Professor Michelle Hodges Guarino has been appointed to North Carolina’s Gang Prevention and Intervention Task Force, where she will serve as Chair of the Intervention Work Group. Guarino, of Lee County, joins the task force as a representative of behavioral healthcare professionals.

Governor Josh Stein established the task force by executive order in August 2025, situating it within the Governor’s Crime Commission. The 20-member body is co-chaired by Department of Adult Correction Secretary Leslie Cooley Dismukes and Office of Violence Prevention Director Siarra Scott and brings together law enforcement, education leaders, legal representatives, mental health and substance use organizations, and individuals who have successfully left gang life. Its mission is to reduce the presence and impact of gang activity across North Carolina, with a particular focus on keeping young people out of gangs.

Guarino brings extensive professional and academic experience to her new role. She serves as director of program development for the North Carolina Gang Investigators Association’s Gang Free NC initiative, is a Senior Lecturer at the NC State School of Social Work, and serves as assistant director of behavioral health with the NC Center for Safer Schools. As chair of the Intervention Work Group, she will help guide the task force’s strategies for reaching young people already at risk of or involved in gang activity, connecting them with the behavioral health and community resources needed to change course.

Guarino has been engaged in this work across North Carolina for more than two decades. “Since 1998, I have had the privilege of working alongside gang-involved youth, individuals, families, and communities across North Carolina,” she said. “This work has never simply been a job — it has been my passion, my purpose, and a calling that continues to guide my life’s work. Over the years, I have witnessed both the profound challenges that communities face and the incredible resilience, strength, and potential that emerge when we invest in authentic relationships, prevention, intervention, and community-driven solutions.”

Reflecting on the significance of the task force’s formation, Guarino added: “As North Carolina moves forward under Executive Order 21 with the establishment of the Gang Prevention and Intervention Task Force, I am both hopeful and inspired by the opportunity to advance meaningful statewide strategies that address root causes, strengthen families, enhance community safety, and expand opportunities for youth to thrive. I am honored to be part of this important effort and look forward to contributing to solutions that create lasting, positive change and a brighter future for communities across our state.”

Guarino’s appointment comes on the heels of another professional milestone: she is a contributing author to Treatment Planning, Writing, and Documentation in Creative and Expressive Arts Therapies: A Guide for Mental Health Professionals, released May 7 by Routledge. Edited by Mary L. Affee, Taylor E. Auslander, and Jill K. Weidknecht, the book offers mental health professionals strategies and templates for treatment planning across a range of creative and expressive arts modalities.

Guarino authored the volume’s chapter on Gang Prevention, Intervention, and Re-Entry, drawing on her years of clinical and program development work with gang-involved youth and adults. The chapter’s focus dovetails directly with her new responsibilities on the task force, where she will apply the same intervention and re-entry expertise to inform statewide policy and practice.

The task force holds bi-monthly meetings in Raleigh and is charged with developing coordinated, statewide strategies for gang prevention, intervention, and reentry. More information on the task force, its membership, and its work is available at ncdps.gov.