YOUR NEW BEGINNINGS, INC.
Your New Beginnings, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, was formed in 2018 to develop and create the Inner Voices Coast-to-Coast social media platforms and communities to expand the reach of the need for criminal and social justice reform. Particular attention is paid to how to access programs and services to support returnees. Your New Beginnings, Inc. is seeking strategic partnerships to achieve a true collaborative effort.
PLAN OF OPERATIONS
Inner Voices Coast-to-Coast seeks to accomplish these goals by developing strategic partnerships with like-minded organizations to develop, launch, and operate:
Bi-weekly podcasts with guests broadcast live over our Facebook page and published in full or selected clips, on our social media platforms
Weekly 2 hour YouTube video broadcast live with guests as well as being available on our other social media platforms
Ongoing posts to our Twitter and Instagram pages which will also be available for viewing from our website, YouTube channel, Facebook page promoted through Google ads
Weekly updates through our email distribution using Constant Contact including a monthly Newsletter
Ongoing emails through our reentrynews@gmail.com account to those that are currently incarcerated.
Regular email updates on relevant topics to our Inner Voices Coast to Coast community. advocate@innervoicescoasttocoast.org
WHO IS ROACH BROWN?
While serving a life sentence and advocating for prisoners’ rights, Roach was paralyzed during a guards’ riot. Eight months in solitary confinement found Roach writing a poem in the dust under his bunk. This led to the creation of THE INNER VOICES, an acclaimed prison theatrical troupe. This phenomenal troupe traveled outside the gates of Lorton Correctional Complex over 500 times without a single escape or incident, performing original plays, skits and social dramas — even at the Smithsonian Institution in a Special Exhibit for the White House Conference on Drugs.
Roach was granted extended furloughs from prison to work at National Public Television to rewrite one of his plays, Holidays…Hollowdays, won the New York Film Festival Best Social Film of the Year award. Hired as a trainee at Metro Media TV (now Fox TV), Roach was promoted after one year to Producer of BLACK NEWS. Outstanding content led to three (3) Emmy award nominations. The film “SLAM” won first place at the 1998 Cannes International Film Festival. Roach appeared in the film and provided technical and creative assistance. The film “Circle of Love”, starring THE INNER VOICES, won the International Film Festival award.
U.S. Senator Edward Brooke showed his support for THE INNER VOICES by entering their history into the Congressional Record and inviting Roach to testify on national legislation. While Roach was still incarcerated, the late comedian Richard Pryor took THE INNER VOICES on a historical national tour, starting at the Apollo Theater, where THE INNER VOICES received several standing ovations. The late President Gerald R. Ford commuted Roach’s life sentence, granting him immediate parole on Christmas Day 1975.
Roach works untiringly to help the incarcerated and formerly incarcerated, directing the first adult restitution program in conjunction with the D.C. Superior Court and the U.S. Department of Justice; helping pass legislation restoring voting rights to the formerly incarcerated in D.C.; and securing a Mayoral Resolution proclaiming September 10 as National Ex-OffenderDay.
Appointed by Mayor Marion S. Barry as Special Assistant, Roach also created the Office of Ex-Offender Affairs (now the Mayor’s Office of Returning Citizens Affairs “MORCA”). Roach founded an institution-based theater troupe for Project Culture, funded by the U.S Department of Justice (LEAA). He was appointed by members of the District of Columbia Council as a Special Investigator to investigate disturbances at D.C. Jail and Lorton. He was appointed by members of Congress to serve on a Congressional Brain Trust on Criminal Justice (Corrections).
Roach conceived and organized the 1994 mayoral campaign strategy of registering the formerly incarcerated and their families to vote. This resulted in the successful re-election of Marion Barry to the Mayor’s Office. Roach was on the planning committee for the Million Man March to mobilize ex-offenders. Roach is Chairman of the Coalition of National Association of Ex-Offenders and Board member of “PIPS” (Previously Incarcerated People), a national group comprised of over 75 organizations from 25 cities.
Roach Brown is a very sensitive, honest individual who loves his people and yearns for justice for all those who have been affected by the criminal justice system. He has dedicated his life to share information that will empower and uplift others to be all they can be, no matter what the circumstances.
While Roach was serving a life sentence on furlough from Lorton Reformatory, working at MetroMedia TV station Fox 5, the Jerry Lewis Telethon was airing with soul singer James Brown as invited guest.
At the time, a 19 year old was assisting the producers, when Roach asked for her number. Roach told her mother that day that he would marry her daughter one day. Mertine and Roach were married 37 years later. Mertine cannot imagine what her life would be without Roach, so he has a partner as dedicated as he is to releasing those who are serving ungodly sentences, mostly due to economic and racial injustices.
MANAGEMENT
Your New Beginnings, Inc. & “Inner Voices Coast-to-Coast”
Rhozier T. “Roach” Brown, Executive Director, and Board Member, Your New Beginnings, Inc. and Host of “Inner Voices Coast-to-Coast’.
Brown discusses topics with guests and those calling in from around the country and across the globe. Brown continues to coordinate, develop, and organize the lineup and subjects for each broadcast. Continuing his lifelong advocacy for criminal justice system reform, he also provides information on essential programs and services for returning citizens. Brown makes the final decisions on topics and guests; interviews guests live on air; fields live call-ins; and coordinates follow-up responses when callers are searching for a program or service. Through the national Crossroads Coast-to-Coast platform, Brown continues to remain on the front lines of criminal justice and other social reform movements.
Brown was also the Executive Producer of the award-winning television show “Black News” on Fox TV for over five years, during which time the show was nominated for three EMMYs. Brown has dedicated much of his adult life to advocating for social causes. He wrote and directed plays and documentaries that won acclaim at the New York Film Festival, Sundance, Cannes, and the International Film Festivals. The documentary “Roach” has received multiple Emmy nominations and was a winner of the prestigious Gabriel Award. Brown is also a motivational speaker focused on righting the injustices within the criminal justice system.
Mertine Moore Brown is the Vice President and Board Member, Your New Beginnings, Inc., and Co-Host of “Inner Voices Coast-to-Coast”.
As the Communications Coordinator, Moore Brown oversees the distribution of the weekly press releases on future broadcasts to over 4,300 individuals as well as coordinates the Inner Voices Coast-to-Coast platform. As co-host, Moore Brown participates in discussions with guests, live call-ins, and coordinates follow-ups to requests received on-air, by telephone, email, and by mail. Moore Brown will coordinate the publicity for Inner Voices Coast-to-Coast, including Public Service Announcements (PSAs) and social media on the Inner Voices Coast-to-Coast various platforms - website, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram pages.
Moore Brown has over 45 years of fashion experience. She is a former Wilhelmina Models International model, hired by Wilhelmina herself. Brown also worked with Essence Magazine. Moore Brown represents talented designers, models, make-up artists, hair and fashion stylists across the country through her fashion company, TDG Designer’s Goldfinger.
Diagnosed in 1999 with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia, a bone marrow transplant from her sibling saved Moore Brown’s life. Living at the National Institute of Health while undergoing treatment left Moore Brown so grateful to have received the care and treatment that she decided to dedicate her life to helping others. Among the organizations that Brown supports are the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the Freddi House domestic violence emergency shelter program.
Frederick Douglass Anderson, Board Member, Your New Beginnings, Inc.
Anderson has held numerous executive positions in the print, audio, and video industries over the last 30 years. A lifetime resident of Washington, D.C. Anderson has received numerous awards for his service to residents of the District of Columbia. (Outstanding Service/The Mayor’s Youth Council; The Mayor’s Award for Outstanding Service on the Neighborhood Planning Council; represented Washington, D.C. as a Delegate at the White House Conference on Children and Youth). Anderson currently serves in various consulting roles within the A/V Tech and Video television production industries.
Nkechi Taifa, Esq., Co-Host, Crossroads Coast-to-Coast.
Taifa is the Founder, Principal, and CEO of The Taifa Group, LLC, a social enterprise firm with a mission to advance social and criminal justice. Taifa was recently appointed to the governing Board of the Corrections Information Council, an independent monitoring body that provides oversight over the conditions of District residents imprisoned throughout the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the DC Department of Corrections.
Taifa served as the Advocacy Director for Criminal Justice for the Open Society Foundations and Open Society Policy Center from 2002-2018. She focuses on issues of sentencing reform, law enforcement reform, reentry, prison reform, executive clemency, and racial justice. She also founded the Justice Roundtable Coalition while at the Open Society Foundations. As the Roundtable convener, Taifa led the coalition responsible for the passage of both the Second Chance Reentry Act (2008) and the Fair Sentencing Act (2010). Taifa is the founding director of the award-winning Equal Justice Program at Howard University School of Law from 1996-2002, where she also directed the Law School’s Externship Program and taught seminars on Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice System, Public Interest Law, and the Law of Corrections and Prisoners’ Rights. She taught as an adjunct professor at American University Washington College of Law and Howard University Law School and has also taught high school students criminal law as part of the National Bar Association’s Crump Law Camp since 2001.
Taifa served as legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union from 1991-1996 where she was the principal spokesperson on criminal justice and civil rights issues; policy counsel for the Women’s Legal Defense Fund from 1989-1991; staff attorney for the National Prison Project from 1984-1987; Office Manager and Network Organizer for the Washington Office on Africa from 1980-1983; elementary school teacher at Nation House Watoto School from 1977-1980, and as founder and director of a Saturday School for youth during the 1970s. She also maintained a general criminal and civil law practice in the District of Columbia between 1987-1991, representing indigent adult and juvenile clients, and specializing in employment discrimination law.
Jackie Craig-Bey, Graduated from Antioch School of Law, then being the first Paralegal for David A Clarke School of Law.
Jackie became Associate Producer and Production Assistant of Crossroads Coast-to-Coast in 2012. Craig-Bey has over 20 years of experience in researching topics and subjects and 10 years for Crossroads broadcasts, contacting and arranging for guest appearances, preparing and distributing press releases and information, and providing technical support for all remote broadcasts. Craig-Bey coordinates Crossroads Coast to Coast productions.