Casey Foundation Announces Tenth Class of Children and Family Fellows

The Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion has select­ed 16 lead­ers from 13 states for the tenth class of its Chil­dren and Fam­i­ly Fel­low­ship. These men and women — accom­plished lead­ers from the pub­lic, non­prof­it and aca­d­e­m­ic sec­tors — will use the 16-month Fel­low­ship to work with­in their agen­cies, orga­ni­za­tions and com­mu­ni­ties toward spe­cif­ic, mea­sur­able improve­ments for chil­dren and families.

Now in its third decade, 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 that get results. The eight women and eight men cho­sen for the 2016–2017 class work in dis­ci­plines from juve­nile jus­tice to edu­ca­tion to child wel­fare, hous­ing and health.

“This new class of Casey Fel­lows is poised to have a pro­found influ­ence on how chil­dren and fam­i­lies fare in this coun­try,” said Casey Foun­da­tion Pres­i­dent and CEO Patrick McCarthy. ​“The Fel­low­ship gives them the tools to achieve large-scale results and a pow­er­ful net­work to expand their reach.”

“The Chil­dren and Fam­i­ly Fel­low­ship equips out­stand­ing lead­ers to reach even high­er and accom­plish even more for the chil­dren and fam­i­lies they serve,” said Lisa Hamil­ton, vice pres­i­dent for exter­nal affairs at the Foun­da­tion, who over­sees the Fel­low­ship as part of a port­fo­lio of results-based lead­er­ship devel­op­ment initiatives.

More than 100 lead­ers have par­tic­i­pat­ed in the Casey Fel­low­ship since the Foun­da­tion began the pro­gram in 1993. Fel­lows stay con­nect­ed through the Casey Fel­lows Alum­ni Net­work, which is designed to sup­port rela­tion­ships among the Fel­lows and to con­tribute sig­nif­i­cant­ly to sus­tained move­ments to improve out­comes for chil­dren, fam­i­lies and com­mu­ni­ties. Alum­ni include Soraya M. Coley, pres­i­dent of Cal Poly Pomona; Daniel Car­di­nali, recent­ly named pres­i­dent and CEO of the nation­al phil­an­thropic orga­ni­za­tion Inde­pen­dent Sec­tor; Anne Williams-Isom, chief exec­u­tive offi­cer of the Harlem Children’s Zone; Doug Ammar, exec­u­tive direc­tor of the Geor­gia Jus­tice Project; and Hyeok Kim, Seat­tle deputy mayor.

The first exec­u­tive sem­i­nar for the new class of Fel­lows begins April 5 at the Casey Foun­da­tion head­quar­ters in Bal­ti­more, Maryland.

The tenth class of Fel­lows includes:

Bob­by Cagle
Director
Geor­gia Divi­sion of Fam­i­ly and Chil­dren Services
Atlanta, Georgia

Raquel Donoso
Director
Mis­sion Promise Neigh­bor­hood Mis­sion Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment Agency
San Fran­cis­co, California

Felipe Fran­co
Deputy Commissioner
NYC Admin­is­tra­tion for Children’s Services
New York, New York

Drea­ma Gentry
Exec­u­tive Director
Part­ners for Edu­ca­tion at Berea College
Berea, Kentucky

Deep­malya Ghosh
Asso­ciate Exec­u­tive Director
The Child Cen­ter of New York
Jamaica, New York

Riti­ka Kurup
Mont­gomery County/​Dayton Cam­paign for Grade-Lev­el Reading
CSAP Lead/​Assistant Director
ReadySetSoar
Day­ton, Ohio

Susan Lam­p­ley
Senior Pro­gram Officer
Melville Char­i­ta­ble Trust
New Haven, Connecticut

Ira Lust­bad­er
Lit­i­ga­tion Director
Chil­dren’s Rights
New York, New York

Kris­ten McDonald
Vice Pres­i­dent, Pro­gram & Policy
The Skill­man Foundation
Detroit, Michigan

Mark Payne
Exec­u­tive Director
Cease­Fire Illinois
Chica­go, Illinois

Frank Pra­do
Direc­tor of Operations
Statewide Guardian ad Litem Program
Tal­la­has­see, Florida

Matthew Ran­daz­zo
Chief Exec­u­tive Officer
Nation­al Math and Sci­ence Initiative
Dal­las, Texas

Esther Shin
Exec­u­tive Vice President
Urban Strate­gies, Inc.
St. Louis, Missouri

Sta­cy Spann
Exec­u­tive Director
Hous­ing Oppor­tu­ni­ties Com­mis­sion of Mont­gomery Coun­ty (HOC)
Kens­ing­ton, Maryland

Kristie Stut­ler
Admin­is­tra­tive Coordinator
Ken­tucky Depart­ment of Juve­nile Justice
Frank­fort, Kentucky

Josephine Wong
Deputy Direc­tor
King Coun­ty Depart­ment of Com­mu­ni­ty and Human Services
Seat­tle, Washington