Monroe France
Todd Smith
Jessica Gonzalez

COMPANY HISTORY

Todd Smith, Monroe France and Jessica Gonzalez all share a common interest in issues of social justice education; while each have distinct focus area, their passions collided in a powerful and positive way at New York University in 2002.  Monroe served in the NYU Office of Student Activities, Todd Smith at the Office of LGBT Student Services and Jessica at the Center for Multicultural Education and Programs.  A strong commitment to collaboration and a vision for a just student community, the three colleagues worked together to develop and implement numerous trainings around leadership, diversity, social justice and LGBT issues at NYU.  As partners in Envision, they seek to expand their programs and trainings to the greater community in an effort to promote understanding and bring about social change. Envision has expanded to include consultants with various specialities and expertise in social justice and diversity training.

Monroe France, MA

Monroe France is the Director of New York University’s LGBTQ Student Center and prior to returning to higher education, Monroe was the Supervising Community Educator for Lambda Legal. Monroe has nearly 15 years of experience as a professional trainer, consultant, strategist, and keynote presenter. He has created, implemented, and managed social justice and human rights education programs and initiatives in social justice and human rights organizing, training and education.

Monroe has worked as the Education Training Manager for the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) where he was responsible for building GLSEN's national Training of Trainers Program on LGBT issues in schools and continues to serve with the organization as a National Senior Training Consultant. In both roles, France has created curricula and trained thousands of educators and K-12 upper-level administrators on how to make schools safer for every student, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity expression.

In 2004, France co-launched Envision, a social justice consulting and training agency that has presented at conferences and facilitated trainings for student and staff at universities across the country. He has worked at Barnard College as an Area Director in Residence Life, The Ohio State University and Northern Arizona University. Monroe is currently on the board of directors for Queers for Economic Justice and has served as the Board Fiscal Officer for the organization. He has held the position of Board Secretary for Al-Fatiha LGBT Muslim Foundation and was the Coordinator of the People of Color Organizing Institute, a program of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force's Creating Change Conference.

Monroe’s passion for anti-oppression and social justice work has led him to regularly present and give keynote addresses at national conferences, universities and colleges throughout the country. Monroe received his BA in English from John Carroll University, completed a dual MA in Higher Education Administration and Cultural Studies in Education from The Ohio State University and received a degree in from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 2006.

Todd Smith, MA

Todd believes education and self-reflection are the keys to making change and is committed to his involvement in the social justice movement. Through this work, Todd has gained a greater understanding of various forms of oppression and the ways in which all forms of oppression intersect and negatively affect every member of our society. Within his presentations, he discusses these intersections and the multiple identities that exist within each marginalized group of people.

Currently Todd is the Associate Dean of Student Affairs at Columbia University and is the director of the Office of Civic Action and Engagement. His office strives to connect students to the local and global communities and issues for which they are passionate through various internship, fellowship, and service trip opportunities. Todd was the Director of the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Student Services at New York University for nearly 10 years and for a time simultaneously held the position of Associate Director for the Center for Multicultural Education and Programs.

His campus work included direct student services and support, advocacy and bias response, and creating and facilitating educational workshops and trainings for the entire campus community. Todd received his MA in Higher Education Administration from New York University. At the State University of New York at Geneseo, he completed his BA in Mathematics and Secondary Education.

Todd has served as the Co-Chairperson of the National Consortium of Directors of LGBT Resources in Higher Education and also served on the Board of Directors of the Ali Forney Center, a non-profit organization that provides housing to homeless LGBT youth in New York City. He has worked in Residence Life and in the non-profit field at an organization serving youth in crisis. Todd regularly attends both Student Affairs and LGBT Conferences including those of the American College Personnel Association (ACPA) and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF).

Todd enjoys traveling to new places and loves planning his next vacation with his partner and son. Todd’s other passions include music, entertaining friends, and finding new ways to be creative.

Jessica Gonzalez, MPA

Jessica's unique mixture of experience in higher education administration, public service, policy advocacy and community activism brings a distinctive element into the programs and initiatives she develops. Jessica currently serves as the Executive Director at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, the only national organization working on behalf of the reproductive health and justice of the 20 million Latinas, their families and communities. Prior to that, she was the Associate Director of the New York University Center for Multicultural Education and Programs (CMEP). In that role, she provided support, programs, and services to address the aspirations and challenges of students from ethnically diverse backgrounds. She achieved this by developing programs that focus on fostering student leadership and promoting socially conscience change agents.

In collaboration with student affairs colleagues, she led the creation of a full-day Social Justice Organizing Institute, intermingling social justice theory and methodology with the realities of grassroots organizing by bringing in local and national organizers to the dialogue. She expanded the scope of the NYU Annual Forum on Social Justice and Activism by promoting engaging discourse around current local and global social issues such as disability rights, the prison industrial complex, post-9/11 policies in communities of color, propaganda in the media, global human trafficking, social entrepreneurship and modernity vs. tradition. Jessica also worked to infuse social justice into all the programs that she organized, including the monthly Speaker Series, the Future Administrators Cultural Training Seminar, the Leadership Institute and other collaborative activities.

Jessica served in many leadership capacities in New York City, including 11 years on the Board of Directors, with 6 years as the President, of New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE), Inc., a grassroots immigrant rights advocacy organization. She is an advisory member of the Women of Color Policy Network and an appointed representative of the New York City Transit Riders Council, the Permanent Citizen's Advisory Committee. Jessica had been a member of the New Visions Democratic Club, the Latina Political Action Committee (LPAC), the 115th Police Precinct Community Council, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) and the Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting (ALPFA). In 2002, Jessica was elected as Democratic State Committeewoman in the 39th Assembly District in Queens, New York and was subsequently appointed to the Queens County Committee. She was re-elected in 2004, the same year that she was nominated and selected as a Delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Jessica completed her elected term in 2006 but remains active in political and community organizing.

Jessica is an Adjunct Professor of Latino and Latin American Studies at the City University of New York’s City College and has taught courses on reproductive rights, gender and sexuality. Jessica holds a Masters degree in Public Administration from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, with a concentration in Public and Nonprofit Management and Public Policy. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Boston University, where she graduated cum laude. In 2011, she completed the Columbia University Business School Institute for Not-for-Profit Management.