Shannon Ross

Shannon Ross is the Executive Director of The Community, which he founded with invaluable outside support in 2014 while he was serving a 17 year prison sentence. The Community addresses the effects of the criminal punishment system with two arms: Pre-entry and Correcting the Narrative. Pre-entry leverages our ever-growing connection with over half the Wisconsin prison population via our newsletter and educational tech platform to provide them with every type of resource, encouragement, and training to return to society as successfully as possible, rather than trying to get prepared after release. Their Correcting the Narrative campaign showcases the successes, humanity, and agency of people with criminal records rather than the fear, pity, and spectacle narratives. Ultimately, they seek to bring society and the system-impacted community exactly where they need each other to be.

Since his release September 2020, Shannon is also a grateful first time father, a graduate student at UW-Milwaukee, and co-owner of D's Trucks LLC and Paradigm Shyft, reentry strategies and consulting.