About Us
At the intersection of justice, community healing, and civic responsibility.
Mission Statement
To strengthen community well-being and resilience by providing solutions to trauma's impact and supporting the conditions that allow children, families, and communities to thrive.
Our Vision
The vision of The Ethics Project is a more just, equitable and less punitive society that recognizes and encourages the talents and abilities of all.
Our History
The Ethics Project is a multi-award-winning nonprofit organization working at the intersection of justice, community healing, and civic responsibility. Founded in 2007 to address the complex challenges surrounding crime, public safety, and trust within the justice system, the organization brings together leaders from law enforcement, education, mental health, faith communities, legislation, and civic institutions to develop practical solutions that strengthen communities.
For nearly two decades, The Ethics Project has served as a convening force, creating spaces where difficult issues can be examined honestly and where collaboration can replace division. Through forums, youth programs, public conversations, and strategic partnerships, the organization works to elevate ethical leadership, strengthen accountability, and support communities most affected by crime and violence.
A cornerstone of this work has been the National Youth Summit on Education, Justice, and Leadership, which has brought together thousands of students, scholars, and national leaders to explore the connections between education, opportunity, and justice. The organization has also launched initiatives such as the Youth Art and Writing Project on Gun Violence, Peace, and Hope, giving young people meaningful opportunities to express their experiences and participate in shaping solutions.
Today, The Ethics Project is expanding its work through the Center for Relational Healing, an initiative focused on bringing trauma-informed practices such as Trust-Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI®) to the region. By equipping educators, caregivers, law enforcement, and community leaders with evidence-based tools, the organization seeks to address the root causes of trauma and violence while strengthening the relationships that help children and families thrive.
At its core, The Ethics Project believes that meaningful change occurs when communities come together with a shared commitment to ethics, accountability, and human dignity. By fostering dialogue, advancing evidence-based practices, and investing in young people, the organization works to build safer, healthier, and more resilient communities.
Founder and President
The Ethics Project Founder and President, Christi Griffin, received her Juris Doctorate from St. Louis University School of Law and immediately opened her private law practice as a ministry. She headed one of the largest consumer bankruptcy law firms in the State of Missouri until 2007. When faced with the realities of a broken legal system, Dr. Griffin proved with unequivocal evidence the degree of ethics that guided her law practice for 23 years.
Following her experience with the Missouri Bar and Missouri Supreme Court, disclosing the existence of broad misconduct on the part of the prosecutor, hearing officers, attorneys, and judges, Dr. Griffin began The Ethics Project to reduce wrongful prosecutions and convictions by educating the public about professional ethics.
The now multiple-award-winning organization has evolved to include consortiums of agencies and ministries who serve various populations affected by crime, including offenders, ex-offenders, children of incarcerated parents, abused women, victims and the community as a whole, Youth Gang Summits, Leadership Workshops, Youth Empowerment Forums, collaboration with Ilyasah Shabazz, daughter of slain human right leader, El-Hajj Malik Shabazz (Malcolm X), Lynne M. Jackson, the great, great-granddaughter of Dred and Harriet Scott and nationally acclaimed speaker, author and CNN contributor, Victor Woods. She has spearheaded Mother 2 Mother, A conversation with Black Mother to White about the talk Black mothers have with their sons. That effort rapidly grew to include Father 2 Father, Man 2 Man and Face 2 Face, a Conversation with Legislators and Policy Makers about the challenges faced by African-American men in America. A special Parent 2 Parent filmed for PBS at the National Civil Rights Museum in April 2016, was aired nationally by PBS. The film, The Talk, Race in America can be viewed at PBS.org. Intended as a one-time event, demand for the conversations continued for five years became a significant tool in bridging the racial divide in the St. Louis region.
The 2011 collaboration with U.S. Ambassador Andrew Young, former top adviser to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., resulted in Griffin establishing The Ethics Project’s Ambassador Andrew Young Award for Outstanding Ethics, Service, and Commitment to Family and Community. The award, personally presented by Ambassador Young is given to members of the community who exhibit exceptional ethics in the execution of their efforts as well as an unequivocal commitment to their family and community.
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Through collaboration with other agencies, thoughtful discussions, and exploration of meaningful solutions, The Ethics Project seeks to minimize the impact of crime by reducing wrongful prosecutions, increasing collaboration between agencies and ministries throughout the country and through educational experiences for high school students. Following the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, Dr. Griffin was active in a number of initiatives to address the unrest and underlying issues. Hosting a breakfast with St. Louis County Chief, Jon Belmar, then Missouri Director of Public Safety and former St. Louis Police Chief, Dr, Dan Isom, and the head of the Ferguson unified forces, Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson, to discuss pertinent issues with active pastors and heads of various protest groups. From that breakfast, Griffin formed the Ad-Hoc Committee on Policing at the request of Dr. Isom. The committee was comprised of heads of police associations, pastors, lawyers, law professors, and community activists..
Dr. Griffin‘s service to the community includes serving as former Chairperson of the St. Louis Civil Rights Enforcement Commission, serving as a former member of the Boards of Directors of the Joint Boards of Health and Hospitals for the City of St. Louis, The Missouri Catholic Conference Public Policy Committee, The St. Louis Archdiocesan Board of Education, former Co-Chair of The St. Louis Archdiocesan Pro-Life Committee, The Today and Tomorrow Educational Foundation, The Gateway Classic Sports Scholarship Foundation, The Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis, The St. Louis Archdiocesan Charitable Bequest Council, The Archbishop’s Committee on Parish/Teachers Relations, The St. Louis Association of Bankruptcy Attorneys (Founder), The United Way of Metropolitan St. Louis (including member of the Finance Committee, Cabinet Member of the Alexis de Tocqueville Society and Chair of the Attorney Market of the Charmaine Chapman Society) volunteer for The Employment Connection, volunteer lawyer with Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, the steering committees of The Midwestern Innocence Project, member of the steering committee of the Urban Leagues Public Safety Advisory Council, the St. Louis Alliance on Reentry (STAR), member of STRYVE (Striving to Reduce Youth Violence Everywhere) and community volunteer in numerous capacities..
Dr. Griffin was a founding member of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis Public Safety Advisory Council, the Advisory Committee of the Charles Sumner Preparatory Charter High School, the St. Louis Initiative to Reduce Violence (SIRV) and the St. Louis Area Voting Initiative. .
In 2010, Griffin designed, chaired and implemented the St. Louis City Youth/Gang Summits in the four St. Louis Public Schools Comprehensive High Schools, The Youth Empowerment Forum for seven-city, state and federal agencies and The Leadership Workshop for educators, Executive Directors and CEOs of area non-profits. She is responsible for the development of the Safe Stop Campaign to help reduce conflict during police stops, the Vote for Me Campaign to replace votes lost to incarcerations, the Pastor and Police Lunch to bridge communication between local pastors and police chiefs, The Empowered Family Weekend Retreat, the Youth Gun Violence Forum. Dr. Griffin is a frequent speaker and panelist at churches, schools and community organization functions. Most recently she developed Incarcerations in Black and White as part of the Missouri History Museum’s Avenues to Activism and a Conversation on Race, Gender, and Violence at the St. Louis Art Museum. From Rosewood to O’Fallon: A Look at Black Wealth in America was presented at Schlafly Library to a standing room only audience as part of the St. Louis Public Library’s Black History Months Celebration..
The success of The National Youth Summit held in conjunction with the St. Louis Public Schools, the US Department of Justice, and the University of Missouri St. Louis in 2015 was the catalyst to a subsequent National Youth Summit held at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, at Howard University in Washington DC in 2016, and Atlanta, GA in 2017, at Morehouse College and Dr. King’s Ebenezer Baptist Chruch at the invitation of former US Ambassador Andrew Young, and the 2018 Summit at the University of Missouri St. Louis and the 2019 National Youth Summit in Jackson MS, at Jackson State University, the Smith Robertson Museum, and at the Two Mississippi Museums. That summit included the historic gathering of three civil rights icons involved in the Freedom Rides and other civil rights events in Jackson Mississippi, Ambassador Andrew Young, Dr. Bernard LaFayette, and Hezekiah Watkins, as well as an unprecedented conversation between ten student leaders and the Chief Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court, Paul Reiber, in the livingroom of slain civil rights leader, Medgar Evers, with Evers longtime close friend, the now late Dr. Bernard LaFayette in attendance..
Dr. Griffin is a three-time recipient of the President’s Call to Service Award and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drum Major for Justice Award. She has also been named one of five 2011 Outstanding Women of Achievement Award by the St. Louis Gateway Classic Sports Foundation and a 2014 Women of Leadership by the Urban League of St. Louis and was named a 2016 Power 100 recipient by Delux Magazine. Her most treasured honor was the 2017 – 2018 Recognition for Ongoing Commitment to Excellence presented by the Midwest Region Black Law Student Association. In 2024, Griffin was named to Who’s Who in America.
Griffin is a Blue Ribbon Toastmaster Speaker, guest columnist for the St. Louis American Newspaper, author of 21 Days to Joy, A Daily Devotional for Finding Joy and Incarcerations in Black and White: The Subjugation of Black America. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the St. Louis Art Museum, an advisory member of the Save Lives Now Initiative of the East-West Gateway Council of Governments, and a member of the African American History Initiative of the Missouri History Museum.
OUR BOARD
Guided by leaders committed to ethics, equity,
and relational healing.
Celebrating our board members and national icons, Dr. Terrence Roberts of the Little Rock Nine and remembering the late world leader in nonviolence, Dr. Bernard Lafayette.
Seen here at The Ethics Project’s National Youth Summit on Education, Leadership, and Justice at Morehouse College
Board of Directors
Reginald Dickson
Chair
Chairman and Executive Vice President, BYW Investment Advisors. Former CEO, Inroads
The Honorable Andrew J. Young
Board Advisor
Former US Ambassador to the UN, Former Mayor of Atlanta
Former US Congressman, Top aide to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Founder, The Andrew Young Foundation
Chief Melinda Heikkinen
Vice President of Student Development and Acting Hiring Manager, Claremont College
Dr. Terrence Roberts
CEO, Roberts Management Consulting
One of the Little Rock Nine
Darnetta Clinkscale
Board of St. Louis Metropolitan Zoological Park and Museum District
Leon Sharpe
Organizational Consultant, The Praxis Group
Dr. Jameca Woody Cooper
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Criminal Psychologist, Consultant, Educator
Entrepreneur, Author, and Civic Leader
Clinton Normore, EdD, MBA
Chief Diversity Officer and Assistant Professor
A.T. Still University
Robert Litan
Attorney, Economist, Author
Non-resident Fellow, Brookings Institution
Dr. Stefan Bradley
Professor of Black Studies and History
Amherst College
Rev. Dr. Cassandra Gould
Managing Director of Political and Cultural Engagement Faith in Action National Network Adjunct Eden and Memphis Seminaries.
Ronald Johnson
Retired Captain, Missouri Highway Patrol
Head of the Unified Forces during Ferguson Protests, Author, CEO, Lodestone Solutions Group, LLC
Clifton Kinnie
Educator, Speaker, Writer, Activist
Founder of Our Destiny
Emeritus Members
Dr. Bernard Lafayette (In Memoriam)
Chairman of the Board
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Judy Bentley
Founder and President, CHIPS Health and Wellness Center. Retired
Past Board Members
Dr. Marva Robinson
Licensed Clinical Psychologist Volunteer and Development
Kymberly Smith Jackson, JD
Attorney Associate Professor, Legal Studies Institute Legal Advisor
Rev. Douglas Parham
Past President, St. Louis Metropolitan Clergy Coalition Board, Vice-Chair
Khatib Waheed
Strategist and Mental Health Facilitator
Robin Boyce
Principal, The Hastings Group
Tony Neal
Principal, Educational Equity Consultants
Dr. Daniel Isom
Director, REJIS, Endowed Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri St. Louis, former Chief of Police, City of St. Louis, Former Director, Missouri Department of Public Safety, The National Youth Summit Chair
Donna Rogers-Beard
Retired teacher, Board Secretary
Douglas Petty, Ph. D.
President/CEO Christian Counseling Past Chairman of the Board
Alfred Long
Community Activist and Ordained Minister
Dr. E. Lance McCarthy
Economist & President, Ferguson 1000 Treasurer
Redditt Hudson
NAACP Regional Field Organizer, Region IV Member, National Coalition of Law Enforcement Officers for Justice Immediate Past Chairman of the Board
Caroline Moss Fisher, M.A. Ed. (In memoriam)
Community Volunteer/ Mo Dept. of Education 2009 Pioneer in Education
Melba Moore
Past Director and Commissioner of Health Past City of St. Louis Department of Health
Nicole Adewale
President, ABNA Engineering, Inc.
BMarcell McClure Williams
Founder, Jewels Inc. & BMarcell Youth Ministries