County Executive Sara Innamorato’s five picks for the board that will oversee the soon-to-be-reopened Shuman Juvenile Detention Center were introduced to County Council Tuesday.
Those selections were announced last week. Along with those picks, Judge Susan Evashavik DiLucente, president judge of the county’s court system, has also picked three people for the Juvenile Detention Board of Advisors. Another two forthcoming picks will be from Ms. Innamorato and County Controller Corey O’Connor, per state law.
Ms. Innamorato’s picks that require council confirmation are:
- Tiffany E. Sizemore, a county judge. Judge Sizemore, who was first elected in November 2021, was assigned to the family division, and mostly presides over juvenile delinquency and dependency matters. When she ran for election, she was on the “Slate of Eight” ticket, a group of judicial candidates who promised judicial reform to promote alternative pathways for youth in the county, according to media reports.
- Kathi Elliot, CEO of Gwen’s Girls, a local nonprofit aiming to give young girls in Allegheny County opportunities through educational and community-based programs. Her mother, Gwen Elliot, founded the organization. She’s spoken about the importance of education in lifting up girls and providing them a pathway to success in life.
- Richard Garland, executive director of Reimagine Reentry, a program for individuals returning home after prison. He also spent time in prison in Philadelphia as a teen and young adult. Mr. Garland recently told the Post-Gazette that it’s important that young people staying in Shuman have rehabilitative and other services scheduled before they leave Shuman and that he’s “going to be a squeaky wheel” regarding juvenile justice reform.
- Kristy Trautmann, executive director of the FISA Foundation, a charity that works to create equity and educational opportunities for young girls and people with disabilities. Ms. Trautmann has talked about the issue of over-referring young people to the police for minor infractions in school, especially those of color or with disabilities, according to the state ACLU.
- Mica Williams, senior program manager for TASC’s Center for Health and Justice, a national organization focusing on criminal justice and behavioral health policies. Ms. Williams has previously done research for the city’s police bureau, helping create a report to examine how community-based policing models have worked nationwide, and how that might apply to Pittsburgh and nearby communities.
All five of those picks will be reviewed and voted on by the council’s appointment review committee, consisting of all 15 members, in the coming weeks. They then head back before the council at one of its official meetings for a final vote.
Judge DiLucente’s picks, who do not require council approval, are:
- Jennifer S. McCrady, a county judge. She serves in the family division and was first elected in November 2015. She had prior experience representing juveniles in the court system through KidsVoice, an Allegheny County based organization helping support children in the foster care system.
- Edward Mulvey, who serves as a professor of psychiatry emeritus and former director of the Law and Psychiatry Program at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He’s testified in Harrisburg about a greater need for mental health services in schools and communities.
- Cheyenne Tyler, executive director of Café Momentum, a nonprofit and restaurant training program with a location in Pittsburgh. Her experience has ranged from creating school-based violence intervention programs for the United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania, to earlier work at a juvenile correctional facility in South Florida.
The other two picks for the board from Ms. Innamorato and Mr. O’Connor are expected in the coming weeks.
First Published: June 18, 2024, 10:51 p.m.
Updated: June 19, 2024, 10:29 a.m.
