Prior to joining the AFJ Team in 2023 as a Court Advocate, Jalil facilitated weekly physical fitness workshops at our two community centers in Harlem and the Lower East Side. Jalil has made an impactful contribution towards maintaining AFJ’s historically strong presence in Manhattan’s Youth Part, connecting with key court personnel. Additionally, Jalil spearheaded AFJ’s inaugural Mother’s Day event, which is now held annually, in celebration of AFJ’s mothers, grandmothers, and guardians. After being incarcerated for over 20 years, Jalil’s background and story resonates with our Participants because he understands the peer pressure and obstacles that many of our young people experience within their communities. With the benefit of hindsight, Jalil has lived experience he shares with our Participants in order for them to avoid making some of the same mistakes that he made as a teenager.

Since joining the AFJ team in 2024 as our Part-Time Office Manager, Lissette brings 14 years of experience in the mental health field. Prior to joining AFJ, Lissette served as a Senior Intake Coordinator responsible for administering comprehensive admissions services and managing client flow with efficiency and compassion. Known for her welcoming and upbeat presence, Lissette fosters AFJ’s culture of inclusion for AFJ’s Participants at both community centers in Harlem and the Lower East Side. She is committed to supporting our youth and their families, along with the AFJ Team staff through intentional and meaningful engagement.

Shantel joined the AFJ Team in 2021, bringing over five years of experience in supportive housing, case management, and reentry services across New York City. Prior to AFJ, she served as a Mental Health Intake Coordinator at the Fortune Society and as a Housing Advocacy Case Manager at University Settlement Society of New York, supporting individuals impacted by homelessness, mental health challenges, and incarceration. Throughout her career, Shantel has remained deeply committed to supporting returning citizens and system impacted youth in successfully reintegrating into their communities with dignity, stability, and opportunity. Shantel began as an AFJ Court Advocate, working directly with Court-Involved youth and their families before being promoted to her current role as Job Developer in 2024. Shantel helped launch AFJ’s HIRE Up paid internship initiative in 2023, starting with partnerships with two Black-owned businesses and later expanding to over 27+ small businesses across NYC.

Today, Shantel leads AFJ’s HIRE Up Paid Internship Program building employer partnerships and connecting participants to internships, certifications. She remains passionate about removing barriers to employment and ensuring that every participant has access to real-world experience, economic mobility, and sustainable career growth. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Before joining AFJ, Messiah worked as a Parent Support Specialist and Youth Advocate at the Youth Justice Network. He facilitated vital conversations with the parents of incarcerated youth, helping them advocate for their children and secure additional resources to support their cases. 

Drawing from his own lived experience as a justice-involved youth who served a significant prison sentence at the age of 16, Messiah has a unique ability to connect with the young people he serves. His personal journey allows him to empathize deeply with their struggles and offer mentorship that is both meaningful and transformative.

As an AFJ  Court Advocate, Messiah co-facilitates AFJ’s Leadership Council and co-facilitated AFJ’s first Gun Violence Prevention cohort. In these roles, he helps create structured spaces for our Participants to build leadership skills, develop critical thinking, and engage in honest dialogue around accountability, community impact, and personal growth.

Messiah brings a deep commitment to creating lasting change in the lives of justice-involved youth, equipping them with the tools, guidance, and opportunities they need to overcome systemic obstacles and thrive in their communities.

While a Participant at AFJ, Elsie received legal support, supportive services, mentorship, and guidance. Through her own hard work and with the support of her Court Advocate, Elsie was able to navigate the court system without having to serve time. Additionally, Elsie was able to intern at AFJ after successfully graduating from the program and earn a Bachelor’s Degree from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in 2020. Elsie joined the AFJ staff as a Lower East Side Court Advocate in June 2010. Before joining AFJ, Elsie worked in the medical field for several years as a Pharmacist Technician and at a school-based health clinic on the Lower East Side. We are especially proud of her as a 1999 graduate of our program, a recipient of the Andrew Glover Program's Outstanding Youth & Second Chance Award in 2008, and a Robin Hood Heroes award recipient in 2022. In 2023, Elsie was accepted in the graduate school program at New York University’s Silver School of Social Work. Elsie exemplifies the importance of second chances.

Weston (Wes) joined the AFJ Team in September 2018 after interning in 2017. Wes has been instrumental in the growth of AFJ’s social media platforms. In partnership with the Program and Development teams, Wes was worked in conjunction with management in the design and implementation of AFJ’s new Participant database and AFJ’s website, which both launched in 2022. At the onset of the pandemic, Wes worked with the Development team to send out weekly newsletters and communications to share the goings on at AFJ and keep supporters up to date. Six years later, these communications have become a bedrock for AFJ’s engagement strategy. Through data collection, social media content, writing weekly newsletters and more, Wes plays an important role in telling the success stories of our youth and young adults. Wes holds Bachelor’s degrees in both Spanish and Education from Colby College.

Prior to joining the AFJ team as a Court Advocate, Julia was an active member of AFJ’s Junior Board, where she assisted with fundraising, event planning, and outreach initiatives. She also co-founded a Brooklyn-based dining club aimed at building community through responsible, sustainable local foods and fostering connections across boroughs. Julia helped strengthen the organization’s reputation within the Bronx Court system and now serves as the primary ATI liaison for Queens and Brooklyn, supporting AFJ’s expansion and relationships within the boroughs' court systems. Additionally, Julia is a member of AFJ’s Program and Activities Committee, where she helps develop and coordinate programming that supports participant engagement and community building. She also has been instrumental in implementing AFJ's new digital tracking system — Minga — in both centers — ensuring accountability to the participants and shareholders. Julia worked with AFJ’s Job Developer, Shantel Brooks, to facilitate the launch AFJ’s HIRE Up internship initiative which has placed over 30 AFJ Participants in 15+ local businesses. Julia holds a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience from Ohio State and believes that neuroscience can play a critical role in improving the effectiveness, equity, and fairness of the criminal justice system.

Prior to joining AFJ as a Court Advocate, Stephanie worked in the homecare field as a Lead Case Coordinator at Heart to Heart Homecare. Asa Court Advocate at Avenues for Justice, Stephanie provides case management, mentorship, and ongoing wellness support to our Participants to ensure that each young person has the structure and resources needed to succeed. For our Harlem community center, Stephanie facilitates AFJ’s “Table Talk” workshop, where Participants come together to cook, connect, and engage in meaningful discussions in a safe and supportive environment. Stephanie brings case management experience and an empathetic hands-on approach to her work. She is dedicated to inspiring through healing, resilience, and empowerment both through advocacy and her writing as an author.

Brian Stanley joined Avenues for Justice in 2019 as a Court Advocate and was promoted to Manager of Court Advocacy & Outreach in 2024. Brian provides strategic oversight of AFJ’s Court Advocacy programming across all five New York City boroughs, guiding operational structure and department-wide systems development. He is AFJ’s liaison with key citywide criminal justice stakeholders and supervises all of AFJ’s Court Advocates, while maintaining an active caseload of his own.

Brian has led the modernization of AFJ’s referral and intake infrastructure, strengthened real-time data and attendance tracking systems, and formalized program delivery standards to improve accountability, efficiency, and measurable impact. Under his leadership, AFJ expanded Court Advocacy services citywide while maintaining its individualized, relationship-based model for youth engagement.

He is the architect and lead facilitator of AFJ’s Legal Rights & Responsibilities curriculum, a structured workshop series that equips young people with a working understanding of legal rights, court processes, and long-term consequences of justice system involvement. Legal Rights & Responsibilities is one of our Participants most popular workshop series as part of our HIRE Up program.

Prior to joining AFJ, Brian directed the Teen Center at the Bedford-Stuyvesant Police Athletic League and worked with Teachers & Writers Collaborative supporting the publication of high school student writing. His work and expertise in youth justice reform have been featured in national and local media, including CNN, Forbes, and the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange. Brian studied Communications at Howard University, developing a foundation in strategic messaging, civic narrative, and public engagement that continues to inform his management approach.

Edison Taborda brings five years of experience with security, facilities management, and customer service to the AFJ team. Having joined the AFJ team in 2020, Edison was instrumental in ensuring that our centers adhered to COVID protocol and keeping our staff and Participants safe during the pandemic. Edison continues to make both our community centers warm, welcoming safe havens where our Participants look forward to coming in daily for HIRE Up programming.

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Nelson has been working at AFJ for close to four decades. Having grown up in the Lower East Side, Nelson understands the daily pressures our young people face, and he serves as a role model for how to successfully overcome adolescent and earlylife hardships. As Senior Court Advocate, Nelson provides mentoring andintensive case management to our Participants and their families, always emphasizing that a young person must take full responsibility for their life. Living in the same neighborhood as most of his Participants makes him incredibly accessible to our young people in LES and vital to AFJ. El Diario La Prensa profiled Nelson in the March 2015 issue of their “Buena Gente” (Good People) weekly section because of his drive to improve the quality of life forhis fellow Lower East Side residents. In August 2025, Nelson received a Proclamation from Assembly Member Harvey Epstein (District 74) during AFJ’s inaugural street fair. Nelson was also honored at AFJ’s 2025 Impact Awards Dinner with the “Impact Award of the Year” for his 37 years of advocacy excellence.