History
Fresh Start is a one stop shop service provider. We address the complex and overlapping needs of all of our participants and clients. Our model of service offers a comprehensive set of social services for those impacted by the criminal justice system.
We create opportunity for the underserved
Our mission is to provide resources to our clients
We recognize the value in opportunity
Empowerment through connection
Education through growth and experience
Fresh Start is the first community-based re-integration and social service organization on Staten Island dedicated to serve the families impacted by crime and poverty.
Get in touch
We at Fresh Start know that finding the right resources to better assist you is a task not to be taken lightly. That’s why we offer free consultations to walk you through your needs, and the scope of your goals.
Book an appointment ▸
Board Members
FOUNDER/Partner
Theresa Harris
Theresa Harris created Fresh Start as a result of her family being impacted by the Criminal Justice System. Today Fresh Start acts as the change agent and links the underserved to services and opportunity.
The Staten Island native and dedicated advocate provides opportunity to the underserved affected by crime and poverty.
Working in collaboration with grass-roots service providers, Fresh Start bridges the gap to the availability of resources and opportunities.
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER/Partner
Andre Jenkins
Andre’ Jenkins joined the Fresh Start Family to bring additional value to the success of its mission. Helping the underserved impacted by crime and poverty with meaningful opportunities.
With a Bachelor’s degree in Behavioral Science, a Master’s degree in Professional Studies, and a Master’s of Arts in Religious Leadership and Administration, the Brooklyn native and social service advocate assists Fresh Start clients with achieving goal-oriented results.
With the assistance of members from the NYS Legislature Fresh Start Family has been able to build a bridge between the gap in opportunity and success for the underserved population.
Secretary
Missy Risser-Lovings
Missy Risser-Lovings is an Instructor and Supervising Attorney in CUNY School of Law’s Community and Economic Development Clinic (CEDC), where she provides legal and policy support to community-led organizations that redress structural inequities faced by marginalized communities. At the CEDC, Missy teaches and supervises students who provide transactional legal assistance to groups organizing for economic democracy, such as cooperatives, community land trusts, and other nonprofits and unincorporated associations. Previously, she was a Supervising Attorney and Staff Attorney in the Capacity-Building and Equitable Neighborhoods practices at the Community Development Project of the Urban Justice Center. Missy is a cofounder of 1 Worker 1 Vote, a nonprofit that supports the development of worker cooperatives, particularly unionized worker cooperatives.
Treasurer
Steve Zeidman
Professor Steven Zeidman of CUNY School of Law works with law students to assist people in prison who are seeking clemency or parole. A graduate of Duke University School of Law, he is a former staff attorney and supervisor at the Legal Aid Society. He has taught at Fordham, Pace, and New York University School of Law and was awarded the NYU Alumni Association's Great Teacher Award in 1997 and CUNY’s Outstanding Professor of the Year honor in 2011. Professor Zeidman is a member of the New York State Appellate Division Indigent Defense Organization Oversight Committee and the American Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section Council, and serves on the Board of Directors of Prisoners' Legal Services and the Parole Preparation Project. He was also a member of the Advisory Council created to implement the remedial order in the Floyd v. City of New York federal court stop-and-frisk litigation. Professor Zeidman served on several statewide commissions, including the Commission on the Future of Indigent Defense Services and the Jury Project, and was a member of the Mayor’s Advisory Committee for the Judiciary in the Bloomberg and Giuliani administrations.
Advisor
Warner Williams
Warner Williams is Co-Founder and CEO of Ethics Enchanted, Inc., a company that develops educational games, toys and tools to teach children a new model of virtue ethics that integrates modern science, world mythology, and ancient linguistics. Over the last nine years, while laying the foundation for the company, Warner has chaired a prison ministry at Brick Presbyterian Church in NYC and volunteered and taught at Sing Sing Correctional Facility through New York Theological Seminary. Currently, she is honored to serve as a board member of Fresh Start, Advisory Board member of the Multifaith Initiative to End Mass Incarceration (EMI) – NY, board member of Reentry Theater of Harlem, Working Group member at Emmaus House of Harlem, and Advisory Board member of BNC Alumni Association. Warner came to her work in criminal justice reform and advocacy on the heels of serving as Vice President of Tri-State College of Acupuncture in New York City, where she oversaw a comprehensive restructuring and culture shift toward critical thinking, research, and self-reflective practice. She’s been a licensed practitioner for over 20 years. Prior to that, she worked as a fixed income analyst at Lehman Brothers and was trained as a neuroscientist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.