MEET THE FOUNDER

Jarmell Mayweather is the Founder and Executive Director of Re’Ventry, a community-based initiative he launched in 2018 to reduce recidivism by prioritizing family reintegration, trauma recovery, and community-based economic empowerment.

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Jarmell moved to Minneapolis at the age of eight. For more than forty years, Minneapolis has been home. Growing up in South Minneapolis, he witnessed—and experienced firsthand—the destabilizing effects of addiction, trauma, and systemic inequity. At twelve years old, he began selling drugs. At eighteen, he was sentenced to prison, ultimately serving more than twenty-two years in both state and federal institutions for primarily drug-related offenses.

While incarcerated, Jarmell made a deliberate decision to transform his life. He earned an Associate of Arts degree in Liberal Arts with a focus in Literature and Political Science, followed by a Bachelor’s degree in Childhood Trauma and Community Development. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Political Science. During his incarceration, he facilitated fatherhood and parenting programs for four years, developing curriculum centered on accountability, emotional regulation, and rebuilding family bonds—work that would later become the foundation of Re’Ventry.

His mission is deeply personal.

In August 2024, Jarmell lost his 18-year-old daughter to a drug overdose. One year later, in August 2025, he lost his 47-year-old brother—who struggled with dyslexia, disability, and unresolved trauma—to overdose as well. These profound losses strengthened his conviction that untreated trauma, fractured family systems, and lack of culturally grounded support continue to fuel cycles of addiction and incarceration.

Today, Jarmell is a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist and serves as Community Engagement Coordinator at Damascus Way. He actively partners with Metropolitan State University and Minneapolis College to support justice-impacted individuals and strengthen community collaboration.

Jarmell believes rehabilitation is possible because he has lived it. Through Re’Ventry, he is committed to rehabilitating humanity—one human at a time—by restoring dignity, strengthening relationships, and building structured pathways that prevent the next generation from inheriting the same cycles of trauma and incarceration.