Bronx-Based Osborne Association Welcomes Two New Board Members

Bronx-Based Osborne Association Welcomes Two New Board Members

L+M Development Partners Director of Community Relations Yasmin Cornelius & Veteran New York Times Reporter Esther Fein Bring Decades of Experience in Public Service & Media Relations

NEW YORK – The Osborne Association – a New York-based policy advocacy and direct-service organization dedicated to transforming the criminal justice system – welcomed 20-year New York Times reporter Esther Fein and L+M Development Partners Director of Community Relations Yasmin Cornelius to its Board of Directors this month. Both new members share a deep-seated commitment to enacting meaningful and humane criminal justice reform and offer the organization extensive experience in public service, community development and media relations to further Osborne’s mission.

“The Board of Directors is thrilled to welcome Esther Fein and Yasmin Cornelius to the Osborne Association Board,” said Board Chair Adam Hellegers. “They bring an enormous breadth of experience to Osborne, which is only surpassed by their passion to serve those affected by the criminal justice system and to advocate for change. We are grateful to add their experience and commitment to further the vision, mission, and strategic direction of the organization.”

Fein, a New York native, had a two-decade career as a reporter for the New York Times. She served as the Times’ Moscow correspondent from 1987-1991, where she covered the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. A highly-respected member of New York’s journalism community, Fein is deeply invested in criminal justice issues and serves on the Board of Reprieve US, an international collective of lawyers, investigators, and campaigners who fight for those who have suffered extreme human rights abuses at the hands of powerful governments, including people detained at Guantánamo Bay and indigent prisoners facing the death penalty in the USA and around the world. She is also a Board member of NEXT for Autism, an organization working to transform the national landscape of services for people with autism, and a member of the Education Committee of the Park Avenue Armory.

Cornelius, a second-generation resident of Harlem, brings more than 20 years of experience in the private and public sector and an extensive background in government relations, political activism, community development and media relations to the Board. Prior to her current roles as Director of Community Relations of L+M Development Partners and NY State Democratic Party Committeewoman, Cornelius worked for the NY State Senate Conference Leader, Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields, and New York County Leader Keith L.T. Wright, and served as President of the Mid-Manhattan NAACP. For eight years, she was the co-host/co-producer of the public access talk radio show Harlem 411 on WHCR 90.3FM. A longtime community activist, Cornelius also served as the District Manager for Community Board 10 in Central Harlem and as 1st Vice President for Community School Board #3, where she advocated on behalf of the neediest students in the district and fought for increased resources to meet District 3’s educational and budgetary needs.

“Osborne is lucky to have such passionate advocates and accomplished leaders as Yasmin Cornelius and Esther Fein,” said Elizabeth Gaynes, President and CEO of the Osborne Association. “I look forward to working with both women to deepen Osborne’s relationships with the local community and tell our story to a broader audience as we work to support those affected by the criminal justice system and their families.”

About the Osborne Association

The Osborne Association is a New York-based nonprofit organization founded in the early 20th century by prison reformer Thomas Mott Osborne. Osborne’s innovative, effective, and replicable programs offer a wide range of services at every point of the criminal justice system from arrest and incarceration through community reentry, focusing on families, employment, education, and treatment. Osborne programs serve the community by reducing crime and its human and economic cost, and provide opportunities for reform and rehabilitation through public education, policy advocacy, and alternatives to incarceration that respect the dignity of people and honor their capacity to change. Osborne serves more than 13,000 currently and formerly incarcerated individuals and their children and families across multiple sites in New York City and the Hudson Valley, and in more than 30 New York State prisons and New York City jails (Rikers Island).

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