MS-085: Expanding Your Teen's Horizons-Dawn Freeman, Founder, President & CEO of The Securus Foundation shares tips and strategies for exposing teens to a variety of activities and experiences to prep

Dawn Freeman takes a vision and makes it reality through comprehensive strategy development and tenacious ambition. She intuitively identifies an opportunity with purpose, evaluates its impact on a long-term goal or objective, develops a path to completion, and drives the opportunity and goal to the finish line. She is an inspirational leader whose passion and determination motivates and encourages others to step outside of their comfort zone and aspire to do more. Respected as a credible voice in business and on a personal level, Dawn earns a seat at the table wherever she serves. Dawn is not a stranger to incarceration or recidivism. She has experienced several of her immediate family members go in and out of jail and prison over the years. Some of the stints of incarceration were due to poor decision-making, and some were due to the harsh realities of mental illness and their inability to stay motivated to get and keep their lives on the right path. Additionally, Ms. Freeman has several family members who dedicated 20+ years to law enforcement and corrections, which provides her with an even greater perspective on the challenges of pre-release programming and reentry, not just from the viewpoint of the incarcerated individual, but that of the corrections and law enforcement family. Since 2008, Ms. Freeman has financially supported the reentry efforts of her church and local non-profit organizations. In 2016, Dawn expanded her community service efforts beyond a monetary contribution and began volunteering her personal time to a local reentry focused non-profit organization as a Facilitator. After engaging with individuals with backgrounds like her own family members and due to her decade long tenure in the corrections industry, the concept of The Securus Foundation was born. With the guidance and support of the Executive Team at Securus Technologies, The Securus Foundation is a reality. Dawn holds an M.B.A. with an Accounting specialization and B.A. in Business Administration with a specialization in Management from Saint Leo University.  She is the mother of three children, a product of a military and faith-based upbringing, and she is active member of The Potter’s House in Dallas.