Draft:Hasshan Batts

Hasshan Batts is an African American leader known for his roles as an author.. , public speaker  , community epidemiologist , and social justice leader. Dr. Batts, a survivor of the prison system, is an advocate for restorative justice. Dr. Batts is the Founder and President of the Prison Survivors Network, which supports individuals affected by incarceration. Dr. Batts is a community-based participatory research scholar, activist for prison reentry, trauma-informed care , health equity, restorative practices, historical trauma, and community engagement.

Currently serving as the Executive Director of Promise Neighborhoods of Lehigh Valley, a Black-led, antiracist, women-centered, liberation-based grassroots organization focused on healing and wellness. As Executive Director, Dr. Batts leads initiatives focused on healing, wellness, and community empowerment.

Early Life
Batts was raised in Crown Heights Brooklyn, NY at the height of the crack epidemic in the United States. He was raised by his maternal grandmother, Virgina Mims, and his mother Janice Batts, a Black Panther and Register Nurse.

Batts experienced adverse childhood experiences that manifested in behavioral challenges in his early schooling. Batts was retained in kindergarten and 7th grade, was expelled from Bishop Loughlin High School, Boys and Girls High School, and Boys High in Brooklyn, and was incarcerated in the Spotford Juvenile Detention Center in the Bronx. By the age of 15, Dr. Batts had over a dozen arrests. As a juvenile, he was incarcerated in the Manhattan House of Detention with adult inmates. At the age of 16, Dr. Hasshan Batts moved to the Poconos, Pennsylvania where he attended Jim Thorpe High School where he continued his journey of the school-to-prison pipeline. Batts later returned to school and achieved his GED. After completing his GED, he was mentored by Dr. William R Jones, SY Bowland, Imam Salahudin Hasan, and Dr. Onaje Muid. Dr. Sirry Alang served as a key encourager, personally mentoring Dr. Batts to persue post-secondary education focused on system change and epidemiology.

Post-Secondary Education
Batts attained a joint Master of Social Work degree from North Carolina A&T University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He further pursued a Doctorate in Health Sciences and obtained a post-graduate certificate in Global Health from Nova Southeastern University in Florida. Additionally, Batts was awarded a scholarship to attend Harvard Business School's Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management program.

Career
Dr. Hasshan Batts began his professional journey with diverse roles, serving as the Clinical Associate Director at South Mountain Children and Family Services from 2003 to 2005. During his tenure, he established programs like the Post-Trauma Centered Therapeutic Foster Care Program.

In August 2015 to June 2016, Dr. Batts participated in the Collective Impact Action Learning Community Fellowship program initiated by the Rider Pool Foundation, aimed at equipping non-profit leaders in Allentown with skills for community development. Additionally, Dr. Batts served as a Culture of Health Leader at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation from January 2019 to January 2023, focusing on promoting health and equity across diverse sectors.

Since 2016, Dr. Batts has served on the Board of Directors for the Resurrected Community Development Corporation (RCDC) that fosters education, financial stability, and moral empowerment in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

In February 2017, Dr. Batts assumed the role of Executive Director of Promise Neighborhoods of the Lehigh Valley, with a focus on reducing intergenerational poverty and enhancing educational outcomes for families in underserved communities within the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Batts was appointed as a Fulbright Scholar under the U.S. Department of State in 2023, engaging in project-based exchanges across countries such as Senegal, Gambia, Ghana, and Pakistan. During this three-year appointment (2023-2025), Dr. Batts will focus on researching, training, and giving lectures on global health, violence as a contagious disease, historical trauma, mass incarceration, and peace and conflict studies

Dr. Batts is a founding member of both The Society for the Healing & Study of Historical Trauma and the NE Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Association of Black Social Workers.

He has also been an adjunct professor at Lenoir Rhyne University, Lincoln University, a historically Black college and university, and Lehigh University. Currently, he serves as a faculty member in Muhlenberg’s Graduate Certificate of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) Program

Hasshan is a former board member of the National Association for Community Mediation, Mediation Network of North Carolina, and Victim Offender Mediation Association.

Executive Director of Promise Neighborhoods of the Lehigh Valley
Serving as the Executive Director of Promise Neighborhoods of the Lehigh Valley (PNLV), Batts focuses on addressing issues related to intergenerational poverty and enhancing the well-being of children and families in underserved areas. Working alongside the staff of Promise Neighborhoods of the Lehigh Valley, Dr. Batts collaborates with community leaders and government officials to create safe, inclusive, and supportive environments for youth. The collective mission of the organization is to improve health and wellness, foster leadership development, reduce gun violence, and promote anti-violence initiatives among residents of the Lehigh Valley. Dr. Batts and the PNLV organization works to empower individuals and communities, advocating for equity, and facilitating positive change through collaborative and innovative strategies. Much of the work and programs initiated by Dr. Batts and the PNLV organization are based around trauma-informed care, restorative practices, and reentry programs within healthcare and community development sectors.

Honors and Achievements
- Fulbright Specialist for the term 2022-2025

- Awarded a collective impact fellowship through the Rider-Pool Foundation

- Participated in the Robert Wood Johnson Culture of Health Leaders program

- Awarded Post-Doctoral research fellowships at Lehigh University and Practitioners Research and Scholarship Institute

- Co-chaired the governor's Public Safety and Gun Violence Commission

- Appointed by Governor Tom Wolf as a thought leader and trauma-informed care expert to the Adult Behavioral Health Commission

- Selected as the speaker for Muhlenberg College's fall commencement

- Named one of Lehigh Valley Style's "Influential Men of the Year" (February 2024)

- Appointed by Governor Tom Wolf as a Commissioner on African American Affairs

- Named Inaugural Chair of Mayor Matt Tuerk’s Commission on African American Affairs

- Co-chaired the Governor's Commission Public Safety and Gun Violence Committee

- Co-edited Beyond Equity and Inclusion in Conflict Resolution: Recentering the Profession

- Featured on CNN, Fox News , NPR , and numerous news outlets , documentaries, and an anthology published in 2008 by Syracuse Press

- Lectured across the African diaspora regarding the experiences of Africans in America, the prison industrial complex, and health inequities

Select Publications and Media

 * Alang S, Batts H, Letcher A. Interrogating academic hegemony in community-based participatory research to address health inequities. J Health Serv Res Policy. 2021 Jul;26(3):215-220. doi: 10.1177/1355819620963501. Epub 2020 Oct 19. PMID: 33076709.


 * Alang SM, Letcher AS, Mitsdarffer ML, et al. The Radical Welcome Engagement Restoration Model and Assessment Tool for Community-Engaged Partnerships. Health Promotion Practice. 2024;0(0). doi:10.1177/15248399231223744
 * Bowland, S.Y., Batts, H., Roy, B., & Trujillo, M.A. (2022). Beyond Equity and Inclusion in Conflict Resolution: Recentering the Profession. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN-13: 9781538164389, ISBN-10: 1538164388.
 * TEDx Talks. (2020, May 4). Radical Welcome Heals | Dr. Hasshan Batts | TEDxLehighRiver [Video file]. YouTube. Retrieved from Radical Welcome Heals | Dr. Hasshan Batts | TEDxLehighRiver
 * Batts, H., Joseph, R., & Stoeffler, S. W. (2021). Addressing engagement suppression in Black and Brown racialized communities. International Consortium for Social Development. https://promiseneighborhoodslv.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Engagement-Suppression-Article-ICSD_433-2021-.pdf
 * Trujillo, M. A., Bowland, S. Y., Myers, L. J., Richards, P. M., & Roy, B. (Eds.). (2008). Re-Centering Culture and Knowledge in Conflict Resolution Practice. Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, N.Y. ISBN: 9780815656630. (Dr. Hasshan Batts contributed to Chapter "A Conversation with Hasshan Batts" on pages 215-227.)

External Sites
Official Website- Batts Development Group

"Let's Talk With Dr. Batts" podcast

Promise Neighborhoods of the Lehigh Valley

Criminal Justice

Hasshan Batts | Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey

Radical Welcome Heals