Waleisah Wilson is the founder of Newlife-Second Chance Outreach, Inc. and serves as the organization's President. She founded the organization after her release from prison in 2011 as a way to address the lack of reentry focused resources needed to assist the formerly incarcerated in the Columbus, GA and Phenix City, AL areas with job readiness skills AND job referral services needed to assist the special population with becoming productive, self-sufficient and successful within their communities.

She is a recent graduate of Walden University where she obtained both a Master's degree in Nonprofit Management & Leadership and a Graduate Certificate in Criminal Justice. She is also a graduate of Capella University where she obtained her Master's degree in Human Services specializing in Social and Community Services. She received her undergraduate degree in Sociology from Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She later plans to pursue her doctorate in Business Administration.

Due to feeling the need that there needed to be local AND statewide awareness of reentry and its barriers to self-sufficiency for those with criminal records, in 2016, Waleisah initiated and requested from the city of Columbus and the state of Georgia that July be recognized as Reentry Awareness Month. She and the organization received proclamations from both the city of Columbus and from Georgia's governor, Nathan Deal, solidifying the request, the first of its kind on the local and statewide level. 

Because of her humanitarian efforts and outstanding commitment to her community, her advocacy and her efforts to reduce crime in her community, she has been the recipient of many awards and recognitions including Metropolitan Baptist Church's annual MLK, Jr. Humanitarian Award (2017), the Dr. Ophelia DeVore Unsung Heroes Award (2017) and AARP's Unsung Heroes Award (2017). She has even received statewide recognition by Georgia Senator, Ed Harbison, by having a Georgia Senate Resolution named in her honor (SR-121). In February 2017, she was also invited to Justice Day 2017 by Georgia Justice Project to speak to Georgia legislators at the capital about the critical need for Georgia to eliminate barriers to self-sufficiency for individuals with criminal records.

She is a proud member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls (NCIFIWG), the National Incarceration Association,  JustLeadershipUSA (2017 Cohort), the Southern Anti-Racism Network (SARN), NAACP, and the ACLU. She currently serves on the board of directors of H.O.P.E. (a tiny houses for the homeless project) and The Shifting Project, an organization that mentors and empowers children of incarcerated parents. She is the President of the Social Concerns and Prison Ministries at her church, Phillips Temple CME, in Phenix City, AL. 

She is very active in her community's efforts to end homelessness, to end the school to prison pipeline and ending the stigmas associated with having a criminal record. She enjoys going to church, feeding and socializing with the homeless through outreach, playing games and trivia, traveling, volunteering, youth and adult mentoring, watching movies, cooking and singing karaoke. 

Doronica Thompson Ousley is a native of Albany, Ga. She graduated from Carver High School in Columbus , Ga and obtained an associate degree (electronic technology) from Albany Technical College.

Doronica is married to her best friend Guerry Ousley and the proud mother of two boys and one girl. While working ten plus years at a homeless shelter for women and children in Albany Ga she developed a passion for helping those in need. Doronica wants to continue to help and empower individuals and continue to make a difference in the lives of others.

Andez Jones is a native of the Phenix City/Columbus area. He regularly boasts of the motivation he receives from his beautiful family of a loving wife and two precious daughters. He holds a degree in Psychology and has worked in several government roles including inpatient mental health settings, facilitated probationer/parolee post-release classes, and served pre-adjudicated youth as an alternative to detention with the Dept. of Juvenile Justice and the Dept. of Family and Children Services. He also assists several local grassroots organizations in crime prevention, urban empowerment, and a myriad of issues affecting our community. 

Andez states that his dedication to the mission of NewLife-Second Chance is “rooted in my own struggles with the legal system when I was 17 years old, and the lengthy battle of transitioning back into society”. He believes that his personal life experience enables him to find common ground with those he serves as well as proof that a productive life can be achieved post-release. He asserts that with the exception of his family, one of his top goals is to “reach back and help those navigate a path that I’ve already crossed”.  

Denise is a wife and and mother of 3 beautiful children aged 20, 16 and 12. Although a Milwaukee, Wisconsin native and having grown up in Phenix City, Alabama (where she graduated from Central High School in 1995), she currently calls Columbus home. 

Karen, affectionately known as "Marti" was born and raised in Columbus. She has been married for 16 years and has 2 daughters. She obtained her GED in 2009 From Tillinhurst adult education center.