L. Elaine
L. Elaine Sutton Mbionwu
Life Philosophy:
Strategic, Creative & Active Engagement Builds Beloved Communities
In her spare time, not only is Elaine the Executive Producer/Host of The Justice Beat Talk Show, she is also the Internship Director of her recently founded Next Generation Media Internship Program (NxGen Media). NxGen Media specializes in the provision of remote internships in the digital broadcast multimedia space. Interns placed in the program play a central role in the shaping, development, and production of The Justice Beat Talk Show.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
In May 2017, Elaine was selected to serve as the ACLU of Missouri’s first Intake Coordinator in its Legal Department. In this role, Elaine is responsible for laying the foundation for developing, implementing and executing a formalized Intake Complaint Unit as well as project expansion efforts within the Legal Department. The Intake Complaint Unit reviews claims of civil rights and civil liberties violations. The ICU receives and processes more than 2000 complaints annually. The ICU reviews any complaint from a Missourian. Complaints emanate from various sources, but primarily stem from letters, phones calls and electronically filed online complaints. In April 2018, Elaine’s role changed from Intake Coordinator to Legal Support Coordinator. Elaine also serves as the Coordinator of the ACLU-MO’s year-round Internship program in partnership with Harris Stowe State University (HSSU), St. Louis University (SLU), Webster University, University of Missouri at St. Louis (UMSL) and Washington University (Wash-U). Undergraduate students, fellows and practicum students from these five universities serve as Complaint Counselors assigned to the Intake Complaint Unit, Technician/Examiners in the Digital and Multimedia Evidence Section (DME), Workshop Organizers in the Education Section (EDU), and Communication Liaisons in the eStat/Data Collection Section all housed within the Legal Department’s Intake Complaint Unit.
Having most recently served in the capacity of Assistant Project Director/Training & Technical Assistance Director for the ADA Center (a project of Syracuse University), Elaine was responsible for developing, providing, coordinating, and promoting training, technical assistance, and informational materials for a wide range of audiences on the Americans with Disabilities Act (and related federal legislation), participating on the research team, providing support to the local, state, regional, and national partners, and overseeing the daily operations of a regionally based project in Atlanta, Georgia, covering 8 southeastern states. During Elaine’s tenure, she served as project lead providing direction and guidance on the implementation and execution strategies for the Center’s BlogTalk Radio broadcast (WADA “ADA Live!”) for the National ADA Network which remains in operation to this day. This initiative diversified the reach of the ADA Center’s federal mandate to educate racially/ethnically/culturally diverse communities (youth, young adults, HBCU students, etc.) with disabilities about the American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA).
In February 2013, Elaine was notified by Emory University’s MARBL (Manuscript, Archives and Rare Books Library) of their holdings of historical documents and records for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) for the time period covering 1864-2007. Elaine was informed by Emory University’s human rights historian; Sarah Quigley, manuscript archivist and former SCLC project archivist that correspondence and documents she prepared during her tenure (1991-1996) are part of the SCLC Archives. More specifically, a program proposal she prepared providing recommendations and guidance on the expansion of SCLC’s F.I.T. (Families in Touch Corrections Connection) program was on featured in Emory’s SCLC Exhibition which ran from February 21, 2013 through December 1, 2013. Additionally, documents post her tenure with SCLC covering the periods of 1992-1999 (Georgia Advocacy Office) and 2002 (National Association of Protection and Advocacy Systems) now referred to as NDRN (National Disability Rights Network) are included in the overall collection of SCLC’s historical archive records. See finding aid for collection at http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/90wfs.
Prior to Elaine’s appointment by Syracuse University to the ADA Center/BBI, Elaine served in the capacity of Program Manager/Volunteer Administrator with the Single Parent Alliance and Resource Center in which she was tasked with the responsibility of organizational capacity building and resource development through the provision of training, technical assistance, and program development. Elaine also coordinated and directed the delivery of extensive and substantive direct/indirect services to single parent families.
Elaine has served as a (DOJ/OJP & OSER) grant reviewer and an independent consultant providing consultative services to numerous community groups concentrating on the emerging field of Reentry which encompasses the provision of training and technical assistance to state and federal agencies as well as community and faith– based organizations on building collaborative partnerships and networks to address the reintegration needs of the formerly incarcerated. From 2006-2007 Elaine was recruited to serve in the capacity of Consultant/SME to the Council of State Government on a federally supported project (BJA/DOJ, CFBCI/DOL) to develop a reference guide of suggestions and recommendations titled: Re-Entry Partnerships: A Guide for States & Faith-based/Community Organizations providing community-based service to individuals formerly incarcerated. The guide was released by the Council of State Government in December 2008. Source: http://reentrypolicy.org/jc_publications/reentry_partnerships_guide/Ree….
A special interest area of Elaine’s involves family reunification of individuals impacted by the collateral consequences of incarceration. In May 2008, Elaine graduated from the Executive Faculty Development Program of Morehouse School of Medicine's National Primary Care Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The focus of her studies, during the year-long accelerated program, centered on the development of a public health curriculum titled, “Advancing the Development of Healthy Life-Course Outcomes for Single Parent Families”.
Elaine successfully met the program graduation requirements of the MSM/EFDP with the September 2008 publication of “Parental Engagement: Intervention Strategies for Single Parent Families in Crisis” https://kidslinkcaresestore.com/articles/view/54 by the Child and Family Journal of Ontario Canada in which Ms. Sutton served as co-author. Resulting from her participation in the MSM/EFDP program, Elaine was chosen from a competitive selection process to participate in the 2008 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's New Connections Second Annual Symposium - Academy Health Annual Research Meeting; in Washington, D.C.
In 2007, Elaine completed a textbook/reader project in which she was asked by the University of Texas at Arlington and McGraw Hill Publishers/Criminal Justice Division to participate as a contributing author on a book titled “Race, Crime, and the Media”. Elaine’s chapter contribution is titled “Media Framing: The Impact of Public Opinion on the Death Penalty.” The university-level academic reader was released in October 2009.
Source: http://www.mcgrawhill.ca/highereducation/products/9780073401560/race,+c…
Elaine retuned to the St. Louis, MO area in late 2016, after 34 years away, having spent a significant portion of her professional career in Washington, DC and Atlanta, GA. Elaine previously served as the Senior Disability Advocacy Specialist for the National Disability Right Network formerly known as the National Association of Protection and Advocacy Systems (NAPAS) in Washington, DC. During her time with NDRN, she was tasked with the responsibility of spearheading (through the provision of training, technical assistance, and brokering of expertise within the P&A Network) NDRN's first National Criminal Justice Initiative for a national network of 57 P&As. In 2002, she received her initial NCCHC (National Commission on Correctional Health Care) designation as a Certified Correctional Healthcare Professional (CCHP) and is currently making application to sit for the CCHP renewal exam in early 2021. In 2015, she completed formal PMP training in the Project Management Body of Knowledge.
Elaine has presented workshops, trainings, and keynote addresses to a wide variety of audiences nationally on issues specific to the criminal justice system as it relates to alternatives to incarceration, conditions of confinement, reentry, and special needs (individuals with disabilities) populations. Elaine is the proud parent of a high school senior. She served for 3 years as the school’s PTA Grant Writer and the immediate past PTA President as well as Chair of the Georgia State PTA Inclusion Committee with a special emphasis on the special education of students with disabilities and the school-to-prison pipeline.
