Bridge Conference 2011

CACFP Supervisor – Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction

Alexis Menten is Associate Director in Asia Society’s Education division, where she leads afterschool and youth leadership initiatives for the Partnership for Global Learning. The Partnership connects educators, business leaders, and policymakers to share best practices, build partnerships, and advance policies to ensure that all students are prepared for work and citizenship in the global 21st century. In support of this mission, Alexis directs Asia Society’s Expanding Horizons initiative, which advances global learning as a means to enhance afterschool quality and build collaboration between…

Amy Hale brings her experience as an afterschool provider, teacher, parent and informal science education Program Manager to her perspective as a School’s Out Washington Trainer and Coach.  She began working in 1998 with the Family and Community Science program as the Family Science resource teacher, and continued as Director and Program Manager. Her skill sets include strategic planning, science program development and implementation, environmental education, curriculum development, family engagement strategies, academic integration in OST programming, Art integration, and assistance with gra…

April Miller has brought a love for learning and a commitment to quality to SOWA since 1998.  April has a BA in Psychology with concentrations in Human and Social Development, Mental Health and Industrial and Organizational Psychology. As a former School-Age Program Director, April enjoys sharing her expertise with programs serving children, youth and families.  Her favorite topics include engaging environments, planning with purpose, learning through play and successful guidance strategies.

Vice President and Senior Youth Advisor – FHI Development 360

Bonnie Politz is Vice President and Senior Youth Advisor at FHI 360 in Washington, D.C. In this capacity, she focuses on domestic and international efforts to strengthen the youth development infrastructure at local, regional and national levels. Project management, proposal development and fundraising, enhancing organization and community linkages, and meeting facilitation are tasks associated with this position. Ms. Politz holds a Master of Public Administration degree from Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Gov…

As of February 2008, Brian Brandt is offering his expertise to Pierce County as an Extension Educator. His primary responsibilities are youth and volunteer development, which he accomplishes by emphasizing experiential education and leadership training. Brian comes to this job prepared not only with a Master in Teaching from City University of Seattle and a BS in psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, but having completed one of the first 4-H youth development practitioner apprenticeships WSU Extension offered. He also served as the…

Director – American Institutes for Research

Read Carol's blog about Bridge: http://www.schoolsoutwashington.org/blogs/prodev/index.cfm/2011/9/27/Looking-Forward-to-Energy-and-Ideas-in-Seattle

Pathways to Excellence Coach

Assistant - Director, Expanded Learning, Foundations Inc.

Director of School and Out-of-School Time Programs - Food Research and Action Center

As Director of School and Out-of-School Time Programs, Crystal directs FRAC’s work on the child nutrition programs that serve school-age children. She analyzes policy to advocate for legislative and regulatory improvements to increase low-income children’s access to the nutrition programs. She helps develop strategy and direct field efforts to achieve program improvements. She provides technical assistance, conducts training, and develops materials for national, state, and local organizations. She frequently …

Center for Inquiry Science Director – Institute for Systems Biology

Since 2005, Riley Black has held the appointment of Director for the Center for Inquiry Science at the Institute for Systems Biology. Riley Black is an educator whose interests include professional development for teachers and administrators as applied to systemic science education reform, and correspondingly, strategies that enable the scientific community to engage with and support K-12 science education. Through securing and managing grants from federal, state and corporate organizations, she currently partners with and su…

Danette Parsley is the director of the Center for School and District Improvement at Education Northwest. Her expertise covers many areas of systemic school and district improvement, including afterschool teaching and learning practices. Before joining Education Northwest, Parsley served as a Senior Director of School and System Improvement at Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL), where she led the organization’s development and field work in system improvement and out-of-school-time (OST). In her career, she has led several projects focused on OST programs and currently s…

Communications & Grants Manager - School's Out Washington

Danielle oversees grants administered by SOWA including Quality Enhancement and Feed Your Brain.  She also coordinates the implementation of a comprehensive communications plan to increase public awareness and influence policymakers on the need and benefits of afterschool.  Danielle has a Masters in Social Work from the University of Washington. She previously worked in the White Center community developing a plan to better coordinate out-of-school time programs and worked as a legislative aide for former state Representative Schual-Be…

Trainer and Coach, School's Out Washington

Debbie has an extensive background in youth program development and implementation, and has conducted trainings in diversity curriculums, community workshops, and conferences.

Publication & Administrative Analyst - School's Out Washington

In her role as Publications, Administrative Analyst & Bridge Sponsorship/Exhibitor Coordinator, Delphi is responsible for the direction and coordination of daily operations and overseeing accounts payable and receivable. She also works closely with the talented and knowledgeable pool of trainers who specialize in supporting programs and staff who work with school-age children and youth. Delphi, originally from the island of Maui, received a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Hawai'i – Manoa.  After relocating to Wash…

Associate Professor of Psychology - University of Illinois at Chicago

Dina Birman has conducted research and written extensively on the acculturation and adjustment of refugees and immigrants across generations, particularly populations from the former Soviet Union, Central America, Somalia, and Vietnam. She has particularly focused on the differences in acculturation between adolescents and their parents, and the implications of these differences on family adaptation. With a background in community psychology, she explores these issues from an ecological perspective, taking into account the …

Quality Consultant - PASA

As PASA's former Deputy Director, Elizabeth helped to head PASA's quality improvement strategy aimed at helping build the capacity of after-school organizations to provide high-quality programming. She continues to work closely with PASA as its Quality Consultant. Prior to joining PASA, Elizabeth was a Project Director at the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) in Chicago, IL. She worked with school principals and their staff on the implementation and evaluation of social and emotional learning (SEL) programming in their schools.…

Ellen S. Gannett is director of the National Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST) at the Wellesley Centers for Women at Wellesley College. A national action/research project, NIOST has provided research, evaluation, technical assistance, consultation, and specialized training on afterschool programs throughout the United States for more than 30 years. Ms. Gannett ensures that research bridges the fields of child care, education, and youth development in order to promote programming that addresses the development of the whole child.

Professional Development Coordinator - School's Out Washington

Emily coordinates and facilitates professional development opportunities for Seattle Community Learning Center staff.  She also assists with the Afterschool and Youth Development (AYD) Professional Development project to build a statewide AYD professional development system.  Emily has worked in the youth development, violence prevention and sexuality education fields as an educator, trainer and program manager.  Emily graduated from Rollins College and received her Master of Philosophy from the University of Memphis.  Whil…

As the founder and Executive Director of Development Without Limits, Eric Gurna designs and facilitates staff development, curriculum and other resources for community organizations and schools on topics including youth development, literacy, diversity, leadership, communication and organizational development. 

Training Director - School's Out Washington

Glen oversees organizational contracts for onsite training and technical assistance. He supports the quality of these services by coordinating professional learning opportunities for trainers and coaches across Washington.  He encourages everyone to bring their skills and interests into their work life (trading time for money) . His experience and education include parenting, teaching preschool through college, curriculum development, and developmental psychology. Sparking lifelong interests in youth and adults, humor, juggling, woodwork, gardening …

Director of Learning & Teaching Support – Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction

Mathematics Director, Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction

Research Associate - Aspen Institute Roundtable on Community Change

Gretchen Susi is a Research Associate at the Aspen Institute Roundtable on Community Change where she directs the Roundtable’s Racial Equity and Society Peer Learning Forum.  Her research has focused on the social production of housing, particularly public housing, the role of grassroots alliances in producing supportive environments, and on the challenges presented to such efforts by the political economy and social formations, particularly race and class.  In a previous life Gretchen was a fiction editor at Bantam Doubleday…

Quality Initiatives Director - School's Out Washington

In her new role as the Quality Initiatives Director, Jackie will lead the statewide efforts that promote program quality and increase the use of quality assessment and improvement processes in afterschool and youth development programs. Jackie has been working with SOWA since 1999 as a trainer providing on-site technical assistance to programs serving ethnic and cultural communities. In 2007, she joined SOWA’s staff as the Professional Development Director and managed the four year researched based, Pathway to Excellence (PTE) project, le…

Senior Consultant, American Institutes for Research

4-H STEM Specialist – Washington State University Extension 4-H

As vice president of policy for the National Summer Learning Association, Smink leads all activities related to the Association’s policy portfolio at the national, state, and local levels. Current projects include leading a National Campaign for Summer Learning to increase public investment and support of summer programs; leading an initiative to create a new vision of summer school for urban school districts; and the creation of state-level legislative task forces on summer learning. Smink also develops and delivers presentations and trainings at selected national, regional, and local policy …

Youth Development Executives of King County (YDEKC), Executive Director

Jessica Paul Werner comes to YDEKC with over a decade of collaborative leadership experience in our community.  She has spent the last nine years leading youth development efforts for the YMCA of Greater Seattle, focusing on program quality, outcome evaluation and professional development for YMCA staff working with adolescents. 
Jessica will be leading a 23 member board made up of executive leaders of non-profit youth development organizations, chaired by Patrick D’Amelio of Big Brothers Big Sisters. A first step…

Senior Consultant, ThrivePoint Group

A child of immigrants, Jhumpa Bhattacharya grew up bilingual and bicultural, two experiences that greatly shape her thinking, practice, and passion to help create equitable, high-quality, engaging environments that allow all young people to thrive.  Jhumpa brings over 10 years of experience and immense spirit and energy in supporting individuals, schools, programs and institutions to better serve and meet the needs of immigrants, English Learners and young people of color.

Jimena Quiroga brings a decade of experience in the afterschool sector, as a technical assistance provider, field researcher, and tool and curriculum developer. In her prior position at California Tomorrow, she played a key role in the organization’s after school and youth development efforts. As a lead trainer, she has trained hundreds of individuals and her capacity building efforts have ranged from facilitating youth development leadership programs, to providing professional development to teachers and after school professionals. As a field researcher, she has lent her expertise to a number…

Jo Hamer was born in Spokane, WA and grew up all over the continental United States, including Colorado, Texas, Virginia, and Texas. Five years ago, she took an opportunity to work for a non-profit childcare organization and found something she was truly passionate about. Jo has been a Center Director for various non-profit organizations for 4 ½ years and is bringing an immense amount of experience to her new position as Center Director at the CDSA Kimball site.

Outside of non-profit childcare, Jo enjoys singing, music, sports, traveling, cooking, writing, and photography. Constantly l…

Karen Pittman is President and CEO of the Forum for Youth Investment; her work as a leader in the youth development field was recognized in 2009 by The NonProfit Times, which named her as one of the top 50 CEOs in nonprofits with power and influence. A widely published author, Karen has written three books, dozens of articles on youth issues.  Before co-founding the Forum, Karen conducted studies on social services for children and families for the Urban Institute, and helped create the adolescent policy agenda at the Children's Defense Fund.  She directed the President's Crime Prevention Coun…

Training and Resource Coordinator - School's Out Washington

Krista coordinates a variety of statewide program quality improvement initiatives. She works in partnership with the Washington Regional Afterschool Project (WRAP) to increase access for afterschool and youth development providers to professional development opportunities, on-site assistance, assessments and resources.  She creates curriculum materials and training tools and delivers workshops and trainings. You may know her from the registration table at the annual Bridge conference. Krista has worked as an afterschool teacher, prog…

Program Director, Arts Corps. In addition to overseeing program development and community partnerships for Arts Corps, Lara co-leads the organization's outreach and advancement work, which is dedicated to stewarding Arts Corps's anti-oppression/racial justice agenda. Over the past 15 years of her professional career, Lara has been active in youth development, arts & arts education and social justice work with groups such as Seattle Young People's Project, Queer Youth Rights, Communities Against Rape and Abuse, Seattle AFSC, the Seattle Arts Commission and more. As a musician, sound artist, col…

Food Policy Director, Children's Alliance.

Since 1994 she has been a national leader on food policy work and was recognized as national child advocate of the year in 1998. She has also led advocacy efforts in the Alliance's Eastern Washington office and chaired a regional ten state coalition on anti-hunger issues.

In 1997 when Congress revoked food stamps for legal immigrants, Linda pushed for state funds to restore food stamps for Washington's immigrants. Most recently, in her work with the Western Regional Anti Hunger Consortium, she successfully advocated for the national reinstat…

Training and Data Specialist - School's Out Washington

As the Training and Data Specialist, Louie Praseuth works with the Professional Development Director in organizing and implementing the Pathway to Excellence Project (PTE). Louie provides support and training for the PTE participants as well as the project coaches in the afterschool field. He has served children and youth from diverse backgrounds through various programs for the past 10 years  and continues to further his experience here as School’s Out Washington. He is currently continuing his education at Seattle Central Community Coll…

Lynda Llavore brings a rich background as a trainer in multicultural educational settings, and as educator teaching English and developmental reading and writing skills. Lynda is also certified to endorse out-of-school time programs for program accreditation for the National School-Age Care Alliance.

Executive Director - School's Out Washington

Mari Offenbecher has been the Director of School's Out Washington since 1990. Mari has provided leadership to local and statewide community building efforts including the Leadership Council for Quality Care and Education and the Washington Afterschool Association. She currently participates on a variety of local and state committees to help shape policy to benefit and sustain community-based out-of-school time programs and systems. Mari is responsible for the overall administration of School's Out Washington including budget, staff, program, and co…

Markus Maceo joined the SOWA cohort through the Pathway to Excellence (PTE) project and currently serves in the Tacoma afterschool region as a PTE Lead Coach. He has over 5 years of supervisory, training and organizational development experience. For two years, was an adjunct faculty at Evergreen State College and brings a culturally relevant lens in navigating systems within the afterschool professional development field. He also has a passion in communicating voices from the community through media design and editing. Markus holds a B.A. in Liberal Arts and an A.T.A. in Multimedia.

Nicole strives to make research make sense. She oversees Forum projects on out-of-school time, postsecondary success and bridging research, policy and practice; speaks on behalf of the Forum at national conferences and and events; and serves as an advisor to several foundations, organizations and initiatives connected to the Forum. Prior to joining the Forum in 2000, Nicole served as a youth development specialist at Michigan State University, where she developed, implemented and evaluated community-based youth programs and provided training and technical assistance to programs statewide withi…

Puget Sound Writing Project Action Research Facilitator

Refugee School Impact Grant Project Director - School's Out Washington

From 2001 to 2004, Pang worked as the Grants and Contracts Specialist at School’s Out Washington.  Prior to that, she coordinated youth programs for the Refugee Women’s Alliance.  Pang then worked as the Refugee Program Planner for the Nonprofit Assistance Center.  In December 2007, Pang rejoined School’s Out Washington as the Refugee School Impact Grant Project Director.  Pang oversees the administration of Refugee School Impact subgrants to district-community partnerships and subcontracts for training and technical assis…

Priscilla Little has been working in the education arena and conducting educational research for over twenty years.   She is currently an independent consultant; her clients include national education research firms, state education agencies, nonprofits, and private foundations.  Formerly with the Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP), she has spear-headed its efforts to promote effective education policies and practices to support children’s learning and development through a holistic, integrated approach to learning in- and out-of-school.  In her capacity as the Core Area Director for HFRP'…

Senior Program Officer and Global Director of CYM – FHI Development 360

Education: Management, University of Maryland

Expertise: Youth, Youth Development, Training, Community YouthMapping; Youth Participation.