Gisele Castro
exalt Youth (exalt)
New York, NY
Gisele Castro has dedicated her career to creating and leading organizations focused on ensuring equity in justice for court-involved youth. Prior to becoming Executive Director of exalt, Gisele was Director at CASES, Family Court division, and was instrumental in redesigning the program model and structure. Gisele is currently an adjunct faculty member of New York University, teaching a Masters level course on Youth Organization’s Prevention and Intervention Strategies. As a visiting faculty member at Bank Street College, she taught courses on leadership development, while advising students in the Master’s in Education and Leadership in Community-Based Learning program.
She holds a Master’s of Public Administration and Non-Profit Management from Pace University and graduated as a member of the Pi Alpha Alpha National Honor Society for Public Affairs and Administration. Gisele also studied at the graduate level at Oxford University, where she researched U.S. vs. U.K. juvenile justice systems. As a Sterling Clark Foundation Fellow, Gisele is committed to ensuring their mission of “helping create a vibrant New York City – one that is strong, healthy, livable and just.”
Overview
exalt elevates expectations of personal success for youth ages 15-19 who’ve been involved in the criminal justice system. Our powerful combination of structured classes for tangible skill development, individualized support to navigate the education and justice systems, placement in paid internships and an alumni network of resources equips youth with the tools and experience to avoid further criminal justice system involvement. At exalt, we empower youth to see a future filled with hope – and we provide the road map to get there.
As part of the goals for our new strategic scaling plan, exalt will begin to establish a robust Alumni initiative to deepen its impact on graduates; explore in-state replication; and create an “institute” to better enable exalt to provide strategic guidance to the field.
To accomplish these goals, during the grant year, exalt will (1) hire a Director of Workforce Development and Career Advancement who will design and pilot an expanded alumni program; (2) develop a rubric for replication in other markets in NY state, explore replication sites and make a decision on where and when to replicate; and (3) hire a Chief Strategy Officer to oversee the development of a technical assistance curriculum and conduct 1-2 pilot engagements.
