- Hattie Anthony—Hattie Anthony is an independent consultant and president of the Community Action Networks, Incorporated, a community-based organization, dedicated to community collaboration efforts. Primarily, the organization functions to coordinate the activities of individual and organizational change agents within the African-American and Latino communities.
- With a professional career that spans more than thirty years, Mrs. Anthony is considered an expert in community development and engagement. She has worked in various capacities to develop and implement effective collaborations designed to empower individuals and families to respond to a variety of issues, opportunities and community concerns. Currently Mrs. Anthony chairs the Charlotte Racial and Ethnic approaches to Community Healthy (REACH 2010) Program.
- Prior to establishing the Community Action Network, Inc., Mrs. Anthony served for more than a decade as executive director of the Mecklenburg County Healthy Department Fighting Back Program, a community-based organization committed to the prevention and reduction of substance abuse and other healthy disparities. During tenure at Fighting Back,she facilitated several national community health initiatives and earned a reputation as an expert in the field of neighborhood organization and community engagement.
- Mrs. Anthony has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Justice as the recipient of the prestigious Community Leadership Award. She has also been honored for Excellence in Health Education by the national Women of Achievement, Inc., and holds a Community Image Award from the Mecklenburg County N.A.A.C.P.
- Much of Mrs. Anthony's post-secondary education was gained during her years as a community activist and local civil rights leader, but more formally was earned as a student as Johnson C. Smith University and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
- Cliff Baskerville—Cliff Baskerville is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While obtaining his BA in Psychology and Communications he played cornerback for the UNC Football Team. Upon graduating, he played professionally in the Canadian Football league. After retiring from the CFL, he embarked on his next career—making a difference in the lives of our youth. Mr. Baskerville is currently the Vice President of the South East Region at Choosing the Best Publishing. At Choosing the Best he has had the opportunity of working with thousands of teachers and teens across the country. Through conducting teacher trainings, school assemblies, peer retreats, relationship trainings etc., he has seen the immediate positive impact that teaching abstinence and character education can make in the lives of our teens.
- Choosing the Best is a leader in abstinence-focused sex education curricula, training and resources since 1993. Choosing the Best curricula and materials are now being used in over 2,500 schools in 50 states and has currently reached over 1,000,000 teens across the nation. Our mission is to provide abstinence-focused educational curricula, resources and training for teens that result in healthy relationships and decreases in teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
- Daniel Bennett—Dr. Bennett has several years of social work practice experience working with African American youth. He has also served a member of the faculty at the Georgia State University School of Social Work in Atlanta, GA. Dr. Bennett’s research focuses on the causes and correlates of violence and aggression among ethnic minority youth. He is particularly interested in risk and protective factors related to this phenomenon. His current research efforts are aimed at the study of chronic exposure to urban stressors as risk factors for poor social and developmental outcomes for ethnic minority youth.
- Dr. Bennett received a B.A. degree in Sociology at Hampton University, Hampton, VA, and a M.S.W., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA and a Ph.D. in Social Work, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, N.C. Dr. Bennett has several publications in a number of journals including the publication: Bennett, M. D. & Miller, D.B. (2006). An Exploratory Study of the Urban Hassles Index: A contextually relevant measure of chronic multidimensional stress? Research on Social Work Practice, 16: 305-314; Bennett, M. D., & Fraser, M. W. (2000). Urban violence among African American males: Integrating neighborhood, family and peer perspectives. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, 27(3), 93-117.
- Lorraine Blackman—Lorraine C. Blackman is native of Nashville, Tennessee. She is a graduate of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, The University of Tennessee, and Florida State University. Her clinical and administrative practice in the field of mental health spans more than 30 years. The scope of her practice has included individual, marital, family, and group therapy, employee assistance, and administration.
- A member of the faculty of the Indiana University School of Social Work since 1992, she holds the rank of Associate Professor. She is also the past president of the Indiana Council on Family Relations, an affiliate of the National Council on Family Relations.
- She is the author of two family life education curricula: The African American Marriage Enrichment Program: How to Make Your Good Thing BetterŠ and The African American Parent Training Program: Pulling Together to Rear Our Children—They Grow Up Only OnceŠ. Both began as her doctoral research at Florida State University (1992), then culminated through her teaching, research, and service project at Indiana University. Project Dates: 1997–2000.
- The Indiana University phase was a collaborative partnership among the IU School of Social Work, the Father Resource Program at Wishard Health Services, the M.L. King Center, and Robinson Community AME Church. The Lily Endowment, Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (TANF), the Moriah Fund, and the Indianapolis Foundation funded it. The grant-funded project provided five fellowships for African American students who have earned both the MSW and the graduate certificate in Family Life Education. The primary goal was to develop empirically based practice models in marriage enrichment and parenting education for African American family leaders. Secondarily, the project aimed to build professional capacity in Indiana to provide ethnic and gender sensitive family life education.
- As a result, the marriage enrichment instructor’s manual was unveiled in July 2002 at a 2-day institute to train trainers in the model during the national Smart Marriages conference in Washington, DC. The parenting instructor’s manual was completed in 2003. Currently, policy consultation is being provided at the federal, state, and local levels to increase the number of two-parent headed families and the number of married-parent headed families.
- Audrey Chapman—Audrey B. Chapman is a nationally known figure in the area of Male-Female Relationship. She has developed a “Tough Love” approach to helping males and females to discover an alternative solution to a myriad of problems. Ms. Chapman is also the host of “The Audrey Chapman Show” on WHUR 96.3 FM Radio in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. She conducts weekly live interviews with individuals from the community as well as expert celebrity guests on romantic problems.
- Ms. Chapman has also authored several books such as Mansharing, Choice or Dilemma, published by W. Morrow, Inc., Entitled to Good Loving, published by Henry Holt, Inc. and Getting Good Loving, published by Random House/Ballentine Books. Ms. Chapman’s most recent book is Seven Attitude Adjustments for Finding a Loving Man. Simon Shuster-Pocket Books 2001. Articles about Ms. Chapman have appeared in the Washington Post Newspaper, Washington Times, New York Times, L.A. Times, Redbook Magazine, Essence, Ebony Magazine and many others.
- Ms. Chapman has also appeared as an expert guest on national television shows such as Phil Donahue Show, Oprah Winfrey Show, Sally Jesse Raphael, 20/20 News, Good Morning America, Maury Povich Show, Tony Brown’s Journal, Tavis Smiley Show/BET and Iyanla Vanzant Show.
- Marvin and Jeanett Charles—Jeanett Charles is Co-Founder, along with her husband Marvin, of DADS (Divine Alternatives for Dads Services) a non-profit organization located in Seattle, Washington. Out of her experience with drug abuse, homelessness, the loss of her children to the state, and many other challenges, the Charles built a community/faith based program to provide assistance to fathers who have lost their connection to their children.
- Jeanett was raised by a single parent, her father, through the 60s, 70s and 80s, in a time when it was unheard of. The commitment, love, time and attention given to her from her father gave her the confidence, courage and strength to overcome many of life’s challenges. These experiences inspire her to help fathers see their importance to their children. Remembering one of her father’s quotes when she asked him, “Why don’t you have a girlfriend?” He replied: if I had a girlfriend it would take away from my time with you.
- She has been a presenter for the National Center for Fathering, Father Daughter Summits. Her travels have carried her from the Midwest to the East Coast giving testimony of the valuable necessity of a father’s love. Marvin and Jeanett have been married for 7 years and are the proud parents of 4 children. Marvin Jr., Jeffery, Devotion and Marvette will tell you and show you how much their FATHER means to them.
- Bill Coffin—Bill Coffin, the Special Assistant for Marriage Education, joined the Administration for Children and Families in Jan 2002. Working with the Assistant Secretary he is helping to orchestrate an important culture change, where those who marry will have better access to knowledge and skills to form and sustain a healthy marriage. Because of his efforts over the last 4 years he was given the 2006 Smart Marriages Impact Award this past June.
- Bill spent most of the previous 3 decades working for the Navy, initially on active duty and then as a civilian in the Navy's Family Support Program Headquarters in DC. His passion is marriage education and enrichment. Bill served as the Marriage Preparation Coordinator for the Archdiocese of Washington and as a consultant to the U.S. Bishops Committee on Marriage and Family Life. He co-authored a book chapter on Preventive Interventions for Couples.
Bill is a graduate of Fairfield University in CT and has two master’s degrees, one in Human Relations, and one in Counseling. Bill and his wife Pat have been married for 37 years. Pat is a reading specialist in an elementary school. They have four children and four grandchildren.
- Linda Malone-Colon—Linda Malone-Colon, Ph.D, is the Executive Director of the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center. The National Healthy Marriage Resource Center is a national resource and clearinghouse for information and research relating to healthy marriages for educators, practitioners, individuals, couples, and other interested entities.
- Dr. Malone-Colon has had considerable experience as an educator, administrator, and counselor in institutions of Higher Education including Hampton University, Howard University, Dillard University, and Foothill Community College. Prior to her appointment as the Executive Director of the NHMRC, she was a researcher and faculty member in the Department of Psychology at Hampton University. Dr. Malone-Colon also designed and taught a course entitled “Black Marital Relationships” at Hampton University. This course was featured at the 2003 and 2004 annual Smart Marriages Conference and in the August 2004 edition of Essence magazine. During her extensive tenure at Hampton University, she also founded and was Director of the Hampton University Counseling Center.
- She recently completed a major report on the Consequences of Marriage for African Americans with a team of four family scholars. She has been presenting around the country on topics relative to African American marriages including marriage curricula for undergraduate college students, research strategies for African American populations and strategies for strengthening African American marriages. Dr. Malone-Colon has also conducted research that examines African American responses (including coping strategies) to socio-cultural stressors associated with their minority status. She co-authored a chapter in the Handbook of Tests and Measurements for Black Populations, (on measures of responses to stress in African American populations). She received her MS degree in Clinical Psychology and Ph.D. in Personality Psychology with a minor in Neuropsychology from Howard University.
- Obie Clayton—Dr. Obie Clayton is Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology at Morehouse College. He is also the Executive Director of the Morehouse Research Institute and the Chivers-Grant Institute for the Study of Family and Community Issues. Dr. Clayton received his undergraduate degree in Religion and Sociology from Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi and the Master’s and Doctoral degrees from Emory University. Dr. Clayton has held teaching positions at the following institutions: Millsaps College, Atlanta University, the University of Massachusetts at Boston and the University of Nebraska at Omaha. His Research and teaching interests are primarily in the areas of crime and delinquency, stratification and social inequality. He has just completed a longitudinal study of homicide in Nebraska. This study was funded by the state of Nebraska. He has published in Sociological Practice Review, Journal of Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice Review, The Canadian Journal of Education and other journals and is the editor of the books, An American Dilemma Revisited: Race Relations in a Changing World and Black Fathers in Contemporary American Society: Strength, Weaknesses, and Strategies for Change, both published by the Russell Sage Foundation.
- Dr. Clayton’s current funded research is in the area of health disparities and teenage sexuality. He has a grant from the Office of Population Affairs/DHHS to train young men in safe sex behavior and responsible health practices. Dr. Clayton is also the Principal Investigator for the National Minority Male Health Project funded by the Office of Minority Health/DHHS. Dr. Clayton also received a grant from the National Science Foundation to expand the infrastructure of Morehouse College to conduct basic and exploratory research on the etiology of violence and asocial behavior.
- Diann Dawson—Diann Dawson serves as the Director of the Office of Regional Operations within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A senior level director and principal advisor to the Assistant Secretary regarding field operations, she provides leadership and direction to ACF’s ten regional offices responsible for federal oversight and implementation of more than 60 human service programs to promote the well-being of children and families. Those programs include Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), Child Care, Child Support Enforcement, Head Start, Foster Care and Adoption, Child Abuse and Neglect, Child Welfare, and Runaway and Homeless Youth.
- A career public servant with over 30 years of Federal executive leadership and State program management experience, Dawson is the recipient of numerous awards including the Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Service which recognizes outstanding achievement by members of the Senior Executive Service. With a background in social work, Dawson understands the critical nature of love and support, intangible lessons, and indispensable characteristics that children obtain from their parents. It is that understanding, combined with her commitment and experience that has been instrumental in helping ACF work to strengthen and rebuild families through the Healthy Marriage Initiative. As part of her present role, Dawson effectively guides regional support of Healthy Marriage Initiative goals across the country. Dawson also provided the leadership to create the African American Healthy Marriage Initiative (AAHMI) along with her executive staff in 2003, laying the foundation of a national family strengthening movement for African Americans.
- Ms. Dawson received her J.D. degree from the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. and is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia and Maryland. She holds a M.S.W. degree with a concentration in community organization and social planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a B.A. from Bennett College, Greensboro, North Carolina. Ms. Dawson is married and the mother of one son.
- Nancy Dickinson—Nancy S. Dickinson, M.S.S.W., Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Jordan Institute for Families at the School of Social Work, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. The Institute focuses on strengthening families through research, educational, and technical assistance projects. Prior to assuming this role in August 1998, Dickinson was executive director of the California Social Work Education Center, part of the University of California at Berkeley School of Social Welfare and the largest university-agency partnership in the nation, focusing on reprofessionalizing public child welfare. Dr. Dickinson has had extensive experience in social services practice, administration, research, education and training in North Carolina Tennessee, California, and Washington State. She received her MSSW at the University of Tennessee and her PhD at the University of Washington. Dr. Dickinson is currently Principal Investigator of a 5-year, Children’s Bureau funded project on public child welfare staff retention.
- Gerald Durley—Dr. Gerald L. Durley was born in Wichita, Kansas. He grew up in California and graduated from high school in Denver, Colorado. Being endowed with exceptional basketball skills and a deep interest in improving the civil and human rights of African Americans, Dr. Durley chose to leave the west and venture south to Tennessee State University in Nashville, Tennessee. While earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology, playing on a championship basketball team, and serving as student government president, he became very active in the civil rights movement. After graduating, Dr. Durley became one of the first Peace Corp volunteers to enter Nigeria, West Africa. From Africa he ventured to Switzerland where he enrolled in postgraduate studies at the University of Neuchantel and was invited to play for one of the Swiss National basketball teams.
- Dr. Durley enrolled in Northern Illinois University where he again became intensely involved in the struggle for human dignity, and earned one of the first Masters Degrees in Community Mental Health. A compelling desire to be even better prepared dictated that Dr. Durley enter the University of Massachusetts and earn a Doctorate Degree in Urban Education and Psychology. Having been a dedicated educator, an effective psychologist, a nationally sought after motivational speaker, Dr. Durley was gravely disturbed by the decaying moral, social and family value systems throughout the nation. He enrolled at Howard University and earned a Master of Divinity Degree.
- Dr. Durley has served on numerous boards of directors is called upon to address hundreds of civic, political, higher education, and social groups throughout the year on various topics. Pastor Durley was an associate pastor at Mt. Olive Baptist Church in Arlington, Virginia. He was ordained and became a pulpit associate at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. He currently serves as the Pastor of the historic Providence Missionary Baptist Church of Atlanta, Georgia for the past 18 years. He has been married for thirty-eight years to his wife, Muriel. Together they have one daughter, Nia, and one son, Hasan. He is the grandfather of four.
- Archie Ervin—Archie W. Ervin, Ph.D. is Associate Provost for Diversity and Multicultural Affairs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In this role, Ervin directs the university’s efforts to recruit, retain and graduate minority students and faculty. Throughout his two decades at Carolina, Dr. Ervin has focused on the development of programs and strategies that have contributed to the increased diversity of the undergraduate student population and to greater accessibility to higher education for all citizens of the state of North Carolina. Those strategies have included providing infrastructure support for minority faculty, staff and student organizations and working with such areas as admissions, scholarships and financial aid and other university units concerning campus life issues. In 1995, he received the University’s Massey Award for Public Service, in recognition of his leadership and service to the university.
- Before coming to Chapel Hill, Dr. Ervin served as an instructor in political science, director of minority student affairs and student personnel administrator from 1976 to 1983 at Appalachian State University, where he received the Outstanding Black Staff Award and was a founding member of the Black Caucus. A native of Brevard, NC, Ervin earned undergraduate and master’s degrees in political science and political science and public administration from Appalachian and a doctoral degree from the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Education.
- Robert Franklin—As one of the most poignant, contemporary voices in the field of theological education, Dr. Robert Michael Franklin Jr. is the Presidential Distinguished Professor of Social Ethics at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. He is the former president of the Interdenominational Theological Center (The ITC)—the nation's foremost center of historically African American religious training and graduate theological education.
- Graduating from Morehouse College in 1975 with a major in political science and religion, Dr. Franklin went on to pursue international study at the University of Durham in England, subsequently traveling to North Africa and the former Soviet Union. Upon his return, he enrolled at Harvard Divinity School where he received the Master of Divinity degree in 1978. In 1985, he earned the Ph.D. from the University of Chicago where his major fields of study included social ethics, psychology, and African American religion. Dr. Franklin is a scholar-preacher and insightful educator as well as a former seminary program administrator and foundation executive. He has served on the faculties of his alma maters, the University of Chicago and Harvard University divinity schools, and at Colgate-Rochester Divinity School, and Emory University's Candler School of Theology where he gained a national reputation as director of Black Church Studies.
- Dr. Franklin is the author of two books, Liberating Visions: Human Fulfillment and Social Justice in African American Thought, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, '97), now in its fifth printing; and Another Day's Journey: Black Churches Confronting the American Crisis (Fortress Press, '97).
- Dr. Franklin is an ordained clergyperson who is in great demand across the nation as a preacher and lecturer. He provides guest commentary on religion for CNN and National Public Radio. Dr. Franklin has worked with the White House on numerous projects related to religion, race, public health, and community development. He is also a member of the professional fraternity Sigma Pi Phi (Kappa Boule of Atlanta). Dr. Franklin is married to Dr. Cheryl Goffney Franklin, an obstetrician/gynecologist, and is the devoted father of three children—Imani, Robert III, and Julian.
- Roger Green—Dr. Roger Green is one of the nation‘s foremost experts on issues of Marriage and Family. He is the Founder and Pastor of Prayer & Deliverance Ministries, Inc., where he has served the Greater Charlotte Area in ministry for over the past 20 years. Dr. Green has participated in various panels, been invited to partake in many roundtable discussions, and has been requested as a motivational speaker for several national marriage enrichment conferences. Dr. Green has been sought after for his unwavering honesty, sense of humor, and overall genuine concern for issues relating to the family and has a reputation nationally, as being a man of faith, courage, and strong moral conviction.
- Dr. Green received his Juris Law Degree from Atlanta Law School, has a Bachelors of Technology from Appalachian State University, and an AAS degree in Business Administration from Central Piedmont Community College. He completed his religious studies at Aenon Bible College in Indianapolis, IN. An ordained and licensed Elder of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Inc. (P.A.W.) Dr. Green also serves as one of the organizations’ North Carolina State District Elders.
- Green is the Founder of the Metrolina Ministerial Alliance, an inter-denominational fellowship of clergy, which was formed to address various non-religious community needs. Dr. Green designed the alliance to become a mediator between the Faith Community and the local, state, and federal government. He is also the owner of Angel’s Christian Academy, a private childcare facility located in Charlotte, North Carolina. Dr. Green is also the Founder of Metrolina Training and Development. He has used Metrolina Training and Development to train childcare providers from all across the state of North Carolina on various issues relating to child safety, staff child ratio, and proper child to teacher relations. Dr. Green has also conducted seminars and workshops on effective parenting.
- Creasie Finney-Hairston—Creasie Finney Hairston, Ph.D. is Professor and Dean of the Jane Addams College of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Chicago, a position she has held since 1991. Previously she served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Research at the Indiana University School of Social Work and held faculty appointments at the University of Tennessee, West Virginia University, and the State University of New York at Albany.
- Dr. Hairston is one of the pioneers in the development of family programs for correctional populations and has conducted research and written extensively on the impact of incarceration on families and communities. Her publications on social policies and services affecting poor children and families appear in leading academic and professional journals and texts and in the popular press. Current professional distinctions and associations include Chair of the Council on Social Work Education’s 2006 Annual Program Meeting and Chair of the Academy of Certified Social Work Managers. She is an associate with the Vera Institute of Justice and a member of the John Howard Association Board of Directors, the Chicago Board of Health, the Administration in Social Work Journal Editorial Board, the Criminal Justice and Mental Health Institute National Advisory Board, and several national and local task groups. In recognition of outstanding research and leadership she received the International Community Correction Association’s E.B. Henderson III Presidential Award in 2004 and the National Network for Social Work Managers Distinguished Leader Award in 2006. Dr. Hairston received her B.S. degree with highest honors from Bluefield State College and her M.S.S.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Case Western Reserve University.
- Brenda Girton-Mitchell—Brenda Girton-Mitchell, a lawyer whose wide-ranging career has included experience in business, government and the non-profit sector, has been nominated as associate general secretary for public policy of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC). Ms. Girton-Mitchell, who is a Baptist layleader, will have primary responsibility for developing and implementing the public policy program of the NCC, the nation’s leading ecumenical organization, whose 35 Protestant and Orthodox communions include some 50 million Christians in 140,000 congregations across the country. As associate general secretary for public policy, Ms. Girton-Mitchell will direct the NCC’s Public Policy Office in Washington, DC.
- Girton-Mitchell comes to the NCC from Mitsubishi Motors America, Inc., where she has been director of diversity relations since 1997. From 1994-1997, she served as associate executive officer of the National Council of Negro Women, Inc. At the American Counseling Association she was associate executive director from 1992-1994 and director of government relations from 1991-92.
- Girton-Mitchell graduated with honors from Chicago Kent College of Law and has been admitted to the bar in the State of Illinois, the District of Columbia and the United States Supreme Court. She also has earned the Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education from Ball State University and the Master of Science degree from Indiana University/Purdue University. Currently, she is pursuing a master of divinity degree at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC. She has received numerous awards including the 1991 National Bar Association Presidential Award and the 1992 Charlotte Ray award. Among other honors, Mrs. Girton-Mitchell, who is a native of Indiana, was the 1996 recipient of the highest award granted to a civilian by that state, the Sagamore of the Wabash Award.
- Cozell Harris—Cozell Harris has been a fatherhood specialist and consultant for over ten years. He is nationally certified to train fatherhood development for Head Start, Council for Family Literacy, and Annie E. Casey Foundation’s national sites. In Georgia he is known for his work with the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy
- Prevention (G-CAPP), the Center for Working Families, and other Head Start sites throughout the state.
Cozell is the Co-Founder and the first Director of the Fathers' Resource Center at the Providence Learning Center and Development Corporation. Beginning in 1998, the Fathers' Resource Center graduated over 400 fathers, provided resources and information to over 3,800 men and families. He is a certified fatherhood trainer and consultant with NPCL (National Planning and Community Leadership); National Trainer for Head Start/Early Head Start: 21st Century Exploring Parenting and Building Blocks; National Trainer for the Council on Literacy; and he holds certification in Raising Children With Pride, Los Angelos, CA; and Domestic Violence from ManAlive, San Francisco, CA.
- He is the recipient of many prestigious awards including Turner Broadcasting Systems (TBS) Super 17 Award 2002 for his leadership in the community, Concerned Black Clergy Community Leadership Award 2000, and he is also the recipient of the Georgia's Ambassador Award from the Secretary of State, 2000. Cozell is degreed in Organizational Leadership from Mercer University in Atlanta, Georgia, and graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2002. He is a committed community volunteer with numerous non-profit and advocacy organizations. Cozell resides in Georgia with his wife Patricia and family.
- Wade Horn—Since his 2001 unanimous confirmation by the U.S. Senate as the Assistant Secretary for Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services, Dr. Wade F. Horn has provided strategic leadership for the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), overseeing a $47 billion budget and 65 programs that serve vulnerable children, youth and families.
- Among Dr. Horn’s achievements in implementing President George W. Bush’s policy initiatives include increasing the effectiveness of Head Start and early childhood education programs, promoting positive youth development and building partnerships with community and faith-based organizations in delivering social services to the poor. He has also advanced the President’s agenda for reauthorizing the bipartisan 1996 welfare reform legislation by incorporating responsible fatherhood and healthy marriage services into the broad array of ACF programs. Also under his watch, ACF launched a mentoring program for children of incarcerated parents and a public awareness campaign to help rescue and restore victims of human trafficking. Most recently, Dr. Horn has helped to spearhead the Department’s strategic response to the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, ensuring the continued delivery of human services to displaced Gulf Region families.
- Dr. Horn’s results-oriented leadership as a federal official reflects a life-long commitment to the well-being of children, which he has demonstrated as a husband, father, child psychologist, college professor and public policy expert. Dr. Horn was president of the National Fatherhood Initiative, where he pursued a creative strategy using public awareness campaigns, research findings and conferences to encourage and support involved, committed and responsible fatherhood. He also was an adjunct professor of public policy at Georgetown University and an affiliate scholar of the Hudson Institute.
- In addition to having published numerous articles, essays and books, Dr. Horn has served on national panels, boards and commissions including the National Commission on Children, the National Commission on Childhood Disability and the U.S. Advisory Board on Welfare Indicators. But among his many accomplishments, Dr. Horn is most proud of his marriage since 1977 to his wife, Claudia, and his two grown daughters, Christen and Caroline.
- Cassandra Codes-Johnson—Cassandra Codes-Johnson is currently the Director of Family Services for the Center for Fathers Families and Workforce Development (CFWD). She also doubles as the Program Director for the Baltimore Building Strong Families Program. Mrs. Codes-Johnson expertise is in the Human Resources arena. She has performed, over the past seven years, as the Human Resources Generalist in various types of work environments that range from large hotel chains, to large nonprofit organizations. Mrs. Codes-Johnson has been fortunate to be able to blend her Human Resources professional experience with her desire to serve the community.
- Cassandra Codes-Johnson volunteers her time in a number of arenas, in an effort to help improve the lives of people in whatever community she comes in contact with. Mrs. Codes-Johnson is currently a certified HIV/AIDS educator through the American Red Cross in Maryland. She facilitates HIV/AIDS, sex education and abstinence classes to youth all around the Baltimore Metropolitan area, in an effort to stop the spread of HIV in lower income communities. She has also volunteered as a tutor and mentor for the Baltimore City Public School System, worked with Autistic children, and served as a Board Member on the Juvenile Justice Advisory Council for the State of Maryland, under the Paris Glendening administration.
- Cassandra Codes-Johnson received her undergraduate Bachelor of Arts Degree at Morgan State University in 1997 in the field of Telecommunications with a concentration in Public Relations. She pursued and received her Master of Arts Degree from the University of Baltimore in the field of Public Administration with a concentration in Human Resources Management in 2003.
- Charles Johnson—Charles Lee-Johnson is the Program Director of the Rites of Passage Program for National Family Life and Education Center. Mr. Lee-Johnson is also the chief facilitator of the Sankofa Preparatory Academy charter School Advisory Board, and provides consultation and training services, both locally, and nationally. Mr. Lee-Johnson has received commendations from the County of Los Angeles, the City of Los Angeles, California Assembly, California Senate, and Los Angeles Unified School District, National Association of Social workers (NASW) region H, and Department of Children and Families Services.
- Mr. Lee-Johnson is unequivocally committed to the positive development of young people, families, and communities. In a very short time, Mr. Lee-Johnson’s work has touched the lives of parents, youth, and organizations throughout the United States. His ability to integrate his professional knowledge with practical skills enables him to effectively work with diverse populations. Mr. Lee-Johnson’s enthusiasm and wealth of knowledge, makes him one of the most dynamic and inspirational social workers in America.
- Mr. Lee-Johnson was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He graduated from Dorsey High School, and completed his undergraduate studies with a B.A. degree in Sociology from Morehouse College. Mr. Lee-Johnson graduated Cum Laude, President of the Morehouse Sociological Association, and was inducted into the Nation Sociological Honor’s Society, Alpha Kappa Delta. Mr. Lee-Johnson returned to Los Angeles in May of 1997, before leaving for a three-week study in Egypt. Upon his return to the United States, National Family Life and Education Center hired Mr. Lee-Johnson. In October 1997, Charles Lee-Johnson received his License to Preach in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. In June of 2001, Mr. Lee-Johnson received his Master of Social Welfare from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Mr. Lee-Johnson is married, and has two children.
- Kenneth Johnson—Kenneth D. Johnson is President of the Center for Contemporary Policy Studies (www.ContemporaryPolicy.org), a nonpartisan study center for public policy research. He is also Senior Fellow for Social Policy and Civil Society at the Seymour Institute of Boston, Massachusetts (www.SeymourInstitute.org).
- A resident of California and Massachusetts, Mr. Johnson graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Government from Harvard University, and worked for 13 years in the financial services industry. He worked for several years as Director for Policy Advocacy, and Executive Director of The Ella J. Baker House (www.thebakerhouse.org), a nationally acclaimed youth agency providing anticrime intervention, education and mentoring for hundreds of high-risk African American youths in Boston, as well as serving on numerous nonprofit boards in the Boston area.
- Mr. Johnson is the Principal Researcher and primary author of the Seymour Institute’s 2005 publication, God’s Gift: A Christian Vision of Marriage and the Black Family. He also served as an editor of An Open Letter to the U.S. Black Religious, Intellectual, and Political Leadership Regarding AIDS and the Sexual Holocaust in Africa (1999), and A Pastoral Letter to President George W. Bush on Bridging our Racial Divide (2001), and has written contributions for academic publications. He has lectured or given symposia at Harvard Business School, Harvard Divinity School, the Boston Theological Institute, Suffolk University, Gordon College, Boston University and local churches and parachurch ministries.
- Terrell Johnson—Johnson has faced many adversities in his lifetime. At the age of 19, he was facing a 35 year sentence for drug trafficking. During his time of imprisonment, he had a personal revelation, which altered life for the better. He felt that there was a great need for “real” among the members of the community, especially youth. He felt an urgent need to have a dialogue with any and all youth that he came into contact with. Since his personal transformation, Mr. Johnson has spoken to thousands of youth teaching them about the wages of sin and tragic consequences of a life of crime and violence. He not only relates incidents, which point out the negativity of “street life,” but also encourages youth to embrace education, good personal conduct and high moral standards. He is strongly committed to continued education for youth not just in their academic studies but also in the lessons of everyday life.
- Terrell has established a relationship with gang members encouraging them to come together to create peace across the country. Some have agreed to travel with him to share their testimony of former gang life and personal transformation. You will be touched instantly when you hear the heart wrenching testimony of Johnson and his converted colleagues.
- Mr. Johnson has successfully launched an aggressive anti-violence initiative with the Memphis City Schools. He has taken his message to numerous local, regional and national churches as part of JVAP’s faith based initiative. He is also the President/CEO of the Wake-Up youth Foundation. Johnson has been featured on the Tom Joyner Morning Show and in the Memphis Business Journal. He recently became an official member of the Tennessee Legislative Black Caucus Criminal Justice Panel. In January of 2005, Mr. Johnson received the Humanitarian Award in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King. He is the Pastor of Greater Fellowship Full Gospel Church in Bolivar, TN.
- Waldo Johnson—Waldo E. Johnson, Jr. is associate professor at the School of Social Service Administration and director, The Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture (CSRPC) of the University of Chicago. The CSRPC is an interdisciplinary program dedicated to promoting engaged scholarship and debate around the topics of race and ethnicity. Broadly, the Center’s research program encourages the study of race and processes of racialization in comparative and transnational frameworks.
- Johnson is currently a research consultant to the Supporting Healthy Marriage Project, a seven year ACF/HHS national evaluation of healthy marriage programs for low-income couples in their child-rearing years who are married or plan to marry conducted by the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC), ChildTrends, Optimal Solutions Group and McFarland and Associates. He is also a research consultant to Relationship Development among Low-Income Youth and Young Adults, a theoretical and empirical research review project examining curricula and programs on the intimate relationships of young people conducted by the RAND Corporation and the Administration on Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
- Johnson earned the B.A. degree in sociology at Mercer University, the M.S.W. degree at the University of Michigan and the Ph. D. degree in social work at the University of Chicago. He was a Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the Poverty Research Center and the Program for Research on Black Americans (PRBA) at the Institute for Social Research, both located at the University of Michigan. His research affiliations include the Center for Human Potential and Public Policy (CHPPP) of the Irving B. Harris School of Public Policy Studies and Chapin Hall Center for Children (CHCC) at the University of Chicago. He is also a research associate at PRBA. He was a consulting editor of Social Work: The Journal of the National Association of Social Workers (2003-2006) and serves on the board of directors of the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) and the Council on Contemporary Families (CCF).
- Joe Jones—Joseph T. Jones, Jr., is the Founder and President/CEO of The Center for Fathers, Families and Workforce Development, Inc. (CFWD), a Baltimore, MD nonprofit service organization that empowers low-income families by enhancing both the ability of men to fulfill their roles as fathers, and of men and women to contribute to their families as wage earners. Prior to founding CFWD, Jones established the Men’s Services program for Baltimore’s federally funded Healthy Start program. He is a national leader in developing and implementing workforce training and life, parenting, and healthy relationships and marriage skills programs to low-income fathers and families.
- Through his professional and civic involvement, Mr. Jones helps to inform issues nationwide. Mr. Jones served on former President Clinton’s Work Group on Welfare Reform, community advisor on fatherhood issues to former Vice President Al Gore, the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference, and the United States Agency for International Development's delegation to Jamaica. He is a founding board member of the National Practitioners Network for Fathers and Families (NPNFF), and a member of the Fatherhood Advisory Committee for the National Conference of State Legislatures. He has served on several boards including the Campaign For Our Children, National Fatherhood Leaders Group and Open Society Institute, Baltimore.
- Mr. Jones is frequently featured on television and radio as a community development expert and commentator. His appearances include: McNeil-Lehrer News Hour, 48 Hours, CNN, Fox News Channel, and NPR. Jones is a graduate of the University of Maryland Baltimore County. A lifelong resident of Baltimore, he is married and the father of three.
- Deloris Jordan—Belief in strong family values is what leads Deloris Jordan in her philanthropic efforts. As an advocate for children and families, Mrs. Jordan supports the work of various organizations and serves as President of the James R. Jordan Foundation, established in memory of her late husband to provide support in underserved communities. The voice of motherhood, wit, and wisdom, Mrs. Jordan is the author of several books, including Family First, which highlights principles of parenting that she and Mr. Jordan employed in raising their five children; Salt in His Shoes, a New York Times Best Seller, co-written with her daughter, Roslyn, which tells the story of Michael Jordan’s pursuit of his dream. Mrs. Jordan is on the board of the Jordan Institute for Families at the UNC School of Social Work. She also serves on the Board of the Nairobi Women and Children’s Hospital, whose mission is to expand health care services in Kenya. In 2002 The Black Harvest Film Festival Board established the Deloris Jordan Humanitarian Award in Mrs. Jordan’s honor; and in 2005 the Clinton Global Initiative Award was presented to Mrs. Jordan by Former President Bill Clinton for her ongoing efforts in Africa-Nairobi, Kenya
- Kelleen Kaye—Kelleen Kaye is an analyst and policy expert on family structure and family relationships as they relate to child, youth, and parental well-being. She has been a senior policy analyst at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as well as a researcher with the Department of Labor, the Urban Institute, and the Brookings Institution. As a senior analyst at HHS, she worked on a range of efforts targeting single parenthood, teen pregnancy, healthy marriage promotion, low-wage employment, and poverty. Her publications include chapters in Out-of-Wedlock, Causes and Consequences of Nonmarital Fertility, and The Low-Wage Labor Market, Challenges and Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency. Ms. Kaye holds a Masters degree in Public Policy from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin.
- As a Fellow at the New America Foundation, Ms. Kaye develops and promotes public policy solutions to strengthen the structure of America’s families, thus improving the well-being of children and youth as well as the ability of parents to support their families through work. Through rigorous statistical analyses of detailed data on families, Ms. Kaye develops empirically based approaches that focus on helping families. She will translate these findings into a series of articles and policy briefs that clearly demonstrate to the policy community the urgency of these issues and promising next steps.
- Ruth Lambert—Dr. Ruth L. Lambert affectionately know as “Dr. Ruth,” nationally recognized, administrator, program specialist, adoption expert, child advocate, community organizer, social worker and family preservationist, founded Institute for Family Life and Preservation, Inc. in 1994. IFLAP’s primary goal is to serve as a mechanism for providing suitable, stable and permanent families for children which maximally meet the child’s developmental needs. She is the organizer of the Indiana Healthy Marriage Coalition which contains Community and African American Healthy Marriage and Family components.
- Dr. Lambert, a native of Pine Bluff, Arkansas has work experience including Program and Policy Consultant and Educational and Administrative Consultant for the State of Indiana, Child Welfare Social Services Division, Consultant, Special Needs Adoption Project; Administrative Assistant to the Vice President for Women Affairs Dean of Women, Academic Dean, Dean of Students, Executive Director Elkhart Urban League, Inc., Job Placement Specialist, teacher and counselor. She has also served on numerous boards and committees.
- Dr. Lambert received her Bachelor of Science from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (formally Arkansas AM&N College), Masters of Science from University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, with emphasis on Child Development and Advanced Family Relations and Doctorate of Philosophy from Michigan State University. She is also a Certified Marriage and Family Therapist, Clinical Certified Social Worker and a Certified Family Life Educator.
- She has instituted several national and local programs. To name a few: Taking the Lead, Teaching Families to Read Program; Indiana Healthy Marriage Initiative; being the founder/organizer/consultant and charter member of the Robinson Community A.M.E. Community Foundation, Inc.; and organizer of Delta Family Life Education Program, Indianapolis Alumnae Chapter.
- Marjorie Lewis—Reverend Lewis has been a member of the Denver Community since 1991, coming to us from the Washington, DC Metropolitan area via Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Berkeley, California. She came to our community with public service and community-based empowerment as a Godly call. Armed with a Bachelor’s, three Master’s, a Ph.D. and a D.Min. degree, she has transformed her academic career and her community activism into the Center for Community Excellence and Social Justice.
- She utilizes this Center in partnership with her pastoral care and counseling ministry through Sojourner Ministries and as a minister at the New Hope Baptist Church, to honor human dignity through spirituality, education, and empowerment. Through the Center’s Behavior Services Institute, one may receive drug and alcohol rehabilitation therapy, play therapy, individual and group counseling, pre-marriage and post-marriage educational/counseling/therapy, grief therapy, and HIV/AIDS faith based harm reduction technical assistance and training.
- She is the author of various journal articles and book chapters including a sermon in Ella Pearson Mitchell’s, Those Preaching Women Volume III. Her most recent literary endeavors include the contribution of two chapters in a three volume series entitled The Black Church and Public Life and a chapter in the recently published volume, Raising the Bottom: Promoting Marriage in the African American Community.
- Most recently, Dr. Lewis, through her organization, has been identified as the point person for the state of Colorado’s Healthy Marriage Initiative. She has developed a series of activities addressing a variety of dimensions including, the correlations of fatherhood, abstinence, addiction, and domestic violence, with the traditional aspects of a healthy marriage community transformation.
- Tonya Lovelace—Tonya Lovelace serves as the Project Manager for WOCN. Tonya draws upon two graduate degrees, a former role as adjunct instructor for several accredited universities, and years of direct service, systems change, project coordination, and national, state, and local anti-oppression and cultural competency training experience to lead the overall development and growth of the WOCN Project. She also oversees the national training, technical assistance and support provided to WOCN constituents and colleagues by staff, Advisors, Mentor Project, and consultants across the country.
- Andrew & Terri Lyke—Andrew and Terri Lyke were married October 5, 1975. They have been involved in ministry to marriage since 1978. Andrew and Terri have been the leaders of Marriage Ministry for the African American Community for the Archdiocese of Chicago since 1982. Their team of married couples and clergy has prepared thousands of engaged couples for married life. Terri and Andrew develop Marriage Enrichment and Marriage Preparation programs that they have presented to couples throughout the U.S.
- As Lyke To Lyke Consultants they have nationally presented keynote addresses, workshops, retreats and seminars on Marriage and Family issues to church, community and business audiences. They have appeared on “The Gift of Blackness” series that broadcasts nationwide on cable television. They have written articles for local and national publications, including The Catholic World and In A Word magazines, on Christian Married Life. Terri and Andrew regularly write for Catholic News Service’s Faith Alive publication and are regularly featured columnists for The New World, The Northwest Indiana Catholic, The Catholic Telegraph, The Catholic News & Herald, Mississippi Today, The New Catholic Miscellany, The St. Louis Review, and The Catholic Anchor, the diocesan weekly newspapers of Chicago, Gary, Cincinnati, Charlotte, Jackson, Charleston, St. Louis, and Anchorage, respectively.
- Andrew and Terri were the 1995 recipients of the Augustus Tolton Archdiocesan Award and the 2005 Bishop Quarter Award for the Archdiocese of Chicago. From 2000 to 2003 they served as advisors to the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Marriage and Family. They are the parents of two adult children. The Lyke family are parishioners at St. Lawrence O'Toole Church in Matteson, Illinois where they serve together as a family in ministry.
- Dorothy Mabry—Dorothy Mabry serves as Special Assistant to the Southeast Regional Administrator for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services/Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and Program Manager for the Special Initiatives Branch. The Branch provides guidance and technical assistance for the Healthy Marriage, Faith-based and Community-based Initiatives. The southeast region includes 8 states and provides federal oversight for a wide variety of programs impacting children and families, including Head Start, TANF, Child Welfare, Child Care and Child Support Enforcement. Ms. Mabry provides leadership and direction for specific work related activities for the accomplishment of the Regional Administrator and ACF priorities. She has lead responsibility for several collaborative initiatives and serves as the regional liaison for external groups, such as Governors and cabinet staff, state Human Services Commissioners, legislators, advocacy, community organizations and the media.
- Leon McCowan—Leon R. McCowan serves as the Regional Administrator for the Administration for Children and Families, Region VI, in Dallas, Texas. He provides executive leadership, direction, and coordination for all ACF programs in the region, consisting of the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. The Administration for Children and Families is responsible for programs that promote the social and economic well-being of children and families. The following ACF programs are under his direction: Head Start, Child Care, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), Child Support Enforcement, Tribal programs, Developmental Disabilities, Child Welfare programs, Youth programs, and Community Service programs. Nationally, he serves as the Lead Regional Administrator for Child Support Enforcement, Technology, and Positive Youth Development.
- With more than 30 years of professional federal service, Mr. McCowan began his career in the Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service. He has held various program and management positions within the Department of Health and Human Services, including: Regional Hub Director, West-Central Hub; Deputy Program Manager for the Office of Family Assistance; and as the Deputy Regional Representative for Child Support Enforcement.
- In 2001, Mr. McCowan was recognized with the prestigious "Presidential Rank Award" for Meritorious Executives, and was presented with two "Secretary's Award for Distinguished Service" by the Department of Health and Human Services. The first award commended his creativity, initiative and vision in developing approaches to partnerships for results with Hub Stakeholders and inventing a model organizational strategy for the West-Central Hub. The second lauded his efforts with the Department of Health and Human Services National Fatherhood Initiative. He received the Secretary's Award in 2000 as well, for outstanding performance of Y2K activities. Mr. McCowan received his B.A. in Sociology from Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, and his M.A. in Public Administration from the University of North Texas in Denton. He is married to Curtistene McCowan; they have two married sons and three granddaughters.
- Ron Mincy—Dr. Mincy is the Maurice V. Russell Professor of Social Policy and Social Work Practice at the School of Social Work, Columbia University, where he teaches graduate courses on social welfare policy, program evaluation, and microeconomics. He has published widely on the effects of income security policy on child and family poverty, family formation, and child well-being; responsible fatherhood, the urban under class, and urban poverty. Prior to joining the Columbia faculty, Mincy was Senior Program Officer in the Ford Foundation’s Program in Human Development and Reproductive Health, where he developed the Strengthening Fragile Families Initiative (SFFI). SFFI was a Ford Foundation grantmaking initiative working with federal, state, and local human services agencies to reform income security policies to enable low-income mothers and fathers to provide emotional, financial, and developmental support to their children receiving welfare. As a result of SFFI, Mincy is widely regarded as a critical catalyst for changes currently underway in the treatment of low-income fathers by U.S. welfare, child support, and family support systems. He has been invited to speak and consult with donors, researchers, policymakers, and social workers who are contemplating support for initiatives similar to SFFI in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Jamaica, and throughout the United States.
- Mincy is a co-principal investigator for the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Survey a birth cohort study of children born to unmarried parents, which is nationally representative of births in large cities. His most recent book Black Men Left Behind, examines the consequences of the 1990s economic boom for less-educated men. He is a member of the Board of Trustees, Children’s Futures, Trenton, NJ, Mac Arthur Network on Family and the Economy, Chicago, IL Advisory Board, National Poverty Center, University of Michigan, National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, Washington, Technical Work Group for the Building Strong Families and Community Healthy Marriage Initiatives, and an Advisory Board for the African American Healthy Marriage Initiative. Mincy and his wife, Flona, married while both were graduate students. They have two adult sons, Daru and Ron Jr.
- Dennis Orthner—Dr. Dennis K. Orthner is Professor of Social Work and Public Policy and Associate Director of the Jordan Institute for Families at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Orthner is currently serving as the Program Director for CareerStart, a middle school innovation designed to improve school attachment and increase early workforce development capacity. He recently directed the National Demonstration Program for Citizen-Soldier Support, a community capacity-building effort to support military personnel and families in the National Guard and Reserves. He is also examining the consequences of welfare reform for children in school; evaluating initiatives to target services to disadvantaged children and their families; assisting in the evaluation and reorganization of military family and child support services; working with Israeli colleagues on new models of building effective human services; and working on performance based programming in both private and public sectors. He directs the multi-year Family Strengths Project, attempting to identify the factors that are associated with family risk and resilience. In support of these efforts, Dr. Orthner has presented testimony before the US Senate Caucus on the Family; the US House of Representatives Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families; and Senate and House Committees working on military family issues. He has worked with the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Defense on work and family related issues.
- Dr. Orthner received his Ph.D. degree in Sociology from Florida State University in 1974. He came to the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 1988. He also conducted policy research in Washington, DC for SRA Corporation in the early 1980s. Dr. Orthner has published extensively in areas of his research and consultation. He is the author or co-author of several books including, Families In Blue (1980), Intimate Relationships (1981), Youth in Transition (1987) and The Organization Family (1989). He has authored over 100 research publications in numerous professional journals. He is listed in Who’s Who in the South, American Men and Women of Science, the Directory of Distinguished Americans, Outstanding Young Men in America, and others.
- Hillard Pouncy—Hillard Pouncy is co-author of a book in progress, Strengthening Fragile Families: Reforming Income Security Policy for Modern American Childhood Poverty with Ronald Mincy, Columbia University. The book advocates a strategy for addressing the needs of poor and disadvantaged children based on new data sources including: the Survey of Fragile Families at Princeton University; new survey waves from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth; the National Survey of America’s Families and other standard data sources. This publication is supported by a grant from the Century Foundation.
- In addition Dr. Pouncy was a Principal Investigator on a three-year federally funded project for the Office of Child Support Enforcement. The project examined differences in how minority and non-minority non-custodial fathers perceived the child support enforcement system as a first step toward decreasing national black/white child support enforcement compliance rates. The full report will be available shortly from the Department of Health and Human Sciences - Minority Noncustodial Fathers and Child Support: Attitudes and Perceptions. Dr. Pouncy has also been a Principal Investigator on projects with the following organizations: the Ford Foundation; the Mott Foundation; the Academy for Educational Development; Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies; National Center on Fathers and Families; Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Urban Institute. The projects ranged from school-to-work policy to workforce policy to child support enforcement and welfare policy.
- Currently Mr. Pouncy was a Visiting Lecturer of Public and International Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy at Princeton University. His teaching experience includes: Associate Professor, Political Science at Swarthmore College, PA and Associate Professor, African and Afro-American Studies Department at Brandeis University, Waltham, MA. His education includes a Ph.D. in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA and an MA in Journalism from Columbia University’s School of Journalism.
- Deborah Segler—Ms. Segler has served the students and families of College Station Independent School District for 10 years. She holds a Master’s of Education and Mid-management Certification from Texas Tech University. She is the Director of Barbara Bush Parent Center, Head Start Parent Involvement Specialist, and Educational Speaker/Trainer.
- Segler also teaches at Texas A&M University Department of Teaching Learning and Cultures: Early Childhood, Classroom Management, College of Education & Human Development Introduction to Cultures, Community and Society and Schools. She also teaches at Blinn University Department of Early Childhood, Introduction to Early Childhood Today, Family and Community, School Age Child. Despite an active professional schedule, Ms. Segler and husband Rusty recently celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. They have two sons in college. The newest member of the household is Tinkerbelle, a miniature Chihuahua. Ms. Segler enjoys card making and scrapbooking as a hobby.
- Jeffrey Shears—Jeffrey K Shears, Ph.D. is an assistant professor joint appointed in the School of Social Work and the Center of Applied Studies in American Ethnicity (CASAE) at Colorado State University. In addition, professor Shears is a member of the National Early Head Start Research and Evaluation consortium where he served as the Director of the Fathers study in Denver CO. He is also an active researcher in the Tri-Ethnic Center at Colorado State University. Jeffrey Shears earned his bachelor’s degree in Social Work and M.Ed. in Education Administration from North Carolina A&T State University and his Ph.D. in Social Work from the University of Denver. Presently he teaches two courses in CASAE, Introduction to Black Studies and a national policy course entitled African American Situation. He also teaches graduate level Research Methods I and II in the School of Social Work. Research Methods I focus on research designs and program evaluation. Research Methods II class introduces graduate students to SPSS and intermediate analyses such as Pearson r correlation, linear regression, and ANOVA.
- Professor Shears’ research interests include juvenile delinquency, particularly the disproportionate incarceration of African-Americans males in the juvenile justice system, multicultural issues, particularly those effecting students in higher education and fathers particularly their influence on early infant development. Some of his recent publications are Fathering attitudes and practices: Influences on children’s development; Interpersonal relationships as predictors of delinquency across ethnic and racial sample; Exploring fathering roles in low-income families; the influence of intergenerational transmission; and School bonding as a protective factor against drug use in rural youth.
His writing has been published nationally and internationally in a number of respected refereed journals some of which include; Families in Society; Social Work Research, Advances in Social Work, Infant Mental Health Journal, and Parenting: Science and Practice. He also has a co-authored book chapter in the widely used Social Work: A profession of many faces. In addition to refereed publications, Professor Shears has appeared in the APA monitor, the Denver Post, and on the Northern Colorado Public Broadcast Network discussing his research.
- Rozario Slack—Dr. Rozario L. Slack is the Director of Marriage, Fathering and Family Initiatives at First Things First in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He, along with Nisa Muhammad, has co-authored Basic Training for Couples: a black marriage curriculum for individuals, couples and organizations. Dr. Slack and his wife, Dr. Angela Smith Slack, recently worked with David and Claudia Arp to develop Ten Great Dates for Black Couples.
- Slack works with community organizations and churches, assisting them to deal with 21st century family issues and challenges. Dr. Slack speaks nationally on issues that impact healthy families and relationships, particularly healthy dating relationships, marriage and fatherhood issues. He has a wide range of experience and has conducted lunch and learn for corporations and has worked with low-income and economically disadvantaged persons and families for more than twenty-five years. He has assisted Tennessee’s TANF recipients and other economically disadvantaged persons to access postsecondary education, training, and other necessary services.
- Slack is the co-host of Family Moments, a weekly one-hour radio show on Talk Radio 102.3 in Chattanooga. He facilitates a weekly fathering and healthy marriage class in the Hamilton County Jail. He has lectured in a number of schools and colleges, and has taught in county jails and juvenile detention centers. He is the pastor of Temple of Faith Deliverance Church of God in Christ in Chattanooga, is actively involved in community economic development, active in a number of community organizations, and serves on several organizational boards. The Drs. Slack have been married for thirteen years and have three children, Will, Pamela and Taylor.
- Akilah Thomas—Akilah Thomas has been involved with the Building Strong Families Program since April 2004. She completed her Master of Public Health at Emory University in December 2000 and received a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology at Clark Atlanta University in May 1999.
- Ms. Thomas initially began work with the Building Strong Families program by assisting in the planning stages. The purpose was to assure that the chosen curriculums were adaptable to the communities that Building Strong Families planned to serve. She also assisted with the development of the Building Strong Families supplemental curriculum. Currently, Ms. Thomas is the Project Director for the Georgia Building Strong Families program which is operated out of Georgia State University’s Health Policy Center.
- Prior to joining Building Strong Families, Ms. Thomas worked for ten years within Emory University’s School of Medicine and School of Public Health. For three of those years (2002–2005) she was the Senior Project Coordinator for the Centering Pregnancy Program and spent the remainder of her time at Emory working on various projects researching HIV/AIDS.
- Joyce Thomas—Joyce A. Thomas is the Regional Administrator for the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Region V, in Chicago, Illinois. The Region comprises the six states including Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin and 35 Tribal Nations. In her capacity, Ms. Thomas partners with state, local, community based organizations, and tribes within the Region to promote economic independence and healthy development of children and families.
- Ms. Thomas provides executive leadership, and direction to ensure coordination and integration of activities among Head Start, child care, foster care and adoption, child support enforcement, youth services and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) programs. Ms. Thomas serves as National Lead Regional Administrator for the Office of Community Services and the Faith Based and Community Initiatives within ACF.
- Before her employment with the Administration for Children and Families she served as the Commissioner of the State of Connecticut’s Department of Social Services. As Commissioner, she implemented major changes in the child support enforcement, TANF and Medicaid programs and played a major role in the creation of Connecticut’s innovative School Readiness legislation. Thomas has developed particular sensitivity and expertise in re-engineering human services. She directed Connecticut’s largest administrative agency, overseeing an annual budget of over $3 billion and 2,400 employees. Before her appointment as Commissioner, she served as the Regional Administrator for the DSS in the state’s southwestern region. A graduate of the University of Northern Iowa, Thomas was awarded a BA in Social Work, and an MA in Counseling, with a minor in Spanish. Thomas is married and has one daughter.
- Carole Thompson—Ms. Thompson was appointed Senior Associate with the Annie E. Casey Foundation in November 1997. The Annie E. Casey Foundation, headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, makes grants that help states, cities, and neighborhoods fashion more creative, cost-effective responses to the challenges facing children and families whose circumstances place them at risk of poor outcomes. Ms. Thompson manages the Foundation’s three portfolio of research on: the role of faith-based organizations in community building and community change; children of the incarcerated, and promoting healthy relationships and healthy marriage in families with children.
- Prior to joining the Casey Foundation, Ms. Thompson managed development activities for the Baltimore City Public School System and served as the Special Assistant to the Superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia. Carole Thompson began her professional career in the corporate sector with Champion International Corporation in Stamford Connecticut, where she spent eight years in marketing and public affairs and advanced to the position of Director of Corporate Social Responsibility managing the corporation’s national philanthropic activities. She continued this line of work for the CIGNA Corporation in Philadelphia where she served as the Director of Civic Affairs for seven years. Ms. Thompson graduated from Howard University with a Bachelor of Business Administration. She and her family reside in Silver Spring, Maryland.
- Bradford Wilcox—W. Bradford Wilcox, Ph.D., is assistant professor of sociology at the University of Virginia and a member of the James Madison Society at Princeton University. Dr. Wilcox is currently writing a book titled Soulmates: Religion, Sex, and Marriage in Urban America. He is the author of Soft Patriarchs, New Men: How Christianity Shapes Fathers and Husbands (University of Chicago Press, 2004). Wilcox has also published in the American Sociological Review, First Things, the Public Interest, and the Responsive Community. He has previously held research fellowships at the Brookings Institution, Princeton University, Yale University, and the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Wilcox’s research on religion and the family has been featured in The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, USA Today, and numerous NPR stations.
- Carlis Williams—Carlis V. Williams serves as the Southeast Regional Administrator for the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), and is based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Southeast Region includes eight states: Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, North and South Carolina, Mississippi and Florida. She is responsible for ACF human service programs that include Head Start, Child Welfare, Foster Care, Adoption, Child Care, Developmental Disabilities, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, Child Support, and Runaway and Homeless Youth.
- Before assuming her present position, Carlis was the Executive Assistant to the Governor for Human Services in the State of Indiana. She was the Governor’s chief policy advisor in these areas and had responsibility for four major agencies: Family and Social Services Administration, the Governor’s Council on Disabilities, the Governor’s Council on Protection and Advocacy and the Governor’s Council on Sports and Fitness. She was instrumental in launching Indiana’s nationally recognized Children’s Health Insurance Program, Hoosier Healthwise, which enrolled over 120,000 children in its first year. She was also the catalyst for major changes in the areas of early childhood development, adoption, fatherhood and support for low income working families in the state of Indiana.
- Previously, Carlis served as Deputy Director for the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, Division of Family and Children, and was responsible for programs related to family resources: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Food Stamps, Medicaid, JOBS, Housing and Community Services. She also had lead responsibility for the design and implementation of welfare reform in the state.
- Carlis is a graduate of Ball State University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology and Master of Art Degrees in Social Psychology and Counseling and Guidance. She is a mother and grandmother. If asked her philosophy of life, she will say, “Giving is better than receiving…If we all give, everyone wins!”
- Edward and Ann Wimberly—Edward P. Wimberly is currently Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Student Affairs and Academic Dean at the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) in Atlanta, GA. He is also Jarena Lee Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling at the same institution. He has been a member of Ben Hill United Methodist Church, where he and his wife Anne have been attending since their return to Atlanta in 1991. He has been teaching in theological education since 1975, and he has taught at Oral Roberts University School of Theology, Tulsa, Oklahoma and at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, in addition to ITC. He has published twelve books and numerous articles and chapters in books. Edward was ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church in 1969, and he served parishes in the New England Conference for eight years. He is married to Anne Streaty Wimberly, who is a Professor of Christian Education at ITC.
- Dr. Wimberly attended the University of Arizona on a football scholarship, and he graduated from the University of Arizona with a B. A. degree. He also attended seminary at Boston University School of Theology where he earned a Bachelor of Sacred Theology, and a Master of Sacred Theology. He also received his Doctor of Philosophy degree from Boston University Graduate School majoring in Pastoral Psychology and Counseling.
- Anne E. Streaty-Wimberly, Ph.D., is Professor of Christian Education at Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC), Atlanta, Georgia, where she has been a faculty member for the last 15 years. She also serves as Director of the Youth Hope-Builders Academy, a theological program for youth funded by the Lilly Endowment, Inc. as well as Principal Investigator of the Faith Journey: Partnership in Parish Ministry Formation Program at ITC, also funded by the Lilly Endowment, Inc.
- Dr. Wimberly received the Bachelor of Science in Education Degree with a major in music education from the Ohio State University, the Master of Music Degree from Boston University School of Fine Arts, where she also completed doctoral course work and was the first woman and Black American to receive the post of doctoral teaching fellow. She received the Master of Theological Studies Degree from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, a Graduate Certificate in Gerontology from Georgia State University and the Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from Georgia State University with a cognate in gerontology. She undertook post-doctoral studies as Scholar-in Residence at the School of Theology at Claremont, California in its Institute for Religion and Wholeness, now called the Clinebell Institute.
- Her latest books are entitled Keep It Real: Working With Today’s Black Youth (Abingdon 2005), for which she is editor and contributing author, and Soul Stories: African American Christian Education, Revised edition (Abingdon 2005). She is also author of Nurturing Faith and Hope: Worship as a Model for Christian Education (Pilgrim Press 2004). A forthcoming book being written by her and her husband, Dr. Edward Wimberly is called The Wind of Promise: Building and Maintaining Resilience in Clergy Families, to be published by Discipleship Resources.
