Hilary Bass is the Senior Manager of Bay Area Initiatives at NICJR. In this role, she manages NICJR’s projects and direct service programs in the San Francisco Bay Area, including the Neighborhood Opportunity and Accountability Board (NOAB) Initiative. Hilary is a dynamic public sector leader with a proven track record in driving results through innovative public safety initiatives, community development, and strategic collaboration. Known for her expertise in creative placemaking and community engagement, Hilary is dedicated to establishing vibrant public spaces and improved public systems that foster positive societal change and long-term improvements in public safety.
Prior to NICJR, Hilary served as Executive Director of the Alameda County Deputy Sheriffs’ Activities League (DSAL), leading the development and daily oversight of the organization. Under her leadership, DSAL grew to become a 70-person organization with a nearly $3 million budget. Over the course of 12 years, she secured over $30 million in funding for impactful community-based projects, shaping outcomes in public safety, public health, and economic and community development. Her efforts with DSAL included working from within the Sheriff’s Office to develop a hyper-local food system in Alameda County as a strategy to address economic development for the reentry community while simultaneously reducing food insecurity and increasing health outcomes for thousands of county residents. Her work also included the development of a free athletics department serving the low-income youth and families of unincorporated Alameda County as a strategy to prevent crime by building healthy people. Additionally, she brought in resources for local community development initiatives such as murals on 11 facades of small businesses to make neighborhoods safer and help the business community thrive. Through all of this work, she has developed strong expertise in operations, program development, and fundraising as well as excellent skills in building positive relationships with diverse stakeholders.
Hilary holds a degree in Sociology and Urban Studies from Boston University and was inducted into the Alameda County Women’s Hall of Fame in 2018 as an Emerging Leader.
Emmanuel Hernández is a Violence Reduction Project Manager for NICJR. In this role, he works with the Associate Director of Violence Reduction to coordinate and deliver training and technical assistance (TTA) to community-based organizations (CBOs), law enforcement agencies, offices of violence prevention, and other government entities. Emmanuel is passionate about partnering with cities to promote the collaboration of diverse stakeholders and the coordination of violence reduction efforts.
Prior to joining NICJR, Emmanuel worked at the University of Chicago’s Crime Lab as a Qualitative Research Manager for a qualitative study of cognitive behavioral training programs in Chicago. Prior to the Crime Lab, he worked as a Project Coordinator for Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) Mexico City, where he managed the development and implementation of a Group Violence Intervention Strategy in Mexico City’s Police Department in collaboration with Yale University, the California Partnership for Safe Communities, Mexico City’s law enforcement and social services agencies, and local nonprofits. Emmanuel also collaborated on the adaptation, implementation, and evaluation of Procedural Justice training for Mexico City’s Police Department. Prior to IPA, Emmanuel worked in the nonprofit sector, advising local governments and conducting participatory research on school and urban violence prevention.
Emmanuel holds a Master in Public Policy degree from the University of Chicago. Currently, he teaches a class on Citizen Security in the Public Space and Urban Mobility Program at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
Amy Arthur is NICJR’s Content Development Specialist. Amy is passionate about harnessing the power of the written word to fund innovative programming and accessibly communicate research to decisionmakers and the communities they serve. A seasoned writer and editor with more than eight years of experience developing winning grant proposals and RFP responses, Amy’s writing has led to grant awards totaling more than $122 million from foundations and city, state, and federal entities.
As NICJR’s lead writer and editor, Amy partners with staff across the organization to craft compelling proposals, communicate progress to funders, and develop reports and other deliverables that disseminate NICJR’s research and share lessons learned from the implementation of direct service initiatives such as the Neighborhood Opportunity and Accountability Board.
Prior to joining the NICJR team, Amy served as Associate Director of Business Development for Resource Development Associates, a California-based consulting firm dedicated to social justice and equity. At RDA, she bolstered organizational sustainability and growth by leading the competitive proposal development process. She also led grant writing and fund development capacity building contracts with numerous government and nonprofit agencies. Prior to joining RDA, Amy managed fundraising and communications for Rebuilding Together San Francisco and worked as a member of the development and communications team for New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity, where she developed winning proposals both for property acquisition and funding for new construction and critical home repair.
Amy holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Poetry from Johns Hopkins University. Before entering the nonprofit sector, Amy taught composition and creative writing at Hopkins University and Goucher College. She also served as an Editorial Assistant for the Hopkins Review and as Summer Director of the Sewanee Young Writers’ Conference. Her poems and literary criticism have appeared in the Birmingham Poetry Review, Measure: A Review of Formal Poetry, Literary Matters, Blackbird, and elsewhere.
Trevariana Mason is the Research and Policy Manager at NICJR. In this role, she oversees a portfolio of qualitative and quantitative research, data analysis, and technical assistance projects. Trevariana will also be responsible for coordinating with other teams to ensure the smooth implementation of cross functional projects and effective development of deliverables. She will manage Senior Policy Analysts and Policy Analysts on projects and will serve as the supervisor for Policy Analysts and interns.
Trevariana is passionate about providing visibility for disadvantaged populations through research. To this end, her research career has focused on community policing, incarceration and social networks, women in prison, and marginalized groups’ experiences of police encounters and court proceedings. Through this work, Trevariana has developed a strong commitment to promoting community-based violence prevention, alternatives to incarceration, and opportunities for community healing.
Prior to NICJR, she served as a Research Associate at the National Black Women’s Justice Institute, where she oversaw the design and implementation of research projects focused on the wellbeing of system-impacted Black women and girls. Previously, as a Research Associate at Measures for Justice, Trevariana directed the implementation of quantitative research strategies and county-level data coding projects as well as oversaw performance and workload measures, decision point analyses, data publication, and community engagement. She also previously served as a Program Coordinator for the Ingham County Family Dependency Treatment Court, where she encouraged healing and strengthening of families.
Trevariana holds a Master of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Michigan State University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal and Social Justice from Central Michigan University. Her master thesis, entitled “Strategies Used by African Americans During Police Encounters and Their Effect on ‘The Talk’ Given to Black Children,” was published in 2017 at Michigan State University.