Serena Martin serves as executive director of New Hour for Women and Children, an organization dedicated to empowering mothers, women and children impacted by incarceration. New Hour provides programs within Long Island’s three jails and provides reentry support to those returning home from incarceration. Serena oversees and leads carceral reform across New York State through advocacy and policy reform efforts. Prior to leading New Hour, she was the executive director of Herstory Writers Workshop. Serena served as associate director of policy at the Correctional Association of New York’s Women in Prison Project, where she spearheaded legislative initiatives and policy advocacy addressing prison reform. She was the key organizer of a successful effort to create the Adoption and Safe Families Act Expanded Discretion Law, which works to secure parental rights for incarcerated parents as well as the Anti-Shackling Law, which prohibits the shackling of incarcerated mothers during labor. Serena is a survivor of isolated confinement, received her associate’s degree in the College Bound Program at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility and her bachelor’s degree from Adelphi University. Serena serves on Governor Hochul’s NYS Domestic Violence Task Force as a regional co-chair, serves on the Suffolk County Welfare to Work task force, co-led the Justice for Women COVID-19 Task Force along with WCJA and serves on the Suffolk County Police Reform and Reinvention Task Force. She is a recipient of the 2018 Citizens Against Recidivism award, the 2022 Houses on the Moon Leyton Award and the 2023 Islip Town NAACP Award. She enjoys preparing her family’s favorite Puerto Rican meals.
Serena Martin serves as executive director of New Hour for Women and Children, an organization dedicated to empowering mothers, women and children impacted by incarceration. New Hour provides programs within Long Island’s three jails and provides reentry support to those returning home from incarceration. Serena oversees and leads carceral reform across New York State through advocacy and policy reform efforts. Prior to leading New Hour, she was the executive director of Herstory Writers Workshop. Serena served as associate director of policy at the Correctional Association of New York’s Women in Prison Project, where she spearheaded legislative initiatives and policy advocacy addressing prison reform. She was the key organizer of a successful effort to create the Adoption and Safe Families Act Expanded Discretion Law, which works to secure parental rights for incarcerated parents as well as the Anti-Shackling Law, which prohibits the shackling of incarcerated mothers during labor. Serena is a survivor of isolated confinement, received her associate’s degree in the College Bound Program at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility and her bachelor’s degree from Adelphi University. Serena serves on Governor Hochul’s NYS Domestic Violence Task Force as a regional co-chair, serves on the Suffolk County Welfare to Work task force, co-led the Justice for Women COVID-19 Task Force along with WCJA and serves on the Suffolk County Police Reform and Reinvention Task Force. She is a recipient of the 2018 Citizens Against Recidivism award, the 2022 Houses on the Moon Leyton Award and the 2023 Islip Town NAACP Award. She enjoys preparing her family’s favorite Puerto Rican meals.