CCLP - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Program Associate and Social Media Coordinator
Erika Howell is the Director of Operations at the Center for Children's Law and Policy (CCLP). In this capacity, Erika is responsible for the Operations and Financial Management of CCLP.
Gladys Carrión has been recognized as a national leader in her the efforts to reform Juvenile Justice in New York State and a fearless advocate for children and families involved in the child welfare system. She has received numerous awards and has served on several national advisory committees focused on reforming the juvenile justice and promoting the well-being of young adults. She was appointed Commissioner of the New York City Administration for Children's Services (ACS) in January 2014, where she was charged with providing child welfare, early childhood care and juvenile justice services to the City's most vulnerable children and families. She was also responsible for implementing Close to Home, the City's juvenile justice program.
Prior to her appointment to ACS, Gladys was Commissioner of the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS), overseeing New York State's child welfare, early childhood care and juvenile justice systems. As OCFS Commissioner, Gladys is credited with overhauling the juvenile justice system. Under her leadership, Gladys shut down 21 juvenile centers, diverting juvenile justice involved youth to less costly and more effective therapeutic programs located closer to home. Gladys began her legal career as an attorney with the Bronx Legal Services Corporation and rose to become the Managing Attorney for the South Bronx Office. Born and raised in the Bronx, Gladys is a graduate of Fordham University and New York University School of Law.
Job Titles:
- Community Connections for Youth 's ( CCFY ) Director
Jeannette Bocanegra is Community Connections for Youth's (CCFY) Director of Family Engagement. She joined CCFY in 2010 as the lead researcher for a Participatory Action Research project that mobilized the family members of incarcerated youth to collect data on parent experiences with the juvenile justice system. Since joining CCFY, she has developed the organization's Family Strengthening portfolio, and also initiated the groundbreaking Parent Support Program (PSP) in partnership with the NYC Department of Probation. She serves as an advisory board member for several juvenile justice initiatives in New York City as a voice for families.
Jeannette has served as a speaker and consultant for several high profile juvenile justice initiatives, including the Annie E. Casey Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI). In 2015, Jeannette was awarded the Child Welfare Organizing Project's Courageous Activist Award, and later that year received the "Lo Mejor de Nuestro Comunidad" award from Comité Noviembre. Prior to joining CCFY, Jeannette was an active educational activist and parent organizer who worked to mobilize parents for more than twenty years. Jeannette noticed early on the deterioration of schools in the community as well as the lack of parental involvement in shaping policy and practice. Jeannette was involved in parent advocacy and educational reform through her roles as a public-school volunteer, PTA President, and Vice President and Secretary to Community School District 10 Presidents Council. She worked as a full-time Parent Involvement Coordinator at ASPIRA, providing professional development for parents across the city.
Jeannette took on the role in advocating for families with youth in the juvenile justice system based on her own difficult experiences as the parent of an incarcerated youth. She strives to ensure that young people who have come into contact with the juvenile justice system are given a second chance to become productive members of their communities, and to provide families with the tools and resources to help their children succeed.
Job Titles:
- Staff Attorney
- Senior Staff Attorney and Director, Stop Solitary for Kids
Jennifer Lutz is a Staff Attorney at the Center for Children's Law and Policy. In this capacity, she leads CCLP's campaign to end the practice of solitary confinement of youth. She also assists jurisdictions reduce racial and ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system, reduce the use of detention, and protect the rights of youth in custody.
Prior to joining CCLP, Jennifer was the Juvenile Justice Policy Attorney and Director of Juvenile Training at the Defender Association of Philadelphia. In that position, she engaged courts, prosecutors, child advocates, treatment providers, and other stakeholders on policy issues to improve the quality of representation for indigent children in Pennsylvania. From 2008 to 2011, she supervised all trial and post-dispositional representation of juveniles charged with sexual offenses and tried dozens of complex sexual assault cases. Jennifer has developed training materials and conducted trainings across the country on representing children charged with sexual offenses, juvenile sex offender registration laws, collateral consequences of delinquency adjudications, and protecting the rights of children in conflict with the law.
Prior to joining the Juvenile Unit of the Defender Association, Jennifer worked in the adult unit of the Defender Association from 2005-2008, where she represented adults charged with felonies in bench and jury trials. Jennifer received her undergraduate degree from Duke University and her J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Job Titles:
- Director of Systems Innovation
Job Titles:
- Director of Systems Innovation at the Center for Children 's Law
Regina Mitchell is the Director of Systems Innovation at the Center for Children's Law and Policy, where she coordinates and manages all Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) activities, as well as works on other CCLP efforts including training and technical assistance to reduce racial and ethnic disparities. Prior to joining CCLP, Regina served as a Program Administrator for the Ohio Department of Youth Services, with responsibility for JDAI in Ohio's 12 JDAI sites. Regina also worked as a Juvenile Parole Officer in the Columbus Region.
Regina has extensive leadership abilities coupled with solid management experience and a solid history of case management success. She has excellent oral and written dexterity, strong analytical and planning skills combined with the ability to coordinate efforts of many to meet organizational goals.
Regina has 15 years' experience in the field of criminal justice and community corrections. Regina has worked at Franklin County Adult Probation Department receiving a promotion every year; she served as a probation officer, intensive supervision officer, senior probation officer and gang coordinator. She has experience as a gang investigator with the Ohio Attorney General's Office and teaching experience at Ohio Dominican University in Columbus, Ohio. Her experience also includes case management, youth outreach and mental health. Regina has chaired and participated in numerous committees and work groups.
In 1999, Regina was selected for a Milton B. Thrasher Award for outstanding service in the criminal gang field by the National Gang Crime Research Center in Chicago, IL.
She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.; Esther Chapter No. 3, Order of the Eastern Star, Prince Hall Affiliation and subordinate organizations; Correctional Accreditation Association of Ohio (CAAO) and the American Correctional Association (ACA).
Regina holds a bachelor's degree from The Ohio State University and a MCJ from Tiffin University in Tiffin, Ohio.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Vice President of the Board
- Executive Director and Board of Directors Vice President
- Executive Director of the Center for Children 's Law
Sangeeta Prasad is the Executive Director of the Center for Children's Law and Policy (CCLP). Throughout her legal career, Sangeeta has centered empathy and inclusion in public service. At CCLP, she leads a vibrant team who are changing young people's lives by reducing excessive incarceration, racial disparities and dangerous conditions in our justice systems.
Sangeeta recently completed a Stoneleigh Fellowship with the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office (DAO), where she focused on sentencing reform and individualized approaches to young adults. Her work on probation reform in Philadelphia is highlighted in the documentary Philly DA. Sangeeta also spearheaded the creation of an Emerging Adult Unit at the Philadelphia DAO.
Prior to her Stoneleigh Fellowship, Sangeeta led a diverse team of experts in publishing The Pennsylvania Juvenile Defense Notebook and taught as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. Sangeeta has worked in several justice systems across the country, serving as an Assistant Public Defender at the Defender Association of Philadelphia, an Appellate Defender at the Center for Appellate Litigation in New York City, and an Assistant Public Defender in Santa Fe. Sangeeta holds a BS in Interdisciplinary Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a JD from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law.
Sherika Shnider is a Staff Attorney at the Center for Children's Law and Policy where she works to support the Center's mission of eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in the juvenile legal system, implementing alternatives to incarceration, and ending dangerous and inhumane conditions for youth in custody.
Prior to joining CCLP, Sherika served as Youth Policy Counsel at The Gault Center (formerly the National Juvenile Defender Center) where she worked on legal and policy initiatives related to youth defense. In this role, she provided training and technical assistance to juvenile legal system stakeholders across the country and helped to create and implement initiatives aimed at reducing racial and ethnic disparities in the juvenile legal system.
Sherika graduated with a B.A. in Sociology from The George Washington University and received her J.D. from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law where she was the recipient of the William P. Cunningham Award for exceptional achievement and service to the Law School, as well as the Clinical Legal Education Association Outstanding Team Award for her representation of youth who were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole and students in school disciplinary proceedings. Sherika is also a certified Youth Defender Advocacy Program (YDAP) (formerly Juvenile Training Immersion Program) trainer.
Job Titles:
- Policy Director for Equity and Justice
Job Titles:
- Stop Solitary Project Coordinator