Grant's path to A Brighter Way has a history of over three decades of incarceration, including 27 straight years for a bank robbery he committed at the age of 22. He began his path of service serving as Public Relations Director for N.A.A.C.P. at the Saginaw Correctional Facility. He has worked within other organizations in a variety of capacities: expanding educational programming, training group facilitators, providing mentoring and training, developing curriculum and constructing the framework for a peer recovery coaching program. Grant knows personally that current recidivism rates do not have to be a foregone conclusion given support, guidance and empathy for returned citizens. He believes that good reentry makes for better public safety, and that if we invest in our returned citizens, there will be A Brighter Way ahead for all of us.



Al Newman is a serial entrepreneur who has created over a dozen companies across a range of businesses. In addition to founding A Brighter Way, Newman co-founded PitchYpsi and is Vice Chair of Recycle Ann Arbor, Secretary of the Huron Waterloo Pathway Initiative and a board member of Avalon Housing. He is also Entrepreneur-In-Residence at Washtenaw Community College. He is deeply committed to improving the corrections system locally and in the state. Newman is Chair of A Brighter Way, Co-Facilitator of the Washtenaw County Re-Entry Committee and Co-Chair of the Michigan’s Department of Corrections Program Offender Success Region 9.