Teresa Hodge

A committed champion for people living with arrest and/or conviction records in America, it was a 70-month federal prison sentence that introduced Teresa Hodge first-hand to the criminal justice system. Upon coming home, she co-founded Mission: Launch, Inc. with her daughter, Laurin Hodge. In 2016, Teresa became an Open Society Soros Justice Fellow for Unlock Inclusion. Mission: Launch advocates for tech inclusion, informing and engaging cross-sector influencers to close the digital divide created by mass incarceration in America. Teresa believes that without tech education and inclusion at the core of reentry mediations, millions of Americans will remain unplugged and locked out of sustainable opportunities. She is a 2017 Dewey Winburne Community Service Award recipient (South by Southwest – SXSW community award). Teresa’s TEDx talk, “We’ve Made Coming Home Too Hard,” highlights the lasting impact of personal bias and social stigma on formerly incarcerated people.