Sasha Cotton is the Executive Director of the National Network for Safe Communities.
Sasha joined the National Network for Safe Communities in September 2022 as a Senior Strategy Director and has spent the fifteen months getting to know NNSC’s partners, work, and staff, with a vision and plan to strengthen and grow the organization before becoming the Executive Director.
Prior to joining the National Network for Safe Communities, Sasha led violence prevention work in Minneapolis for nearly a decade, including designing and serving as the first director of the Minneapolis Office of Violence Prevention (OVP) in the Minneapolis Health Department. During her time as the Minneapolis’ OVP Director, Executive Director Cotton oversaw the design and implementation of a comprehensive community violence intervention approach which includes the NNSC’s Group Violence Intervention strategy, a hospital based violence intervention program, and street outreach workers. During her tenure, she played a crucial role in the city as it faced the murder of George Floyd and the unrest that followed.
Prior to serving as the OVP Director, Sasha served as the National Resource Center Coordinator at The Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community (IDVAAC), as well as serving as the Prevention Program Manager for the Violence Free Minnesota — the state’s domestic violence coalition. She is currently representing Minnesota on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and is the Vice President of the African American Leadership Council in Saint Paul.
Sasha holds a Bachelors of Arts from Metropolitan State University and a Restorative Justice Certificate from the University of Wisconsin -River Falls
