Tshaka Barrows
Haywood Burns Institute
Tshaka Barrows is Co-Executive Director and member of the Executive Leadership Team with the Haywood Burns Institute. Tshaka joined the Burns Institute in 2002 as Regional Manager for the Community Justice Network for Youth (CJNY) after graduating from the University of Wisconsin. Previously, he worked to build the CJNY from 35 active member organizations in 2002 to over 200 nationwide today! He developed several curricula including a comprehensive juvenile justice history curriculum, as well as racial and ethnic disparity taskforces in Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Chicago and New Orleans. He is proud to have worked with and supported so many community leaders committed to ‘Stopping the Rail to Jail’.
Prudence Beidler Carr
American Bar Association’s Center on Children and the Law
Prudence Beidler Carr is the Director of the American Bar Association’s Center on Children and the Law, where she manages a team of attorneys and core staff who work on children’s law projects throughout the country. Prudence joined the ABA Center in July 2016 and brings a background in government, nonprofit management, and children’s advocacy to her role.
Immediately before joining the ABA, Prudence lived in Mexico City where she partnered with JUCONI, a Mexican organization that helps street-living youth reintegrate with their families. Prudence has also worked at the Department of Homeland Security Office of General Counsel, and began her legal career as a law clerk for District Judge Paul S. Diamond in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Prior to becoming a lawyer, Prudence worked on numerous children’s advocacy projects both domestically and internationally, including advocating for children and parents involved in the child welfare system in California, New York and Illinois, expanding access to affordable child care in California and Spain, and helping prosecute child sex abuse crimes.
Originally from Chicago, Prudence now lives in Washington DC with her husband and children.
Tori Brasher-Weathers
Institute for Family
Tori Brasher-Weathers serves as the Program and Partnership Manager at the Institute for Family, part of Children’s Home Society of North Carolina. Tori is passionate about creating spaces where children and families can truly thrive. With a deep commitment to inclusive, supportive, and trauma-informed practices, she believes education has the power to transform lives.
As Program and Partnership Manager at the Children’s Home Society of North Carolina’s Institute for Family, Tori leads innovative online training and curriculum development for child welfare and allied professionals. Her work centers on elevating family voices and weaving storytelling into learning experiences that inspire empathy and action. She also serves as a storytelling facilitator for the Shine on North Carolina Initiative, helping capture and share lived experiences to influence policies and decisions that shape communities.
Dr. Nadine Burke Harris
Dr. Nadine Burke Harris is an award-winning physician, researcher and advocate dedicated to changing the way our society responds to one of the most serious, expensive and widespread public health crises of our time: childhood trauma. She was appointed as California’s first-ever Surgeon General by Governor Gavin Newsom in January 2019 and quickly became a trusted leader in the state’s COVID-19 pandemic response.
Dr. Burke Harris’ career has been dedicated to serving vulnerable communities and combating the root causes of health disparities. She is the author of The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity.
Kim Dvorchak
National Association of Counsel for Children
Kim Dvorchak, JD, has led National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC) since May of 2017. Ms. Dvorchak is responsible for the overall leadership of policy, operations, programs, fundraising, and the strategic development of the organization. Ms. Dvorchak has nearly 30 years of experience in direct representation, policy advocacy, and nonprofit management to advance the rights of children and youth. Under Ms. Dvorchak’s leadership, the National Association of Counsel for Children vastly expanded its programs and services, tripled its budget and staff, and was selected to receive a major multi-year grant to launch a national right to counsel campaign for children and youth in the child welfare system.
Ms. Dvorchak has served as the leader of three nonprofit organizations since 2010. Previously, Ms. Dvorchak was the Executive Director of the National Juvenile Defender Center (now The Gault Center), where she lead the launch of the Gault at 50 Campaign to commemorate the US Supreme Court case establishing children’s right to counsel. Prior to this position, Ms. Dvorchak was the founding Executive Director of the Colorado Juvenile Defender Center, an attorney training and policy center which accomplished monumental reforms to ensure children’s right to counsel, reduce the prosecution of youth in adult court, and build a community of lawyers committed to zealous advocacy for children.
In her legal career, Ms. Dvorchak represented children and youth in delinquency court, criminal court, and on appeal; she has run her own law firm, and served as a public defender in two states. A recognized national expert on juvenile law, Ms. Dvorchak has published multiple policy reports and is a frequent lecturer at policy conferences and continuing legal education seminars. Ms. Dvorchak continues to serve as an expert witness in juvenile law and policy.
In recognition of her advocacy work on behalf of children, Ms. Dvorchak received the Kutak-Dodds Prize for equal justice by the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, the Champions of Children Advocate by the Sewall Child Development Center, the Robert E. Shepherd Jr. Leadership Award for Excellence in Juvenile Defense by the National Juvenile Defender Center, and was named a Colorado Woman of Influence by the Denver Post. Ms. Dvorchak also received the Gideon Award from the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar for her work on an amicus brief in a Colorado Supreme Court case establishing the right to effective assistance of counsel in post-conviction matters.
Dr. Pegah Faed
Safe and Sound
Dr. Pegah Faed serves as the CEO of Safe and Sound, a San Francisco-based organization working to prevent and reduce the impact of childhood abuse, neglect, and trauma. Last year alone, they supported nearly 14,000 children and caregivers in the Bay Area and beyond. Prior to this role, Dr. Faed gained a depth of experience in establishing programs, policy, and systems change efforts that create lasting change for children and families, in roles at First 5 Marin, working closely with San Francisco Mayor’s Children’s Policy Council and serving on the Center for Youth Wellness’s California Campaign to Counter Childhood Adversity steering committee.
Valerie Frost
National Lived Experience Leader
Valerie Frost is a parent advocate and systems-change leader whose work is deeply informed by lived experience navigating Kentucky’s child welfare and court systems. With a background in education and over five years of consulting with public agencies and coalitions, her efforts focus on transforming child welfare practices to become more family-centered and prevention-oriented. Her personal journey as a mother impacted by the system due to a lack of adequate support for her children with special needs informs her commitment to embedding lived expertise into policy, practice, and research. She partners with legal professionals, public agencies, and national initiatives to co-design approaches that elevate the voices of families and reduce harm within systems of mandated intervention.
Above all else, Valerie’s proudest accomplishment is being a mother to three beautiful children who have stolen her heart – her greatest advocacy efforts.
Representative Annessa Hartman
Oregon State Representative Annessa Hartman is a member of the Haudenosaunee, Cayuga Nation, Snipe Clan, and the third Indigenous person elected to the Oregon House of Representatives.
Representative Hartman serves House District 40, including Oregon City, Gladstone, and Unincorporated Clackamas County. Representative Hartman’s legislative focus includes supporting working families, human services, and infrastructure, which stems from her experiences as the child of a single, working mother, and being a Gladstone City Councilor.
Transparency, accessibility, and amplifying historically unheard voices are guiding values that have impacted her work to diligently view policy from an equitable lens, empowering others to speak their stories to local leadership.
Representative Hartman’s background in events and hospitality has enabled her to utilize her strengths in planning, goal setting, collaboration, and communication. Hospitality can be a thankless calling-like leadership that builds small wins and eventually leads to monumental change with diligence, focus, and humility.
Megan McGee
Ex Fabula
Megan McGee is Co-founder and Executive Director of Ex Fabula, a Milwaukee nonprofit that connects Milwaukee through real stories. She has a Master’s degree in Spanish Language and Literature, a Bachelor’s degree in theatre, and a decade of informal study of the neuroscience of storytelling, which she leverages to create storytelling programming that connects individuals, fosters empathy, and amplifies underrepresented voices and stories. Under her leadership, Ex Fabula has received awards including a 2020 MANDI for their Deaf Storytelling work and a 2021 Unity Award from Milwaukee Magazine.
Samantha Mellerson
Haywood Burns Institute
Samantha Mellerson is Co-Executive Director with the Haywood Burns Institute. Sam brings over 20 years of experience working with issues of social justice, racial and ethnic equity, education, diversity, youth justice, child welfare and wellbeing. She also brings a depth of knowledge around nonprofit capacity building and is a certified empowerment and diversity coach. Sam has worked across public and private sectors in various capacities such as non-profit direct service and management, local and state government and philanthropy.
Emerald Mills-Williams
Diverse Dining
Emerald Mills-Williams is a Milwaukee-based business connector and the founder of Diverse Dining and Diverse Dining Market, a food-based vendor incubator and dialogue-driven experience company that helps teams build real relationships across differences. Through curated meals, market programming, and corporate workshops, Emerald equips organizations to strengthen culture, belonging, and engagement. Her work has been featured by FOX (Milwaukee), Spectrum News 1, Milwaukee Magazine, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, OnMilwaukee, Wisconsin Public Radio, TMJ4, and UWM News.
Desmond Meade
Florida Rights Restoration Coalition
Desmond Meade is a formerly homeless returning citizen who overcame many obstacles to eventually become the President of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC), Chair of Floridians for a Fair Democracy, a graduate of Florida International University College of Law, a winner of the McArthur Genius Award, and recognized by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World for 2019.
Tarik Moody
Radio Milwaukee
Tarik Moody is the Director of Strategy and Innovation at Radio Milwaukee. He is the creator of Rhythm Lab Radio, HYFIN, and co‑host of the podcasts “By Every Measure” and “This Bites”. He is a storyteller on culture, tech and community.
Tarik cultivates a platform for Black music and culture through HYFIN, where he leverages his expertise in creative strategy and AI to create a community-focused broadcast experience, which underscores his and Radio Milwaukee’s commitment to promoting diversity and cultural integrity in the media landscape.
Jessica Moyer
Frameworks Institute
Jessica Moyer is an environmental sociologist and geographer who has been a member of the FrameWorks team since 2017. As Senior Principal Strategist, she combines her experience as a civic-minded researcher with her passion for teaching and commitment to social justice advocacy.
Prior to joining FrameWorks, Jess worked with several social, environmental, and community arts organizations, including The Race Equality Centre, where she provided advocacy support to Black, minority ethnic, immigrant, and asylum seeking communities; The Mighty Creatives, where she matched aspiring young artists from underserved communities with job placements in the culture scene; and the Center for Marine Resource Studies in the Turks and Caicos Islands, where she coordinated conservation, education, and community-building initiatives. Jess has also conducted research in Costa Rica and the Philippines, as well as taught at universities in the United States and the United Kingdom.
In 2019, she co-produced two short-length films, entitled Our Home and The Saving Tree, both of which highlight Filipina women’s relationships to the environment and were shortlisted for Research in Film Awards by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council. Jess holds a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the University of Delaware, a master’s degree in geography from Western Washington University, and a doctorate in sociology from Queen Margaret University in Scotland.
Dr. Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D
Dr. Perry is the Principal of the Neurosequential Network and a Professor (Adjunct) at the School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria Australia.
Over the last thirty years, Dr. Perry has been an active teacher, clinician and researcher in children’s mental health and the neurosciences holding a variety of academic positions. His work on the impact of abuse, neglect and trauma on the developing brain has impacted clinical practice, programs and policy across the world. Dr. Perry is the author, with Maia Szalavitz, of The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog, a bestselling book based on his work with maltreated children and Born For Love: Why Empathy is Essential and Endangered. Dr. Perry’s most recent book, What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing (2021), co-authored with Oprah Winfrey, has been translated into 26 languages and has been on the New York Times Bestseller list for over 100 weeks after becoming #1 on the list in April of 2021.
Jared Robinson
Rally
Jared Robinson is a Senior Accounts Executive at Rally and communications strategist using his experience in storytelling, coalition management, event planning, and project management to fight for progress. Born and raised in Olympia, WA, Jared has worked in partnership with Washington-based organizations on issues ranging from education equity and child welfare to global environmental conservation. Inspired by his time working alongside nonprofits, schools, governments, and foundations, Jared brings a tailored, community-based approach to his work and understands the value of uplifting diverse voices when advocating for change. In his free time you’ll find Jared playing strategy games, enjoying local breweries and exploring the Pacific Northwest.
Claudia Rowe
National Book Award Finalist & Seattle Times
Claudia Rowe is a National Book Awards finalist for her book, Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care and a member of The Seattle Times editorial board. She has been writing about the places where youth and government policy clash for 34 years. Claudia is the recipient of a Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism and multiple honors for investigative reporting. Her work has been twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in journalism. She has been published in The New York Times, The Seattle Times, Mother Jones, and The Stranger. In 2018, Claudia’s memoir, The Spider and the Fly, won the Washington State Book Award.
Rinku Sen
Narrative Initiative
Rinku Sen is a writer and social justice strategist. She is formerly the Executive Director of Race Forward and was Publisher of their award-winning news site Colorlines. Under Sen’s leadership, Race Forward generated some of the most impactful racial justice successes of recent years, including Drop the I-Word, a campaign for media outlets to stop referring to immigrants as “illegal,” resulting in the Associated Press, USA Today, LA Times, and many more outlets changing their practice. She was also the architect of the Shattered Families report, which identified the number of kids in foster care whose parents had been deported.
Her books Stir it Up and The Accidental American theorize a model of community organizing that integrates a political analysis of race, gender, class, poverty, sexuality, and other systems. As a consultant, Rinku has worked on narrative and political strategy with numerous organizations and foundations, including PolicyLink, and the ACLU. She has a long history of board service in non-profits and foundations; she currently serves on the board of the Center for Investigative Reporting and is the board chair of Hedgebrook, the women’s writing residency.
In her current role leading Narrative Initiative, she is building a vision of true multiracial, pluralistic democracy, and helping organizers across movements learn how to saturate every story with their ideas.
Pardeep Singh Kaleka
Mental Health America of Wisconsin
Pardeep Singh Kaleka is the Clinical Director at Mental Health America–Wisconsin, a senior anti-hate advocate, and co-author of The Gift of Our Wounds. After losing his father in the 2012 Oak Creek Sikh Temple attack, he became a leading voice for community healing, resilience, and faith.
With over 25 years of experience in law enforcement, education, mental health, and supporting hate-crime survivors, Pardeep has served with the U.S. Department of Justice–CRS and led the Interfaith Conference. He specializes in communal trauma and helps public health professionals, educators, and law enforcement develop community-oriented strategies to address conflict, hate, and rising targeted violence.
Shary Tran
Children’s Wisconsin
Shary Tran serves as the Vice President of Belonging and Workforce Development at Children’s Wisconsin. She is the co-founder of ElevAsian, a collective of Asian American and Pacific Islander’s (AAPIs) in the Greater Milwaukee area who strive to elevate the visibility of people, business and issues in the AAPI community by celebrating the successes and shining a light on the challenges facing their community.