Our programs provide essential support and resources to the justice impacted community, empowering individuals to rebuild their lives and create a brighter future. Through a holistic approach, we address the unique challenges faced by justice impacted individuals and help them navigate the path towards successful reintegration into society.
Prior to organizing Society Impact our advocacy work was done in an organization called In Our Name which was founded by Frank Zarro in 2012. In Our Name is a civic learning and advocacy organization dedicated to bringing public attention to social, economic, procedural, and restorative justice matters and remains committed to the cause of ending mass incarceration in the United States.
From 2014 to present, Frank has served as Advisor to the Management Committee for First Fairfield Associates, a thirteen year old social enterprise firm now located in Cambridge, New York.
In recent years we have begun using innovative social impact pay for success models that ease the reentry of formerly incarcerated people into society. We have also begun advising government agencies on creating policies and legislative initiatives that help bring about true justice and combat race and poverty-based mass incarceration.
As part of his role as advisor to First Fairfield Associates, Frank Zarro initiated the When People Work and Vetsbridge programs which are in use today. WPW and Vetsbridge are services committed to aiding the Justice Impacted and our Veterans In in finding and training for employment as well as with housing and mental health and legal issues.
Frank began his work with veterans in 2005 as part of a Veterans Residential Therapeutic Program at an upstate New York prison where he developed a full range of high school and college level course curricula and a legal services clinic. A video was made of the program in 2013 as part of a conference we presented in the Saratoga Springs, New York area, on the plight of incarcerated veterans.
It was at this conference that the late Jonathan Gradess, former Executive DIrector of the New York State Defenders Association in Albany, New York conceived the New York State Veterans Defense Program, which was initially partially funded by VetsBridge and is now a fully state funded veterans service program in New York State. Veterans defense continues to be a key part of what we do at VetsBridge
It was in March of 2012 when First Fairfield Associates acquired an interest in an employment matching system for college students called Firstgig.com. When Frank joined FFA as an Advisor in 2014 he transitioned that program to address the needs of veterans and people who are justice involved and FirstGig was changed to Transformational Justice Services which to this day owns and operates WPW and VetsBridge.
As part of his work at First Fairfield, Frank also coordinated a New York State Brownfield environmental remediation project in Saratoga Springs, New York and having completed that phase of the work the site will transition to New York State’s first affordable condominium development where low income residents and workers can own their own residence in a thriving downtown Saratoga Springs location.
Frank previously helped create the Skidmore College Restorative Justice Project which has since moved to the University of San Diego. He has served as a member of the National End Mass Incarceration Committee Policy task force at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta Georgia. He has taught administrative law at Pace University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in White Plains, New York and Political Science at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, Connecticut.
From 2005 to 2011 Frank taught legal research and conducted a law library clinic for incarcerated individuals at New York State maximum- and minimum-security prisons. During this six year period Frank assisted his fellow residents on about 200 motions, appeals and cases per month. Frank has held positions with the New York State Unified Court System and with the New York State Defenders Association, where he helped to create the Veterans Defense Program.
Frank Zarro received a master’s degree in public administration from the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University in June 1975 and a juris doctorate from Seton Hall University School of Law in June 1979.
Our team is trained in budgeting, finance, law, and public administration, with professional backgrounds and direct involvement in the justice system. This unique combination of experiences provides us with the basis for an in-depth understanding of public policy and problem-solving
