Donna Harrison, MSW

Ms. Harrison is the Housing and Criminal Justice Director at the Virginia Department of Veterans Services (DVS) Virginia Veteran and Family Support (VVFS) program. She has been employed with the Commonwealth of Virginia for 29 years. Ms. Harrison spent most of her career with the State working in the Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC) for over 18 years where she held several direct service positions and later served as the Community Release Unit Supervisor. In her former role as the VADOC Community Release Unit Supervisor, she managed a statewide releasing unit where she focused on addressing policy and programming gaps and barriers for justice-involved individuals with severe medical and mental health needs. She also served as the statewide technical assistance provider for the VADOC pre-release benefits application process to ensure individuals with medical and mental health needs were connected to benefits upon release from incarceration. Ms. Harrison provided pre-release benefits and re-entry policy training to medical personnel, mental health staff, and facility counselors in VADOC.

Ms. Harrison joined the Virginia Department of Veterans Services as the Criminal Justice Director in November 2016. In her current role as the Housing and Criminal Justice Director, she is responsible for policy and program development of the agency’s initiatives related to the coordination of services for veterans involved in the criminal justice system and veterans experiencing homelessness. Ms. Harrison manages the VVFS Justice Involved Services (JIS) program and provides statewide technical assistance to jurisdictions that are interested in starting veteran treatment dockets. She also serves as a member of several workgroups to advocate for services for justice-involved veterans and veterans experiencing homelessness. Ms. Harrison is the daughter of an Army veteran.