Meet the Team

  • grew up in Cambridge and is one of the founders of The Black Response, the organization that facilitated the development of HEART. Dara is humbled and inspired by all the community members, volunteers, and organizers who have tirelessly worked to make HEART a reality. She brings her experience as an educator, restorative and transformative justice practitioner, and community organizer to her role as Co-Director of Infrastructure, Political Development, and Strategic Partnerships. She honors her teachers and ancestors who have supported and shaped her into the human she is today.

    In addition to her community work, Dara loves to paint, take walks, read Afrofuturist literature, and grow food at Movement Family Farm, a collective land project she supports in New Hampshire.

  • is passionate about self-determination, a core value of HEART that empowers her to shape her own life and pursue her passions outside of the pressure of external constraints and influences

    Before joining HEART, Betzy was already a community responder in her own right, often volunteering at community events, cooking for her community, and being there for her neighbors, friends, and family. Dubbed the neighborhood mom by her children's friends, she takes pride in connecting folks with resources and being a reliable listening ear in her community.

    In her spare time, Betzy enjoys spending time with her kids, her godchildren, her close friends, and LOVES beach vacations and adventures. She is also a chef and owns her own catering company.

  • is a passionate earth lover who holds a deep belief in the potential for a world that centers community care over policing. She is honored to support HEART in her role as Outreach Manager and part-time HEART Line responder. It is refreshing to be in a work environment that embraces and embodies transformative justice, allowing her to live her values daily.

    When not at work, Ishraq enjoys being by the ocean, going on walks in nature, and trying out new coffee shops!

  • is a white, queer, proudly Mad psychiatric survivor committed to organizing against carceral systems. Informed by their experience surviving these systems, S works to empower others in their journeys of self-determination.

    Outside of HEART, they enjoy gardening, authoring zines, and spending time in community

  • is honored to be part of the team implementing HEART. Since they were taught these values as a young Xicanx person, Corinne has valued community, people power, and the importance of centering marginalized community members. Corinne brings non-profit leadership, social innovation, and administrative experience to their role.

    Corinne enjoys being in nature and digging in the dirt in their community garden plot.

  • is a community organizer and understands the power of support through shared experience. His years as an Event Planner/Program Director in the music scene of Cambridge have taught him that inside we have so much more to give. We all value being heard and having a sense of shared space. Being a part of the non-profit sector in Cambridge has taught him the importance of showing up for community members and how it can transform their lives for the positive.

    G enjoys music of all kinds and loves writing songs and lyrics to share with his friends and family.

  • is a HEART responder who is skilled in listening and being present in the moment with community members. Self-determination has been a useful tool on Pea’s journey in abolition and fighting recidivism and is an important value at HEART.Being with HEART for the last two years has been an eye-opening experience and highlights the strength and importance of community.

    Pea is a person who has a wide variety of interests including but not limited to being in nature, listening and creating music, video gaming, and exercise.

  • joined HEART as a responder, following a lifetime career in early childhood education with a focus on an anti-bias anti-racist curriculum. Throughout these years, she enjoyed partnering with our diverse families and communities. Being a child of immigrants from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, she saw first-hand how the Global Majority, Black, and Indigenous people were—and still are—negatively impacted by systems that claim to help them. As she became active in justice work, Bárbara also developed peer counseling skills through the lens of liberation. With HEART, she hopes to continue learning from our community members and offer support when requested. She is a Nationally Registered EMT and a certified medical interpreter (Spanish/English). Bárbara is ready to share these skill sets to navigate and take down barriers in our communities.

  • is a certified mediator and has been trained in holding restorative circles. He values transformative accountability and believes that taking accountability for the harm we have caused and working with those in our community to heal and do better in the future is necessary to better our ways of life.

    When not working Joseph enjoys playing games like Dungeons & Dragons and Pokémon, as well as writing stories.

  • had always known what healing, community, and self-determination felt like but not so much in practice growing up in his community. He grew up with strong family values and a feeling of responsibility to make sure all voices at the table were heard. He feels that the first step in any healing journey is extending grace and being gentle with yourself when you make mistakes and owning the impact of your actions.

    When not in his HEART role he is an avid gamer, gardener, and tiny tinkerer.