Consulting · Training · Transformation
We have a long history of working in, around, and with the criminal legal system to create programs, run programs, collaborate on solutions, and connect people to the answers they need.
Home To Stay is a reentry ecosystem designed to help people navigate the critical barriers they face after incarceration, including housing, employment, identification, supervision, transportation, and basic stability. Through resource fairs, digital tools, community partnerships, and coordinated service pathways, Home To Stay helps turn a fragmented reentry landscape into a more accessible and connected support system.
The Mobile Office of Reentry Education, or M.O.R.E., is a mobile reentry resource unit designed to bring support directly into the community. Built from a converted ambulance, M.O.R.E. functions as a frontline navigation hub, helping individuals identify urgent needs, connect with resources, and receive warm handoffs where they are, not just where services happen to be located.
Reentry Royale is a practical, portable resource tool that transforms a standard deck of cards into a reentry navigation guide. Each card highlights a community provider, service, or support pathway, creating a simple and accessible way to put critical reentry information directly into the hands of people preparing to return home.
MIRROR is a youth violence prevention and transformation initiative that brings together young people, crime survivors, formerly incarcerated mentors, law enforcement, and community leaders. The program creates structured opportunities for reflection, accountability, relationship-building, and healing, helping participants see both themselves and one another beyond labels, harm, and past mistakes.
The Milwaukee Reentry Council is a collaborative focused on improving reentry outcomes across Milwaukee County. While Paradigm Shyft did not create the Council, we manage it — coordinating its working groups such as Home To Stay, housing, and healthcare, which bring service providers, justice partners, community leaders, and people with lived experience together to coordinate strategy, identify gaps, and strengthen the reentry ecosystem.
We have traveled to Belize, Germany, The Netherlands, Denmark, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and South Korea (in June) to visit, connect with, and study cultures and criminal legal systems in other countries. We then provide reports on some of these trips and use our observations and findings in our work locally to better support and expand possibilities for those in our network.
These dinners and community gatherings bring together system-impacted individuals, community leaders, and decision-makers to humanize the justice system and build actionable, grassroots solutions for stronger communities.
Selected appearances, features, and original writing across national and regional outlets.
Adam is the architect of Act 233, the Wisconsin law mandating the development of community reentry centers to better organize services and improve outcomes, and he leads Home To Stay, a shared resource model that unifies reentry services across Milwaukee. He currently serves as Chair of the Milwaukee Reentry Council, where he works to align city, county, and community partners around shared strategy, data-informed practices, and stronger pathways to stability for returning citizens.
Adam previously served as the Director of Milwaukee's Department of Community Wellness and Safety, a mayoral cabinet-level role, where he led a citywide approach to violence reduction that treated community safety as both a public health and public safety priority. His work focused on coordinating government agencies, healthcare systems, and community-based organizations through shared data, aligned deployment, and long-term prevention frameworks. That experience continues to inform his systems-level approach to reentry and public safety.
In addition to his domestic work, Adam has contributed to international peacebuilding efforts, including dialogue initiatives between Israel and Palestine that center lived experience and human connection in conflict resolution. He is an adjunct instructor at Marquette University and a nationally sought-after speaker, having presented at TEDx, The Nantucket Project, and other national forums. He is the author of Anatomizing the Gang Culture and The Trenches of Change: From Incarceration to Legislation.
In addition to co-founding Paradigm Shyft, Shannon is also the CEO/Founder of The Community, has a graduate degree in Sustainable Peacebuilding from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, is an Ed Trust fellow and Represent Justice alumnus, is a consultant with Marquette McNeely Prison Education Consortium, and is also a first-time father.
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