05 - Elevating the Parent Voice in Systems Change

Allysa Ware, MSW is an Associate Director of Programs and Strategy with Family Voices. Allysa has spent the last decade working to improve access to education, medical services, and community supports for children with special health care needs and their families.  She has also wored to improve family engagement in systems level work through training, mentorship, and advocacy. Allysa received her master’s degree in social work from The Catholic University of America (CUA) and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in social work at CUA with a research focus of autism diagnosis and treatment in the African-American community. Allysa is also the proud parent of a 18-year-old daughter with an autism spectrum disorder.

Arthur is a proud Chicano born and raised in Los Angeles (Tongva Territory), he is married to his high school sweetheart with whom he has 3 beautiful children. Arthur has committed his personal and professional life to supporting communities as they navigate and transform systems to better serve them. Arthur’s work at the Center for the Study of Social Policy includes supporting the Parent Leader Network, a national network focused on systems change with race equity as the foundation; supporting the Infant Toddler Court Program’s National Advisory Group for Parents’ Voices; and facilitating racial equity, diversity and inclusion efforts with First 5 Orange County. Previous projects supported include being part of the Partnership Support Team for First 5 LA’s Best Start initiative in Los Angeles County, a place based effort focused on improving the lives of families with children 0-5 through parent led community partnerships; evaluating the first 10 years of The California Endowment’s Building Healthy Communities initiative; and serving as a member of the child welfare monitoring team for Humboldt County, California.

Harrison Spencer Jr. has been a member of the PLN since July 2020, newest member of the 2021 Ready for School Ready for Life Equity Strategies Committee and Executive Director of Father Figures established in 2018. Father Figures is a mentorship program aimed at educating, supporting, and empowering positive and progressive environments that fosters fatherhood and father involvement. Spencer was born and raised in Greensboro North Carolina and is a proud single father of 1 daughter and 2 sons (ages 25, 24 and 10 years old) and grandfather of soon to be two grandchildren! He received his BSW in 2017 at North Carolina A&T State University (Aggie Pride!) and his MSW this summer at North Carolina State University (Go Wolfpack!).

Crystal Hallock has provided peer-to-peer mentorship to clients in Washoe County Specialty Courts since 2007. She brings a wealth of lived experience by having gone through Child Protective Services herself and then raised nine children, including her own children, her younger siblings, and she is currently guardian to her toddler grandson. Crystal uses this experience and her long history of working with clients to mentor and advocate for parents involved in the court system and help them build a stable future for themselves and their children. Crystal first served as a Mentor Mom for the Washoe County Family Treatment Court. She is also a Parent Partner for Safe Babies Court since 2019 and a Parent Advisor for the ITCP National Advisory Group for Parents’ Voice since 2020. She has been a certified Peer Recovery Support Specialist since 2015, a position and recognition she helped found when she served as Vice Chairman on the State of Nevada Certification Board from 2013 to 2015. Crystal is a valued advisor to the Specialty Court teams in Washoe County. She always looks for creative ways to help parents in the community and passionately believes that parents’ voices should be heard.

Ms. Cantamessa has the privilege of being a mother to six amazing children and two grandchildren. She is the owner of Re-Unify Family Solutions LLC, where she has been honored to be involved with serving families, training stakeholders and designing programs with the WA State Office of Public Defense, Empire Health Foundation and Center for Children & Youth Justice. She launched the Parents for Parents Program and Reunification Day Celebration in her local Superior Court and has assisted in the the successful implementation of P4P in over 16 counties in Washington state. Her current passion is to bring the Parents for Parents (P4P) program to every community in need as the national family impact program manager for Children’s Home Society of Washington. As a recovering addict and parent who successfully navigated the child welfare system, she utilizes the skills of her peers and the compassion of stakeholders to engage parents currently involved in the child welfare system. Ms. Cantamessa is a member of local, state, national and global parent advocacy groups. She is a motivational speaker who has won many awards for her leadership, innovation and advocacy work including: the 2015 Lee Ann Miller Group Award, the 2016 Social Entrepreneur Award, and the 2017 Honoring Other People's Experiences (HOPE) Award. The driving force behind her passion is her belief that "The best way to help kids is to help their parents. Kids want to be with their parents and parents want to be what their kids need."