Melissa Centeno

Melissa Centeno is a NYC-based facilitator and anti-violence advocate, youth worker, restorative practitioner, and abolitionist social worker working alongside youth and systems-involved people of color to envision ways to transform their experiences and create space for healing. Melissa is committed to supporting individuals and communities alike through relationship-building, education, and care rooted in a Black queer feminist framework.
In addition to facilitating for Change Impact, Melissa currently serves as the Restorative Justice Manager at Manhattan Justice Opportunity, an initiative of the Center for Justice Innovation and works with the New Jersey State Bar Foundation. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Columbia School of Social Work, Melissa is an alum of the National Youth Justice Network’s Youth Justice Leadership Institute and organized with the NYC Chapter of Black Youth Project 100 as a founding Membership Co-Chair. When she’s not asking questions or deeply engrossed in a story, she spends her time daydreaming about the sea and the sky or on the hunt for her next mango.