Joseph Williams

Leading social entrepreneur Joseph Williams is on a mission to restore the lives of those affected by crime. His passion for helping the incarcerated, formerly incarcerated and their families reach their God-given potential is born from his own personal battles.

Joseph Williams currently serves as Executive Director of the Correctional Ministries and Chaplains Association. As founder of New Creations Community Outreach (formerly Transition of Prisoners), he developed and implemented a number of innovative approaches that have helped others to experience total restoration. An evaluation of New Creations’ TOP program found that those who graduated from the TOP program were ten times
less likely to have any further contact with the criminal justice system than a control group consisting of those who did not go through the program. As a result of the innovation and success of the TOP program, Joseph was recognized as an outstanding social entrepreneur in 2006 by Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, a global organization that promotes unique ways of addressing pressing social problems.

These successes continue to provide Joseph with the opportunity to share his expertise with other professionals at various forums around the nation. Among them are the prestigious bodies of the U.S. House of Representatives and the National Institute of Corrections. Joseph has served as a visiting professor for Great Lakes Christian College and the Institute for Prison Ministry at Wheaton College.

Education:

• Wayne State University – Master of Arts, Applied Sociology