MDRC is pleased to announce that Candice C. Jones has joined the MDRC Board of Directors.

Candice Jones has been the President and CEO of the Public Welfare Foundation since 2017. The Public Welfare Foundation has supported efforts to advance justice and opportunity for people in need for more than 70 years. Previously, she served as Senior Advisor at Chicago CRED, an organization that focuses on gun violence in Chicago. In that role, she worked on securing greater investments for violence intervention programs as an alternative to the criminal justice system.

Jones has also served as Director of the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice, a cabinet-level state agency where she supervised operations, programming, budget matters, and communications. During her tenure, she pushed significant reforms that reduced the number of young people in state custody. As a White House Fellow in 2012-2013, she managed a portfolio within the U.S. Department of Education that included developing education strategies for correctional institutions and shepherding a plan to reinstate federal Pell grants for young people and adults in custody.

Earlier in her career, Jones served as a program officer with the MacArthur Foundation, where she managed a grant portfolio focused on decreasing racial and ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system and on improving the quality of defense for indigent youth. She received her J.D. from New York University School of Law and her B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

“We are so happy to welcome Candice Jones to the MDRC Board of Directors,” said Bridget Terry Long, MDRC Board Chair. “She brings unparalleled expertise, particularly in juvenile and criminal justice reform, as a leader at the state and federal levels and in the advocacy and philanthropic communities. MDRC will greatly benefit from her knowledge and experience.”

“I am honored to join the MDRC Board of Directors and to support its commitment to improving social programs and policies in the United States,” said Candice Jones. “Some of the best ideas to solve our nation’s pressing issues have yet to be discovered. MDRC is an essential institution in our discussion about how we use research and evaluation to inform policy and pursue innovation to improve the lives of all people.”