Community Advisory Board

SEICHE’s Community Advisory Board (CAB) ensures that our activities are attentive to the priorities of those impacted by mass incarceration, including individuals, families, and communities. It is made up of those personally impacted by mass incarceration as well as those working in organizations that serve or advocate for those impacted. All CAB members have a common passion for working towards health equity. The Board meets twice a year and members are consulted for input into ongoing initiatives at the Center. We are grateful for the contributions of the current CAB members.

Tyler Booth is the Vice President and Chief Operations Officer of InterCommunity Health Care, a $43 million nonprofit community health center offering clinic, residential, school and community based healthcare services. In his role, Tyler oversees the care delivery aspects of the agency’s 48 programs and 20 locations. Tyler is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 30 years of service delivery and 20 years of leadership experience. In addition to supporting the daily operations, Tyler consults nationally and is InterCommunity’s innovation champion, creating multiple programs that have garnered national recognition including Help Now and I CAN Recover. Since joining InterCommunity in 2006, Tyler has worked to expanded InterCommunity services to include primary care, addiction recovery services, and behavioral health care across the life spectrum. He oversaw the opening of Hartford’s Transitions Clinic for justice involved people, decreased InterCommunity’s grant dependance by 300% and increased third party revenue 100 fold. Since Tyler became COO, InterCommunity has become Connecticut’s only dually designated Federally Qualified Health Center & Certified Community Behavioral Health Center.  InterCommunity is also the only health care agency in Connecticut to be named a Top Workplace for thirteen years in a row, each year that Tyler has been the agency’s COO. Before turning his attention to improving systems of care, Tyler acted as IC’s senior clinical director, managed the mobile crisis/ assessment center, and led the ACT team. Prior to coming to IC, Tyler ran a residential group home and had a private practice in Colorado with clinical specialties in working with victims and perpetrators of sexual abuse, attachment issues, and adolescent therapy.

Jason Iyan Casiano holds an AS and a diploma in political economy, and will graduate with his BA in English with a focus toward investigative reporting in 2024. He is a logistics expert currently employed as an operations manager. He is an academic researcher specializing in law & policy advancement. He is also co-founder of the H.O.N.O.R. unit, a justice impacted lead creation originating in prison, and meant to function as a civic engagement hub.

Andrew Clark is the Director of the Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy (IMRP) at the University of Connecticut. In this role, Mr. Clark works to facilitate efficient and effective solutions to critical issues facing Connecticut policymakers. The IMRP brings together a dedicated team of UConn faculty, staff, and students with state and national experts to provide immediate and long-range policy solutions. Prior to coming to UConn in 2005, Mr. Clark served as clerk of the Connecticut General Assembly’s Appropriations Committee and aide to House Chair William Dyson for 5 years, where he assisted in the development and passage of significant criminal justice system reform legislation. He also served as clerk of the Transportation Committee for one year, and deputy clerk of the Finance, Revenue, and Bonding Committee for one session. Mr. Clark has also worked as carpenter, roofer, landscaper, hauler, irrigationist, substitute teacher, baseball coach and local sportswriter. His first job was as a delivery boy for the Hartford Courant. Having grown up in the East Farms section of Farmington, Mr. Clark has called Hartford his home for the past 20 years.

Darcey Cobbs-Lomax is the inaugural Executive Director of the Office of Health Equity & Community Impact (OHECI) for Yale New Haven Health System. Under her leadership, the OHECI provides leadership, education, infrastructure, and resources to facilitate development and implementation of our system-wide health equity strategy in collaboration with internal and external partners. Darcey joined Yale New Haven Hospital in 2008 as the Business Operations Manager with the Yale/YNHH Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation. In 2012 Darcey transitioned to the role of Executive Director for Project Access of New Haven where she developed a volunteer provider network (VPN) of more than 300 community specialty care physicians who provide care to uninsured patients at no cost. Coupled with the VPN is a high touch patient navigation model using Patient Navigators and Community Health Workers that yields a 3% no-show rate for medical appointments. A native of Bridgeport Connecticut, Darcey is committed to improving community health and dedicated to working with the underserved. She is a graduate of the Connecticut Health Foundation 2014 Leadership Fellows Class and served as a Senior Fellow during the 2014-2015 program year. She is also a graduate of the Connecticut Health Foundation Academy for Health Equity Advocacy and Leadership where she championed a health equity advocacy policy project around community health worker reimbursement in CT. Darcey holds an MBA from Georgia State University and an MPH from Walden University. Darcey is married and a mother of four children. In addition to her work in heath equity Darcey volunteers as a Girl Scout Troop Leader with the Girl Scouts of Connecticut and in her free time, she enjoys spending time with her four children, her dog Ruby and sewing at her home in Watertown, CT.

Marcus T. Harvin is the father of Mariah L. Harvin, and Mi’ah E. Harvin, and the son of Marcus E. Carpenter, and Stephanie L. Harvin. He is a son of the city of New Haven (as well as Pitts Chapel UFWB Church and the UFWB Denomination); one who believes deeply in the potential of his birthplace. Marcus is dedicated to the cause of delivering his hometown from (physical and spiritual) blight, (spiritual and inter-disciplinary) illiteracy, and the socio- economic barrenness that has morphed this metropolis into a slum. He graduated with High Honors from the University of New Haven (where he is a Distinguished Scholar) with his associate degree in general studies (Marcus is one of the first seven graduates of the Yale Prison Education Initiative/ University of New Haven Prison Program) in May- June 2023, and is presently pursuing an interdisciplinary undergraduate degree at the University of New Haven. He is a Lay Minister at Pitts Chapel UFWB Church; a 2022-23 Yale Prison Education Initiative College to Career fellow; a fellow at Yale Law School; a Yale School of Medicine certified addiction recovery specialist; a member of the Community Advisory Board (CAB) of the SEICHE Center for Health and Justice at the Yale School of Medicine; a 2023 University of New Haven President’s Public Service fellow; a graduate of the Neighbor Works America Community Leadership Institute; and the President of the UFWB Churches Inc. Young People Christian League. Upon graduation, Marcus aspires to attend law school- and to subsequently become a criminal defense attorney. This desire is the byproduct of his prolonged personal battle with the pervasive injustice- and inequity within this country’s criminal legal system. The actualization of this aspiration would also serve as the fulfillment of a promise he made to his late-beloved grandmother Sally Mae Harvin. Through law, he has discovered a way to turn the pain which accompanies imprisonment into passionate purpose; and he is determined to be the answer to the prayers of the imprisoned, impoverished, and impotent.

Shelby Henderson-Griffiths serves as the Policy Administrator for the Tow Youth Justice Institute (TYJI) at the University of New Haven. She supports the center’s efforts to advance 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 earned her Master’s in Public Administration (MPA) from John Jay College of Criminal Justice and is pursuing a Juris Doctorate at the City University of New York School of Law.

James Jeter is a New Haven native and alum of the Wesleyan Center for Prison Education at Cheshire Correctional Institution, where he spent nearly 20 years incarcerated. With Wesleyan, he completed 20 credited college courses, and was a member of the Lifers Program, where he worked with at-risk youth, helped raise money for local food banks, and worked with the Hartford Police Chief to address gun violence in Hartford. Through this work, while still incarcerated, he fostered relationships with the Mayor of Hartford’s Chief of Staff, members of the Department of Justice’s Project Longevity Task Force, and the CEO of the Hartford Community Loan Fund, his employer post-release. At the HCLF, James worked as a policy analyst, working on state and federal policy around banking and housing. In the time since his release, he has served on the board of Wesleyan’s Center for Prison Education, has been honored with the 100 Men of Color Distinction, led participatory budgeting with Hartford City Council, and has returned to Cheshire Correctional Institution to speak to residents of its TRUE Unit. James is dedicated to the cause of prison education and has sought opportunities to apply his own experience to benefit those still incarcerated or returning home.

Lorenzo Jones is the co-founder and co–executive director of the Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice. Katal works at the municipal and state level in Connecticut and New York to build leadership and organizing capacity to end mass incarceration and the drug war. Lorenzo brings more than 25 years of experience organizing communities to influence the political process and bring about systemic change. He has developed, coached, and mentored thousands of grassroots leaders for social justice. Lorenzo has worked as an organizer, trainer, and strategist with groups across the United States and globally. He has served as an adviser and consultant to organizers and campaigns for criminal justice and drug policy reform. His leadership strategy focuses on teaching everyday people that they can make the change they want to see, and helping organizers understand the political terrain around them. Before launching Katal, Lorenzo served for 10 years as executive director of A Better Way Foundation (ABWF), a drug policy and criminal justice reform organization based in Hartford, Connecticut. Under Lorenzo’s leadership, ABWF passed numerous reform bills in the legislature, mobilized thousands of Connecticut residents, and set the statewide agenda for ending the drug war and mass incarceration.

Jasmine Suggs is the Medical Assistant for the Transitions Team located at Sargent Drive in New Haven. She has been working with the Transitions Team for the past 5 years. She assists with scheduling patients, ordering medical supplies, assisting in referrals, etc. She enjoys helping my patients and has grown bonds with them over the years. She is currently pursuing a nursing degree. Her plan is to continue assisting the Transitions Team with Community Based Nursing. Her goal is to break barriers many people face in trusting the healthcare system.