Background Information

Presenters/Resource Persons

Carolyn J. Allen currently serves as the Project Manager for the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative Training and Technical Assistance Program, a special initiative of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s National Training and Technical Assistance Center. In this capacity, Ms. Allen works in partnership with the U.S. Departments of Justice, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services, as well as other key Federal agencies, in providing training and technical assistance to grantees charged with providing services to serious and violent offenders leaving prison and reentering the community.

Prior to her current position, Ms. Allen was a Project Director for the National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP), where she worked with jurisdictions throughout the country developing and improving the functioning of adult, juvenile, family, and tribal drug courts. While at NADCP, Ms. Allen developed and implemented trainings that helped to link the work of law enforcement with the drug courts. She also worked with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services and several local law enforcement officials to train law enforcement officers in the drug court system. In addition, Ms. Allen was instrumental in creating linkages between law enforcement and mental health professionals and contributed to the writing of a monograph entitled Building Linkages Between Law Enforcement and Mental Health Professionals.

In other professional endeavors, Ms. Allen planned for, implemented, and operated the Suffolk County Drug Treatment Court in Central Islip, New York. In this capacity, she worked at the grassroots level to bring local service providers together to form an adult drug court. She also provided guidance in the planning of the Suffolk County Family Drug Court. Ms. Allen has more than 10 years’ experience in project management and community collaboration. She received a B.A. in criminal justice/social science from Adelphi University in Garden City, New York.

Lynnette S. Araki, M.P.H. is a Program Analyst in the Office of Planning and Evaluation, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and serves as the lead staff on several cross-cutting projects for the agency. Ms. Araki is the lead staff for the HRSA Work Group on Homelessness that developed an agency work plan to address homelessness and to improve access to mainstream programs for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. The Work Group identified six cross-cutting projects for FY 2001 and FY 2002, including the conduct of the Policy Academies to focus on improving accessibility of mainstream resources at the State level for people who are homeless or who are at risk of homelessness. The Work Group received the HRSA Administrator’s Citation for Outstanding Group Performance in 2001. Other cross-cutting projects for which Ms. Araki is responsible include the HRSA Pacific Basin Initiative and the agency’s External Emergency Response Team to assure continuity of essential functions during a crisis or emergency.

Lawrence Bartlett, Ph.D. is the Director of Health Systems Research, Inc., a firm that helps national, State, and local policymakers weigh their options and make more informed decisions concerning health and human service policies and programs. The firm works collaboratively with its public and private sector clients to develop and implement innovative strategies to improve the health and social well being of individuals, families, and communities. Dr. Bartlett is an economist who brings to these efforts more than 25 years of experience in health services research, evaluation, and policy analysis and in providing “hands-on” technical assistance to State and local governments and private sector clients. Because Dr. Bartlett’s technical expertise is combined with strong group facilitation skills, he is often called upon to provide assistance to governors’ blue ribbon commissions, legislative task forces, and local health care coalitions.

In addition to his work with numerous States and localities, Dr. Bartlett has served as a consultant to a variety of national organizations, including the National Governors’ Association, the National Conference of State Legislators, the American Association of Retired Persons, the Federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. He formerly was the staff director of the State Medicaid Directors’ Association and the director of the National Governors’ Association’s State Medicaid Information Center. Dr. Bartlett holds a doctorate in economics and a master’s degree in health services administration.

Patricia Carlile is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Special Needs responsible for managing approximately $3 billion in new and existing HUD grants that serve homeless people, and others who are at risk of becoming homeless, along with persons with HIV/AIDS. She oversees the annual Continuum of Care homeless assistance competition that entails the review of over 3500 applications. The programs that she administers provide for a continuum of assistance that includes permanent supportive housing, transitional housing, emergency shelter, supportive services, and prevention. The President’s goal to end chronic homelessness within ten years is a primary focus of the office. Earlier under the first Bush Administration, Ms. Carlile was Executive Director of the Interagency Council on the Homeless, coordinating the homeless activities of seventeen Federal agencies. She has served in several other senior level positions in the Federal government.

Previously, Ms. Carlile owned her own management and executive search consulting firm, providing advice and guidance to corporate executives in an array of industries, including health care, high technology, housing, manufacturing, and real estate development, as well as associations and the Federal government. She created the Congressionally mandated, industry sponsored commodities futures regulatory association and helped to restructure an international affordable housing systems engineering company. Ms. Carlile later became a partner of an international executive search firm and opened its Washington, DC office. She began her consulting career with Ernst & Young, an international management consulting firm. Ms. Carlile received her B.A. from Pace University and a Master of Liberal Studies at Georgetown University. She is originally from Texas.

Charles S. (Chick) Ciccolella is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Veterans Employment and Training at the U.S. Department of Labor. His agency, VETS, is responsible for helping veterans secure employment and for protecting their rights and benefits through a variety of new and existing programs. Prior to coming to the Department of Labor, he served in the U.S. Senate as the Chief of Operations for the Senate Sergeant at Arms and later, as Assistant Staff Director and Director of Information Technology Policy at the Senate Rules Committee. Before coming to the Senate, Mr. Ciccolella spent 28 years in the U.S. Army, including service in Vietnam, Germany, and Panama prior to leaving as a full colonel. He and his wife make their home in Alexandria, Virginia.

Randy Cooper is a Senior Policy Advisor within the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Disability Employment Policy.

Tracy D’Alanno is the Manager of Homeless and Resource Development Programs for the Office of Supportive Housing and Homeless Programs at the Colorado Department of Human Services. Ms. D’Alanno has over thirteen years of experience in developing and implementing coordinated homeless service delivery systems at the public and private level. Her major emphasis has been to provide direction to providers, local governments, and State departments on the development of local and State plans to address homelessness. She is currently responsible for providing direction and leadership to the State of Colorado’s Homeless Policy Academy Team charged with developing and implementing a statewide plan on improving access to mainstream resources for homeless persons.

Richard De Blasio, M.S.W., L.C.S.W. is Director of Health Care for Homeless Veterans within the VA Eastern Colorado Healthcare System. Mr. De Blasio has worked for the VA's Health Care for Homeless Veterans Program since 1998. He supervises programs that provide outreach to homeless veterans, and employment coordination as well as transitional and permanent housing. Mr. De Blasio has recently coordinated preparation for the program's accreditation survey under Employment and Community Services Standards for the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities. He is also a board member of the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative, and the HUD continuum of care for Metropolitan Denver.

Deborah Dennis, M.A. is Vice President for Technical Assistance at Policy Research Associates in Delmar, New York. She is the project manager on PRA’s contracts and subcontracts related to homelessness and housing, including the National Resource Center on Homelessness and Mental Illness (since 1988), the Health Care for the Homeless Information Resource Center (since 1996), the CMHS Supported Housing Initiative, the CMHS/CSAT Homeless Families Program, and the PATH Technical Assistance Program. She has written extensively on the housing and support service needs of persons who have been homeless and who have behavioral health disorders. Prior to joining PRA in 1988, she worked as a research scientist in the New York State Office of Mental Health, where she evaluated programs for people with serious mental illnesses who were homeless.

Peter Hansen Dougherty serves as Director of Homeless Veterans Programs for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. He serves as the Department's principal advisor on homelessness and oversees VA's internal homeless working group and the Department's Advisory Committee on Homeless Veterans. Prior to joining VA, he worked on both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate Committees on Veterans Affairs, where he prepared oversight and legislative hearings for a variety of programs, including housing, insurance, claims adjudication, mental health, and homelessness. He drafted legislation on a number of VA programs related to housing, employment and homelessness. Mr. Dougherty has been recognized for his work on veterans issues by the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and VA, receiving the Meritorious Service Award in 2001.

John Garrity, M.P.A. is the Director of the Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs (SNAPs) at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Mr. Garrity brings over 20 years of experience administering a variety of housing programs, including the former Urban Homesteading and HOPE III Programs. He currently oversees policy and program development for the six McKinney-Vento Act homeless assistance programs administered by HUD. Mr. Garrity is also responsible for implementing the award-winning “Continuum of Care” community-based planning process. Selected as the winner of the Harvard University/Ford Foundation “Innovations in Government” award in 1999, local Continuum of Care systems are competitively funded through the award of over $1.2 billion in HUD’s homeless assistance program grants annually.

Theresa Hayes, M.P.H., R.N. began working for the Department of Veterans Affairs in 1979 as Health Care Facilities Specialist in the Office of Construction, conducting space and functional deficiencies in VA health care facilities. She is currently Program Manager for the $100 million Loan Guaranty for Multifamily Transitional Housing for Homeless Veterans (P.L. 105-368) pilot program. She also manages the VA's Programs of Excellence, VA's Innovative Programs and the National Therapeutic Employment Placement Support (TEPS) program. Ms. Hayes was Program Manager (1995-1999) of VA's Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program. She provides technical review for VISN strategic plans. Prior to the establishment of VISNs in the VA, Ms. Hayes was in the Regional Planning Office for Region I serving as a consultant and advocate for 41 VA health care facilities on current and future medical and staffing requirements. Before moving to the Washington, DC area, Ms. Hayes served as a clinical nurse at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC and health education specialist for the Durham Regional Medical Education Center.

Mary Ellen Hombs is Deputy Director of the United States Interagency Council
on Homelessness. The Interagency Council on Homelessness is part of the Domestic Policy Council with the Executive Office of the President and is responsible for coordination of 20 Federal agencies in their response to reduce and end homelessness. Prior to joining the Council, Ms. Hombs was Executive Director of the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance, a statewide coalition of 85 agencies that operate over 250 programs for homeless people. She has more than 25 years of experience in homeless advocacy and programs. She is author of numerous books and articles on homelessness and holds a master’s degree in city planning.

Mark Johnston, M.P.A. is the Deputy Director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs, which administers HUD’s homeless assistance programs. Among other responsibilities, he has served as Deputy Director of the Federal Interagency Council on the Homeless. He has a master’s degree in public affairs from Indiana University at Bloomington, and a bachelor’s degree in public policy from Brigham Young University.

George A. Kanuck is a policy resource person in the Office of Policy Coordination and Planning, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Mr. Kanuck is responsible for homelessness issues, co-occurring disorders, and Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant and demonstration grant activities.

Brian Kennedy has been with Job Corps for over three years. Just prior to moving to the Department of Labor, Mr. Kennedy worked at the White House, where he was a Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, at the National Economic Counsel. At the White House, he advised the President on job training, higher education and labor policy.

Prior to working at the White House, Mr. Kennedy worked for more than ten years on the job training, labor and education policy in the United States Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. After two years serving as the General Counsel to United States Senator Harry Reid, he moved to the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, where he served as Senator Paul Simon’s Staff Director of the Subcommittee on Employment and Productivity. The Subcommittee had jurisdiction over Federal job training programs. While he served as Staff Director, Mr. Kennedy led Senate efforts to pass Job Training Partnership Act Amendments, and the School-to-Work Opportunities Act. In 1995, after Senator Simon announced his retirement, he moved to the House of Representatives’ Committee on Education Workforce, where he served as Labor Coordinator and Counsel. During his tenure in the House of Representatives, Mr. Kennedy was instrumental in the passage of the Workforce Investment Act. Mr. Kennedy received his bachelor of science degree from James Madison University in 1982, where he graduated with honors. He received his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1985.

Kate King, M.P.A. has managed Medicaid programs or conducted health policy analysis on issues related to the organization, financing or service delivery for long-term care and other special populations for 27 years. As a Health Insurance Specialist at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in Baltimore, she is currently working on several projects under the President’s New Freedom Initiative. Prior to Federal service, she served in the Maryland Medicaid program for 17 years, consulted at major health organizations while completing her doctoral residency at Brandeis University, and was a policy analyst at the Institute of Medicine for five years. She currently has a fellowship on Balancing Long-Term Care Systems sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Walter Leginski, Ph.D. is on assignment to the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), as a Senior Advisor on Homelessness. He is located within ASPE’s Office of Human Services Policy and is responsible for the coordination and development of policies that address homelessness throughout the programs of the Department.

Prior to his assignment in ASPE, Dr. Leginski served for seven years as the chief of homeless programs for persons with mental illnesses in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, DHHS. His career in the National Institute of Mental Health was directed to improving the ability of States and localities to manage and evaluate mental health delivery systems by the application of information systems technologies. Dr. Leginski received his Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University and held positions in academia and health consulting prior to joining Federal service.

Randle Loeb was born in a community north of Philadelphia. A graduate of Iliff School of Theology, he has a master’s degree in guidance and counseling from Bank Street College of Education and Iliff School of Theology. Mr. Loeb served as a counselor in Covenant House's Crash Pad in Greenwich Village when he was twenty-three, and has been a pastoral counselor to people on the street. He also was director of a leadership-training program for children from North Philadelphia for ten years.

Mr. Loeb has been homeless for more than five years. At the age of 48, he was diagnosed with a manic-depressive disorder. Prior to losing his housing, Mr. Loeb was employed as the manager of a housing complex for people with disabilities until it came under a HUD grant that required he sign a contract that permitted investigation and scrutiny into the business of guests and surprise inspections. When he refused to sign the agreement, he was given a weekend to leave the premises, after which time all of his personal things were given away. Currently, the most housing he gets is an occasional housesitting job.

Mr. Loeb has turned his despair into a vocation as a public speaker and advocate for people who are poor. He talks to groups about capacity building. In addition, he has written for the local homeless newspaper, the Denver Voice, and served as the secretary on the Board of that organization. He uses his church as his mailing address and serves on its Social Action Council. In addition, he is on the Board of the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative. With winter approaching, Mr. Loeb is scared he will freeze outside or be assaulted. He feels privileged to address the Policy Academy and is eager to cooperate with anyone in any capacity who wants to learn and is willing to listen.

Philip F. Mangano is the Executive Director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH). The Interagency Council is under the authority of the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy within the Executive Office of the President. Members of the Council are Cabinet Secretaries. ICH coordinates the activities of 15 Federal agencies to improve the delivery of housing and services to homeless individuals and families. Congress established the ICH in 1987 to help streamline the government’s approach to homelessness by coordinating multiple efforts of Federal agencies and other designated groups. ICH can recommend improvements in programs and activities conducted by Federal, State, and local government as well as local and volunteer organizations. The Interagency Council is charged with the prevention and reduction of homelessness.

Prior to his appointment by President Bush to lead the Interagency Council on Homelessness, Mr. Mangano was the founding Executive Director of the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance (MHSA), a statewide coalition of 80 agencies which operate over 200 programs that serve homeless people through permanent housing, transitional programs, emergency shelters, outreach, economic development, and health programs. During the twelve years Mr. Mangano led MHSA, the organization coordinated a statewide continuum of care strategy of prevention and intervention focused on the provision of next step residential, housing, service, and employment options for homeless individuals. MHSA was awarded the 2001 “Nonprofit Sector Achievement Award” from the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

For his work with homeless people, Mr. Mangano has received numerous awards and recognitions from media outlets, State agencies, and community organizations. He has been named a “City Light” by the Boston Globe, and received many community achievement recognitions, including citations and awards from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, City of Boston, the City of Cambridge, the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health and Public Health, United Way, Social Action Ministries, the Boston Rescue Mission, and the Black Pastors of Cambridge.

Cheryl (Cheri) Nolan has a long and distinguished career in the criminal justice field, servicing four Attorneys General and three Presidents, most currently as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Justice Programs. She was appointed to this position in July 2001. Ms. Nolan's current responsibilities in the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) include oversight of the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Office for Victims of Crime. In addition, she has led the development and release of the current government-wide initiative to help reduce recidivism, entitled The Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative.

Ms. Nolan was affiliated for several years with the television show America's Most Wanted. There she continued the work she began at the Justice Department working with State and local law enforcement, elected officials and crime victims as executive assistant to John Walsh, the host of the program. Her extensive work in the justice field was preceded by distinguished service on the White House staff of President Ronald Reagan and in various Cabinet agencies including the Departments of Commerce, Energy and Treasury. She joined the Justice Department for the first time in 1987 on a temporary assignment for then Attorney General Edwin Meese. That temporary assignment turned to a permanent one as Deputy Director of the Office of Liaison Services for two succeeding attorneys general: Dick Thornburgh and William P. Barr. In that capacity she was involved in some of the most important judicial and legislative battles on crime issues of the late 1980's and early 1990's.

Ann O'Hara is co-founder and Associate Director of the Technical Assistance Collaborative, Inc., (TAC) a Boston-based non-profit organization. She has over 25 years experience in the development and administration of affordable housing programs at the national, State, and local level. She is known nationally for her public policy and technical assistance work to expand affordable housing opportunities for people with disabilities, and for her expertise in housing programs serving individuals and families who are homeless. Ms. O’Hara currently provides consulting services to the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) Housing Task Force in Washington, DC, an affiliation which includes the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, the Arc of the United States, Paralyzed Veterans of American, United Cerebral Palsy and 15 other national organizations working in partnership to expand affordable housing opportunities for people with disabilities. For the past eight years, Ms. O’Hara has led TAC’s HUD McKinney/Vento technical assistance program, which focuses on (1) expanding permanent housing and permanent supportive housing for homeless people; and (2) policies that can increase access to mainstream supportive services resources. Ms. O’Hara also frequently provides consulting services to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on housing policies and issues affecting people with disabilities. Prior to her work at TAC, Ms. O’Hara served as the Assistant Secretary for Housing and the Director of Rental Assistance Programs for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Margaret Lassiter is the project coordinator for multiple projects related to housing and homelessness at Policy Research Associates, Inc. Her current projects include coordinating the Center for Mental Health Services’ contract to provide technical assistance to the Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness (PATH) program; coordinating the technical assistance provided to States that have attended a Federal Policy Academy on homelessness (under subcontract to Health Systems Research, Inc.); and coordinating (with Vanderbilt University) aspects of the Center for Mental Health Services’ Supported Housing Initiative, a multi-site study of housing approaches for persons with serious mental illness. Prior to joining PRA, Ms. Lassiter was responsible for conducting program evaluations of education initiatives across New York State, including magnet schools, Goals 2000 programs, School-to-Work initiatives, implementation of New York State standards, bilingual education, and family literacy.

Mary McCann Colorado Department of Health and Human Services.

Deirdre Oakley, Ph.D. is a Research Fellow at the Lewis Mumford Center for Comparative Regional and Urban Research, University at Albany, State University of New York and a consultant to Policy Research Associates, Inc. of Delmar, New York on projects involving homeless issues. Prior to joining the Mumford Center in 1999, she worked as a Research Associate at PRA coordinating the Center for Mental Health Services/Center for substance Abuse Treatment Homeless Prevention Program and the PATH Technical Assistance Program. She has written extensively on housing and services for homeless people. Her most recent publication is “Housing Homeless People: Local Mobilization of Federal Resources to Fight NIMBYism” in the Journal of Urban Affairs. She holds an M.A. in urban policy and a Ph.D. in urban sociology.

John Parvensky has served as the President and CEO of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) since 1985. An attorney by training, he has extensive experience in the development, implementation and administration of housing and service programs for the homeless population. Under his leadership, CCH has developed nearly 1,000 units of housing for homeless and low-income families and individuals in Colorado. CCH has secured numerous grants from HUD through the Supportive Housing and Shelter Plus Care Programs. CCH also administers a HRSA Health Care for the Homeless Program (Stout Street Clinic), a PATH program and a SAMHSA CSAT grant. Mr. Parvensky recently served as President of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council and serves on the Board of the National Coalition for the Homeless. He is a leading advocate for integrated health, mental health, and substance treatment services in conjunction with affordable housing development for the homeless population. He recently received the prestigious Leadership for a Changing World Award from the Ford Foundation.

Yvonne Perret is a psychiatric social worker who is the Executive Director of the Advocacy and Training Center in Cumberland, MD. This center is devoted to establishing programs and understanding for assisting adults with serious mental illness with accessing SSI and other public benefits as well as quality mental health services; the center's focus includes the training of mental health staff to provide such services. For 10 years, Ms. Perret was the Program Director of the SSI Outreach Project in Community Psychiatry at the University of Maryland Medical System. This innovative program assists homeless adults who have serious and persistent mental illness with accessing SSI and other benefits as well as the possibility of presumptive SSI benefits. In 2001, this project was named a Best Practice Program by the National Alliance to End Homelessness. Ms. Perret has over 25 years of social work experience and has worked in foster care, geriatrics, child abuse and neglect, and mental health. She is the author of several articles and the co-author of Children with Disabilities: A Medical Primer, currently in its 4th edition. Ms. Perret is the past president of the Mental Health Association of Maryland, Chair of the Prevention and Adult Mental Health Services Committee of the National Mental Health Association, and the recipient of several awards for advocacy and social work.

Patricia A. Post, M.P.A. is a policy analyst and communications manager for the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, a membership organization of health care providers working with homeless people across the United States, based in Nashville, Tennessee. She is the author of a monograph on Medicaid enrollment barriers for eligible homeless people, entitled Casualties of Complexity: Why Eligible Homeless People Are Not Enrolled in Medicaid, May 2001; and a monograph on health problems and health care access barriers experienced by homeless people in rural areas of the United States, entitled Hard to Reach: Rural Homelessness & Health Care, January 2002. Both documents were published by the National Council with support from the Bureau of Primary Health Care within the Health Resources and Services Administration. Ms. Post writes and edits publications for health care providers who serve homeless people, including a bimonthly clinical newsletter and a series of recommended clinical practice adaptations to optimize care for individuals who are homeless. She staffs the National Council’s Medicaid Reform and Policy Committees and is president of a statewide health care consumer group in Tennessee that advocates for medically underserved populations. She is also a member of the TennCare Partners Monitoring Group, composed of mental health care providers, researchers, health care consumers and their advocates, who work to maximize the effectiveness of the behavioral health component of TennCare, Tennessee’s Medicaid managed care demonstration program

Robyn S. Raysor, M.S.W. is a Specialist within the Special Needs Assistance Programs in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Her graduate degree/study is in psychiatric social work and urban planning/community psychiatry. Ms. Raysor has more than 20 years of experience in local and Federal community development grants management.

Lawrence Rickards, Ph.D. is the Director of Clinical Initiatives in the Homeless Programs Branch of the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS). In that role he is responsible for developing and monitoring programs to meet the treatment and support services needs of homeless persons with mental illnesses and those with co-occurring substance use disorders. He is also the Co-Occurring Disorders Program Manager for CMHS initiatives that address co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse. Currently Dr. Rickards is the team leader for the CMHS/Center for Substance Abuse Treatment collaboration that is evaluating interventions targeted to homeless women with psychiatric and/or substance use disorders who are caring for their dependent children. He has been at CMHS since 1992. He earned a doctorate in counseling psychology from the University of Maryland.

Jeremy Rosen, J.D. is a Staff Attorney at the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, in Washington, D.C. Mr. Rosen received his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1994, and his J.D. from the George Washington University Law School in 1998. Before joining the Law Center, Mr. Rosen was a staff attorney with Legal Services of Greater Miami, where he co-directed the Homeless Legal Assistance Project and specialized in government benefits law.

At the Law Center, Mr. Rosen focuses on issues relating to the receipt of Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Medicaid, TANF (welfare), and other public benefits by homeless people. He monitors nationwide activity affecting the access of homeless people to benefits, and devises legal and policy strategies to ensure that Federal and State agencies take affirmative steps to help more homeless people receive the income assistance to which they are entitled.

Courtney Smith, M.P.P. is a Senior Policy Analyst at the National Governors Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices. There she focuses on a range of human services issues, including welfare reform, affordable housing, service integration and other low-income family policy. Her work includes providing a range of tools, technical assistance and consulting services for Governors and their key policy advisors to help them develop and implement innovative solutions to problems facing their States. Prior to joining NGA, Ms. Smith was a Senior Analyst at Berkeley Policy Associates, a social research and consulting company, where she directed evaluations of welfare reform and workforce development programs at the local, state and federal level. She holds a Master of Public Policy degree from the Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and a B.A. from Grinnell College.

Mikiko D. Stebbing, A.C.S.W., JD, Public Health Advisor, Division of State and Community Systems Development.

Paul "Dean” Tayloe, Jr., M.P.A. is the Public Affairs Officer for the Denver VA Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. A native of Kentucky, Mr. Tayloe served in the U.S. Air Force from 1968 until 1972. He received his bachelor's degree from Eastern Kentucky University in 1973 and a Master of Public Administration degree in 1975. Mr. Tayloe started his career with VA in 1974 as part of the Veterans Representative on Campus program to help Vietnam veterans obtain their educational and other benefits. Since then, he has served in a variety of positions, including Educational Liaison Representative; Chief, Field Section; Assistant Veterans Services Officer; and since 2001, the Public Affairs Officer for the Denver VA Regional Office.

Marc Trotz is currently the Director of Housing and Urban Health for the San Francisco Department of Public Health. Mr. Trotz has spent the last fifteen years working in the public sector on policy and funding issues surrounding affordable housing development. Much of his work has focused on the development of supportive housing for homeless people and people with disabilities. His current work at the Department of Public Health includes the development and implementation of the Direct Access to Housing program – a “housing first” approach that provides permanent housing and on-site medical and behavior health services to persons living on the street and revolving through institutional settings. Previously, Mr. Trotz has worked for the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing and was the Mayor’s Homeless Coordinator.

Carol Wilkins, M.P.P. is the Director of Intergovernmental Policy with the Corporation for Supportive Housing, where she works to develop and support the implementation of policy solutions to end long-term homelessness for people who have complex health needs and multiple barriers to employment. She has more than 20 years of experience in public finance, human services and policy work, including work with the California Legislature’s Office of the Legislative Analyst, the State Assembly Ways and Means Committee, as Deputy Mayor of Finance in San Francisco, and as Finance Director for the San Francisco Housing Authority. She is the author of “Building a Model Managed Care System for Homeless Adults with Special Needs: the Health, Housing and Integrated Services Network” in Current Issues in Public Health and co-author of the chapter “Making Homeless Programs Accountable to Consumers, Funders and the Public,” presented at the 1998 National Symposium on Homelessness Research and published by HUD and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She was a member of the expert panel convened by the General Accounting Office on homelessness and barriers to using mainstream programs.

Don Winstead is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Services Policy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The Office of Human Services Policy is responsible for policy development, research and evaluation related to welfare reform, supports for low-income families, and services for families, children and youth.

Prior to joining DHHS, Mr. Winstead worked for 30 years with the Florida Department of Children and Families. He began as a front-line caseworker and worked in a variety of direct service, administrative and managerial positions in Florida ranging from social worker to Deputy Secretary. Since 1995, he has served as Welfare Reform Administrator and coordinated the agency’s successful implementation of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Mr. Winstead also coordinated the agency’s work on implementation of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and led a team that developed legislation leading to a comprehensive reorganization of the Department.

James M. Yates is a Technical Assistance Collaborative, Inc., (TAC) Associate. Mr. Yates’ focus is affordable housing for homeless people and people with disabilities. He works with non-profit agencies to troubleshoot and evaluate supportive housing programs and assists local and State governments to develop and implement strategic plans to address the needs of vulnerable populations. He also provides customized trainings and information dissemination on housing programs and regulations.

Prior to joining TAC, Mr. Yates served as a Housing Development Officer for the City of Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development, working collaboratively with communities on the planning, design and development of affordable housing throughout many of Boston’s neighborhoods as well as collaborating with local Public Housing Authorities on the Section 8 Project-Based Assistance Program and the Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation SRO Program for Homeless Individuals. He also played an important role in the program development of a specialized continuum of care for homeless veterans in the Boston area.

Facilitators

Donna Aligata is President of Gold Cottage Industries LLC, a diverse team of home–based consultants committed to “Building and Sustaining the Community Through Collaboration.” Gold Cottage Industries provides its clients with a variety of technical services, including strategic planning, program design, training, facilitation, executive coaching and technical assistance.

For the past 30 years, Mrs. Aligata has worked to facilitate cross-agency collaboration, form strategic alliances, improve program outcomes, and design programs related to the recovery community, mental health consumers, and those dealing with stigma related to HIV/AIDS, and homelessness. She served for eight years as Director of Development and Chief Operating Officer for a national non-profit health services firm. She also served as Director of SAMHSA’s Prison Technical Assistance and Training Project for three years. Subsequently, she successfully leveraged over a million dollars to found “The Center,” a State of Connecticut addiction counselor training institute where she served as Director. “The Center” provides 250 courses annually for developing certified counselors to work in the community. Mrs. Aligata also served for four years as Project Director of a substance abuse and infectious disease Cross-Training Initiative, funded by the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Health Resources and Services Administration. On this project, she led a team of multidisciplinary trainers working in 32 States, and facilitated a Federal interagency advisory group’s collaborative process for bringing agencies together to create policy change.

Robert J. Burns is a Policy Analyst at the National Governors’ Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices. There he provides technical assistance to Governors and their staff on a variety of health policy issues, including health care oversight and quality, mental health, substance abuse, and oral health. Prior to joining NGA, Mr. Burns was a Research Analyst at Health Systems Research, Inc. in Washington, DC. In this role, he provided managed care technical assistance to State substance abuse agencies using Federal block grant funds. His professional experience also includes work in sales and marketing at CIGNA HealthCare in Atlanta, GA, and at Value Behavioral Health, Inc., a managed behavioral healthcare organization located in Falls Church, VA. In 1995, Mr. Burns received his undergraduate degree in health policy and administration from the University of Tennessee, and he subsequently served as a White House intern in the Office of former Vice President Al Gore.

Martha “Marty” Fleetwood, J.D. is Founder and Executive Director of HOMEBASE, a legal and technical services provider on the myriad issues of homelessness. She has participated in developing local, regional and national strategies to bring mainstream resources into the homelessness response, and most recently designed a comprehensive technical assistance conference on all aspect of mainstreaming for California, Arizona, and Nevada. She has worked with several San Francisco Bay Area Communities to develop plans to end chronic homelessness. Ms. Fleetwood is an advocate for the creation of discharge planning at the local level, convening several venues for State and regional dialogues on this issue, and providing legal and technical assistance to various communities on their discharge strategies and responses, including jail re-entry. Ms. Fleetwood has worked towards increasing Federal and State resources for homelessness prevention and programs; removing health and mental health care barriers faced by homeless people; guaranteeing homeless civil rights; providing housing for homeless families; and, bringing new technology to the fight against homelessness. Since 1986, she has led HomeBase in numerous community planning engagements, for instance, shaping the Bay Area Regional Initiative to Reduce Homelessness, which joined 14 jurisdictions; designing a multi-service center to provide housing and services for homeless people (Alameda County); crafting community-wide responses in Phoenix (AZ) and Contra Costa County to meeting State and Federal mandates; and evaluating homeless grant programs for the San Francisco Foundation and homeless assistance programs for the City of San Francisco.

With a special interest in nurturing faith and grass-roots efforts, Ms. Fleetwood has convened a number of these agencies to develop a training module on spiritual values in human service delivery, that was delivered at the World Parliament of Religions in Cape Town, South Africa in December 1999. She has led an effort to strengthen the Board of the Mary Ann Wright Foundation, done fund development for Project Outreach and Casa Vincenzia, chaired the long-range planning and programs committee of the Board of the St. Anthony’s Foundation, and conducted a seminar on welfare reform and homelessness for the FAITHS Initiative of the San Francisco Foundation. Ms. Fleetwood holds a B.A. from the University of California at Irvine and a J.D. degree from Harvard Law School.

Jamie Hart, Ph.D., M.P.H., Senior Associate at Health Systems Research, Inc., brings vast experience in training, technical assistance, facilitation, systems integration, curriculum design, evaluation, and cultural competency. Dr. Hart’s work has consistently focused on integrating systems and improving access to health care for underserved populations, particularly for certain racial and ethnic populations, persons facing co-occurring disorders, and persons who are homeless. In her role as Project Director for the Homeless Policy Academies, she has facilitated pre-Academy site visits for 19 of the 35 States involved in the project, has served as a State team facilitator at the meetings, and is currently managing the day-to-day operations for the contract and is coordinating the provision of technical assistance to all participating States. In addition to this role, Dr. Hart also served as the Deputy Project Director of Substance Abuse and Infectious Disease: Cross-Training for Collaborative Systems of Prevention, Treatment and Care, a collaborative project funded by the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Health Resources and Services Administration, that provided resources for training, technical assistance, and systems integration to infectious disease, substance abuse, mental health, and public health practitioners. Dr. Hart holds an M.P.H. in health behavior and health education, along with an M.A. and Ph.D. in African American history.

Terence L. Jones, Ph.D. is an Adjunct Professor at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Dr Jones’ primary areas of interest are Social Determinants of Health, Quality Improvement (Patient Safety) and Health Communication. His current work includes studies of the impact of community organizing to reduce and eliminate health disparities. He is evaluating the status of local health providers with the overall aim of developing a deeper understanding of the causes for health disparities in Prenatal Care. He is also involved in a rejuvenated effort to organize and establish a patient safety coalition for New Mexico.

Patrick Moynahan, Domestic Division Director of the QED Group, LLC, has more than 20 years of experience in the design, implementation and assessment of social policy and programs for governmental agencies and nonprofit organizations, including housing, homelessness, economic and community development. Mr. Moynahan directs QED’s policy research and program evaluation work with domestic Federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Recently, he supported HUD’s Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs in assisting Continuum of Care communities to evaluate their Homeless Management Information Systems needs. Mr. Moynahan is an experienced trainer and technical assistance provider in HUD homeless assistance programs, and he has directed the development of policy reports and studies assessing the effectiveness of HUD programs, including reports to Congress.

Jane Stallman, M.B.A. from The Drucker Center, Claremont Graduate School, is President of Stallman Communications and Principal Consultant with the Center for Strategic Facilitation. She designs, facilitates and helps implement innovative, cost effective leadership and organizational development programs that enable productive organizational and community change. Ms. Stallman helps teams and organizations clarify their direction and develop implementable strategic action plans. Her clients include both private and public sector organizations – high tech companies, school districts, communications companies, financial institutions and non-profits.

As an internal manager, Ms. Stallman developed and managed exempt recruitment and employment systems for Kaiser Permanente in Southern California and all professional, leadership, executive and organizational development programs for Lockheed Advanced Development Programs. She has taught business and human resource management classes at De Anza Community College, organization behavior and management courses at the University of Phoenix, and is a mentor trainer for the Institute of Cultural Affairs’ Group Facilitation Methods and Participatory Strategic Planning courses. Ms. Stallman is a member of The International Association of Facilitators, The Bay Area Organization Development Network, The South Bay Deming Users Group, The Bay Area Facilitators Guild and The Institute for Cultural Affairs. She has served as a commissioner of the Family and Youth Task Force and the Housing and Human Services Commission for the City of Sunnyvale and is currently a Board Member for the Institute of Cultural Affairs. She has a second Masters in Urban Studies with a focus in program planning from Occidental College.

Jamie Taylor has worked in planning, implementing and funding nonprofit programs for over 20 years. She has coordinated planning services for mental health care, housing, case management, employment, substance abuse prevention, HIV/AIDS services as well as public policy, legislative advocacy, peace and community organizing projects. Ms. Taylor has worked with collaborative planning teams to develop projects for housing and support services for special needs and homeless populations, as well as successful health care programs for families who are uninsured. Ms. Taylor provides technical planning and facilitation assistance to a broad variety of non-profit organizations in Connecticut.

David M. Wertheimer, M.S.W., M.Div., Principal Consultant with Kelly Point Partners (KP2), has worked in a variety of capacities in the human services arena for more than two decades. KP2 works to improve the lives of persons living with multiple disabilities and promote increased effectiveness and efficiency among public and private sector service systems. KP2 provides consultation, training and technical assistance on a broad range of human service system issues, with a focus on systems integration initiatives involving mental health, chemical dependency/substance abuse and criminal justice systems. Between 1990 and 2000, Mr. Wertheimer served in King County (Seattle, Washington) government developing and managing mental health services for persons with chronic and severe mental illnesses. From 1993 to 1997 he directed the King County ACCESS Project, a federally funded research and demonstration project focused on homelessness and mental illness. From 1997 to 2000, Mr. Wertheimer oversaw the integration of King County's mental health and substance abuse treatment systems as Systems Integration Administrator for the Department of Community and Human Services. In this capacity he developed a regional initiative to promote excellence in public sector services.

As a clinician, Mr. Wertheimer has developed sub-specialties in working with sexual minorities and counseling persons experiencing post-traumatic stress. He served as Executive Director of the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project (AVP) from 1985 to 1990, establishing the first clinical services on the east coast for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender survivors of bias-related violence, sexual assault and domestic abuse. The AVP remains the largest social service agency in the United States providing specialized services to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender crime victims. Mr. Wertheimer is a graduate of Haverford College, Yale University Divinity School and the University of Connecticut School of Social Work. He serves on numerous boards and advisory groups, including the Board of Directors of the Downtown Emergency Service Center (Seattle), Christopher Housing (Seattle), and Enquiry, Inc. (Langley, WA).

Jim Wuelfing, CPP-R, is owner of the New England Center, a company dedicated to quality training and technical assistance services. Mr. Wuelfing has many specialties including: community organizing, facilitation, prevention, spiritual growth, community awareness, curriculum development, peer education, stress management and problem gambling prevention. He has also co-written and co-trained the highly praised workshop, “Racism of the Well Intended.” He has trained professionals around the country and in Europe. Mr. Wuelfing has been on the faculty of the New England School of Alcohol Studies for eleven years and has served on both the planning committee and the faculty of the New England School of Prevention Studies. He also serves as a on-line faculty member for the Addictions Transfer of Technology Center – New England at Brown University. Mr. Wuelfing received his B.A. from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. He spent 13 years serving as an Assistant Dean and Associate Dean at his alma mater. He was also the Director of Prevention Services and Training Manager for ETP, Inc. for six years.