Corey B. Best is foremost, a dedicated father, and the founder of Mining For Gold. He is originally from Washington, DC and now resides in Florida.  This is where Corey began his transformation into adaptive leadership training, systems building, authentic family engagement, racial justice, promoting protective factors, social equality, and highlighting “good enough parenting” for those impacted by the child welfare system. Mining For Gold is the curator of community experiences and utilizes those ideas and expertise to shape new thinking within complex systems. Corey has utilized his platform as a Community Curator to re-build child and family serving systems that are responsive to sharing power among constituents with a laser focus on preventing and dismantling all forms of racism.  The idea began with the fact that each one of us have pieces of metaphorical “gold” flowing through our souls. This idea for Mining For Gold is directly influenced by the 402 plus years of racialized arrangement in our communities. In partnership with child welfare leaders, communities and parents, Corey has curated the racially just and equitable Authentic Family Engagement and Strengthening Approach. Since May 2020, Mining For Gold has held a brave container to explore the impact of racialization with over 1,500 child and family serving leaders and staff. Mining For Gold is a platform where leaders from social institutions think, stretch, and grow alongside other leaders within their communities who have experienced systems of oppression first-hand.  The design is to curate and magnify what is working within collective spheres of influences. 

Lynlee Tanner Stapleton, Ph.D. serves as a public health analyst for the Early Childhood Systems team in the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Maternal and Child Health Bureau. In this role, she leads policy, technical assistance, and measurement work related to early childhood programming and is the project officer for the Infant-Toddler Court Program. Lynlee brings a combination of research, clinical assessment and treatment, and federal program experience to her work, and is a licensed clinical psychologist with expertise in child development, perinatal and early childhood mental health, and family processes. She has also led innovation programming, collaborative co-creation and program design, organizational change, and service delivery improvement efforts. Prior to HRSA, she previously worked at the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development, and Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Lynlee received her Ph.D. in psychology from UCLA, with minor concentrations in Quantitative Methods and Health.

Janie Huddleston, MSE, ITCP Director, has a unique background in healthcare administration, social service delivery, education, business, and management that supports her work overseeing the implementation and building knowledge of effective, collaborative court team interventions that transform child welfare systems. In her previous position as Deputy Director for the Arkansas Department of Human Services, she worked to build collaborative problem-solving teams to address the issues facing young children and their families. In 2011, Mrs. Huddleston directed the Division of Behavioral Health Services (Mental Health and Substance Abuse agency), leading a rigorous CMS and Joint Commission recertification process for the State Hospital that included a review of hospital policies and Continuous Quality Improvement processes. As Deputy Director, she led stakeholders in the development of a Medicaid program for pregnant moms and juveniles affected by substance abuse disorder. She also led a four-year collaborative process to overhaul the entire Behavioral Health payment system in Medicaid, following an outside analysis that showed too many children being placed in residential care and high use of psychotropic medications. In two years, usage was reduced by 70% for children under the age of five. She also participated in the development of Episodes of Care, which was a pay-for-performance initiative within Medicaid and strengthened the use of Medical Homes as a big component of care.

Dr. Ron Abrahams is a Family Physician in Vancouver. He is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Family Practice at UBC, as well as Consultant Physician at the Sheway Program and a Board Member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia. Dr. Abrahams is the founding Medical Director of the FIR (Families in Recovery) Rooming in Program at BCWH-the first of its kind in North America. The unit has been named a “leading practice” by the Canadian Council of Health Accreditation, cited in the 2007 Kroeger Award for maintaining a high quality of care with demonstrated peer-reviewed improved outcomes. For his work during the last 35 years, he has been recognized as an invited speaker nationally and internationally for his peer-reviewed research and his role in developing evidence-based Harm Reduction guidelines and protocols for women with problematic substance use in pregnancy. He received the Meritorious Service Cross in 2017. The Meritorious Service Decorations were “created by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, to enable the Governor General of Canada to recognize Canadians for their exceptional deeds and outstanding accomplishments that bring honor to the country.” He also received the 2008 Kaiser Foundation National Award for Excellence in Leadership for Harm Reduction Programs, the 2019 UBC Faculty of Medicine Clinical Faculty Award for Excellence in Community Practice Teaching, the Primus Inter Pares Degree (First among Equals) by the Vancouver Medical Association in 2016 and was the Recipient of the C&W Medical Staff Association Award for Indigenous Health and Outreach Advocate in 2018.

Alexandra Citrin is a Senior Associate at the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) and has 15 years of experience in child and family public policy and direct practice experience. She currently leads CSSP’s child welfare and prevention policy portfolio, providing overall direction for CSSP’s work. She is an expert in child welfare policy and practice and its effect on communities of color, LGBTQ+ youth, and immigrant families. She currently leads the team providing intensive technical assistance across the country to states developing and implementing prevention activities, including through the Family First Prevention Services Act, and is working in multiple jurisdictions with leadership to transform existing child welfare systems to be anti-racist. Her system-reform work also includes providing technical assistance to states and community-based organizations on utilizing racial equity impact assessments to drive change, state and local child welfare systems through child welfare systems operating under federal consent decree, and the Infant-Toddler Court Team Program. Her policy expertise includes child welfare system and finance reform, prevention, and immigration—with a focus on using frontline practice—knowledge to inform equity-focused policymaking. Prior to joining CSSP, she was a family advocate at the Center for Family Representation, Inc. in New York, where she engaged in direct practice with parents and families involved in the child welfare system. Alexandra was a Child Welfare Scholar at the University of Michigan where she earned a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Social Work and a master's degree in Public Policy from the Ford School.

Arthur Fidel Argomaniz is a proud Chicano born and raised in Los Angeles (Tongva Territory); he is married to his high school sweetheart with whom he has three 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, and the Infant-Toddler Court Program’s National Advisory Group for Parents’ Voices, as well as facilitating racial equity, diversity and inclusion efforts with First 5 Orange County. Previous additional support includes 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 ages 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. 

Juanita Gallion is the Director of Capacity Building & Leadership Development at the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP). She helps lead the organization’s work to advance racial equity through facilitation, training, capacity building, leadership development, and coaching with a variety of national and local partners and philanthropic organizations. In addition, she supports the learning culture within the organization, and shapes the creation and dissemination of lessons learned across CSSP’s various bodies of work. She previously managed the technical assistance and training for several large-scale community initiatives, including the U.S. Department of Education’s Promise Neighborhoods program and the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Making Connections initiative to ensure families and communities had the resources they needed to achieve success. Prior to joining CSSP, Juanita was at the National Civic League, where she managed the training, technical assistance, and learning agenda for a national initiative aimed at reducing children’s exposure to violence. Juanita’s additional experience includes working on a variety of racial and social justice issues, including youth and community engagement, worker rights, and national AIDS/HIV advocacy. She graduated from the University of Chicago with a master's degree in Social Service Administration, with concentrations in Community Development and Policy and received her Bachelor’s Degree in Law and Society from American University. She is currently one of the Annie E. Casey Foundations Results Count™ Advanced Practitioners, part of the Cataylst:Ed/Equity in the Center DEI Expert Hub, and a certified MBTI Certified Practitioner.

Nicolette Cook received her master’s in social work from University of Minnesota Duluth. Her career emphasis has been working with high risk children and families. She is currently employed through St. Louis County, MN as the Safe Babies Court Community Coordinator. She has worked within child protection as an ongoing case manager and safety planner for 5 years before her current role. She lives in Ely, MN near the Canadian border with her husband and they have 5 children together ranging in ages from 6-19. We live a busy life filled with sports, activities, and a love for the outdoors.

Lynlee Tanner Stapleton, Ph.D. serves as a public health analyst for the Early Childhood Systems team in the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Maternal and Child Health Bureau. In this role, she leads policy, technical assistance, and measurement work related to early childhood programming and is the project officer for the Infant-Toddler Court Program. Lynlee brings a combination of research, clinical assessment and treatment, and federal program experience to her work, and is a licensed clinical psychologist with expertise in child development, perinatal and early childhood mental health, and family processes. She has also led innovation programming, collaborative co-creation and program design, organizational change, and service delivery improvement efforts. Prior to HRSA, she previously worked at the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development, and Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Lynlee received her Ph.D. in psychology from UCLA, with minor concentrations in Quantitative Methods and Health.

Dina Lieser is Program Director and Team Lead of Early Childhood Systems at Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) in the Division of Home Visiting and Early Childhood Systems. She oversees a portfolio of programs promoting the development of coordinated early childhood systems in support of MCHB’s vision of an America where all mothers, children, and families are thriving and reach their full potential. Prior to joining HRSA in January 2017, Dr. Lieser served as Co-Director of Docs for Tots, a nonprofit working to promote practices, policies, and investments that will enable young children to thrive. She was Chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ National Council on Early Childhood and held clinical leadership positions and state systems leadership positions focused on practice, policy change, and building bridges between the health and broader early childhood system to achieve population impact in health, well-being, and education outcomes.

Rachel Herzfeldt-Kamprath, MSPPM, Team Lead for Policy and Communications Division of Home Visiting and Early Childhood Systems Division of Home Visiting and Early Childhood Systems (DHVECS) Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

Kate Taft, MPH, has over a decade of experience working on issues that affect children's health, such as early childhood development, healthy weight, mental health, and injury prevention, at the public health and individual levels. As the Associate Director for Child and Adolescent Health at AMCHP, she leads and supports the development, implementation, and evaluation of program activities related to child and adolescent health, including children and youth with special health care needs. As part of AMCHP’s Early Childhood Systems Coordination team, she implements technical assistance and expertise to promote collaboration among Title V, MIECHV and Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems programs. Ms. Taft has an MPH with a concentration in Maternal and Child Health from George Washington University, and a BA in Psychology from the College of William and Mary.

Maura Leahy, MPH, brings nearly a decade of public health experience in both state academic institutions and the national, nonprofit level. Ms. Leahy is skilled in curriculum and resource development, social media and communications, and e-learning development. She is also an expert in topics related to child and adolescent health, including adolescent sexual health, maternal and childhood lead poisoning prevention, and early childhood systems collaboration. Ms. Leahy centers her values of health equity and elevating lived experience throughout her portfolio of work and is passionate about supporting MCH professionals to make their work accessible to all MCH populations while working with individuals and communities most impacted by inequities.

Kaitlan Baston, MD, MSc is the Medical Director of Addiction Medicine at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, NJ, and Assistant Professor at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. She is dual boarded in Family Medicine and Addiction Medicine. Kaitlan obtained a master's degree in Neuroscience from King’s College London, and then graduated from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. She attended medical school fueled by inequities in the healthcare system. Through her work with immigrant and homeless populations and international public health projects, her idealizations directed her to a career in primary care. She pursued full spectrum family medicine training with obstetrics in Seattle, Washington, and received her waiver to prescribe buprenorphine for patients with opioid dependence early in her training. This work illuminated the stigma and marginalization associated with addiction, and Kaitlan observed that both patients and medical professionals suffered from the lack of addiction medicine training in healthcare. With the goals of community outreach, healthcare education and hospital system improvement, she completed an American Board of Addiction Medicine (ABAM) accredited addiction medicine fellowship. Following her training, she returned to the East Coast to begin her career. Kaitlan became the Medical Director of Cooper’s Addiction Medicine Program in 2015. She currently practices in their Urban Health Institute, working with an interdisciplinary team of like-minded, driven individuals dedicated to making change in Camden. She strives not only to create a home for patients with substance use disorders within the medical system, but also to end the stigma of addiction in society and to ensure that all patients suffering from substance use disorders are offered treatments that can allow them to live full and satisfying lives. 

Thomas H. (Tom) Broome is the County Court Judge and former County Prosecutor for Rankin County, Mississippi. Judge Broome is the Chair of the Mississippi Council of Youth Court Judges; Co-Chair of the Mississippi Supreme Court Commission on Children’s Justice; a past member of the State Drug Court Advisory Board; a member of the MS Uniform Youth Court Rules Commission; Co-Chair of the Legislation Committee on the State Advisory Group on Juvenile Justice; Chair of the MS Children’s Justice Act Task Force; and Chair of the Statewide Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative Task Force. Judge Broome is a former appointed member of the Federal Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice under Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) in the United States Department of Justice and has served as the Secretary and six years as a Director for the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ). Judge Broome has been honored with numerous awards and commendations for his advocacy on behalf of children and families, as well as his service to the Bench and the Bar. He was most recently recognized with the 2015 Chief Justice’s Award for his contributions to the juvenile justice system and the 2016 MS College School of Law Community Spirit Award; the Mississippi Bar’s 2016 Judicial Excellence Award; the 2017 One Loud Voice Champion for Children Award; the 2018 Dr. Larry Leflore Juvenile Justice Advocacy Award, and the 2018 Mission First Judicial Ambassador of Justice Award.

Beth Dworetzky, MS, is the Associate Director of Program Oversight for Family Voices. She manages multiple projects that focus on building the capacity of systems of care to better serve children and youth with special health care needs, and to promote meaningful family engagement at all levels. Ms. Dworetzky was the team lead for the creation of the Family Voices Family Engagement in Systems Assessment Tool (FESAT), the FESAT Scoresheet, and the Family Engagement in Systems (FES) Toolkit. She also developed the FESAT Coach training. Prior work includes writing the grant to establish the Massachusetts Family-to-Family Health Information Center at the Federation for Children with Special Needs and directing the National Center for Improving Health Insurance and Financing of Care at the Boston University School of Public Health where she developed the evaluation process for the technical assistance center staff provided to policymakers.

Lindsay Calveri grew up in Twentynine Palms, CA. She moved to Iowa after living many places including Las Vegas, Pau France and West Yellowstone, MT. She is a single mom to one amazing five-year-old named Gabriel. She is the Director of Rooms at the Renaissance Savery in Des Moines and has been in the hotel industry since she was 17 years old. Lindsay has been in recovery for 4.5 years. She is a graduate of the Polk County Recovery Court Program and has worked closely with Project Iowa and Children and Families of Iowa.

Anu Partap, MD, MPH, serves as Medical Director of Health Equity at Cook Children’s Health Care System in Fort Worth, Texas. For over 20 years, she has been a primary care pediatrician in safety-net, pediatric training settings in the Southwest. Her primary aim is to mitigate the impact of adversity and trauma on child health and educational outcomes through improved integrated systems of care. Anu has worked with broad governmental and philanthropic partnerships to design, fund, and implement new health systems and community-based integrated care programs, research, medical education, and policy improvements. She has had the privilege of learning from all families including those who are recent immigrants, Native American families, families with limited income, survivors of family violence, and diverse families engaged with U.S. foster care and adoption systems. In 2018, she joined Cook Children’s as Medical Director of the Center for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect and now serves as Medical Director of Health Equity to help implement system strategies to eliminate health disparities. She is a frequent educator on how to work with families affected by adversity, has served on multiple statewide Boards, and currently serves on the Board of the Texas Pediatric Society and as an executive member of the Council of Foster Care, Adoption, and Kinship Care at the AAP. Anu considers herself a lifelong learner of parenting, partnering, and how best to tackle the open road with her husband, daughters, and two dogs.

Robin van der Merwe is an Executive Director at Connect First Initiative, an educational resource for helping educators understand the emotional and mental health needs of their students. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Region 3 Foster Care Consortium, serving North Texas, and is an Advisor on the Family Advisory Board for the Rees Jones Center for Foster Care Excellence in Dallas. Robin and her husband, Henk, have been foster/adoptive parents for the last 14 years.

Jessica Pryce, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at Florida State University. For over 10 years, she has been involved in multiple angles of child welfare (direct practice, teaching + training & policy and research). She has published on child welfare-related topics, such as training and education, racial disparity, and anti-poverty practices. She has presented her research at 100+ conferences both nationally and internationally. She is the author of several op-eds focused on racial disparity and effective strategies to impact racial disproportionality within child welfare. Her TED Talk on Implicit Racial Bias in Decision Making has been viewed over 1.3 million times. Dr. Pryce has worked on the frontlines of child welfare, conducted primary research, been a policy advisor to Florida’s legislature and taught graduate level courses in child welfare. In 2019, she received a five-year appointment to the Advisory Board of the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute, where she consults and advises on leadership and workforce interventions around the country. She currently sits on the Florida Dependency Court Improvement Panel, alongside judges and advocates who are working towards a more trauma-informed approach within the judicial system. She has maintained and cultivated a commitment to the wellbeing of vulnerable children and families, the sustainability of the child welfare workforce, and effectively addressing inequity.

D.J. Eagle Bear Vanas is a thought leader, celebrated speaker and best-selling author whose expertise is showing people and organizations how to apply the warrior spirit at work. He is the author of the best-selling book The Tiny Warrior which is printed in six countries and the novel Spirit on the Run. D.J.’s newest book, The Warrior Within is being published by Penguin Random House and will be available summer 2022. D.J. is an enrolled member of the Ottawa Tribe and a former U.S. Air Force officer. He inspires organizations to strengthen their tribe and practically apply warrior spirit principles to serve at their best, stay resilient and lead with courage. For two decades, he’s delivered his dynamic programs in 49 states and overseas to clients such as Walt Disney, NASA, Intel Corporation, the U.S. Army, Subaru, Costco and hundreds of tribal governments and organizations. He’s also been invited to speak at The White House - twice. He holds a B.S. from the U.S. Air Force Academy and an M.S. from University of Southern California and has served on the Board of Directors on the National Board of Certified Counselors. D.J. is the President and owner of Native Discovery Inc. He is featured on the PBS documentary The Warrior Tradition, exploring the warrior spirit traditions across Indian Country, which aired nationwide on Veterans Day. He was also the host of his own PBS special Discovering Your Warrior Spirit which aired nationally in 2021.  

Janie Huddleston, MSE, ITCP Director, has a unique background in healthcare administration, social service delivery, education, business, and management that supports her work overseeing the implementation and building knowledge of effective, collaborative court team interventions that transform child welfare systems. In her previous position as Deputy Director for the Arkansas Department of Human Services, she worked to build collaborative problem-solving teams to address the issues facing young children and their families. In 2011, Mrs. Huddleston directed the Division of Behavioral Health Services (Mental Health and Substance Abuse agency), leading a rigorous CMS and Joint Commission recertification process for the State Hospital that included a review of hospital policies and Continuous Quality Improvement processes. As Deputy Director, she led stakeholders in the development of a Medicaid program for pregnant moms and juveniles affected by substance abuse disorder. She also led a four-year collaborative process to overhaul the entire Behavioral Health payment system in Medicaid, following an outside analysis that showed too many children being placed in residential care and high use of psychotropic medications. In two years, usage was reduced by 70% for children under the age of five. She also participated in the development of Episodes of Care, which was a pay-for-performance initiative within Medicaid and strengthened the use of Medical Homes as a big component of care.

As Chief Policy Officer, Miriam Calderón leads the development and implementation of ZERO TO THREE’s policy agenda, priorities, and strategies; oversees the Policy Center, which includes federal and state policy and advocacy; and serves as the principal spokesperson for the organization on public policy matters. Calderón joined ZERO TO THREE after serving as a presidential appointee in the Biden Administration in the role of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Early Learning at the U.S. Department of Education. She also served as a political appointee in the Obama Administration, where she advised the White House on early learning policy at the Domestic Policy Council and the Department of Health and Human Services. Calderón was appointed by Governor Kate Brown in 2017 to serve as the Early Learning System Director for the state of Oregon, where she led an agency responsible for administration of childcare, preschool, and home visiting programs and supports for the early childhood workforce. In this role, she oversaw implementation of the largest expansion of early childhood investments for young children and families in the state’s history. Prior to Oregon, she served as the Senior Director of Early Learning at the Bainum Family Foundation, where she shaped a new $10 million philanthropic investment in a comprehensive birth-to-three system for the District of Columbia. She was also a senior fellow with the BUILD Initiative, leading BUILD’s work related to dual language learners and serving as a faculty member for BUILD’s Equity Leaders Action Network. Previously, Calderón served as Director of Early Childhood Education at District of Columbia Public Schools, where she oversaw Head Start and pre-kindergarten programs, including helping to implement universal pre-kindergarten. Calderón also served as Associate Director of Education Policy at the Unidos US (formerly National Council of La Raza), a Hispanic civil rights organization, where she focused on early education policy for Latinx, immigrant, and dual language learner children. She began her career in early childhood as a mental health consultant in Head Start programs in Portland, Oregon. Calderón holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from the University of Delaware and a Master of Social Work degree from Portland State University.