CCF's Dedicated Board Members | Peter & Rashida
“What made me interested in CCF was that I loved the mission, I loved the work. So much of the conversation is focused on men of color without any consideration that all the research shows that young girls and women are disproportionately impacted, so if you really want to intervene on a population that is more likely to be marginalized by societal structures, then that is where the focus should be.”
For this month's "20 Stories," we interviewed one of our oldest and one of our newest Board members: Peter Bakstansky, who joined almost 20 years ago and has served faithfully as our Board chair for sixteen years, and Rashida Richardson, who joined in 2017 and jumped right into action.
As someone who has been with the organization since its founding, Peter has witnessed and supported growth across all aspects of CCF. When he first joined, CCF was in its infant stages. "CCF started as a small niche organization, dealing with women who were able and willing to go to college but needed the kind of assistance that our organization was able to provide. Since then, we've realized that [the women we work with] need far more than programmatic assistance. We also have to provide support elements such as mentoring and community-building. We've learned that we need to help people at different points on their journey."
When Rashida joined CCF seventeen years later, the organization had already become a major player in the field of criminal justice reform. "What made me interested in CCF was that I loved the mission, I loved the work. So much of the conversation is focused on men of color without any consideration that all the research shows that young girls and women are disproportionately impacted, so if you really want to intervene on a population that is more likely to be marginalized by societal structures, then that is where the focus should be," she says.
Both Peter and Rashida were drawn to CCF's mission, impact, and strong focus on community and both cite graduation as a pivotal moment in how they understood and experienced the work of CCF. Every June, CCF invites our community to come together and see the real impact of our work on our students and their families. Since our founding in 2000, CCF has helped hundreds of women earn college degrees, including a Ph.D. and scores of Bachelor's, Master's, and Associate degrees, in addition to reaching thousands of women through our various programs.
Peter says: "Probably the most important issue early in my tenure was the recognition of our need for a strong, hands-on leader. Vivian Nixon was a fellow with the program. Vivian had a vision, power, self-confidence, and a capacity for leadership that's quite extraordinary, and I asked her if she would become executive director. We have formed what I feel is a terrific partnership, and Vivian has become a national figure in dealing with [criminal justice reform]. If I think of a singular success, it's the naming of Vivian and working with her, which has been a joy."
For Rashida, the opportunity to apply her broad skillset to a well-established organization has had a ripple effect on the rest of her life. "I was interested in applying my more Type A skills of organizational things to both learn how a board can be supportive of an organization that is doing really great work and how from a macro-level to support others doing work rather than just always seeing myself as the one that needs to act," she muses.
What do Peter and Rashida hope to see in the future? From both of their perspectives, the growth of our essential work is paramount to the future of criminal justice reform. "With Vivian as our leader building on the founder's vision, there is expansion ahead of us," says Peter. Rashida agrees: "I hope there are more resources for the technical assistance work so that others can do similar work. This is an important form of advocacy and social change that doesn't happen in a lot of other social justice spaces."
We thank Peter, Rashida, and the rest of our Board of Directors for their unswerving support and encouragement of our work. Peter says it best: "The impact of incarceration isn't just on the individual - it's on the family and community as well." With our Board behind us, CCF can continue to inspire and uplift our community for years to come.