William Evans

William is the director of the Institute for Transformative Mentoring. As a restorative justice practitioner William focuses on heal, develop, and lead systems that impact individuals on a journey to rebuild community, decrease violence and incarceration. William is the founder and strategist at Neighborhood Benches, an organization increasing the presence of local neighborhood leadership to focus on transforming people and neighborhoods while reducing youth violence and incarceration. Prior to Neighborhood Benches, William provided re-entry and counseling support through both ICAN on Rikers Island and ATI for returning citizens at the Fortune Society. During the development of Neighborhood Benches William joined Public Allies and worked with the United Federation of Teachers’ United Community Schools as the Program & Grants Assistant. As a leader for Neighborhood Benches, William believed that by returning to his community with a specific plan to recruit individuals and helping them understand the need for change, the role they could play in inspiring others and implementing solutions, great changes would come. Knowing these extraordinary individuals had a tremendous impact on how youth live today, on how their society functions, and on what values young people hold, William committed 24 hours a day to recruiting and training these leaders. They were the leaders who “made a difference,” and he wanted to recruit them to create long-lasting changes that would improve the quality of life and decrease rates of violence and incarceration. William figured a good strategy would be an effective alignment between benches in the courts and benches in the “hood, focusing on systematic changes. He serves on the advisory boards of Public Allies NY, New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, PS x18 in the Bronx, and as a member of the Restorative Roots Collaborative. While at RRC, William worked with a team of practitioners researching the impacts of historical trauma on restorative justice practice, both the ways in which these traumas enhance and impede their work with participants in the spaces we hold. William is a graduate of ITM and a 2019 Echoing Green Fellow. William received his master’s degree from Fordham University and is currently on a journey to obtain his doctorate degree.