Vice President, Unbroken Promise Initiative, Inc.

Yasmin Rashid is a community activist that focuses on healing the traumas faced by those in her community. Yasmin has an inimitable ability to speak life, compassion, empathy, love and understanding into the hearts of those she meets. Yasmin’s gift of expression through words has paved the way for her to be a talented writer, public speaker, and community mediator. Yasmin is currently the Vice President of the Unbroken Promise Initiative INC., a local grassroots nonprofit focused on economic development in the marginalized and disenfranchised community. She also sits on the reimagining public safety taskforce. Her ability to captivate the spirits, hearts, and minds of those her words touch allows her activism to reach new heights with each and every conversation.

Co-Director, The Traditional Center for Indigenous Knowledge and Healing

Jose Enrique Soto Delgado, also known as Joe Soto, was born in the Bronx, NY in 1959. At the young age of 5 years olf, his mother fell ill, and he was sent away to boarding school along with his younger brother in Saddle Lake, Alberta, Canada. His struggles with his identity began at this time when he found out that his mother has 63% indigenous blood. After boarding school, Joe went to Borikén to live with family members. After spending years with one of his great uncles in Moca, PR, he started to learn more about the traditional ways of life. Around 1975, he lived on the Mashantucket Pequot Reservation in Willimantic, CT with his wide and first-born. Joe faced a period of addiction, which led him to Ottawa, Ontario. Over the course of that time, he began to heal from his addictions, and started to learn, understand, and heal from his intergenerational trauma. From then on, his life has consisted of prayer, ceremony, fasting, Sundancing, healing practices, and supporting the youth. In 1992, Joe received his Associate’s Degree in Nursing from Laurentian University. He currently works for a community-base organization at the Department of Social Services, helping families recover from addiction so they can be reunited with their children.

Member, ReEntry Theatre Program; Co-founder, Ithaca Drug Users Union

AC Sidle is an activist for social justice issues and an advocate for the marginalized people of his country. He is a member of The ReEntry Theatre program as a playwright, actor ambassador, and board member. A harm reduction advocate, he co-founded the Ithaca Drug Users Union and is a co-host and producer of the I-DUU power hour on cable access. AC Sidle also co-wrote and produced the documentary TONY with Peter Carroll and Bruce Levitt, winning both the NYC and LA best short film awards in 2018. Mr. Sidle has also been in recovery from heroin addiction since 3/11/11, after a 25-year struggle that led to a 40-page rap sheet and 13 years of incarceration in New York and Texas prisons.

Founder of Silent Cry, Inc. and Activist

Shawanna Vaughn is a nationally-renowned activist and the director and founder of Silent Cry, Inc., a New York based organization that takes a holistic approach to aftercare from mass incarceration and trauma. Vaughn is a member of Confined Arts Projects, and Peace and Justice Studies Association. She speaks of Post Traumatic Prison Disorder (PTPD) to bring awareness and help those cope with trauma in incarceration.