Empowerment
Supporting Recovery and Growth in Our Community
With a focus on compassion and potential, NCCSS has become a trusted partner in the recovery journey for justice-impacted individuals, helping them reclaim their lives and contribute to society.
Our Mission
To empower justice-impacted individuals through comprehensive services that foster recovery, resilience, and reintegration into society, ensuring they have the tools necessary for personal growth and community contribution.
Our Vision
A world where justice-impacted individuals are fully supported in their recovery journeys, realizing their potential and positively contributing to their families and communities.
By focusing on these strategies, we are confident that our impact and support will harness successful reentry of individuals into our communities. Our mission is to prioritize people and ensure their reintegration is commendable, and with these tactics, we will continue to make a meaningful difference.
Mr. Earl Owens III
Mr. Earl Owens III
Born: November 28, 1962
Location: Bakersfield, California
8-Year Recovery
Former Gang Member (40+ Years)
Formerly Incarcerated Community Member
Peer Support Specialist
Certified Mental Health Technician
Certified Youth Life Coach
Community Healthcare Worker
From a very young age, I was exposed to the justice system and learned early on that my actions had consequences. However, I also discovered that these consequences could be acceptable to me. This understanding led me to explore an alternative society, one that involved gang members and criminals, ultimately resulting in over 42 years of incarceration and engagement in activities with outcomes that far exceeded the typical.
In 2001, I began to shift my mindset. I realized that my intelligence, once viewed as a flaw, was actually a strength. It became the foundation for developing a new plan for my life. After decades spent in a cycle of incarceration, I was introduced to peer support and recognized that I had been advocating for change my entire life.
Over the past eight years, I have actively participated in various initiatives that have led to positive outcomes, leveraging my lived experiences to contribute meaningfully to the fields of peer support, advocacy, and reentry. As a returning citizen, I see myself as a beacon of hope and a leader within my community. I stand before my peers, asking for their support in this mission to create a better future for ourselves and those around us.
If I were to highlight a passion, it would be “Reentry,” given my experiences and my ability to articulate for those who cannot. However, my work spans across gender, ethnicity, social dynamics, sexual orientation, and many other areas. I have worked with people from all walks of life and dealt with multiple mental disorders and addictions. I am actively involved in the community and have spent the past two years helping to educate others on the dangers of gang activity, criminal behaviors, and mental health. I have worked closely with Alternatives to Violence and Locked Out Love to demonstrate pathways to recovery and success.
I am also on the board for the Mecklenburg Council of Elders and work with organizations like 100 Black Men, Time Out Youth, Invisible Hearts, CUC, Roof Above, Salvation Army, Youth Advocacy Program, and Mecklenburg County Reentry Services.
Ruhullah Assadiq
Executive Director of
NCCSS
Ruhullah Assadiq is a
Certified Peer Support Specialist and is partnered with Genesis Project 1-behavioral
health agency. Assadiq has completed training in Person Centered Thinking,
Motivational Interviewing, CST Service Definition Training, Crisis Response
Training, Crisis Referral Assistance, CPR Training, Bloodborne Pathogens,
Fraud, Waste and Abuse Training and Incident Reporting.
Assadiq has served a
25-year sentence in the Federal Bureau of Prisons for bank robbery. Since his
release, Assadiq has went on to become a commercial truck driver, business
owner of Ona Move Transport, Llc., worked in construction as a Certified
National Pollutant, Discharge, Elimination and Sediment Specialist, a Storm
Water Pollutant Prevention Specialist, a Project Manager for Hopps Construction
Services and Construction Safety Officer for McKenzie Contracting Llc.
Assadiq has completed
Intensive Re-entry Court and Moral Reconation Therapy. Assadiq currently
volunteers with the Reentry & Community Outreach Specialist for the U.S.
Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida mentoring at-risk youth.
Assadiq is a frequent speaker at the AMI Kids Academy, an all-boys alternative
school.
Assadiq is a paralegal
in Federal Criminal Law and is a podcast host for the Mundane Truth that
highlights the injustices of incarcerated individuals by sharing his insights
into criminality and criminogenics.
Assadiq frequents
hallway houses to lecture those newly released into society after incarceration
to assist with community resources, i.e. employment, health services,
vocational training, affordable housing, etc.
Assadiq shares his
story of Tragedy to Triumph to inspire, motivate and deter others from the life
of crime and despair.
Trasha J Black, PhD, LCMHC, LCMHCS, LCASA
Innovator. Tenacious. Steward. Dr. Black, mother of 5, is the Owner and Executive Director of Genesis Project 1, Inc., a Critical Access Behavioral Health Agency, accredited by the Center on Quality and Leadership.
She also the co-founder of Groundwater Solutions, Inc., a collaboration of healthcare providers, faith-based institutions, and nonprofits dedicated to addressing the social determinants of health such as housing, nutrition, economic development, safety, etc. Dr. Black was raised in the City of Charlotte and graduated from Wake Forest University with her Bachelor of Arts in Communications and Sociology. Dr. Blacks attained her Master of Arts degree and her PhD in Counseling from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.
Dr. Black has cultivated 20 years of experience and is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor as well as a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor & Supervisor. Genesis Project 1, Inc. currently serves families and individuals in the greater Charlotte area and is committed to providing community-based interventions that combat overall issues associated poverty, addiction, oppression, abuse and disease.
Her treatment and research interests include Psychological Trauma, Family Systems and Cultural Competence, African American Men’s issues and Recovery Based Systems of Care. Dr. Black is affiliated with Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., Minority Coalition of Health Care Providers of Color and the NC Peer Support Expert Commission.
Genesis Project’s goal is “Changing the World One Family at a time”.