Team

Mona leads national Safety + Justice initiatives at LISC, having served in a leadership role on the national safety team since 2006. Her experience includes providing training and technical assistance to community-based partners and law enforcement in topics such as problem-solving for crime and violence reduction, Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) and building high impact community-law enforcement alliances.  Prior to joining LISC, Mona served as coordinator of youth development policy and programming at a New York-based child welfare agency. Mona holds a bachelor’s degree in Policy Studies from Syracuse University and a Master of Governmental Administration from the University of Pennsylvania.

John Connelly joined LISC Safety in 2016 with extensive non-profit sector experience, as well as having spent time previously with the City of Milwaukee. Most recently, John was part of the LISC Milwaukee office, where he focused on supporting dynamic community safety partnerships, including significant work on Milwaukee’s first BCJI project in the Washington Park neighborhood. For much of his career, John led projects for the Community Prosecution Unit program, a collaborative effort between the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office, Milwaukee Police Department and community stakeholders. These experiences has allowed John to work on improving quality of life and public safety issues in neighborhoods throughout Milwaukee. John has also worked in the Mayor’s and City Clerk’s offices at Milwaukee City Hall. He has been active in his community, and has worked on multiple city and county-level political campaigns. John attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he earned his degree in political science, as well as a minor in history and a certificate in urban planning. 

Ricardo Goodridge has over 20-years of experience helping community-based organizations, federally recognized Indian tribes, and state and local governments in the implementation of public health and safety programs. Over his career, Ricardo has administered complex multi-million dollar programs rooted in community engagement, best practices, and multi-agency collaboration. He has aided communities in the delivery of violence intervention programs, parenting services, approaches to strengthening community-police relationships, and in grants that provide mental health services, substance use disorder treatment, and diversion programs for people in the criminal justice system. Ricardo joins LISC after 10-years with the State of California. In his final 3-years with the State of California, he was the Deputy Director of a Grants Division and responsible for $1 billion in state and federal grant funding.

Victoria joined LISC Safety & Justice in 2024. Throughout her career she has worked closely with non-profit partners to help build their capacity through administering federal and private grants and providing technical assistance. She comes to the team after four years with LISC DC and brings with her an extensive experience in grant administration, technical assistance provision, data management and analysis, facilitation and creative and technical writing. Prior to LISC, Victoria worked for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston where she focused on empowering small and mid-sized cities with the tools they needed to upskill their workforces, support small businesses and address poverty through community-based leadership. She then became a Senior Economic Policy Analyst at UnidosUS (formerly National Council of La Raza) where she worked on economic policy issues affecting Latiné communities. Victoria is a published writer and holds a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Policy from Northeastern University and a Bachelor’s degree in English and Linguistics from the University of Florida. She looks forward to channeling her strengths toward the mission of building safer, opportunity-rich communities across the country and conveying the impact of our work far and wide.

LeVar Michael has worked to improve communities nationwide over the course of his career. LeVar worked as a youth counselor and later began a career in human services where he served as Program Coordinator. LeVar eventually transitioned to government service starting with the York City Housing Authority where he was responsible for organizing public housing residents and conducting community relations and outreach activities. LeVar was an active member of both the State and Federal Weed and Seed public safety initiatives, which conducted work throughout central Pennsylvania. He would later go on to help develop the successful Gang Prevention Initiative in York, PA where he received the York City Merit Service Award. LeVar also received numerous commendations from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency for his public safety and community organizing work. In 2011, LeVar joined the Baltimore City Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice and managed several initiatives including the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program (HIDTA), the Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation (BCJI) and Operation Ceasefire. Prior to joining LISC in 2016, LeVar worked in federal service with the Corporation for National and Community Service. At LISC, LeVar provides technical assistance and training to cities throughout the country. LeVar holds a B.A. in Political Science and an M.A. in Organizational Management. 

Matt Perkins is an expert in community-based crime reductions efforts and advocate for resident-based crime prevention efforts. Matt joined LISC in 2013, his work has included supporting community-based approaches to reducing crime and increasing safety through collaborative problem solving.  The goals of this work are to help residents improve their neighborhoods’ safety and health through community action and capacity building in equal partnership with local law enforcement agencies.  He has been a lead technical assistance provider on the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Innovations in Community Based Crime Reduction program, trainer for local LISC partners and collaborator with criminal justice policy and research organizations.  Prior to working with LISC, Matt was a technical assistance provider for the federal Weed and Seed crime prevention program, provided crime reduction suport to HUD and public housing agencies nationwide, and worked at DOJ’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.  Matt has a Master’s degree in Criminology from the University of Missouri – St. Louis, a History degree from Towson University and is a member of the American Society of Criminology.

Ryan brings myriad experience promoting equitable, data-driven, community-oriented public safety strategies in communities throughout the U.S. He has administered multi-million-dollar training and technical assistance (TTA) programs focused on collaborative problem solving, community-based violence and crime prevention and intervention, enhancing support for victims, and opioid and multi-substance use prevention. Ryan has worked both in local and national contexts to help communities build coalitions that connect residents to systems of power, engage law enforcement and prosecutors in alternative approaches that reduce over-enforcement and over-incarceration, and partner with civic and community-based organizations to collectively implement evidence-based solutions to safety challenges. He was an instructor for the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at the University of Missouri-Kansas City while also serving as a consultant for the Kansas City No Violence Alliance (NoVA), the Jackson County (MO) Prosecutor’s Office, and the Kansas City (MO) Police Department on U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation, Innovative Prosecution Strategies, and Smart Policing Initiative grants. Ryan joins LISC after 4 years with the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), where he was responsible for over $10 million in DOJ TTA grant funding and holds a Master of Science from Arizona State University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Drake University. 

Brittany Sicora joined LISC in 2016.  Her primary duties include conducting research to support programmatic outcomes and grant management of our private and government funded network of sites.  Brittany also oversaw the LISC Safety & Justice AmeriCorps cohort, which includes a portfolio of members from across the country serving in both rural and urban communities.  Prior to joining LISC, she interned with the Domestic Violence Unit of the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office in Newark, NJ.  She also worked as a litigation paralegal for a medical malpractice defense firm.  Brittany holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing from Miami University’s Farmer School of Business and a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Rutgers University – Newark, where she received The Richard J. Hughes Award. 

James Stark has focused his professional life on improving local, state and federal government delivery of services. James has been working with LISC since 2015, first as a consultant and currently in a full-time capacity as a program officer serving as a technical assistance lead for a portfolio of sites funded through the Innovations in Community Based Crime Reduction (CBCR) grant program. Prior to joining LISC, he worked in Massachusetts where he oversaw the implementation of the state’s gang reduction grant and its paired research partnership grant program. Both the CBCR and MA gang reduction grant are modeled similarly in that they are resident-driven, utilize data in the decision-making process, and require evidence-based strategies to address crime challenges and associated risk-factors. James holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Northeastern University and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of Massachusetts, Boston.