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Michigan with teaching and research areas of expertise in education, corrections, and public policy. Kinzel is a consultant that has worked nationally on criminal…
Malachi (YJF Member)
One of our most recently released members, Malachi was incarcerated in an adult prison as a youth at the age of 17 and spent the next 29 years locked up. He was released in November of 2019 due to the U.S. Supreme Court cases of Miller v. Alabama and…
Patrick (YJF Member)
Patrick is on the right of the photo wearing a Red Wings jacket. He was released from prison in January of 2019 after serving 17 years in the Michigan Department of Corrections. He was only 18 years old when he was locked up as a youth and was releas…
Advisory Board Members
Peg Burns
Judge Timothy Connors
Simone Lightfoot
Dr. Sheryl Pimlott Kubiak
Rep. Yousef Rabhi
Dr. Rosemary Sarri
Delphia Simpson
Mitzi Talon
Alma Wheeler Smith