Research Report: National At-Risk Youth

Ajuah Helton began her career with BUILD in 2001 as entrepreneurship instructor. Though she relocated to Philadelphia in 2002 to pursue graduate studies in education, Ajuah stayed connected with BUILD as an advisor, mentor educator and retreat facilitator and served as interim Director of Education in 2004. Ajuah rejoined the organization in 2007 to spearhead BUILD’s expansion to the East Coast, beginning in Washington, DC. In July of 2010, Ajuah transitioned to serve as BUILD’s first-ever Chief Program Officer (CPO.) As CPO, Ajuah leads the national program team in the areas of data and knowledge management, program implementation and training, curriculum and program design, and research and evaluation. Prior to joining BUILD, Ajuah managed youth entrepreneurship programs at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and at The Enterprise Center in Philadelphia, where she was later promoted to Chief of Staff. Ajuah is a Certified Entrepreneurship Instructor through the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE). She is also an alumna of Teach For America and taught two years in the Greater New Orleans area. Ajuah holds a BA in psychology from Clark Atlanta University and completed doctoral coursework in educational leadership at the University of Pennsylvania.

Alison Parker, director of Human Rights Watch's US program, has specialized expertise in immigration law and youth incarceration. She divides her time between research and advocacy on youth offenders sentenced to life without parole and on human rights abuses against non-citizens in the US. Previously, she was a Sandler fellow and acting director of Human Rights Watch's refugee policy program, where she documented and advocated against violations of the rights of refugees and internally displaced persons. Before joining Human Rights Watch, Parker worked with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Jesuit Refugee Service, and the law firm Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen, and Hamilton. Parker, a published author, is a graduate of Columbia Law School and Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs.

Amanda Petteruti is a researcher and policy analyst with approximately seven years of combined experience in education and criminal justice policy. Early in her career, she organized a writing program for youth at the National Campaign to Stop Violence and provided general support to the National Juvenile Defender Center. Prior to joining the staff of the Justice Policy Institute, she conducted research on issues pertaining to urban education at the Council of the Great City Schools. Petteruti has earned a Master of Arts in education policy and leadership from the University of Maryland College Park and a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from Bates College. Petteruti has contributed to several JPI reports related to education policy and co-authored The Vortex: The Concentrated Racial Impact of Drug Imprisonment and the Characteristics of Punitive Counties and JPI's Public Safety Policy Brief series.

Andrea Kane is the senior director of public policy at The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to promoting values, behavior and policies that reduce both teen pregnancy and unplanned pregnancy among young adults. She is responsible for The National Campaign’s public policy program, as well as its growing initiative with community colleges. During her time at The National Campaign, she has also had responsibility for partnerships with a wide range of national, state, and local organizations and helped launch The National Campaign’s work with youth in foster care and with Latino communities. She works closely with The National Campaign’s bipartisan Congressional Advisory Panels and other members of Congress, as well as with The National Campaign’s Public Policy Advisory Group. In addition, she was affiliated with the Brookings Institution’s Center on Children and Families from 2001 through 2008. Before joining the Campaign in 2001, Kane served at the White House Domestic Policy Council as a special assistant to President Clinton from 1997 to 2000. Her focus included responsible fatherhood, teenage pregnancy prevention, welfare to work, and related issues. She has worked at the National Governors’ Association, and at the state and local level in California, Texas, and Virginia. Kane studied Government at Smith College, received a BA from Cornell University and an MPA from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas. She has served on the boards of the Great Society Fund (affiliated with the LBJ School), the National Practitioners Network for Fathers and Families, the Smith College Club of Washington, and the Caldwell Early Life Center of Rudolf Steiner College.

Andrea Gibby is the executive director at the Appalachian Children's Center. She also serves on the boards of the Towns County Board of Public Health and the North Georgia Crisis Network.

Ann Goldsmith works as the Development Director and National Program Officer at the Best Friends Foundation.

In 2003, Catherine Hutton Markwell partnered with Tim Draper (www.dfj.com), the founder and current Chairman, to launch The BizWorld Foundation from a small Silicon Valley start-up to an international non-profit by marketing programs directly to the education sector and putting the curriculum in the hands of teachers. She oversees the entire operation including development, outreach, and management. Catherine is a strong advocate for elementary entrepreneurship and compels the private sector to get involved in innovative education. She has been a speaker at several events promoting entrepreneurship, business and financial education. Ms. Markwell started her career as a financial advisor for PaineWebber and Smith Barney. Before her move into the non-profit education sector, she was an investment banker at Fortrend International in San Francisco with a focus on international investment banking and working with founder-based companies in the US and abroad. She received a fellowship with the Full Circle Fund (www.fullcirclefund.org) in 2007, where she served as the Grant Cycle Director for the Education Circle and is still currently an active member. She has served on the board of The Financial Women’s Association of San Francisco and The Future Leaders Institute (Oakland, CA), currently serves as a board advisor for Pivot Learning Partners’ Innovation Incubator (www.pivotlearning.org). In addition, Catherine has also chaired various fundraising events for the Junior League of San Francisco (www.jlsf.org). She holds a Director’s Certification from the Anderson School of Business and attended the University of California at Santa Barbara where she studied Political Science. Catherine currently resides with her husband David Markwell in Mill Valley, California.

Catherine McCracken, Program Director for SSP and Development Director, began at the agency as a consultant with the Sentencing Service Program and was hired as a full-time employee in October 2007. She has a Masters of Science in Conflict Resolution from Portland State University and is trained in the areas of restorative justice, alternative sentencing, and prisoner reentry. Prior to joining CJCJ, Ms. McCracken was a program coordinator for the Mid-Michigan Dispute Resolution Center in Saginaw, Michigan where she supervised the Victim-Offender Mediation Program and conducted trainings on victim-offender reconciliation. Ms. McCracken has 193 hours of mediation training and several hundred hours of at-the-table mediation experience. Since joining CJCJ, Ms. McCracken has applied her training and experience towards promoting individualized and restorative approaches to sentencing.

Charles Collins is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the YMCA of San Francisco, a not-for-profit organization committed to serving the diverse communities of the Bay Area. Its mission is to build strong kids, strong families and strong communities by enriching the lives of all people in spirit, mind and body. Mr. Collins has practiced law with the firms of Steinhart & Falconer (now Piper Rudnick) and Berkeley & Rhodes. He received his Bachelor of Arts with honors from Williams College (1969), his Master of City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1973), and his Juris Doctor from the Harvard Law School (1976). The YMCA of San Francisco partners with the Physical Activity Council largely due to the YMCA's Pioneering Healthier Communities and Activate America initiatives. We are pleased to work towards creating a healthier San Francisco through the development of policies and programs aimed at the reduction of chronic illness in our communities.

Chris Newlin, MS LPC, has been the Executive Director of the National Children's Advocacy Center since July 2005. He is responsible for providing leadership and management of NCAC and participating in national and international leadership activities regarding the protection of children. The NCAC was the first Child Advocacy Center in the United States, and continues to provide both prevention and intervention services for child abuse in Huntsville/Madison County, and also houses the NCAC National Training Center, the Southern Regional CAC, and the Child Abuse Library Online (CALiO). In these capacities, Chris oversees a staff of 53 professionals and a yearly budget of 5 million dollars. Chris is a Board Member of the Alabama Network of Children's Advocacy Centers, an ex-officio Board Member for the National Children's Alliance, member of the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN), and a Clinical Member of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA). He is also the former Training Faculty Coordinator for Finding Words Georgia and a training faculty member of the National Children's Advocacy Center's Forensic Interviewing Training Program. Chris has presented at numerous local, regional, national and international conferences; and recent areas of interest are the international development of the Child Advocacy Center model, implementation of evidence-based practices within the CAC model, and the dissemination and utilization of child maltreatment research to improve frontline practice. Chris graduated from Hendrix College, the University of Central Arkansas, and the Harvard Business School Executive Education Program. Prior to coming to the NCAC, Chris was the Executive/Clinical Director of Harbor House, the Northwest Georgia Child Advocacy Center in Rome, GA, from 1999-2005. During his tenure at Harbor House, the agency increased its service area to encompass seven counties in Northwest Georgia with a population of 420,000; created a satellite office, the Paulding Child Advocacy Center, in Dallas; and was cited by the NCA for developing innovative technology for use at the CAC and in multidisciplinary team meetings. In addition to his Executive Director duties, he conducted forensic interviews with children from multiple judicial circuits, led the multidisciplinary teams in two judicial circuits was a former board member of the Georgia Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers, and former President of the Children's Advocacy Centers of Georgia. Additional prior experience includes employment as a Counselor/Forensic Interviewer at Children's Advocacy Services of Greater St. Louis where he provided therapy for sexually abused children and children exposed to domestic violence, and conducting forensic interviews with children regarding allegations of sexual abuse. In addition, he developed and implemented a comprehensive treatment program for juveniles with sexual behavior problems for the St. Charles County Family Court. Chris also worked as a Therapist/Research Assistant at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences/Arkansas Children's Hospital – Family Treatment Program, a specialized treatment program for incestuous families where he provided therapy services for sexually abused children, their non-abused siblings, non- offending parents, and incest offenders. Additionally, he provided outpatient treatment for adolescents with sexual behavior problems and conducted extensive assessment of child maltreatment victims as a Research Assistant in “A Psychophysiological Study of Abused Children”, a five-year NIMH funded study which evaluated the impact of child maltreatment on children's psychophysiology.

Deb has been with Advocates for over 15 years, first as Director of the Support Center for School-based Health Care, then as Deputy Director, and most recently as Executive Vice President. Her responsibilities include strategic and operational planning and management of program staff. Before coming to Advocates, Deb served as Director of Community Health Services for the City of Atlantic City where she designed, implemented, and evaluated sexuality education, health promotion, teen pregnancy prevention, and teen parenting programs for an urban population. Early in her career, Deb served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay, implementing child spacing, oral re-hydration, and childhood immunization programs. Deb holds a Masters of Public Health in Population Planning and International Health from the University of Michigan and is the author of numerous publications in the area of adolescent reproductive and sexual health.

Donna Butts is the Executive Director of Generations United, a position she has held since 1997. For more than 30 years, Butts has worked tirelessly to promote the well-being of children, youth and older adults through nonprofit organizations across the country and around the world. She began her career in her home state of Oregon as a youth worker with the YWCA, where she worked one-on-one with teens and saw the positive effects of intergenerational programs firsthand.

Ed Mishrell is the Senior Vice President of Planning and Measurement at the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and has worked at the Boys & Girls Clubs of America for over 20 years. Mishrell earned a MSW from Temple University, a master's of education from Elmira College, and a BS in Liberal Arts from Alfred University.

Eliot Brenner oversees clinical and direct service operations, client information technology, and training. Brenner holds a doctorate in clinical psychology from Yale University. With more than 14 years experience in a wide range of mental health and child welfare settings, Brenner served as the chief consulting psychologist for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. Most recently, he was Casey’s clinical director.

Gerald Richards is the CEO of 826 National. With close to twenty years of management and development experience at national nonprofit organizations including the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), for which he served as the Executive Director of the Bay Area office prior to joining 826; the United Negro College Fund; the University of California, San Francisco; the J. David Gladstone Institutes; Chicago Panel on Social Policy; and The Cradle Foundation, Gerald is a respected advocate for youth and education access. Gerald is currently a member of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and Ed Steps Curiosity and Creativity workgroup in Washington, DC; an inaugural fellow in the California Leaders of Color Fellowship Program; and was a member of the 2009 class of Leadership San Francisco. He currently serves on the board of the Woodland School, and previously served on the boards of Juma Ventures and KIPP SF Bay Academy. Born and raised in Harlem, Gerald has an MFA in Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BA in Film Studies from Wesleyan University.

Jakada Imani became Ella Baker Center's Executive Director in 2007, after serving as a lead strategist and chief team member on some of Ella Baker Center's most high profile campaigns for eight years. Prior to becoming Executive Director, Jakada directed Books Not Bars, taking the ongoing campaign to replace California's abusive youth prisons with effective rehabilitation programs to ever-increasing heights. Jakada helped lead the successful Stop the Super Jail Campaign, a two-year effort to stop Alameda County from building a massive, expensive and remote juvenile hall that it didn't need. He was a leader in the Justice for Moreno and Pacheco Campaign, the successful fight to free two wrongly convicted Latino boys in Solano County. And he ran Ella Baker Center's youth organizing project, Third Eye Movement, during the No on 21 campaign to educate voters about the dangers of Proposition 21, a draconian ballot measure aimed at putting 14-year-olds in adult courts and 16-year-olds in adult prisons. Before joining Ella Baker Center staff, Jakada was a Constituent Liaison for Oakland City Councilwoman Nancy Nadel. He helped launch or lead a number of important Bay Area organizations, including Empowered Youth Educating Society (EYES), Rising Youth for Social Equality (RYSE) and Underground Railroad (an artist collective). Born and raised in Oakland, California, Jakada is the father of four powerful and creative young girls. You can read his articles on Ella's Voice as well follow his contributions to City Brights and the Huffington Post.

Jody Kent is the National Coordinator of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth.  She works with advocates around the country to end the practice of sentencing youth to life without the possibility of parole, using a multi-pronged strategy that includes public education, legislative advocacy, and litigation.  Prior to joining the Campaign for Fair Sentencing of Youth in February 2009, Jody served as the Public Policy Coordinator for the ACLU National Prison Project (NPP) for two and a half years, where she spearheaded a campaign to amend the Prison Litigation Reform Act.  Before joining the ACLU’s National Prison Project, she worked for three years at the ACLU of Southern California (ACLU-SC) in Los Angeles as the Jails Project Coordinator.  In her role at the ACLU-SC, Jody was responsible for monitoring the L.A. county jails to ensure that certain legal requirements were met and basic services were provided to people incarcerated there.  In June 2006, Jody was appointed to a panel of experts that reported to a federal district judge to negotiate and develop plans to reduce overcrowding at the nation’s largest jail.  Jody holds a BA from Boston College and a Master in Public Management from the University of Maryland’s Public Policy School.

John Sullivan is the VP of Operations at The Mentor Network. Founded in 1980, The MENTOR Network is a national network of local human services providers offering an array of quality, community-based services to adults and children adults and children with intellectual and developmental disabilities, brain and spinal cord injuries and other catastrophic injuries and illnesses, and to youth with emotional, behavioral and medically complex challenges as well as their families.

Judith J. Pickens serves as Senior Vice President for Program Services at the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Pickens oversees national programs in five areas: Character and Leadership Development; Education and Career Development; Health and Life Skills; The Arts; and Sports, Fitness and Recreation. Before joining the Program Services department at BGCA, Pickens acted as Director of Career Development, helping to train aspiring Club executives and junior staff. She started her relationship with the Club in 1980, working as Center Director for an affiliate program, the Crime Prevention Association of Philadelphia. She has also been an elementary school teacher and psychology professor at Brandywine College in Delaware. Pickens is a member of the advisory councils for many education programs, including the Character Education Partnership and the Program Group of the National Collaboration for Youth. Pickens received a master's degree from Temple University and a bachelor's degree from Cheyney State University in Pennsylvania.

Judith Dittman is the executive director of Alternative House. Alternative House, founded in 1972, provides support to at-risk children, youth and families through counseling, shelter, crisis intervention and neighborhood outreach. Our programs recognize that families are interdependent and that a crisis or challenge facing one family member affects everyone. We therefore empower children, teens and families to work together and build on their strengths.

Judy Vredenburgh brings a lifelong passion for social justice and for supporting vulnerable girls and young women to her role as President and CEO of Girls Incorporated. Girls Inc. is the leading nonprofit provider of research-based programs focused on preparing girls from at-risk communities for lives of educational achievement and economic independence.

A sociologist and recognized leader in youth development, Karen started her career at the Urban Institute, conducting numerous studies on social services for children and families. Later, she worked six years at the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF), launching its adolescent pregnancy prevention initiatives and helping to create its adolescent policy agenda. In 1990, she left CDF to become a Vice President at the Academy for Educational Development where she founded and directed the Center for Youth Development and Policy Research and its spin-off, the National Training Institute for Community Youth Work. In January 1995, Karen handed the Center’s reins to Richard Murphy, former Commissioner for Youth Services in New York City, in order to accept a position within the Clinton Administration as Director of the unfortunately short-lived President's Crime Prevention Council, where she worked with 13 cabinet secretaries to create a coordinated prevention agenda. In the fall of 1995, Karen joined the executive team of the International Youth Foundation, charged with helping the organization strengthen its program content and develop an evaluation strategy. In 1998, she and Rick Little, head of IYF, took a six-month leave of absence to work with General Powell to create America’s Promise. In 1999, she returned to IYF to lay the seeds for what has become the Forum. A widely published author, Karen has written three books, dozens of articles on youth issues and is also a regular columnist for Youth Today and public speaker. Karen currently sits on the America’s Promise Board of Trustees, and the boards of the National Human Services Assembly and YouthBuild USA. Karen is the 2002 recipient of the National Commission for African American Education Augustus F. Hawkins Service Award and the 2003 American Youth Policy Forum Decade of Service Award for Sustained Visionary Leadership in Advancing Youth Policy. Karen was named one of the top 50 CEOs in nonprofits with power and influence. This 12th annual edition, published August 1, 2009, of The NonProfit Times list is the first time Karen has been recognized for her leadership in the youth development field. Karen earned a Masters degree in Sociology from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Oberlin College.

Libby Doggett began her tenure at the Pew Center on the States overseeing four campaigns to advance policies and practices that help young children thrive and become healthy, productive adults. She now directs one of those efforts, the Pew Home Visiting Campaign, which partners with legislators and other leaders to promote smart state policies and investments in quality, home-based programs for new and expectant families.

Liz brings more than two decades of experience to the Campaign for Youth Justice (CFYJ), an organization she founded that is dedicated to ending the practice of trying, sentencing and incarcerating children in the adult criminal justice system. In her capacity at CFYJ, Liz is responsible for overall strategy, management and fundraising. Liz currently serves as the co-chair of the Act 4 Juvenile Justice campaign, an effort launched to reauthorize the Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA). Prior to starting The Campaign for Youth Justice, Ms. Ryan served for five years as the Advocacy Director for the Youth Law Center’s Building Blocks for Youth Initiative, a project to reduce the over-incarceration and disparate treatment of children of color in the juvenile justice system. Her work at the Youth Law Center involved campaign advocacy assistance at the national, state and local levels to stop punitive juvenile justice legislation, redirect funding to communities, and increase involvement of the constituencies that were most affected by juvenile justice decision-making. Ms. Ryan previously served as Deputy Chief of Staff and Legislative Director to U.S. Senator Thomas R. Carper during his terms as Delaware’s Governor and member of the US House of Representatives. She also served as a lobbyist for the Children’s Defense Fund. Ms. Ryan is a former VISTA volunteer. Ms. Ryan holds a BA from Dickinson College (Carlisle, PA) and an MA from The George Washington University (Washington, DC).

Marlene started the first Teen Court in South Dakota in 1995 at which time there were 78 courts nationwide.

Molly Cirillo started her social work career at CornerHouse Interagency Child Abuse Evaluation and Training Center as the Program Assistant. She completed hundreds of intakes for child abuse investigations and assisted with forensic interview videotaping and the completion of medical exams.  She has also worked at several non-profits and county agencies providing social work case management to families and children in the child welfare system. Included in the the on-going case management was work around crime victim services and child advocacy.  Molly attended the Minnesota Victim Assistance Academy training and has utilized the training while working with victims of child sexual abuse.  Molly has always had a passion for teaching and has maintained a part-time job with the American Red Cross for the past five years as a Health and Safety Instructor.  Currently she teaches CPR and First Aid classes to adults and general safety and babysitter's training skills to youth.  Molly has also implemented a full database tracking system of child abuse victims for a local child advocacy center.  She also led the training session to assist staff in learning the new database. Molly's passion for advocacy, education and prevention leads her current social work practice. She obtained her MSW from the University of Minnesota and is a Licensed Graduate Social Worker. Molly is currently the  Community Outreach Coordinator for NCPTC's Jacob Wetterling Resource Center program.  She provides on-going case management services to the families of missing and exploited children.  She works as a liaison between the family and law enforcement to help bridge the gap in services and provide additional resources for families. Molly's role is also to help educate families and communities to prevent the exploitation of children.

Nichole Turgeon, CEO, joined Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Midlands in 2005. Nichole is a former AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer. Nichole has over ten years of fundraising experience. Prior to joining Big Brothers Big Sisters, Nichole worked for Habitat for Humanity and Nebraska AIDS Project. Nichole has been matched with her Little Sister Briana since 2005. In 2011 Nichole was named one of the year’s Ten Outstanding Young Omahans by the Omaha Jaycees. Nichole is a graduate of Leadership Omaha (Class 32). She serves on the nationwide Fund Development Committee of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. She is Chair of the Fund Development Committee of the Junior League of Omaha and a graduate of the Junior League's Leadership Academy. In addition to her work with the Junior League, she has volunteered her time with many community groups including the American Parkinson Disease Association, American Red Cross, Film Streams, Habitat for Humanity, and the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce. Nichole is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. She received her BBA in Marketing Resource Management from Pacific Lutheran University in Washington State and also attended Lancaster University in the United Kingdom. Nichole is pursuing an MA in Philanthropy & Development at St. Mary’s University (MN).

Patricia has over 16 years of experience in direct and indirect service in programs regarding violence against women.  She has been a direct service provider, as well as in a supervisory capacity in residential programs, to include emergency shelter and transitional living facilities.  She has extensive experience in handling crisis and has forever been a problem solver, both personally and professionally. She has worked serving adult & children’s needs, sexual violence victims, and served in an outreach capacity.  She has been a presenter for a number of years, to diverse audiences on a variety of topics regarding violence against women on a state, as well as national level.  She has presented to professionals such as law enforcement, medical providers, attorneys, and social workers. Patricia has worked with incarcerated women and teens, both male and female.  She has started programs from the ground up, such as the Adopt-A-Family for the Holidays program which is in its 14th successful year;  assisted in the first in the Big Bend of Florida area Spanish speaking support group, and International Thanksgiving just to name a few. She has served as the Battered /Formerly Battered Women’s Caucus Chair – Florida, and the Women of Color Caucus Chair as an agency Chair in Tallahassee, Florida.

Paul Minorini is President and CEO of Boys Hope Girls Hope International. He has been involved with the organization since 1985, having served as a mentor, houseparent, Camp Co-Director, and benefactor, and joined the organization in a full-time capacity as Director of Organizational Advancement in 1997. He has served as President and CEO since 2001. During his tenure, he has seen Boys Hope Girls Hope expand to serve well over 600 children a year in 16 U.S. cities and four foreign countries. Prior to joining Boys Hope Girls Hope, he addressed issues of equality in education as well as affirmative action and opportunities for at-risk children as an attorney for Hogan & Hartson LLP. He has published several articles related to educational issues and has served as a guest lecturer on school finance equity/adequacy at American University. Paul’s ongoing commitment to social justice was recognized while he was still attending law school, when he was awarded the Outstanding Community Service Award at University of Pennsylvania Law School.  He also was a recipient, along with co-recipients Roslyn Carter and Paul Farmer, of the first annual In Harmony With Hope award, given in 2007 by the Elfenworks Foundation.  In 2008, he received the International Inspiration Award by the Hugh O’Brien Youth Leadership program. Paul currently serves on the National Board of the Nativity Miguel Network of Jesuit and Christian Brothers Middle Schools, the Board of ACCESS Academies in St. Louis (a support organization for four such middle schools) and is a member of the Emmaus Choir at his local church. He, his wife, Molly Shaffer, and their three children reside in St. Louis. He holds a B.A. from Northwestern University and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Priscilla Martens is the Executive Director of the National Family Preservation Network (NFPN).  NFPN promotes a highly effective model of family preservation, has developed widely used family functioning assessment tools, and is also involved in reunification and father-involvement initiatives.  All of these come under the broader field of child protection.  We do research, curriculum development, training, and technical assistance.

Becky comes to CCAI from the beautiful Great Lakes State of Michigan. She has a J.D. from Regent Law, and has singularly focused her life work on orphan relief, foster care and adoption policy from an early age. During college and law school, Becky traveled coast to coast to work with several of the premier child welfare law firms and policy organizations in the U.S., including the Alliance for Children’s Rights and National Council for Adoption. She also frequently travels internationally to study and work with orphan care programs in other countries. Becky is thrilled to join CCAI in serving and educating Members of Congress and their staff on the issues about which she is the most passionate. She directs CCAI’s Congressional Resource Program and 20/20 Vision Delegation Program and has coordinated congressional delegations to Los Angeles, the United Kingdom, Ethiopia and Guatemala.

Robert Schwartz co-founded Juvenile Law Center (JLC) in 1975 and has been its executive director since 1982. He has represented dependent and delinquent children in Pennsylvania juvenile and appellate courts; brought class-action litigation over institutional conditions and probation functions; testified in Congress; and spoken in over thirty states on matters related to children and the law. Since 1991, he has been a gubernatorial appointee to Pennsylvania’s state advisory group, which advises the governor on policy and is responsible for the use of federal delinquency prevention funds in the state.

Dr. Robin Ganzert is the President and Chief Executive Officer for American Humane Association, the nation’s leading voice for the protection of children and animals. Through its numerous globally recognized programs and initiatives, American Humane’s work has brought about sustained, measured change and social impact to protecting society’s most vulnerable. Prior to joining American Humane in 2010, Dr. Ganzert served as the Deputy Director of Philanthropic Services at The Pew Charitable Trusts. In her role, she provided leadership and management for the team of advisors for strategic high-impact philanthropy. Before joining Pew, Dr. Ganzert was the Senior Vice President and National Director of Philanthropic Strategies with Wachovia Wealth Management, a division of Wachovia Bank, N.A. She formerly served as the National Director of the Wachovia Center for Planned Giving. Dr. Ganzert received her B.S. and M.B.A. from Wake Forest University and her doctorate from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. She holds five professional financial management and accounting certifications, including Accredited Investment Fiduciary and Certified in Management Accounting. She also serves as the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors with the ALS Association based in Washington, DC.

Ms. White is one of the nation’s leading experts on the nexus between housing policy and child welfare. She is the former Director of Housing and Homelessness for the Child Welfare League of America. In that capacity she co-edited the landmark issue of the League’s journal, Child Welfare, documenting the extent to which children are needlessly held in foster care because their parents lack decent housing. She coordinated conferences, site visits, advisory committees and wrote a newsletter to inform the field of promising practices in the Family Unification Program, which provides federal housing vouchers to families and youth aging out of foster care.

Sarah Bryer, NJJN's Director, has been working in the juvenile and criminal justice fields for more than twenty years. Prior to joining NJJN, she lived in New York City where she was the Director of Policy and Planning at the Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services (CASES), an alternative-to-incarceration program serving more than 10,000 misdemeanor and felony-level, court-involved youth and adults per year. Also in New York, Ms. Bryer worked at the Center for Court Innovation where she started the Bronx and Queens drug courts, and subsequently was the Manager of Youth Programs, where she initiated one of New York City’s first Youth Courts in Red Hook, Brooklyn. She has been a victim-offender mediator for court-involved youth in California and was an appellate investigator for adults on death row. She received a bachelor with honors and distinction in anthropology from Stanford University and a Master in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Throughout her 30 year career, Sarah has worked with community groups, public human service and housing organizations, child welfare agencies and private foundations across the country to passionately improve permanency practice and promote sound public policies.

Sarah Paterson is the project manager for Early Learning Ventures. Sarah is responsible for oversight of multiple programs and ensuring alignment with the mission of the David and Laura Merage Foundation-- to inspire innovation and create opportunities for philanthropic partnerships to thrive. Sarah provides technical support and management for the Early Learning Ventures Alliance (ELVA) IT Platform, Alliance CORE. Additionally, in her technical capacity, Sarah is responsible for maintaining the ELVA website, developing educational tools for ELVA Affiliates, researching funding opportunities, conference planning, and project development focused in ECE. Prior to joining the Early Learning Ventures, Sarah worked as a Technology Coordinator at a nationally recognized charter school in Denver, Colorado and served as a project manager for an educational services company that specialized in customized professional development programs. Sarah holds a Bachelor's in Communications from Virginia Tech and a Master's in Information and Learning Technologies with a focus on Instructional Design and Adult Learning from University of Colorado.

A Second Chance’s President, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, is Dr. Sharon McDaniel. She possesses a Bachelor of Administration of Justice from The Pennsylvania State University; a Master of Public Administration from the University of Pittsburgh; a Certificate in Non-Profit Management from the Heinz School for Public Policy, Carnegie-Mellon University; Doctorate of Education from NOVA Southeastern University (Concentration: Organizational Behavior, Leadership and Management of Children and Youth Programs); Leadership Pittsburgh, Class XVIII; and a graduate of the Cosmetology Program at Empire Beauty School. More recently, Dr. McDaniel was a guest lecturer at the University of Barcelona (Spain), and fellow colleagues from the University of Pittsburgh and Oxford University (England) presented on Intergenerational Issues in United States of America, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Dr. McDaniel has also taken courses in Non-profit management and Business at Harvard University and University of Chicago-Graduate School of Business.

Sherina Aqeel is the executive president of Kids In Discovery Of Self, Inc (K.I.D.O.S.). K.I.D.O.S.'s mission is to provide a comprehensive youth development program through partnerships with business and community leaders that enhances and promotes education, self sufficiency, social skills and career development training to assist youths in becoming successful and productive members of society.

Sumayyah Waheed is the Director for the Books Not Bars campaign of the Ella Baker Center. Books Not Bars organizes the largest statewide network of families of incarcerated youth and champions policies to replace California's costly, broken youth prison system with alternatives that work.

Tim Wood is a therapist at SteppingStones Counseling. SteppingStones Counseling & Consulting of Charlotte is a private practice dedicated to providing professional counseling and consultation services to children, adolescents, adults, couples and families.

Troy Strother is the executive director of Parents Anonymous of South Carolina. Parents Anonymous of South Carolina, Inc., is a private, non-profit 501(c)3 organization whose mission is to prevent child abuse and neglect by strengthening families and empowering communities in the state of South Carolina.