The Elevation Project began in 2015 as more than a nonprofit — it was personal. Co-founded by LaTrista Webb and James Smith, the organization was born at the intersection of personal experience, systemic injustice, and an unshakable belief that people deserve more than punishment — they deserve possibility. LaTrista had already been studying mass incarceration when life made the work deeply personal. James was incarcerated, but he was far from idle. From inside, he was brainstorming, writing, building ideas that would later become the core of The Elevation Project’s programming. Together — from two different sides of the prison walls and two totally different backgrounds — LaTrista and James created something rare: a reentry and justice reform program by and for impacted people.
