Jason Minnicozzi is a public servant who has focused his career on being a voice for victims, strengthening communities, and helping people build better lives.

 

Raised in a working-class household by parents who made education a priority, Jason learned the values of hard work and service to one’s community. Jason’s grandfather served in the Korean War and his grandmother was a teacher and a leading activist for women’s equality in Long Island, NY.  Jason’s father put himself through college and went on to earn his Doctorate of Physiology and Immunology, and Jason’s mother was a teacher and union member.

 

Jason put his work ethic to use in the classroom and on the soccer field, where he learned about taking responsibility for his role in a team.  At age 12, he began working as a babysitter, mowing lawns, and shoveling snow.  At 14 he got his first job as a coffee shop busboy and worked in service jobs all through school, building trust and earning responsibility at each job, including a promotion to TCBY store manager at 17 years old.

 

Having spent his childhood summers staying with family in Wrightsville Beach and Carolina Beach digging for sand crabs, Jason fell in love with the Wilmington area and knew North Carolina was the place for him.  He went on to earn a degree in criminology from North Carolina State and his law degree from Campbell University before settling in Wilmington.

 

While in college, Jason’s motivation to serve the public and strengthen communities was cemented after consoling friends who had lost family on 9/11.  As a child, he had always been one to stand up for fellow students who were being bullied and Jason wanted to make a career out of standing up for the rights of others, helping those who don’t feel they have a voice, and working to provide a sense of security for people.  So Jason took his work ethic to the District Attorney’s Offices in Brunswick, Bladen, and Columbus Counties to serve as a prosecutor, where he developed a specialty in convicting predators who sexually abuse children.

 

Jason built trust and listened closely to victims so he could be their voice at trial and often dug deeply into his cases, taking on investigations himself and never giving up in order to get justice for the victims. He also went to work at the New Hanover County Public Defender’s Office as a way to stand up for people wrongly accused and help offenders, many of whom are addicts, find the treatment they need to heal themselves and change after paying their debt to society.  

 

Angry after watching the January 6th Insurrection and the refusal of many Washington politicians to take responsibility for promoting attacks on police and our democracy, Jason decided to step up to serve at another level.  He had long been frustrated by the lack of attention to foundational economic, personal, and social issues that can lead people to criminal acts and the lack of attention provided to victims of sexual abuse, particularly since many abusers had been abused themselves and never appropriately dealt with the trauma.