Tyra joined the Ohio Justice & Policy Center team as a paralegal in Jan. 2018. After several months of successful outreach on OJPC’s behalf, Tyra’s role adapted to better describe her gifts and passion: She became OJPC’s first Community Outreach Strategy Specialist.

Before joining OJPC, Tyra spent 23 years incarcerated for murder and robbery, crimes she did not commit.

Tyra used her time in prison constructively to educate herself. A sixth grade dropout, Tyra eventually earn her GED, obtained a steam engineer’s license, became a certified tutor and completed a paralegal training program.

On Christmas Day, 2017, Tyra was released from prison. She joined the OJPC staff full-time only weeks later.

In her role, Tyra advocates on behalf of OJPC and does outreach work to educate children about the importance of staying in school and avoiding drug use. Tyra also hopes to create a program to provide support to people returning to the community after incarceration.