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Family Re-Union 2: Reinventing Family Policy |
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Panelists, Presenters
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES (Alphabetic Order)
EDDIE B. ADAIR is deputy director of the Memphis Police Department, where he is responsible for day-to-day operations. His career has spanned 25 years of service in such assignments as Uniform Patrol, Traffic, Tact Squad, Recruiting, Homicide and Hostage Negotiation Team. He is a member of numerous organizations including the International Association of Chief's of Police (I.A.C.P.) and the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE).
Mr. Adair was born in Fayette County, Tennessee. He served in the United States Air Force for four years (1963-1967) and received a B.A. from Memphis State University (1973).
ANA ARMENDAREZ is president of the Glendale Youth Center, Inc. in Glendale, Arizona. The Youth Center provides educational and recreational services to youth in Western Maricopa County, with targeting school age children and their families in the Glendale barrio. The programs are conducted at a drop-in site and have served more than 15,000 youth per year. Under her direction, the Youth Center has successfully incorporated structured prevention programs and recreational programs which directly involve the family and promote family and community partnerships. Ms. Armendarez is a member of the Arizona State Gang Advisory Committee, the Arizona chapter of Mothers Against Gangs, Arizonans for Prevention and the Arizona Community Forum.
Ms. Armendarez received a B.A. in political science from Chatham College.
MARTY BEYER is a noted child advocate and author. She has worked with children and their families in the juvenile justice, child welfare, education, and mental health systems for twenty years. Dr. Beyer has provided training to judges, lawyers, caseworkers and foster parents, and is an expert consultant in class action litigation in several states.
Dr. Beyer received her B.A. from Vassar College and her Ph.D. in Clinical/ Community Psychology from Yale University.
JANET BELSKY is a professor of psychology at Middle Tennessee State University, where she teaches a variety of courses in lifespan development. Dr. Belsky has devoted much of her professional life to teaching, lecturing, and writing about adult development. She has worked as a clinical psychologist in hospitals and nursing homes, and has taught on the faculties of the City University of New York and Yeshiva University. She is the author of The Psychology of Aging and Here Tomorrow, and is currently completing a college textbook on adulthood to be published by Harcourt/ Brace /Jovanovich in 1995.
Dr. Belsky received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the University of Chicago.
LORRAINE C. BLACKMAN is an assistant professor at Indiana University's School of Social Work. An expert on gender role socialization in the African-American family, Dr. Blackman wrote her doctoral dissertation on "The Effect of a Marriage Enrichment Program on Marital Satisfaction and Gender Role Attitudes Among African-American Couples." Her major thesis was that racism, sexism, and incongruent gender role attitudes were the most salient factors in marital dissatisfaction among African-American couples.
Dr. Blackman received her B.A. from Southern Illinois University (1971), her M.S. from the University of Tennessee (1975) and her Ph.D. from Florida State University (1992).
T. BERRY BRAZELTON is a noted pediatrician and author. Since 1988, he has been Clinical Professor of Pediatrics Emeritus at Harvard Medical School, and Professor of Psychiatry and Human Development at Brown University. He is also an active member of the Child Development Unit at Children's Hospital in Boston, where he continues his research, clinical, and teaching activities. Dr. Brazelton was president of the Society for Research in Child Development for the 1987-1989 term, and of the National Center for Clinical Infant Programs from 1988-1991. He has made frequent appearances before Congressional committees in support of parental and medical leave bills and continues to work with the Alliance for Better Child Care for a more comprehensive day care bill. He is a co-founder of Parent Action and serves on the National Commission on Children.
Born in Waco, TX, Dr. Brazelton graduated from Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons (1943). He has published more than 180 scientific papers and has written 24 books on pediatrics and child development.
PHILIP BREDESEN is mayor of Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee. A successful businessman, he was elected mayor in August 1991 with an historic 71% of the vote. As mayor he passed a budget that provides new services in law enforcement, economic development and other areas without a tax increase, established a tough ethics policy for city employees and began to streamline city government. He founded Nashville's Table, an innovative and successful program to feed the homeles, and led the successful effort to rescue the Nashville Symphony from bankruptcy. Prior to being elected mayor, Bredesen founded HealthAmerica in 1980 and carried it to the New York Stock Exchange in 5 years. When he sold it in 1986, HealthAmerica had 6,500 employees and operated in 39 cities nationwide.
Mayor Bredesen grew up in Shortsville, New York and graduated from Harvard University (1967) with a degree in Physics.
CHARLES H. BRUNER is executive director of The Child and Family Policy Center in Iowa, a nonprofit organization established to better link research and policy on issues vital to children and families, and to advocate for outcome-based policies to improve child well-being. Before establishing the Center, Dr. Bruner served 12 years in the Iowa General Assembly. During his tenure he at various times chaired the Senate Human Services Appropriations Committee, the Energy and Environment Committee, and the Ways and Means Committee. He also served as chair of the National Conference of State Legislature's Child Support Advisory Committee and vice-chair of its Children, Families, and Social Services Committee.
Dr. Bruner holds a Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University.
ALMA CLAYTON-PEDERSEN is a research assistant professor of public policy at Vanderbilt University and assistant director of the Center for Education and Human Development Policy at the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies. From 1984 to 1990 she was assistant to the Dean of Students at Vanderbilt University. Prior to coming to Vanderbilt, Dr. Clayton-Pedersen was community services director for Edgehill Center where she was responsible for developing, implementing and evaluating a number of programs and services for youths, adults, and senior citizens. She has presented workshops and seminars on a broad variety of topics including time management, acquaintance rape, integrated service systems and understanding the subtleties of discrimination, and has been involved in youth development activities for most of her professional career.
On July 1, 1993, Dr. Clayton-Pedersen began to coordinate activities for the Learning Communities Project -- an effort to bring business, education, human service professionals, and families together in order to build a community of life-long learners. This work will be conducted on behalf of the dean of George Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, James W. Pellegrino. Dr. Clayton-Pedersen received her M.Ed. and Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University.
BARBARA CLINTON is director of the Vanderbilt University Center for Health Services, which serves to support community initiatives in disadvantaged areas by linking university resources to community efforts. She is also an adjunct lecturer in Community Health at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. Before going to the Center for Health Services, Ms. Clinton was a senior Social Worker at the Georgia Department of Medical Assistance. She is the author of numerous articles and serves as a consultant to a variety of organizations.
Ms. Clinton received her B.A. from State University College in Buffalo, New York (1970), and her M.S.W. from the University of Georgia School of Social Work (1980).
JAMES P. COMER is the director of the School Development Center and the Maurice Falk professor of Child Psychiatry at the Yale Child Study Center. He is also an associate dean at the Yale School of Medicine. Dr. Comer is the author of numerous articles and books, and lectures at colleges, universities, medical schools, scientific organizations, public schools and other organizations across the country.
Born in East Chicago, Indiana, Dr. Comer received his A.B. from Indiana University (1956), his M.D. from Howard University College of Medicine (1960) and his M.P.H. at the University of Michigan School of Public Health (1964).
THOMAS J. DOWNEY is president of Thomas J. Downey and Associates, a consulting firm which offers strategic advice to non-profit as well as private clients. From 1975 to 1993, Mr. Downey represented the 2nd Congressional District of New York in Congress where he served on the Armed Services Committee, the Ways and Means Committee and its subcommittees on Trade, and Human Resources. In recognition of Mr. Downey's expertise on domestic issues, then President-elect Clinton and Vice President-elect Gore selected Mr. Downey to head the Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, and Veterans Administration cluster of the Presidential Transition. Prior to being elected to Congress, he served as a Suffolk County (NY) legislator.
Mr. Downey was born in Ozone Park, New York. He graduated from Cornell University and holds a law degree from the American University.
DEWITT EZELL is president of South Central Bell in Tennessee. He began his career with South Central Bell in May, 1962, as an engineer in Nashville. After holding a number of different engineering jobs in Tennessee, Mr. Ezell moved to Birmingham, Alabama in 1968. He remained in Birmingham serving in both the Engineering and Revenue Requirements divisions until returning to Nashville as South Central Bell's General Manager - Corporate Affairs in 1981. In 1983, Mr. Ezell moved back to Birmingham as the Assistant Vice President - Public Affairs before being appointed to his current position. Mr. Ezell is Chairman of the Board at the Cumberland Museums, the minority Purchasing Council, and the United Way Success by Six Initiative. He has also been elected to numerous boards, foundations and associations.
Mr. Ezell is a graduate of Tennessee Tech University. He serves on the National Steering Committee at Tennessee Tech and the President's Advisory Council at Tennessee State University.
LYNN N. FALLIN is deputy director at the Department of Human Services in the State of Hawaii and has played a significant role in the growth of family centered services in that state. Among other projects, Ms. Fallin has developed welfare reform initiatives which have placed facilities in seven regional centers to deliver comprehensive integrated prevention services to families. She is also responsible for the Families Together Initiative, which is a single access, multi-agency system which offers intensive home-based family preservation and other family centered services. As director of the Governor's Office of Children and Youth, Ms. Fallin developed a school-based family literacy program modeled after the PACE program in Kentucky. For her hard work she was awarded the Statewide Service Award from the Hawaii affiliate of the National Association for Education of Young Children.
Born in Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii, Ms. Fallin received her B.S. from the University of Oregon (1969).
HENRY W. FOSTER, JR. is Vice President for Health Services and dean of Meharry's School of Medicine in Nashville/ TN. Upon completion of his medical residency in 1965, Dr. Foster assumed the position of Chief of Obstetrics & Gynecology at the John A. Andrew Memorial Hospital of Tuskegee University (formerly Tuskegee Institute). While there, Dr. Foster became the principal investigator on a federally funded maternity and infant care grant. It was primarily this activity that led to his induction into the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 1972. In 1973, Dr. Foster was appointed professor and chairman of the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at Meharry Medical College, a position he held for seventeen years. Dr. Foster serves on numerous boards, committees and councils, all of which work to improve perinatal outcome.
Dr. Foster was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He received his undergraduate education at Morehouse College and his M.D. from the University of Arkansas (1958). He served two years as a medical officer in the United States Air Force.
DONALD M. FRASER is the mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota and is currently president of the National League of Cities. Now serving his fourth term, Mayor Fraser has built a reputation on expanding support for families beyond public programs. He initiated a neighborhoodbased network of job placement centers to assist hard-to-employ persons and a network of community-based police service teams. In the past 10 years, Mayor Fraser has initiated a number of programs aimed at improving outcomes for Minneapolis children, and continues to serve in many state and national organizations seeking to strengthen public policies affecting children and education. Before becoming mayor, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Minnesota's 5th District from 1963 to 1978. From 1955 to 1962 he was a state senator in the Minnesota legislature, representing the university area and northeast Minneapolis.
Mayor Fraser received both his B.A. (1944) and his L.L.B. (1948) from the University of Minnesota. During World War II, he served as a naval radar officer on a destroyer in the Pacific.
AL GORE was inaugurated as the 45th Vice President of the United States on January 20, 1993. President Clinton chose then-Senator Gore to be his running mate on July 9, 1992. Vice President Gore has served the people of Tennessee for 16 years, first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1984 after serving eight years in the U.S. House of Representatives. He won reelection to the Senate in 1990, becoming the first candidate in modern history -- Democrat or Republican -- to win all 95 of Tennessee's counties.
Raised in Carthage, Tennessee, and Washington, D.C., Vice President Gore received his degree in government with honors from Harvard University in 1969. After graduation, he volunteered for enlistment in the U.S. Army and served in Vietnam. Returning to civilian life, Vice President Gore became an investigative reporter with The Tennessean in Nashville before entering a life of public service. Vice President Gore is married to the former Mary Elizabeth "Tipper" Aitcheson. They have four children: Karenna, Kristin, Sarah, and Albert III.
MARY ELIZABETH "TIPPER" GORE is a well-known child/family advocate with a long standing commitment to alleviating the plight of the homeless and removing the stigma associated with mental illness. Most recently, Mrs. Gore served as the mental health advisor to the President's task force on national health care reform. She and the mental health working group addressed how mental health might best be incorporated into fundamental reforms in the nation's health care system. Mrs. Gore also founded Tennessee Voices for Children, a coalition to promote the development of services for children and youth with serious behavioral, emotional, substance abuse or mental health problems.
Mrs. Gore was born in Arlington, Virginia. She received her B.A. from Boston University (1970) and her M.A. from George Peabody College (1975). She is married to Vice President Al Gore. They have four children: Karenna, Kristin, Sarah, and Albert, III.
MAXINE HAYES is assistant Secretary of Health in Washington state, assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine and a lecturer in its School of Public Health. Dr. Hayes was recruited to the Pacific Northwest in 1985 by the Children's Hospital and Medical Center in Seattle as Medical Director of the Odessa Brown Children's Clinic. In 1988, she was appointed as Division Director for Parent-Child Health Services (PCHS) for Washington State where she has had the opportunity to impact policy on behalf of the many families she had served clinically for years.
A native of Jackson, Mississippi, Dr. Hayes received her medical degree from the State University of New York, Buffalo School of Medicine (1973), her M.P.H. from Harvard University (1977), and is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics.
TOBY HERR is the founder and director of Project Match, a research and service welfare-to-work program that serves the Cabrini-Green housing development in Chicago. She is also a research associate at Northwestern University and the Erikson Institute in Chicago. Before founding Project Match, Ms. Herr worked in Cabrini-Green as an elementary school teacher.
Ms. Herr received her M.Ed. from the Erikson Institute where she is currently a trustee. She also serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the Malcom Weiner Center for Social Policy, John F. Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University.
EMIL & CORALEE HOLLOWAY moved to Nashville nine years ago and are the parents of two children. Emil Holloway is employed setting up trade and industrial shows, as well as music, film, and theatre productions. He also serves as secretary-treasurer of the Nashville Stagehands Union. Originally from North Carolina, Mr. Holloway has degrees from East Carolina University and Florida State University. He met Mrs. Holloway while working with the Alaska Repertory Theatre.
Coralee Holloway is a Housing Program Specialist for the Tennessee Housing Development Agency. For the past three years, she has helped distribute to communities state and federal housing funds for rental assistance and rehabilitation of older homes. Originally from California, Mrs. Holloway received degrees from Holy Name College and the University of California-Davis. She worked with various theatre companies in California and Utah before becoming the assistant production manager for the Alaska Repertory Theatre where she met her husband. After moving to Nashville, Mrs. Holloway spent six years working for an attorney specializing in real estate closings.
GRANTLAND JOHNSON is County Supervisor in Sacramento, CA. First elected to the Board of Supervisors in November 1986, Supervisor Johnson has made notable achievements on a wide range of issues including crime prevention, flood protection, managed growth, and f1reinventing" government in areas such as human service reorganization and neighborhood-based services to families in impoverished areas. In addition to his duties on the Board of Supervisors, Mr. Johnson belongs to numerous local, regional and national boards and commissions. Prior to his election', Johnson served one term on the Sacramento City Council, where his efforts helped to establish the City Office of Economic Development, the Office of Neighborhood Services and the McClellan Toxics Task Force.
GLORIA JOHNSON-POWELL is a child psychiatrist and a tenured professor of child psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She has been a member of many state, national and international organizations regarding children and has traveled, worked and taught at universities in Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, South Africa, and Brazil. Since 1989 Dr. Johnson-Powell has consulted on a series of housing discrimination cases as well as cases of police brutality, sexual discrimination and sexual harassment. In addition to her legal and advocacy work, she provides technical assistance to the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Urban Mental Health Initiative for Children, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Head Start Initiative, "Free to Grow," as well as their national Drug Abuse Prevention Program, "Fighting Back."
Dr. Johnson-Powell serves as a member of President Clinton's Health Professional's Review Panel and is co-authoring a book with April Powell Willingham, The House on Elbert Street: The Psycho-Social History of the Welfare System and a Welfare Mother. She has written a number of publications and in 1986 was awarded the best academic book by CHOICE, the Association of Academic Publishers, for The Psychological Development of Minority Group Children (in conjunction with Joe Yamamoto, Armando Morales and Anneliese Romero).
A native of Sacramento, California, Mr. Johnson received his B.A. from California State University.
KAREN KURZ-RIEMER is the director of Action for Children, a publicprivate, non-partisan commission composed of policymakers, child and family advocates, corporate chief executive officers, legislators, and others dedicated to creating and implementing a vision for Minnesota's children and families. She has been a consultant on early childhood development to the governments of Singapore and the state of Hawaii, where she began a program similar to Minnesota's Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) program, with wl-dch she has been actively involved since 1976. As the principal author of Way to Grow, Ms. KurzRiemer developed a plan to promote the school readiness of Minneapolis children for the Mayor's Office and the Minneapolis Youth Coordinating Board. She coordinated family programming including a teen parent program, a career development program, and a child care center for the Carver-Scott Educational Cooperative. In addition, she has taught Child and Family Studies for St. Cloud State University, consulted with midwest Head Start programs, and worked directly with young children and families in four states.
Ms. Kurz-Riemer received her B.A. from St. Norbert College (1970) and her M-Ed. from Chicago's Erikson Institute for Advanced Study in Child Development (1976). She is licensed as a prekindergarten Teacher and as a Parent Educator.
VINCENT LANE is chairman of the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA). Prior to joining CHA, he was president and general partner of Urban Services and Development, Inc. and LSM Ventures Associates, managing close to 3,000 apartment units and developing commercial properties in Chicago neighborhoods. Before founding Urban Services in 1976, he was senior vice president of the Woodlawn Community Development Corporation where he was responsible for fiscal and management operations of a community development organization with over 300 employees.
Mr. Lane received a B.S. from Roosevelt University (1966) and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago in 1973. In 1986, he received the HUD Regional Award for Minority Developer of the Year.
IRVING LAZAR is research professor of public policy and senior research associate at Vanderbilt University's Institute for Public Policy Studies. He is also Professor Emeritus of Human Ecology at Cornell University. Dr. Lazar has been an associate director of the Appalachian Regional Commission, an assistant to the director of the National Institute of Mental Health, a Congressional Fellow, associate director of Mental Health for the state of Nevada, executive director of the Neurneyer Foundation, director of one of the first family therapy clinics in the U.S., and a consultant to federal and state agencies across the U.S. and abroad. He is currently involved in the development and evaluation of a coordinated service system for pregnant women and children under three, and teaches social policy at the College of Social Work of the University of Tennessee. Dr. Lazar is chairman of the board of VOICES International, a consortium of major national non-profit human service organizations assisting the newly emerging democracies of Eastern Europe in the development of voluntary human service systems.
Dr. Lazar received his B.S. from the College of the City of New York (1948), his M.A. from Columbia University (1950) and his Doctor of Philosophy from Columbia University (1954). He was also a Fulbright visiting scholar in New Zealand.
SALLY A. LEIDERMAN is vice president of the Center for Assessment and Policy Development (CAPD) in Bala Cynwyd, PA. She has spent more than 20 years as a policy analyst and planner in the areas of children and family services, employment and training, and public assistance policy. Ms. Leiderman is also the project director for "The Children's Initiative: Making Systems Work," a major project of The Pew Charitable Trusts. The project works to improve the social, educational and health outcomes of young children by broadly reconfiguring systems of services for children and families in three states over a projected 11-year period. Ms. Leiderman co-authored Investing for the Future: A Strategic Plan for The Pew Charitable Trusts, and Reclaiming the Future: A Framework for Improving Student Success and Reducing the Drop-Out Rate in Philadelphia.
SARA L. LEWIS is executive director of Free The Children, Inc., an organization dedicated to eliminating the culture of poverty by addressing solutions to the root causes of poverty. Ms. Lewis previously served as assistant superintendent of the Memphis City School System in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Among other projects, she was responsible for the overall administration and supervision of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Educational and Cultural Center, which implements a holistic comprehensive and community-based approach for moving low income residents from welfare dependency and unemployment to self-sufficiency and personal empowerment.
Ms. Lewis received her B.A. from LeMoyne College and her M.Ed. from Memphis State University.
EILEEN P. LOCKE has been project director for Head Start and the Parent-Child Center in Chattanooga for 23 years. She is responsible for directing a management system that ensures appropriate program planning and efficient operation. Before joining Head Start she held positions with the Community Action Agency and the Neurosurgical Group of Chattanooga. Ms. Locke has also been an elementary school teacher in the Chattanooga Public School system.
Ms. Locke received her B.A. from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (1954).
RICHARD LOUV is the author of Fatherlove: What We Need, What We Seek, What We Must Create, and Childhood's Future. He is a contributing editor and columnist for Parents magazine and a columnist with The San Diego Union-Tribune, where he has written on such topics as family issues, the environment, technology, cities, immigration, personal and public ethics and grass-roots politics. Mr. Louv's column has appeared in the opinion pages of many U.S. newspapers and he has received awards for his writing from the International Reading Association, the National Association of Social Workers, Inc., the San Diego Academy of Psychologists, and the California Association for the Education of Young Children. Prior to becoming a writer, he was director of Project Concern's OPTION program, recruiting and placing medical professionals in areas of need in the United States and abroad.
Mr. Louv is a graduate of the William Allen White School of journalism at the University of Kansas.
JOHN L. MCKNIGHT is director of Community Studies of the Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research and professor of Communication Studies and Urban Affairs at Northwestern University. There he has conducted research and written in the fields of social service delivery systems, health policy, community organization, neighborhood policy and institutional racism with community groups. At the Center, Mr. McKnight currently directs research projects on asset-based neighborhood development and methods of community building by incorporating marginalized people. Mr. McKnight serves on the board of directors of numerous community organizations, including the Better Government Association, the Business and Professional People for the Public Interest, The Gamaliel Foundation, The National Training and Information Center, and the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise. Before joining Northwestern University he directed the Midwest office of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
NED MCWHERTER is the Governor of Tennessee. In 1968, after a successful career as a businessman, Governor McWherter won a seat in the Tennessee House of Representatives. After just two terms, he was elected Speaker of the House, a position he held longer than anyone in Tennessee history. As Speaker, he was instrumental in opening the legislative process every Tennessean. His innovative policies included insisting that all proceedings of the House be open to the public and press, appointing the first black committee chairman in the South, and moving women for the first time into legislative leadership positions. In 1986 he ran for governor and won by more than 100,000 votes and was reelected four years later with only token opposition.
Governor McWherter was born in Palmersville, Tennessee. He served 21 years in the Tennessee National Guard, attaining the rank of Captain.
MYRON ANNETTE OGLESBY-PITTS is the principal of the Caldwell Early Childhood Center in Nashville and is an assistant principal at Shwab Elementary School. Ms. Oglesby-Pints has also been a sixth grade teacher at Tom Joy Elementary School, served as a comprehensive development resource teacher at Pennington Elementary School and was a Primary Resource Teacher at the Guild Elementary School.
Mrs. Oglesby-Pitts received her B.S. from the George Peabody College of Vanderbilt (1974) and is currently pursuing a doctorate in teaching and learning from the Tennessee State University School of Education.
ANNE L. PERETZ is the president and founder of the Family Center, Inc. in Somerville, Massachusetts, a family based clinic and training site dedicated to developing service and training programs for under-served populations. The Family Center has initiated comprehensive programs in public housing developments; programs with families involved with adoption; a hospital based program with families with AIDS; and collaborative partnerships between parents and schools.
Ms. Peretz received her B.A. from Smith College (1960) and her M.S.W. from the Simmons School of Social Work.
APRIL POWELL-WILLINGHAM is currently completing The House on Elbert Street, a book co-authored with her mother, Dr. Gloria Johnson Powell. The book will serve as a biography of Ms. Powell-Willingham's grandmother, while also examining the evolution of the welfare state in the United States, with particular attention paid to laws and policies directed at women and children. Ms. Powell-Willingham is also an associate/law clerk at Hadsell & Stormer, Inc., in Pasadena, California.
Ms. Powell-Willingham received her B.A. from the University of California (1986), her M.A. from the UCLA Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning (1991), and her J.D. from the UCLA School of Law (1990).
BILL PURCELL is the majority leader of the Tennessee House of Representatives. Throughout his seven years in the House, Representative Purcell has placed a special emphasis on legislation affecting Tennessee's families and children. During the last five years as chairman of the Select Committee on Children and Youth, he has steered legislation through the General Assembly to provide maternity leave, to create America's first statewide family preservation program, to establish the Department of Youth Development, to discourage high school dropouts and to promote Family Resource Centers in Tennessee schools. As majority leader he has sponsored and passed legislation undertaking major reforms in Tennessee's schools, business climate, health care services and environmental programs.
Representative Purcell received an A.B. from Hamilton College and a J.D. from Vanderbilt University. He continues to maintain a private practice as an attorney.
CAROL HAMPTON RASCO is Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, where she supervises and coordinates the work of the White House staff of the President's Domestic Policy Council. She also serves on the Department of Education's National Education Goals Panel. Before moving to her job in the White House, Ms. Rasco was Governor Clinton's Senior Executive Assistant responsible for the staff and operations of the Governor's office. From 1985 through 1992, she was Governor Clinton's liaison to the National Governors' Association. Prior to joining Governor Clinton's staff in 1983, Ms. Rasco worked extensively as a volunteer in Arkansas with arts organizations, disability, advocacy groups and the United Methodist Church.
A native of Arkansas, Ms. Rasco received her B.A. from the University of Arkansas and a M.A. from the University of Central Arkansas.
EVELYN C. ROBERTSON, JR. is commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, where he is responsible for the care, treatment, and rehabilitation programs for individuals with mental illness and mental retardation. Commissioner Robertson overseas the formulation of policies, planning, and active supervision of nine mental health and mental retardation facilities. Commissioner Robertson has been in state government for 18 years, formerly serving as superintendent of Western Mental Health Institute and superintendent of Nat T. Winston DevelopmentalCenter.
Commissioner Robertson received a B.S. and an M.S. from Tennessee State University.
DONNA E. SHALALA is the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). She brings two decades of experience in management, social policy creation and analysis, and nationally recognized leadership skills to her responsibilities as the head of HHS, an agency that represents 40 percent of the federal budget, including more than 250 programs. Before coming to HHS, Secretary Shalala had served since January, 1988 as chancellor of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the first woman to head a Big Ten university. In 1980 she became the youngest woman to lead a major U.S. college when she assumed the presidency of Hunter College, part of the City University of New York system. From 1977 to 1988, Secretary Shalala served in the Carter Administration as assistant secretary for policy development and research at HHS. For more than a decade, Secretary Shalala served on the board of the Children's Defense Fund, becoming its chair in 1992. She was a member of the Committee for Economic Development that issued reports on strategies to better meet the health and educational needs of disadvantaged young children.
Secretary Shalala was born in Cleveland, Ohio. She received her B.A. from Western College for Women (1962) and her Ph.D. from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University (1970).
ANDREW J. SHOOKHOFF is a juvenile Court judge for Metropolitan Nashville-Davidson County. Upon graduating from law school, Judge Shookhoff joined the staff of Legal Services of Middle Tennessee and in 1978 served as the organization's juvenile law specialist for the Youth Legal Assistance Project. In 1980, he returned to Vanderbilt Law Clinic, a student-staffed, attorney supervised legal aid program for low income families and children. He remained on the faculty of the law school for 10 years, serving as acting director of Clinical Legal Education from 1986-87.
SARAH CARDWELL SHUPTRINE is president and executive director of the Southern Institute on Children and Families, and president of Sarah Shuptrine and Associates, a professional policy research and consulting firm, both based in Columbia, South Carolina. A former executive assistant to former South Carolina Governor Richard W. Riley, Ms. Shuptrine continues to advise the new Secretary of Education on issues pertaining to children. She is the author of numerous publications and serves on a number of committees and commissions including the National Commission on Children and the Carnegie Task Force on Meeting the Needs of Young Children.
SUE SIMCOX is a charter member of the Mother-To-Mother Ministry, a group established by members of the Disciples of Christ Church in St. Louis who were eager to reach out across racial and class barriers at a time of great national unrest. Now an interdenominational program in a variety of settings, from YWCAs to juvenile Courts, the ministry operates on behalf of 600 low income women in 28 cities. In the Mother-To-Mother program, women form a team of two to four mothers which includes a low-income woman who wants to make significant changes in her life, in a continued mutually beneficial relationship. The team works together to achieve the low-income woman's goals. Ms. Simcox has been meeting with the same low-income mother in Decatur, Illinois since 1967 -- before the Mother-To-Mother program was officially established. She also worked for Dove, Inc. for 23 years as a volunteer and staff member and helped found the organization. Dove is a social agency supported by 48 churches representing 12 denominations. It provides a wide range of services to people who suffer from personal and social injustices.
DEB SMULYAN is the executive director of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), where she manages the day-to-day operations of the DLC and its think tank, the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI). She has been with the DLC for four years. Prior to her service at the DLC, Ms. Smulyan worked on Capitol I-Ell, most recently as administrative assistant to former Representative Jim Jontz of Indiana. She has also served as a special assistant to then-Congressman Les Aspin of Wisconsin and as a legislative assistant to then-Congressman Tim Wirth of Colorado.
A native of Pennsylvania, Ms. Smulyan received her B.A. from Ithaca College (1976) and her M.S.W. from Boston University (1981).
JOYCE STROM is executive director of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (MSPCC), a position she has held since September 1991. She is the former deputy director of the Child Welfare League of America, a national advocacy and membership association of over 650 public and private agencies across the U.S. and Canada, including MSPCC. Ms. Strom has also served as executive director of Act Together, Inc., a national program of comprehensive services to high risk youth, and is former associate commissioner of the federal Administration for Children, Youth and Families, of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where she provided a variety of services for programs relating to foster care, adoption, child abuse, and runaway youth. In addition, Ms. Strom is a former commissioner of the Office for Children for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Ms. Strom received a B.A. in Education, Speech and Theater from the University of Vermont (1958).
KATHLEEN SYLVESTER is the vice president for domestic policy at the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI). Before joining PPL Ms. Sylvester was a founder and senior writer at Governing, the leading national magazine of state and local public policy. She has reported for NBC News, National Public Radio and The Washington Star, and has contributed to The Washington Post and Newsday.
A native of Syracuse, New York, Ms. Sylvester received degrees from Georgetown and Wesleyan Universities, studied at Yale Law School and was a Knight fellow at Stanford University.
RICHARD WEISSBOURD is a research fellow at the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy at Harvard University. Dr. Weissbourd's studies focus on how vulnerabilities develop in children and examines how schools, health care agencies and social services can better prevent and respond to children's troubles. He has written for various scholarly and popular publications. Presently he is working on a book, with Mary Jo Bane, that challenges current notions about "at-risk" children and that seeks to map a more effective service system. Dr. Weissbourd also works to develop programs for low-income children and families in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Dr. Weissbourd received his B.A. from Stanford University and his Ph.D. in counseling and consulting psychology from Harvard University (1987).
SHIRLEY WHITE-HORTON resides with her six children, in the Dr. H.P. Hurt Village, a public housing development in Memphis, Tennessee. Married to Waddell Horton, Mrs. Horton and her husband chose to live apart for an extended period of time to ensure that she and the children would remain eligible for public assistance. During that time Mr. Horton lived nearby with his mother and but visited his family daily and continued all of the duties of a father: cooking, cleaning, chaperoning, supervising, counseling and loving the children.
Mrs. Horton was recently employed as a case manager trainee for Project Success, an Economic Empowerment Demonstration Grant funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Mr. Horton was enrolled in Parents Fair Share but is now working full-time at the Cook Convention Center. Their combined wages are still below the official poverty level for a family of eight. The White-Horton's oldest son, Derrick, 19, is a pre-med student at LeMoyne College and the recipient of a Presidential Scholarship.
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