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Show Summary
On this episode of Behind the Mission, we feature a conversation with Angela Johnson, Founder and Executive Director of Valor Village, a program that provides no cost overnight lodging, resources, and peer support to loved ones who have traveled to Southeastern Virginia to visit an incarcerated veteran.
About Today’s Guest
Angela Johnson is the founder and Executive Director of Valor Village™ Foundation, the nation’s first Justice Staytion®, providing no-cost overnight lodging, resources, and peer support to loved ones who have traveled to southeastern Virginia to visit an incarcerated veteran. Her vision, turned reality, empowers family members and justice-involved veterans to maintain their critical connections to promote wellness and reduce vulnerability to recidivism.
As the mother of a formerly incarcerated disabled Army veteran, Angela is proximate to and impassioned by her work as a social justice leader. She brings a wealth of expertise and a record of accomplishment from having served in previous roles as Washington Bureau Research Manager, Sr. Research Analyst, and Sr. Project Manager for major news outlets and non-partisan advocacy enterprises.
Planning and executing the delivery of state and federal policy news and resources to consumer audiences solidified her devotion to creating solutions that address complex human rights and social justice issues through education and engagement. Angela has led a technology team to ensure proper communication capabilities for war correspondents embedded with military units in Afghanistan and Iraq. She has conducted primary research supporting groundbreaking exclusive reports and studies. Throughout her career, Angela has informed the public about issues that impact our liberty and quality of life. She believes that indifference to America's failure to right the criminal justice system, and the harm that results from not doing so, can progressively be eliminated through compassion created by collective knowledge.
She holds a Master of Science degree in Information Science from CUNY at Queens College and certifications in diversity, equity, and inclusion leadership, project management, and business process management.
Her professional awards include a Pulitzer Prize for her contribution to spot news reporting, social impact innovation awards, and a Publisher’s award. She is a Prison Fellowship Justice Ambassador and an active member of several regional collaborative community councils, including the Reentry Council’s Veterans Justice Subcommittee.
Angela is also an active team member on the home front, enjoying new adventures with and learning lots from her husband, three children, and grandkids.
PsychArmor Resource of the Week
This week’s PsychArmor resource of the week is Episode 52 of the Behind The Mission Podcast featuring Scott Tirocchi, the Division Director for Justice for Vets. In this episode, you can learn more about supporting veterans in the criminal legal system and learn about Justice for Vets, the nation's leading organization advancing the importance of veteran treatment courts as programs to support these veterans. You can see find this episode here: https://psycharmor.org/podcast/scott-tirocchi.
Links Mentioned In This Episode
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Theme Music
Our theme music Don’t Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.
This Episode Sponsored By:
This episode is sponsored by PsychArmor, the premier education and learning ecosystem specializing in military culture content. PsychArmor offers an online e-learning laboratory with custom training options for organizations.
Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families. You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com