Gang Prevention and Intervention Task Force

Co-chairs, appointed by Governor Josh Stein

• NC Department of Adult Correction Secretary Leslie Cooley Dismukes

• NC Office of Violence Prevention Director Siarra Scott

Ex officio task force members

• Public Safety Secretary Eddie M. Buffaloe, Jr.

• State Superintendent of Public Instruction Mo Green

• Attorney General Jeff Jackson

• Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Deputy Secretary William L. Lassiter

• Assistant US Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina Erik Lindahl

• Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Devdutta Sangvai

Task force members appointed by the co-chairs and crime commission

• District Attorney Jamie Adams of Prosecutorial District 21, including Anson, Richmond and Scotland Counties, represents the legal community. She is a member of the NC Conference of District Attorneys.
• Ivy Bagley of Pitt County represents mental healthcare practitioners. Bagley is a dual-certified family and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner who brings a deep understanding of both the physical and psychological factors that influence youth behavior and community safety.
• Kevin Blackburn of New Hanover County represents community-based programs. He is executive director of Kids Making It, an after-school woodworking nonprofit that uses skill development, mentorship and earning opportunities to transform the lives of youth and prevent gang involvement.
• Captain Scottie Chavis represents the North Carolina State Highway Patrol. Chavis is a task force member at the state Information Sharing and Analysis Center in Raleigh and is a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Academy.
• Sharon Frazier of Forsyth County represents educators. Frazier is a retired educator who founded the In Deed Youth & Family Empowerment Initiative. She serves as a youth and family advocate, a member of the Winston-Salem Police Department’s community engagement team and a champion of the Forsyth County Youth, Family and Service Provider Network.
• Michelle Hodges Guarino of Lee County represents behavioral healthcare professionals. Guarino is the director of program development for the NC Gang Investigators Association - Gang Free NC. She is a professor at the NC State University School of Social Work and serves as assistant director of behavioral health with the NC Center for Safer Schools.
• Jessica Hargett is appointed as a representative of the Department of Adult Correction. Hargett has served for 17 years as a probation/parole officer and currently supervises active gang members as they re-integrate into society following incarceration. She collaborates with the public and with law enforcement agencies to ensure public and officer safety.   
• Krystal Harris of Durham County represents local government. She serves as the director of the Durham County Community Intervention and Support Services Department, which houses Project BUILD, a multi-disciplinary gang prevention and intervention program.
• Chuck Hastings of Gaston County represents law enforcement. Hastings serves as President of the NC Gang Investigators Association. The statewide nonprofit represents law enforcement and criminal justice professionals dedicated to prevention of gang-related activity.
• Steven Holmes represents the NC State Bureau of Investigation. Holmes serves as the SBI assistant director responsible for efforts regarding human trafficking, behavioral threat assessment, technical services, and intelligence and information sharing.
• David Johnson of Durham County represents community-based groups. He is the executive director and founder of Changing Faces 2 Change Lives. The nonprofit organization focuses on community violence intervention and gang prevention.
• Ontario Joyner of Durham County represents local government. Joyner serves as the program manager for the City of Durham’s Office of Survivor Care, leading efforts to support individuals and families impacted by gun violence.
• Keynon Lake of Buncombe County represents community-based programs. Lake is the executive director of My Daddy Taught Me That, a youth development program that supports young men grades 5 to 12 through leadership, mentorship and career exposure.
• Sheriff Ed McMahon of New Hanover County represents North Carolina’s sheriffs. McMahon is a member of the commission that oversees education and training standards for sheriff’s offices throughout the state and a former president of the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association.
• Becca Palmer of Forsyth County represents healthcare providers. She is a pediatric hospitalist at Brenner Children’s Hospital, affiliated with Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. Palmer has researched social drivers of health and partnered with the Youth Collaborative, an organization that assists gang-involved youth.
• Danya Perry of Wake County represents juvenile justice professionals. Perry serves as director of the Office of Organizational Excellence in Wake County. He previously worked for Communities in Schools of NC, focusing on community development and the prevention of youth gang involvement.
• Dr. Dana Rice of Orange County represents academia. Rice is assistant dean of academic affairs and an associate professor at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of NC - Chapel Hill, where she focuses on structural drivers of health inequities, including community violence, mass incarceration and systemic disinvestment.
• Nikki Shere of Mecklenburg County represents the substance abuse prevention community. Shere is currently the prevention coordinator at Anuvia Prevention and Recovery Center, a nonprofit that supports youth and families through education, outreach and early intervention to prevent substance use and gang activity. 

The task force will hold bi-monthly meetings in Raleigh. 

Oct. 14, 2025
Jan. 27, 2026
Mar. 24, 2026
May 26, 2026
Jul. 28, 2026
Sept. 22, 2026
Nov. 24, 2026

• 2025 Gang Prevention Legislative Report