Credible Messengers Leveraging lived Experience to Promote Successful Reentry Public Safety and Positive Outcomes

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Credible Messenger Robert Grenier was born and raised in South Boston. After spending a total of 10 years incarcerated as a result of his history of substance use, Robert has been in recovery for the past 16 years. Since 2007, he has been a volunteer with the Massachusetts Department of Correction facilitating recovery support meetings in facilities including MCI Cedar Junction, Northeastern Correctional Center, and Pondville Correctional Center. Mr. Grenier has been working in the substance abuse treatment field since 2013. He possesses an addictions counseling certification from Worcester State University and an Associate’s Degree in Business Administration. Robert took on the role of a Credible Messenger because he wants to help people just like himself and use his lived experience to help others reach their goals.

Lisa Millwood, MSW, is the Executive Director for the Credible Messenger Program and School of Reentry. Mrs. Millwood first joined the EOPSS team in 2016 as a Computer Instructor at the School of Reentry and then transitioned into the role of Director of Programming and Development in 2018. Lisa is no stranger to reentry services and working with individuals impacted by the criminal justice system. She has more than 20 years’ experience working with returning citizens during her time working at Dimock Community Health Center and Boston Neighborhood Network in Roxbury, MA. Originally hailing from New York’s Lower East Side, Lisa came to Boston in 1999 to earn her Master’s Degree in Macro Social Work and Education at Boston University. She also earned her BA in English at Binghamton University in Upstate New York. Tasked with the role of reimagining reentry services, Lisa has worked to expand the School of Reentry’s impact, doubling the size of the program, as well as increasing educational opportunities offered through the school and now spearheading reentry efforts through the Credible Messenger Program.

Since January 2019, Andrew Peck has served as the Undersecretary of Public Safety for Criminal Justice for the Executive Office of Public Safety in Massachusetts and is responsible for policy, budgetary oversight of the Massachusetts Department of Correction, Massachusetts Parole Board and the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board. He currently chairs the Committee on Restrictive Housing, Restorative Justice Advisory Committee, the Lived Experience Work Group. He is a Member of Structural Racism in Corrections Committee, Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy Coordinating Council, Harvard Kennedy School Roundtable on Racial Disparities in Criminal Courts