Annie E. Casey Foundation Announces Eleventh Class of Children and Family Fellows

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Mar 01, 2019, 13:29 ET

BALTIMORE, March 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Annie E. Casey Foundation has selected 15 leaders from nine states for the eleventh class of its Children and Family Fellowship. These accomplished leaders from the public, nonprofit and for-profit sectors will use the 21-month Fellowship to work within their agencies, organizations and communities toward specific, measurable improvements for young people and families. The new Fellows are based in nine states.

The Fellowship is an intensive executive leadership program designed to give more child- and family-serving professionals the confidence and competence to lead major system reforms and community change initiatives. Since the Foundation began the program in 1993, 125 leaders have participated.

For the first time, in addition to specific individual objectives, this group of Fellows will contribute to a shared result: that all youth ages 14–24 have the necessary connections to school, work and family to achieve equitable outcomes of success.

"The members of our newest class are high-energy leaders who dream big and continually strive to remove obstacles for kids and families," said Lisa Hamilton, president and CEO of the Casey Foundation.

The class includes:

Grace Bonilla, administrator, New York City Human Services Administration
Charles Bradley, division director, Mecklenburg County (North Carolina) Department of Social Services
Regina Cannon, SPARC director, chief equity and impact officer, Center for Social Innovation, Needham, Massachusetts
Ed Center, senior program officer, education, Tipping Point Community, San Francisco
Kristen Harper, director for policy development, Child Trends, Bethesda, Maryland
Karla Pleitez Howell, director of educational equity, Advancement Project California, Los Angeles
Mario Johnson, bureau director, youth transition support services, Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services
Sarah Jonas, deputy executive director, office of community schools, New York City Department of Education
Kristine Snyder, LEAP director, Project for Pride in Living, Minneapolis
Muneer Karcher-Ramos, director, City of Saint Paul (Minnesota) Office of Financial Empowerment
Alison Kear, CEO, Covenant House Alaska, Anchorage, Alaska
Erika Van Buren, vice president for evaluation and learning, First Place for Youth, Oakland, California
Bharti Wahi, executive director, Children's Defense Fund Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota
Alicia Guevara Warren, KIDS COUNT project director, Michigan League for Public Policy, Lansing, Michigan
Iris Zuniga, executive vice president, Youth Policy Institute, Los Angeles