Colleen Smith - Center for Justice Innovation

Colleen joined Newark Community Solutions, the Center’s community justice initiative in New Jersey, as the Clinical Coordinator in 2014. A Licensed Clinical Social Worker and the Director of New Jersey Programs at the Center for Justice Innovation, she now oversees Newark Community Solutions and supports the Center’s work throughout the state of New Jersey. Colleen possesses over a decade of experience working with people involved in the legal system in both community and custodial settings. In addition to her work at the Center, Colleen works in higher education and is an alumnus of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Clinical Scholars program, a national leadership program that helps interdisciplinary teams of clinicians build a culture of health in their communities.

Colleen holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work from New York University and a Bachelor’s Degree from McGill University.

Colleen's Updates

Giving Thanks for Community

This Thanksgiving, our teams and community partners are working together to make sure everyone has delicious meals to share with family and friends.

Investing in Community, by Community

To build lasting safety, we need to invest in communities. Through a unique model of civic engagement, our team puts resident voices at the center of those investments.

“We Can Do It Together”: Flourishing After Incarceration

Reentry after incarceration can be a difficult journey, but there are people working to make sure returning citizens don’t have to go it alone.

Meeting the Needs of Veterans in the Justice System

By building effective, people-centered practices in veterans treatment courts across the country, we can strengthen networks of support for our veterans to keep them in their communities and connected to the services they need.