Rico Hall's professional experience covers the areas of education, psychology, human behavior, program management, health and human services and criminal justice. He began his career providing counseling and intervention services in an adult state mental health institution as a psychiatric technician while completing his undergraduate degree. Shortly after receiving his undergraduate degree, Hall took on the duties of outpatient counseling and case management services for the adult mentally ill population as a case manager. He quickly observed that there were children involved in the lives of most of his adult clients and became interested in the needs of children as well. Enthused by his insight, Hall began performing crisis intervention services for youth in at-risk communities on inpatient and outpatient terms. To serve the adult and youth populations in at-risk, low-socioeconomic and disadvantaged communities, he has worked on the local, state and federal levels in government and non-profit sectors.
Hall's professional development began in wrap-around counseling and case management for youth and adult populations. As the site director/lead teacher, Hall managed a 21st century community learning center afterschool program serving pre-k to 8th grade students in downtown D.C. He was a program specialist for the Department of Health and Human Services, Mentoring Children of Prisoners Program. Hall is a program manager for the Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and an adjunct professor for the University of Maryland in both the School of Public Policy and the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences in the African American Studies Department.
Hall holds a doctoral degree in human and organizational learning from the George Washington University Graduate School of Education and Human Development. His dissertation study is "Amongst but not Connected: Social Networking Experiences of First-Generation Professional (FGP) Black Males in the Federal Government." He received his undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga; education specialist and Master of Education from Tennessee Technological University; and an MBA from the University of Phoenix. Through his educational development, Hall has earned membership in the Phi Lambda Theta Honor Society and Golden Key International Honour Society.
