Roots2Empower’s dedicated team drives our mission. Bringing together talent, expertise, creativity, and passion, our staff and board are organizers, social workers, parents, artists, entrepreneurs, and advocates working tirelessly to support frontline communities in southern New England.
Tarshire Battle
Executive Director
An artist, herbalist, activist, master gardener, and entrepreneur, Roots2Empower is the product of Tarshire’s visionary thought leadership. Tarshire founded Roots in 2019, applying her degrees in Public Administration from Northeastern University and Mental Health Counseling from Boston University, to provide multi-faceted means of economic empowerment, environmental connection, and food access through education, training and advocacy.
Tarshire’s work has been featured in The Boston Globe, the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, Uprise RI, The Business Journals, and The Valley Breeze. Tarshire is on Rhode Island Governor’s Green Energy Workforce Advisory Committee, is on the board of Break the Cycle, and a member of the Ocean State Environmental Justice Alliance (OSEJA).
Nicole DiPaolo
Energy Justice Director
Nicole is an organizer, artist, consultant, and advocate for social justice. She is constantly synthesizing her professional and educational experience to build regenerative systems rooted in anti-racism. Nicole’s leadership in local, regional, and national efforts to fight climate change with organizations like the National Wildlife Federation and the BlueGreen Alliance has centered on applying an energy justice lens and ensuring marginalized communities are at the forefront of the clean energy transition.
Nicole holds a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities with a Philosophy Concentration from Lasell College and has continued her education with hundreds of hours of training in anti-racism, DEIJ, somatics, facilitation, management, and clean energy.
Jackie Jackson-Askie
Board Member
Jackie Jackson-Askie is a social worker and a community organizer dedicated to improving the lives of underserved community members. Applying her Master’s in Social Work from Simmons University, Jackie helps organizations understand the barriers that people face in receiving resources and care that lead to a healthy lifestyle. Jackie’s involvement with education, health, and political organizations includes the Ocean State Baptist Church, Liberian Community Association of Rhode Island, Back To School Celebration, and Providence Community Action Program.
Originally from Liberia, West Africa, Jackie has resided in Providence for over 40 plus years. She spends her free time with her beautiful family (husband, three kids, and bonus five kids) and friends.
Justin Thomas
Board member
Justin is an example of what re-entry programming can do for students. As an incarcerated man in 2016 Justin was part of the very first cohort, while still inside of Men’s Minimum-Security prison. Since then he has gone on to work as an Educational Discharge Planner with the Reentry Campus Program and served in many other roles supporting justice-impacted and marginalized folks access employment and education. Justin is also an artist, videographer, and broadcast and production specialist.
Justin is a passionate individual who is determined to not only learn from his mistakes but also pass those lessons forward to others with similar backgrounds.
Everett Pope
Board Member
From a young age, Everett was set on a path of social change. Starting as a volunteer with the Taft Street Community Garden in Pawtucket, Everett encouraged fellow garden members to have a community focus, allowing non-garden members to participate freely in the garden space. Now, Everett serves as the Vice President of Development for the Environment Council of Rhode Island and is involved with social and environmental justice organizations across the state, working to create a rainbow coalition of grassroots and traditional NGOs that can collaborate to advance intersectional policy that advances equitable progress, environmental protection, and racial justice.
As a community organizer and political strategist, Everett works on a wide range of issue areas including energy and climate, housing, and economic justice.
Darius Henderson
Board member
Darius Henderson is a videographer, photographer, and life-long resident of Providence. He graduated from Jacqueline M. Walsh School for the Arts in 2021 and launched his career as an entrepreneur, putting to work his passion for capturing cultural and political moments and events to inspire social action and joy.
Darius’ videography serves the Providence City Council, live streaming their council meetings so they are more accessible to community members. Darius joined the Roots 2Empower board in 2023 to apply his talent for creating engaging media to the vital mission of empowering at-risk youth and formerly incarcerated individuals.
James Monteiro
Emertius Board member
James Monteiro is the founder and director of Reentry Campus. He works both inside and outside the Adult Correction Institution of Rhode Island to ensure that adults in transition have a college degree pathway that is integrated into the support systems needed upon release. James dropped out of school in the eighth grade and spent most of his adult life in and out of the penal system.
The last time James was incarcerated he was doing a ten year sentence in one of the country’s most violent prison systems, the Maryland Penitentiary in Baltimore. It was there that he went back to school and earned an Associate’s Degree in Psychology, with Honors. Upon release, he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Community Development at Roger Williams University. James received the Rhode Island NAACP’s Joseph Lecount Award for his work founding the Billy Taylor House.
Located in James’ childhood neighborhood, the Mount Hope community of Providence, Reentry Campus provides workforce development and enrichment opportunities to youth ages 15 to 21. He has been named as one of Rhode Island’s “15 to Watch” for his work in youth programs that address violence in the city and prepare the next generation of Providence leaders.