Faculty Biographies | Opening Session Speakers | Closing Session Speakers

Bryan Stevenson, Keynote Speaker
Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative has won national acclaim for his work challenging bias against the poor and people of color in the criminal justice system. Since graduating from Harvard Law School and the Harvard School of Government, he has assisted in securing relief for dozens of condemned prisoners, advocated for poor people and developed community-based reform litigation aimed at improving the administration of criminal justice. He also is on the law faculty at New York University School of Law. 
         
Mr. Stevenson recently appeared on the PBS show Bill Moyers Journal to examine justice and injustice in America, 42 years after Dr. Martin Luther King.  Watch the broadcast.
     

Opening Session:

Yolanda J. Butler, Ph.D.

Acting Director and Deputy Director, Office of Community Services, Administration for Children and Families, HHS
    
Dr. Yolanda J. Butler currently serves as Acting Director of the Office of Community Services (OCS) at the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (ACF/HHS). As Acting Director of OCS since November 2008, and Deputy Director of OCS since April 2006, Dr. Butler serves as an executive manager and advisor for nine highly visible block grant and discretionary community and social services grant programs (including one Presidential initiative program) that total some $8 billion. Prior to her positions in OCS, Dr. Butler served as a senior advisor on legislative, regulatory and budget policy in the Office of Legislative Affairs and Budget where she worked on key social services and community programs, and advised political and career staff for OCS and the Administration on Developmental Disabilities. She also spent time working with then-Senator Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois on human services and economic development issues in 1998 and 1999. Dr. Butler also has a long-standing association with OCS, having entered federal service in 1996 as a Presidential Management Intern in OCS. Dr. Butler received a doctorate in Political Science (concentrating in American Government and Public Administration) in 2006 from Howard University, where she also earned her master’s degree in American Government and Public Administration. She most recently received a certificate from the Key Executive Leadership Program in Public Administration from American University in 2008. She is a 1994 graduate of the W.E.B. DuBois Honors College at Jackson State University (JSU).
    

Ann Linehan
Director of the Quality Assurance
Division of the Office of Head Start

Ann Linehan currently serves as Director of the Quality Assurance Division of the Office of Head Start. For over 25 years, Ann Linehan has worked in various capacities within Head Start, beginning as executive director at a
Head Start and child care agency located outside of Boston, MA. In 1992, Ms. Linehan joined the federal government to work in Region I as the program manager for Head Start, focusing on the monitoring process to address key quality issues. Ms. Linehan earned her baccalaureate.

    

Dorothy Mabry
Special Assistant, Administration for Children and Families Region IV

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.

 

Closing Session:

David Bradley

Executive Director

National Community Action Foundation

David Bradley gives a voice to the voiceless.  For nearly three decades, David has been the preeminent advocate in Washington, D.C. working closely with both Democratic and Republican Congressional leadership, as well as numerous Administrations, to ensure federal policies related to major social service programs make a difference in the lives of low-income Americans. 

     
In a town full of corporate lobbyists, David Bradley has created with his government relations firm Moss McGee Bradley and a unique niche, specializing in assisting low income programs and nonprofit organizations with their legislative and regulatory needs.  David serves as the CEO of both the National Workforce Association and USA Works!, organizations focused on working with Congress and the Executive branch to design and fund a world class job training system for America.  He is the principle author of the Community Services Block Grant, which provides the core funding to the nation's CAA network.

       

The unique role he has crafted in Washington and his nearly unrivaled access to powerbrokers in the Congressional leadership has made David a popular presence on the speaker circuit. His speaking engagements range the gamut in the domestic policy arena, providing his audiences with an insider’s perspective of the political climate in Washington that is gleaned directly from political and party leaders. He frequently is asked to provide his analysis of the expectations for, and potential impact of, upcoming elections, as well as pending legislation. The breadth of programs he represents before Congress allows him to distill what is happening in Washington and discern its potential effect for each individual audience. David also regularly presents short interactive seminars on how a bill becomes a law, forty steps to effective advocacy, the federal legislative and appropriations process, and an examination of War on Poverty programs.