Shelby Henderson-Griffiths serves as the Project Manager of Community Partnerships and Mobilization for the Tow Youth Justice Institute (TYJI) at the University of New Haven. Where she supports the center’s reform efforts to advance effective evidence based juvenile justice and children’s behavioral health policies and programming in Connecticut. She also works with municipal governments to support program performance evaluations. Shelby prides herself in leading with optimism defined by the power of her lived experience and passion for public service. Her leadership and advocacy are anchored by values of humanity, restorative justice, and people—families, children and, community. Shelby has over eight years of experience challenging mass incarceration, conducting comprehensive policy analysis, and supporting preventive juvenile justice reform initiatives. Prior to joining TYJI, Shelby provided strategic leadership on advocacy and criminal legal reform policies initiatives for the ACLU-CT, Smart Justice campaign. In 2021 Shelby was awarded a Yale Prison Education Initiative, College to Career Fellowship. During this time, she worked with the Liman Center at Yale Law School on a multi-year policy campaign to improve voting access for eligible incarcerated voters; and supported litigation and research efforts to reduce the harms of COVID-19 for people living and working in federal prison in Danbury Connecticut. Shelby spent two years as an Advocate in Residence at the Yale School of Medicine’s SEICHE Center for Health and Justice where she worked to advance Transition Clinic site expansion plans to provide primary health care services to formerly incarcerated patients, advocated for increased access to naloxone; and supported enacted legislation to require the state to design and implement Medicaid reimbursement for community health workers. In 2018 Shelby was John Jay’s Prison Re-entry Institute Tow Policy Fellow, at Just LeadershipUSA. Where she learned the value of her lived experience—as those closest to the problem are closest to the solutions. Shelby earned a Master in Public Administration (MPA) from John Jay College of Criminal Justice and is also pursuing Juris Doctorate degree at the City University of New York School of Law.