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ABOUT US
WE’RE A BOUTIQUE POLICY CONSULTING FIRM SPECIALIZING IN SOCIAL JUSTICE ADVOCACY AND TRANSFORMATIVE SYSTEMS CHANGE.
We work with visionary change agents across nonprofits, community coalitions, philanthropy, higher ed, and government institutions, all seeking to transform the justice landscape. With our support, they are driving initiatives to strengthen diversion and restorative practices, create alternatives to the juvenile and criminal legal systems, and promote public health models in communities affected by violence.
MICHELLE
WEEMHOFF
Founder and Principal of Next Generation Justice Consulting, LLC
For nearly two decades, Michelle has coordinated highly effective coalitions and played a vital role in advancing numerous successful youth justice initiatives on the local, state, and national levels. Specializing in advocacy and public policy development, her work has helped improve legal representation, increase funding for diversion and community-based programs, create statewide youth reentry services, and remove young people from adult jails and prisons.
Michelle guides changemakers through collaborative planning to implement innovative, community-centered justice models. She has provided technical assistance to numerous non-profit organizations as well as all branches of government. Her expertise has been sought on numerous statewide committees addressing child welfare, mental health, education justice, racial equity, and juvenile justice. Likewise, her publications have been influential in shaping policy conversations, steering funding decisions, and changing state laws.
Michelle served as a part-time instructor at the Western Michigan University School of Social Work from 2017-2022. She previously held positions as Deputy Director of the Michigan Council on Crime and Delinquency, Public Defense Task Force Coordinator at the Campaign for Justice, and the national Health and Justice for Youth Coordinator at Physicians for Human Rights.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Social Work from the University of Michigan, and a graduate certificate in Holistic Approaches to Spirituality and Healing from Western Michigan University.
MELISSA CORETZ GOEMANN
Affiliate Consultant
For the past three decades, Melissa Coretz Goemann, J.D., has held leadership roles in non-profit organizations in the mid-Atlantic region focused on youth legal system reform as well as other civil rights issues. Melissa is currently the Senior Policy Counsel at the National Youth Justice Network (NYJN). At NYJN, Melissa leads the strategic development of publications and webinars to promote systemic change in our nation’s treatment of children. She also works with dozens of members across the country to help them advance their legislative and policy agendas on issues such as raising the minimum age of youth prosecution to ensuring due process protections for youth.
Earlier in her career, Melissa led the Mid-Atlantic Juvenile Defender Center (MAJDC), a non-profit juvenile defense resource center that served Maryland, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Virginia, and West Virginia, and was affiliated with the National Juvenile Defender Center. Melissa strategically developed priorities for improvements in youth legal system policy and advocated for those improvements through legislative initiatives and participation in state and national organizations. To educate law students about youth legal system reform and engage them in the work of MAJDC, Melissa founded and then directed the Juvenile Law and Policy Center at the University of Richmond School of Law, where MAJDC was housed.
After returning to Maryland in 2010, Melissa became the Legislative Director for the ACLU of Maryland where she had the privilege of working on numerous civil rights issues to improve the lives of Marylanders, from criminal legal system reform to immigration reform measures.
Melissa continues to be actively engaged in youth legal system reform in Maryland as an appointee to and Co-Chair of the Montgomery County (Maryland) Commission on Juvenile Justice.
Melissa received her B.A. in political science from the University of Illinois and her J.D. from the New York University School of Law. She is a member if the District of Columbia and Pennsylvania Bars.
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