Nilofer Ahsan
Associate
Nilofer has been working on policy, research and program development in the field of children and family services for over ten years and has a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Chicago. Her career has focused on working closely with practitioners and those using services to develop materials and tools to help shape policy and program development. Nilofer 's current work is developing strategies to prevent child abuse and neglect through strengthening the relationships between early childcare and education providers with parents.
Clare Anderson
Associate
Clare joined the Center in September 2000. Clare's work at the Center is divided between the Center's litigation work and work in child welfare and community partnerships to protect children. Clare is particularly interested in bringing a comprehensive, family-centered, and clinically mindful approach to protecting children and supporting families. She is the former Victim Services Specialist at the Child and Adolescent Protection Center at the Children's National Medical Center.
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Phyllis Brunson
Senior Associate
Phyllis is the project manager for the Center's work on new forms of local governance - the decision-making process by which a community takes responsibility for improving results for children and families. In addition, Phyllis also serves as the project manager for the international learning and exchanges program that involves sharing innovations to improve results for children, families and communities across national borders. Prior to joining the Center, Phyllis was the Deputy Director and Acting Director for the Maryland Governor's Office for Children, Youth and Families' System Reform Initiative.
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Gina Chaney
Program Assistant
Gina joined the Center's staff is April 2000, as administrative assistant and meeting planner. Gina works with the entire Center technical assistance team. Gina has been instrumental in upgrading the Center's technical capability including co-leading the development of a new website and database development.
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Mischa Dent
Receptionist
Mischa joined the Center in August 2002 as a Receptionist/Secretary. Mischa formerly worked for four years at two government agencies: the Department of the Navy and the Department of the Army as an Office Automation Clerk.
Frank Farrow
Director
Frank has been at the Center since its founding in 1979 and has worked in all aspects of the Center's work. From 1983-1986 he left the Center to serve as Director of Social Services in the Maryland Department of Human Resources. Frank leads the Center's work in helping create the Technical Assistance Resource Center (TARC) for The Annie E. Casey Foundation and serves as Director of the Casey Foundation's Community Change Initiative. Frank also chairs the board of The International Initiative for Children, Youth, and Families. Frank is the architect of numerous strategies that use the resources and authority of public systems and public mandates to creatively respond to family and community needs.
Juanita Gallion
Associate
Juanita joined the Center in January 2004. Juanita's work is focused on the Center's efforts to provide technical assistance to community-based initiatives, such as Making Connections and the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, as well its efforts to provide peer technical assistance. Prior to joining the Center, Juanita was Assistant Project Director at the National Civic League, coordinating technical assistance for a national demonstration initiative funded in eleven communities, through the promotion of stronger collaborative efforts, better service integration, and systems reform to improve outcomes for young children exposed to violence. Juanita's work has focused on supporting collaborative efforts to address child protection, AIDS advocacy and prevention, youth engagement, and racial justice.
Jim Gibson
Senior Fellow
Jim has been a Senior Fellow at the Center since February 2000. Jim came to the Center from DC Agenda, having spent time in major leadership positions at both the Urban Institute and the Rockefeller Foundation. Jim participates in technical assistance activities and is involved in the Center's work in the District of Columbia. Half of Jim's time is spent as an advisor to PolicyLink in California.
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Rachel Joseph
Associate
Rachel joined CSSP as an intern in the summer of 2006 and became
an Associate upon her graduation from University of North Carolina
Schools of Law and Social Work in September 2007. Rachel is a member
of the litigation team, which monitors child welfare agencies to
improve practice for children and families. She focuses primarily on
providing technical assistance to child welfare systems operating
under Federal consent decrees. Prior to joining CSSP, Rachel worked
on various child welfare initiatives at the Center for Children's
Policy, Practice and Research at the University of Pennsylvania, the
Department of Human Services in Durham, NC, and the American Bar
Association’s Center on Children and the Law.
Christie Katz
Director of Finance
Christie is a CPA and has been working with the Center for almost one year as a consultant. Christie officially joined the Center staff on February 2003. Prior to joining the Center, Christie worked in public accounting with a focus on non-profits for the past 12 years.
Judy Langford
Senior Fellow
Judy is the Project Manager for the child abuse and neglect prevention project. She also plays a lead role in the technical assistance activities for the Casey Foundation's Making Connections initiative (TARC). Formerly, Judy was the Executive Director of the Family Resource Coalition of America.
Arlene F. Lee
Senior Associate
Arlene F. Lee Senior Associate Arlene Lee joined CSSP in 2008.
After serving as the Executive Director of the Maryland Governor's
Office for Children, where she chaired the Children's Cabinet and
was responsible for 60+ million dollars that were distributed to
local collaboratives through a results-based plan and accountability
process. Arlene led the development of the first three-year
children's plan in Maryland, establishing the state's goals and
strategies for the delivery of integrated services to children and
families. As a result of this work, she was named one of Maryland's
Top 100 Women in 2007. Arlene was also the founding member and then
the Executive Director of a local collaborative designed to
re-structure services for children and families. Other positions
held include Youth Strategies Manager at the Governor's Office of
Crime Control and Prevention; Deputy Director of Georgetown
University's Center for Juvenile Justice Reform and the Director of
the Federal Resource Center for Children of Prisoners at the Child
Welfare League of America. Arlene graduated from American
University's Washington College School of Law in 1987. As an
attorney, she represented children in delinquency, child welfare and
divorce/custody matters.
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Judith Meltzer
Deputy Director
Judy has worked at the Center since its inception and has been involved in creating or implementing all parts of the Center's work. She currently leads the Center's work to find better ways to use the power of class action litigation to achieve lasting reform in child welfare systems. She works directly with many states and localities on their efforts to improve results for vulnerable children and families. She has a long history of working to more effectively use the tools of federal and state finance and policy to improve opportunities for low-income children and families.
Sarah Morrison
Senior Associate
Sarah helps lead the Center's strategic and technical assistance work with the Community Partnerships for Protecting Children initiative. She is currently the St. Louis site coordinator and overall TA coordinator for the cities' self-evaluation efforts. Sarah is also project manager the Center's work in human resources. Sarah brought to the Center 20 years experience in management consulting and government service, including working for the General Accounting Office (GAO).
Sarah Navarro
Associate
While working with at-risk youth as a wilderness counselor and a
manager of a transitional living program for teenagers in foster
care in Florida, Sarah learned that the best way to help the most
children and their families is to identity, improve and implement
policies and practices that really work. Her passion for helping
at-risk children led her to pursue a Masters in Public Policy at the
University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy. After
completing an internship with the Center for the Study of Social
Policy in the summer of 2008 she stayed on as a consultant while
finishing her degree and ultimately joined the CSSP full-time in May
2009. At CSSP, Sarah works primarily as a technical assistant to the
Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative—a national foundation
dedicated to helping youth leaving foster care make successful
transitions to adulthood. She also helps coordinate the design and
implementation of Institutional Analyses to understand structural
features which contribute to overrepresentation of children of color
in the child-protection and juvenile justice systems.
Susan Notkin
Director, Center for Community Partnerships in Child Welfare
Susan joined the Center as the new Director for the Center for Community Partnerships in Child Welfare in January 2002 after working as the Director of the Program for Children at the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation in New York City since 1992. Susan served in various other capacities at the Clark Foundation since 1985, including Director of the Program for Homeless Families. Susan brings valuable experience in the design and management of innovative public and private programs in a wide range of areas of social policy development.
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Martha L. Raimon
Senior Associate
Martha L. Raimon joined CSSP in September 2005. Martha is an
attorney with 18 years of experience working in the field of
child welfare. She formerly directed the Family Law Unit at
South Brooklyn Legal Services and for seven years directed the
Incarcerated Mother’s Law Project at the Woman’s Prison
Association. She has special expertise in the intersection of
child welfare and criminal justice policies and has published in
this area. Martha is part of the team responsible for monitoring
the performance of child welfare systems operating under class
action. She is also helping to coordinate a group of birth
parents that seek to influence child welfare policy and practice
on the federal level.
Lisa
Roy
Senior
Associate for Early Childhood and School Readiness Policy
Before coming to CSSP, Lisa was the Early Childhood Program
Officer for the Piton Foundation and Director of Special
Projects for the Gary Williams Energy Company in Denver, working
with Mayor’s Office for Education and Children and the Mayor’s
Leadership Team to educate business and civic leaders on the
importance of early care and education then working with
consultants on Denver’s Preschool Matters ballot initiative
(which passed, creating $10 -12 million a year for preschool and
quality enhancements). Before that Lisa was a Program Officer
with the Daniels Fund in Denver, working on Early Childhood,
K-12 Education, and Youth Development for Colorado and all of
their funding areas with Native American tribes in the state of
Utah. She has direct service experience as a Head Start
Administrator and has run early childhood programs for the
Clayton Foundation (Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool
Youngsters) and Catholic Charities (Operation Jumpstart) also in
Denver. Lisa has an M.A. in Counseling Psychology and Counselor
Education.
Gayle Samuels
Associate
Gayle joined the Center in June 2004 as part of the team responsible for monitoring the performance of child welfare systems operating under class action litigation and supporting other state child welfare system reforms. Previously, Gayle worked at the New York City Administration for Children's Services where she focused on assessing and improving case practice. She has worked directly with adjudicated youth and partnered with attorneys to represent children and adolescents in child welfare and juvenile justice cases in Family Court. Gayle also directed a Head Start based research and intervention project aimed at violence prevention.
Vanessa Scott
Administrative Assistant
Vanessa joined the Center in November 1999 as an administrative assistant and meeting planner. Vanessa works on a variety of projects, meetings and conferences.
Bill Shepardson
Senior Associate
Bill is the project manager for the Center's work on technical assistance for the Casey Foundation's Making Connections initiative. In that work, he manages the Technical Assistance Resource Center (TARC) Help Desk and co-manages the peer technical assistance program. Prior to joining the Center, Bill worked at the Council of Chief State School Officers' Resource Center on Educational Equity, providing assistance to states and communities developing school-linked, community-based efforts to assure the educational success and well being of young people and their families.
Kate Stepleton
Associate
Kate Stepleton joined the Center for the Study of Social Policy
in 2007 after receiving a Master’s Degree in Social Service
Administration from the University of Chicago. Her work at the
Center for the Study of Social Policy is focused on the design and
implementation of programs and policies that increase family
strengths, promote optimal child development, and prevent child
maltreatment. Ms. Stepleton works with organizations and agencies at
the local, state, and national levels that adopt Strengthening
Families, an approach that originated at the Center for the Study of
Social Policy and is grounded in building protective factors in
families. Ms. Stepleton is also a member of team for the Quality
Improvement Center on Early Childhood, established through a
cooperative agreement between the Children’s Bureau (HHS, ACF) and
the Center for the Study of Social Policy. Her prior experience
includes direct practice in both family support and child abuse
prevention, and work in adolescent health policy. She currently
resides in Chicago, Illinois.
Myra Soto
Administrative Assistant
Myra joined the Center for Community Partnerships in Child Welfare as an Administrative Assistant in February 2007. She is responsible for a variety of projects, meetings, conferences, and other administrative tasks. Myra is a graduate from the College of the Holy Cross.
Mary Swilley
Office & Accounting Manager
Mary has worked with the Center since 1982. She is the Center's office manager and accounting manager.
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Denise Thompkins
Program Assistant/Assistant Office Manager
Denise has been working at the Center for 11 years. She is the Assistant Office Manager and is responsible for the coordination of all Center contracts. Prior to joining the Center, Denise worked at Howard University, in Washington, DC.
Dan Torres
Associate
Dan joined the CSSP in August 2007. Dan has a Masters
in Public Administration from the Evans School of Public Affairs at
the University of Washington. Following graduate school, Dan joined
Casey Family Programs where he focused on identifying best practice
approaches to addressing gaps in services for families at risk of
entering the child welfare system and led the development of Casey’s
Neighborhood-Based Prevention Initiative in Los Angeles. Dan’s work
at the CSSP is currently divided between supporting prevention
efforts in Los Angeles, and looking at effective policies and
practices for transitioning youth.
Valarie Williams
Administrative Assistant
Valarie joined the Center in March 2001. She is responsible for staff travel and a variety of other administrative supports.
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Khatib Waheed
Senior Fellow
Khatib Waheed joined the staff in October 2003 to head up the Center's new initiative to address the issue of racial disproportionality in child welfare. He most recently worked as an Associate Director for the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, which is a grant making foundation focusing on ensuring that youth in foster care have successful transitions to adulthood. Khatib has spent numerous years doing community building work through public-private partnerships involving state agencies, school districts, parents, law enforcement officers and elected officials to design and deliver school-linked, school-based family support services. He is a former participant in the International Initiative for Children, Youth and Families.
Kristen Weber
Associate
Kristen joined the Center for Community Partnerships in Child Welfare in March 2003. Prior to joining the Center, Kristen worked as an attorney for children and youth involved with the foster care, juvenile justice, and mental health systems in San Francisco, California. She also has experience working on child welfare impact ligitation cases in Utah and Arkansas.
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