Experts

Meet our Experts! Connect with thought leaders, practitioners, researchers, and policy makers who are experts in their field. Click below to view their profiles, follow their activity on the site, and contact them for more information.

 

John Annis

Community Foundation of Sarasota County

Two-generation approaches, philanthropy, partnerships. Aspen Institute Ascend Fellow.

Georgi Banna

National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials

Mr. Banna has worked directly with the affordable housing community for more than 15 years. He began as a student in law school working in the Rental Housing Clinic and continued after law school becoming the Rental Housing Clinic’s Adjunct Clinical Instructor. In Mr. Banna’s private law practice, he represented clients in all aspects of real estate transactions from the purchase and sale of residential and commercial properties to landlord/tenant disputes over evictions and security deposits. Mr. Banna was Vice-President of the Ingham County Housing Commission providing oversight and input...

Renee Bentley

Atlanta Housing Authority

Over 20 years. strategic planning , certified fundraising executive, resident relocation, professional meeting facilitation, program development and management and evaluation.

Jane Bilger

CSH

over 30 years experience in affordable and supportive housing financing, development and programming

Josh Crites

Medicaid for the State of Arizona

I worked for three public housing authorities including the Tacoma Housing Authority running the MTW program and the Seattle Housing Authority as a strategic adviser. I also worked in the EU doing research on affordable housing for the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. I am the owner and editor for the website Housing Futures. I now work for the Medicaid department for the State of Arizona and administer housing programs for Medicaid. I am currently working on a project to provide Medicaid encounter-able housing supports to public housing residents. I have over 11,000 LinkedIn...

Ted Dezember

King County Housing Authority

Ted Dezember is the Senior Manager for Educational Initiatives and Youth Programs at King County Housing Authority. He is responsible for the development, implementation, and evaluation of educational policies and program initiatives to support academic and life success of children who live in KCHA’s properties or participate in KCHA’s other housing programs. In this role he leads three housing authority- school district- community cross-sector partnerships in Kent, Bellevue, and White Center, WA, to ensure complimentary learning programs and well-structured out-of-school time programs are...

Barbara Duffield

SchoolHouse Connection

Barbara Duffield is a leading expert on the early care and education of children and youth experiencing homelessness, birth through higher education.

Danita Echols

Families On The Move, Inc

Foster care alumni for 11 years, foster care worker for over 17 years, trainer in child welfare for 2 years. I also worked with Wayne State University to create a school support program for young adults to graduate from a 4 year university.

Andrew Fenelon

University of Maryland, College Park

I am a sociologist and demographer studying the social determinants of health and health disparities. My recent projects have used the NHIS and NHANES linked HUD data to examine the impact of housing assistance programs on health and well-being. Two recent studies have been published showing health benefits for housing assistance recipients compared to future recipients.

Rebecca Friendly

Age of Learning / ABCmouse.com

Rebecca is the Manager of Communications and Corporate Affairs at Age of Learning, Inc. The company’s flagship product, ABCmouse.com Early Learning Academy, is the leading and most comprehensive digital early learning resource for children ages 2–8. Her responsibilities include overseeing Age of Learning’s Education Access Initiatives, which provide ABCmouse at no cost to teachers and community institutions such as libraries, Head Start programs, public housing authorities, and afterschool programs. With a background in marketing, communications, and public policy, Rebecca is passionate...

Colleen Hennessy

City of Portland

I studied political science, international development and community development at Tufts University, National University of Ireland and Wageningen University (The Netherlands). I am a contributor for Shelterforce, the magazine for community development professionals and an expert in social policy. I have published research, commentary and analysis of public policy in Ireland and the US for Ms. Magazine, the Bangor Daily News, and Rutledge Press.

Patricia Julianelle

SchoolHouse Connection

Patricia Julianelle is an attorney and legal consultant for state and local governments and non-profit organizations. She has over 20 years of experience defending children’s and youth’s rights, including advocating for youth in the education, juvenile justice, child welfare, and immigration systems. Patricia is an expert on education law and policy, including the rights of children experiencing homelessness, students with disabilities and undocumented immigrants. She has worked with the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY), the National Law Center on...

john kane

boston housing authority

I helped develop, implement, evaluate, and disseminate information about adoption of the non-smoking policy at the Boston Housing Authority.

John Kerry

Winn

40 years creating 2,000 units of affordable housing.

Abra Lyons-Warren

Council of Large Public Housing Authorities

Abra Lyons-Warren is the Director of Cross-Sector Initiatives at the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA) where she leads the Housing Is Initiative, an effort aimed at better aligning housing with other systems like education and health to improve life outcomes for low-income individuals and families. Abra previously analyzed and advocated for housing, education, place-based, early childhood, and dual-generation initiatives with the Center for the Study of Social Policy and Illinois Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie's office. She also served low-income and homeless individuals at...

Marcella Maguire

CSH

Marcella Maguire, Ph.D., has recently joined the CSH team as the Director for Health Systems Integration, bringing expertise in braiding funding to help communities increase supportive housing capacity. Prior to joining, CSH she was with City of Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health. Her team was responsible for planning and implementation for Behavioral Health services for people experiencing homelessness and needing residential care. Highlights of city initiatives include bringing the Housing First model of programs to Philadelphia and development of a performance management...

Cicily Nordness

Seattle Housing Authority

Ms. Nordness has been with the Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) since 2013. Her roles in the agency have included managing community, health, education, and supportive services across our housing portfolios, leading a youth opportunity team focused on older youth, and she currently serves as the Strategic Advisor leading a health initiative. Prior to her work at SHA, Ms. Nordness worked at several nonprofits in Seattle, Atlanta and Los Angeles leading afterschool programming, mentoring, preschool and homeless youth programming. Ms. Nordness holds a Masters in Nonprofit Leadership from Seattle...

Yesenia Ochoa

San Antonio Housing Authority

A strong development coordinator.

Susan Popkin

The Urban Institute

Susan J. Popkin, Ph.D. is both Director of The Urban Institute’s Program on Neighborhoods and Youth Development and a Senior Fellow in the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center. A nationally-recognized expert on assisted housing and mobility, Dr. Popkin directs a research program that focuses on the ways neighborhood environments affect outcomes for youth, and in conducting evaluations of complex community-based interventions. She is the Director of the HOST Demonstration and HOST Network and co-Principal Investigator for the evaluation of the Casey Foundation’s Family-Centered...

Lara Pukatch

Miriam's Kitchen

Lara Pukatch joined Miriam’s Kitchen in June 2014. As the Director of Advocacy, she leads the organization's advocacy work to end chronic homelessness in DC through budget advocacy, systems improvements, and engaging people with lived experience in change . She has over 10 years of experience as a nonprofit advocacy professional with expertise in empowering vulnerable populations, leading coalitions, and facilitating large-scale institutional change. At Miriam's Kitchen, Lara wears many hats. She plays a pivotal role in supporting The Way Home Campaign and leads city-wide efforts to...

Jill Spillman

Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority

Educational Initiatives Supervisor for the Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority (AMHA). Parents as Teachers Supervisors for AMHA's Early Childhood Initiative (ECI), which provides services to AMHA's families that have children ages prenatal through kindergarten. In addition to providing voluntary Parents as Teachers home visitation services, AMHA's Early Childhood Initiative offers monthly Family Outreach Events and a Maternal Depression Program.