Samaila Adelaiye, Ph.D., is a Research & Policy Fellow with Connecticut Voices for Children. His focus is on family economic security research and policy, specifically affordable housing. He is part of the Program Team. He is an expert on the issue areas of political economy, equitable growth and development, particularly within the context of comparative international relations. Prior to joining Connecticut Voices for Children, Samaila taught at the University at Buffalo (SUNY), SUNY Buffalo State College, and SUNY Geneseo. Samaila was awarded a Ph.D. in political science from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He also earned an M.A. in strategic studies from the University of Aberdeen and a B.S. in international relations from Ahmadu Bello University.

Harry Amadasun Jr. is the leader of the Process Management & Analytics Department at The Village for Families and Children, and brings almost 10 years of healthcare experience in operations, strategy, and analytics. Harry has been a community leader in many capacities, having served several years on the Board of Education, and now on the Town Council in East Hartford. He is also the Founding Vice President of the East Hartford Black Caucus, sits on the Board of Directors for Hands On Hartford, is the Director/Co-Founder of East Hartford Murals, and is on the Leadership Team for ShopBlackCT. Harry is thankful for the privilege to work alongside so many people who are passionate about improving the quality of life for all, especially those without a voice.

Although he subscribes to quite a busy lifestyle, Harry has travelled to every continent except South America and Antarctica, loves the outdoors, and is an avid snowboarder, despite his Nigerian parents’ reservations. A lifelong resident of CT, you can often find Harry at a local venue enjoying some live music, or practicing yoga in the park. Harry is looking forward to marrying the love of his life this June, and is excited for what’s on the horizon!

Since 2012, Ken has managed the Connecticut Racial Profiling Prohibition Project (CTRP3) on behalf of the Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy at Central Connecticut State University. This project works to implement the state of Connecticut’s Alvin W. Penn Racial Profiling law. The Alvin W. Penn law requires law enforcement agencies to collect information on traffic stops and report that information to CCSU. Ken is responsible for coordinating data collection and submission from 107 law enforcement agencies. He works with the Connecticut Data Collaborative to make the data available to the public through an online data portal. He has co-authored numerous reports analyzing municipal and state police data for evidence of discrimination. In addition, he is responsible for staffing the Connecticut Racial Profiling Prohibition Advisory Board, four subcommittees and is the legislative liaison for the project with the Connecticut General Assembly. Ken is also a certified Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services “Fair and Impartial Police” trainer. He has trained over 800 law enforcement officers since 2014.

Ken has served as a project consultant in California, Oregon, and Rhode Island on the implementation of their statewide traffic stop data collection programs. This includes helping states design electronic data collection system, develop analytical tools for identifying racial disparities in traffic stop data, and implementing training programs to address implicit bias in policing.

In addition, Ken also manages the Connecticut law that requires the collection and analysis of incidents involving electronic defense weapons. Ken co-authored a 2015 and 2016 report on the use of electronic defense weapons by local and state police. He also co-authored a report on the regulation of transportation network companies in Connecticut, and a report on the Connecticut law to raise the age of juvenile offenders to 18. He has provided project assistance to the Juvenile Jurisdiction Policy and Operations Coordinating Council, the Connecticut Re-entry Roundtable Collaborative, and the Institute’s Children of Incarcerated Parent’s initiative.

Katie Breslin is the Outreach and Engagement Coordinator in the Data and Policy Analytics unit at the CT Office of Policy and Management (OPM). She works to connect state agencies and systems to facilitate data sharing, while also promoting the inclusion of parent voice in policy discussions. Katie has been leading the P20 WIN State Longitudinal Data System in its expansion, governance, and operations. She is currently working on her Master’s degree in Public Policy at the University of Connecticut.

After finishing his PhD from the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of California at Berkeley in 2010, Jason Oliver Chang lectured in Asian American and Latin American history at the University of Texas at Austin. He also holds a Masters of Public Policy and Administration from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Combining Asian American Studies and Latin American Studies, Dr. Chang has worked with colleagues in these related fields to push for a hemispheric conception of Asian America that attends to both the transnational features of Asian diasporas in the Americas and the importance of local, regional, and national frames of analysis. His first book, Chino: Anti-Chinese Racism in Mexico, 1880-1940 has just been published by University of Illinois Press, 2017. This work analyzes the regional histories of Chinese migration and integration in Mexican society to show how the racial image of the Chinese shifted over the course of the 1910 revolution and subsequent reconstruction. The shifts in this racial form demonstrate how Mexican anti-Chinese politics, or antichinismo, influenced the formation of mestizo national identity; the exercise of sovereign authority by the postrevolutionary state; and the cultural politics of how Indians became racialized subject/citizens of the Mexican state.

Dr. Chang’s second project expands his interests in hemispheric Asian American history in several ways, with a short-term research agenda that focuses on Asian participation in Pacific and Caribbean seafaring culture. Drawing from business and government records he has begun work on a manuscript entitled Deep Waters: The Maritime World of Greater Asian America, envisioned as a multi-ethnic survey of Asian and Pacific Islander participation in the economy, culture, and labor of the trans-Pacific passage, linking Asia and the Americas. He is particularly interested in the historical development of oceanic occupations for Asian and Pacific Islanders as an abject source of maritime labor tracing its origins in the sixteenth-century Spanish galleon trade, to the British commercial fleets, then to the U.S. Navy and merchant mariners. The long-term research agenda attends to an environmental history of the Pacific, and particularly in the ways that the pelagic environment of the ocean acted as an agent of history in successive imperial regimes, Pacific fishery politics and ocean voyages. His aim is to build an understanding of the particular architecture features of maritime life as an environmentally structured socially signified multi-ethnic/multi-racial contact zone. To this end he traces the influence of the Pacific through the dynamics of its currents and the technological evolution of oceanic domination from the seafaring occupational forces to gunboats to aerial bombing. And, he examines the Pacific Trash Vortex as a material archive of trans-Pacific histories of toxicity, exploitation, dispossession, and imperialism.

Professor Chang teaches courses that bring together the fields of Area Studies, with emphasis on the Pacific and western hemisphere, and Comparative Ethnic Studies that stresses the dependent and contingent nature of race and its intersection with class, gender, and sexuality. His classes address topics such as global capitalism, transnationalism, diaspora, identity and community formation, indigeneity, inter-racial contact zones, governmentality, and the environment, as well as, the legal, cultural, and political economic foundations of colonialism, imperialism, and nationalism in the Americas.

Carline Charmelus joined the Partnership for Strong Communities in February 2015 as a Policy Analyst working to support the Reaching Home Campaign. She is now the Collective Impact and Equity Manager who directs coordination and provides leadership of the Reaching Home Campaign and guides and supports the organization's equity effort.

As a graduate student, Carline interned as a Public Policy Planner for the Access Community Action Agency, where she completed a community needs and assets assessment and worked to mobilize community stakeholders. Before joining the Partnership, Carline worked as an Access to Care Specialist for the United Community and Family Services and assisted individuals and families in applying for health insurance through the Access Health CT exchange.

She is heavily involved in providing leadership and support in her local community. She serves as the Vice-Chair and now Chair of the Board of Sankofa Education and Leadership, Inc.- a non-profit agency that serves marginalized and underserved youth in the Greater Norwich Area, an executive member of her local chapter NAACP branch, and is an elected official of her city's Board of Education. Charmelus is also a deacon in her church where she works with both youth and children, and at times uses her voice in a capacity other than advocating for those who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness, marginalized and in need, when singing with the worship team.

Carline graduated with a B.S. in Psychology and a B.A. in Political Science with High Distinction from Eastern Connecticut State University. She has a Master in Public Administration and a Certificate in Nonprofit Management and a Certificate in Survey Research from the University of Connecticut Department of Public Policy.

Ayesha R. Clarke is a native of Hartford, CT. Ayesha has built a career centered on elevating the voices of those often left out around the city of Hartford. She is a fierce advocate who believes in the power of keeping and establishing meaningful relationships with the community and other stakeholders to accomplish tangible outcomes. 

Ayesha Clarke holds a master's degree in social work with a policy practice concentration (UCONN) and public health (Benedictine University). She also holds a bachelor's in economics from the University of Connecticut. Ayesha has a passion for policy and advocacy work centered on health, criminal justice, and education. Ayesha has a keen understanding of the intersection of community and policy. 

Ayesha is the Interim Executive Director of Health Equity Solutions which is a non-profit organization with a statewide focus on advancing health equity through anti-racist polices and practices. She serves the Co-Chair of the Commission on Racial Equity in Public Health for the State of Connecticut. Ayesha was the former Hartford Board of Education Chairperson, where she served in elected office from 2017-2021.  

Ayesha is a member of The Citadel of Love, the Greater Hartford Branch NAACP, an adjunct professor, and an advisor for the University of Connecticut School of Social Work. Clarke is a proud member of the Hartford Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Ayesha is also the wife to TJ Clarke II for 14 years and the mother of two wonderful and amazing boys.

Nicole Cossette is the Director of CT's Birth to Three Program (Part C Early Intervention) at the CT Office of Early Childhood (OEC). She has a broad background in research and has worked at the OEC previously as an associate research analyst, as well as being a research assistant for the Center for Social Research. Additionally, she has experience with grant monitoring and data analysis, which she did for the CT Alliance to End Sexual Violence. Nicole has a master's degree in applied psychology from Sacred Heart University and is currently a doctoral candidate at the Fielding Graduate University focused on infant and early childhood development.

Rosana G. Ferraro is a Policy & Program Officer at Universal Health Care. She supports the Foundation’s policy, advocacy, and grantmaking priorities to achieve accessible, equitable, affordable, high-quality health care for all.

Rosana has worked in the non-profit sector for over ten years, focusing on children, youth, and families, predominantly in the New Haven area. She was a fellow in the Annie E. Casey Foundation Elm City Fellowship for Children and Families.

Just prior to working at Universal Health Care, she completed an internship at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, DC, as a Fisher Cummings Fellow from Columbia’s School of Social Work. She received her BA from Yale University and graduated from Columbia with a Masters of Social Work, with a focus in Social Policy. She is originally from Puerto Rico.

Scott Gaul is Chief Data Officer for Connecticut, at the Office of Policy and Management, where he supports the state’s efforts to improve open data, integrated data, through the state longitudinal data system, GIS data and data analytics. Previously, Scott worked on research, evaluation and community indicators at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, the community foundation for the Greater Hartford region. Prior to that, he served as director of analysis in the Washington, D.C.-based Microfinance Information Exchange and worked for the World Bank, Mercy Corps, and Quantitative Risk Management. He holds a master’s degree in international affairs from Johns Hopkins and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Chicago.

Steffany is a Presidential Management Fellowship Finalist and currently works as a graduate assistant at the DMHAS Center for Prevention Evaluation and Statistics (CPES) and the CT Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences Data to Action Initiative. She will graduate with a Master's degree in Public Health from UConn Health in May of 2023 and has a Bachelor of Science degree in Allied Health Science. In the past, Steffany worked as a Community Health Worker and a Personal Care Assistant predominantly serving Latin American immigrants. During that time, Steffany helped hundreds of Latinos fill out applications and questionnaires and has made many observations on how Latinos respond to questions on racial identity. Furthermore, as someone who emigrated from Brazil at a young age and grew up in a Brazilian community, Steffany is well versed on the race perceptions of Brazilians and other Latinos, and has personal experiences with struggling to fill out US questions on race as a Latina.

Alfredo Herrera  earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Urban Planning and Certificate of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) from Arizona State University in 2010 and a Master of Science in Aviation Management with a focus on automating change detection from remotely sensed imagery. The Southwest native then moved to Connecticut to take on various roles including IT, Facilities Management consulting, Municipal GIS consulting, and Municipal GIS administration and coordination. He is currently the Geographic Information Officer for the State of Connecticut. In his free time, Alfredo plays the trumpet in the Old Lyme Town Band, repairs and modifies cars for racing events, is a photographer, and is a movie aficionado. 

Celeste Jorge is a supervising epidemiologist at the Connecticut Department of Public Health.  She serves as the state coordinator for the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS).  Celeste has been with the CT Department of Public Health for almost 20 years.  Celeste earned her Master of Public Health from the University of Connecticut and is an adjunct instructor at UConn Health and Quinnipiac University School of Health Sciences.

David Kraiker has worked at the Census Bureau out of the New York City office for the past 25 years. For the past 8 years he has worked in Data Dissemination, teaching and instructing clients in how to download and use Census data. Previously he worked as a Geographer for the Census Bureau, as well as a cartographer at Hammond Maps, Inc. and Geonex. He attended Clark University and Rutgers-Newark. He presently lives in South Orange, NJ with his wife and children. 

Alana Kroeber is the Senior Director of 2-1-1 Specialized Services. 2-1-1 is a program of the United Way of Connecticut (UWC), which helps meet the needs of Connecticut residents by providing information, education, and connection to services. Alana has been with UWC for 17 years and currently oversees the 2-1-1 teams that specialize in information services, child development program, homecare visitation support, and tax assistance. Alana currently serves on the Board of Connecticut Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (CT VOAD) and helps coordinate 2-1-1’s response efforts during disasters. She has an undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University and a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Connecticut and previously spent several years working with Connecticut’s HUSKY program.  

Originally from California, Barbara learned about the importance of her community from her Guatemalan parents, who came to the United States in search of a better life. Barbara has been deeply invested in social justice for the past decade. She organized with Service Employees International Union locals in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Minnesota and California. There Barbara was able to empower thousands of health care workers, home care workers and child care providers to form unions and secure contracts. Barbara received an Associate Degree of Liberal Arts from Santa Monica College, Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a Master of Science in Labor Studies from University of Massachusetts, Amherst. In 2015, Barbara became the second co-founding organizer and built Make the Road Connecticut. In 2018, Barbara bravely shattered the “glass ceiling” by becoming the first generation Latinx, womxn of color and radical feminist executive director of the second generation Make the Road Family and first ever in Connecticut. Under her leadership, Barbara has cultivated an organization that fosters leadership from community members, oversees statewide campaigns that center people of color, conducted countless public actions, and formed a strong foundation for the next generation. Barbara believes acts of resistance can be making space for deep reflection, rest, joy and love. In her spare time, you can find Barbara spending time with her family, playing with her dog, painting, hanging out at the beach or enjoying nature. 

Barbara can be reached at barbara.lopez@maketheroadct.org

Dr. Fawatih Mohamed Abouh attained a Master’s Degree in Public Health from the Program in Applied Public Health Sciences at the University of Connecticut, USA, in 2016, where she currently teaches Public Health students. Dr. Abouh is teaching Health Administration and Data Visualization in Public Health, to both graduate and undergraduate students. She has extensive expertise and academic interests in epidemiology, applied research, program evaluation, and public health systems. Additionally, Dr. Abouh holds the full-time position of Health Equity Epidemiologist at Yale New Haven Health System in Connecticut, USA. Before coming to the US, Dr. Abouh graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Gezira in Sudan. She completed her residency training in Khartoum, Sudan, and then worked at the Ministry of Health in Oman for more than 8 years.

In her spare time, she participates as a board member and a reviewer for a number of grants making organizations in the state of Connecticut and continues to have recognizable efforts in philanthropy, especially in advocating for the Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) communities in the State of Connecticut

Onyeka is responsible for managing CTNext’s full array of strategic economic development programs focused on fostering entrepreneurship, startup and growth-stage businesses while cultivating a robust innovation ecosystem on behalf of the State of Connecticut.

Onyeka has held a variety of entrepreneurial economic development roles throughout his career. He has held innovation fellowships and entrepreneurial leadership positions at the Yale Center for Business and the Environment, Dwight Hall at Yale: Center for Public Service and Social Justice, and the Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale (Tsai CITY). As co-founder and COO of the “A Happy Life” coffee roasting company, Onyeka was recognized by the National Retail Federation for establishing a retail outlet that exemplified excellence in careers, community, and innovation.

Onyeka holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Connecticut and lives in New Haven. He has earned inclusion in Connecticut Magazine’s “40 Under 40” and has been recognized as a Next City Vanguard, Nantucket Project Scholar, and a “100 Men of Color” honoree. He consults for entrepreneurship service organizations in Budapest and Beijing and has had his work featured in Fast Company, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and Take Magazine.

Yaprak Onat is the Assistant Director of Research for the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation (CIRCA). She coordinates the planning, development, design, implementation, and evaluation of flood risk mitigation projects for coastal resilience and engages in workshops and training to improve science communication for capacity-building activities.

Before joining CIRCA, Yaprak worked as a post-doctoral researcher, specializing in modeling the extreme swell environment of the Hawaiian Islands. She also developed the coastal vulnerability map and modeled the extratropical storm-generated swell effects and their impact on the coastal exposure of the Hawaiian Islands. Yaprak worked on various risk assessment and engineering projects, with topics including tsunami inundation, sea level rise, and wave exposure assessment. Her work led her to collaborate with multi-disciplinary groups, including scientists, municipality representatives, and members of the indigenous and coastal community. She has experience doing fieldwork, focusing mostly on in-situ deployments and assisting in managing experimental laboratory conditions.

Her goal is to increase the adaptive capacity of coastal regions via hazard management strategies to develop the most optimal approaches for the sustainability of the coastal communities. Her outreach interests focus on improving the learning environment and teaching techniques for STEM students.

Yaprak holds a Ph.D. in Ocean and Resources Engineering from the University of Hawai‛i at Manoa and M.S. from Ocean and Resources Engineering from the University of Hawai‛i at Manoa and Civil Engineering from Middle East Technical University.

Courtney is a Director with The Connecticut Project where she works with partners, grantees, and community members to understand the lived experiences of our neighbors and collaborates to generate meaningful individual outcomes and systemic change.

Prior to joining The Connecticut Project, Courtney managed a portfolio of early childhood policy initiatives at Bank Street College of Education. She also held leadership roles in the New York City Department of Education. Courtney lives with her husband and three children in Essex, Connecticut.

Julian A. Pierce is Director of Economic Opportunity at Fairfield County's Community Foundation, where he specializes in developing and implementing collective impact and community-based strategies focused on systems change for racial equity in the areas of housing affordability, income growth, and asset-building for low-to-moderate income residents across southwestern Connecticut.

Prior to joining FCCF in 2017, Julian worked as a Housing Counselor for Building Neighborhoods Together (formerly Bridgeport Neighborhood Trust) preparing first-time homebuyers to be purchase-ready and assisting individuals and families at risk of foreclosure through loss-mitigation counseling. He helped low-to-moderate income families understand and grow their finances, chart paths to become homeownership-ready through credit repair and debt management and connected residents to vital resources to ease them through the homebuying process and address basic needs.

Julian holds a master’s in community program development from the University of New Haven and a bachelor’s in psychology and sociology from the University of Miami. He is also a HUD-certified housing counselor.

Luc Schuster is the Executive Director of Boston Indicators. He has spent his career doing public policy research, writing, consulting and advocacy. Prior to joining Boston Indicators he worked as Deputy Director at the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center. Luc has also done a range of school finance research, including providing analytic support for the City of Boston’s Tuition-Free Community College program and doing K-12 funding research for the Massachusetts Association School Business Officials and the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents. Luc was a two-term member of the Cambridge School Committee and has a Master in Public Policy degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Susan R. Smith attended Williams College for her undergraduate, double majoring in Psychology + Studio Art, and Duke University for law school.

She has been a State of Connecticut employee for nearly 28 years. She’s held various positions at the CT Department of Children and Families, including the Procurement Program Director, the Director of the Office of Research + Evaluation, and the Chief of Quality + Planning. Presently, she is the Department of Social Services’ Director of Business Intelligence + Analytics and serves as the agency’s Data Officer.

Over Susan’s career, she has focused on advancing cultural and linguistic competence and racial equity across all aspects of service delivery for Connecticut citizens. In her capacity as DCF’s Chief of Quality + Planning, she served as the Executive Sponsor for the agency’s Racial Justice activities. In 2018, Susan was awarded the Department’s Dr. Janet E. Williams Humanitarian Award for her “Exemplary Leadership and Commitment to Racial Justice.”

Presently, she is continuing efforts to make high quality data more accessible and actionable through an equity, inclusion, and diversity lens. As the chairperson of DSS’ Data Governance Committee (DGC), she has led the development of Race/Ethnicity data collection and reporting recommendations. The DGC is also standing up a data request process and approach that actively assesses for equity within the protection and security of PHI, PII + other sensitive data. To that end, Susan has authored a Data Protection, Privacy + Equity Impact Assessment tool that is currently being reviewed for adoption by the State’s P20 WIN initiative.

Last, Susan is a member of the CT State Data Plan’s Equity Affinity Group and a planning member of the Equity Community of Practice that is convened by the CT Data Collaborative. On both groups, she is part of a community of individuals dedicated to collecting, analyzing, sharing, and using data in an equitable, ethical, and culturally responsive way.

Rachel Smith Hale is the Assistant Director of the Research on Resilient Cities, Racism, and Equity (RRCRE) initiative at UConn Hartford (formerly known as the Sustainable Global Cities Initiative). Her current projects include mapping community-led neighborhood beautification efforts in Hartford, curating educational content for a new urban linear park, and designing a new database cataloging regional archives and collections related to the city of Hartford. A UConn alum with a MA in Early American History from University of Colorado-Boulder, Ms. Hale previously worked in the Office of the Connecticut State Historian, as well as for several Connecticut museums as researcher, writer, archivist, and exhibit curator.

Lynn is the founder and executive director of Sustainable CT. Sustainable CT was launched by the Institute for Sustainable Energy at Eastern Connecticut State University (ISE) under Lynn’s leadership as executive director of ISE from 2014 to 2022. In 2022, Sustainable CT became a stand-alone nonprofit, continuing its mission foster inclusive, resilient, and vibrant Connecticut municipalities that provide opportunities for all to thrive. Lynn has over 25 years of experience in developing public policy and managing a broad range of environmental programs and worked at the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection for many years in areas including: climate change, energy efficiency, recycling, solid waste planning, pollution prevention, and coastal area management. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and Political Science from Bucknell University and a Master’s Degree in Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania. Lynn is an enthusiastic gardener, composter, and frequent bike-commuter and strives to live her values and create positive models for change.

Bethanne has been working in the field of early childhood for over 20 years. Her specialty area is Early Intervention, Public Health and Mental Health.

She provides professional development and technical assistance across the state. Her areas of professional development interest include inclusion, developmental surveillance, autism, social and emotional, and medically fragile children.

In March 2019 Bethanne was selected to be the Connecticut Act Early Ambassador for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Act Early is a national campaign aiming to improve early identification of children with autism and other developmental disabilities so children and families can get the services and support they need. Created by the CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities and other federal partners, the campaign aims to educate parents, caregivers, and providers about childhood development, including early warning signs of autism and other developmental disorders, while promoting developmental screening and intervention.

In August 2020 Bethanne was selected to be the Children’s Mental Health Champion for the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In September 2020 Bethanne was chosen to coordinate the Learn the Signs Act Early COVID response for Connecticut to provide support to early childhood state/territorial programs and systems through the Act Early Network to support COVID-19 recovery and strengthen resilience skills, behaviors, and resources for children, families, and communities.

Bethanne attended Quinnipiac University and Saint Joseph’s University.

Pauline is the Open Data Coordinator at the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management. She manages the Connecticut Open Data Portal (data.ct.gov) and works with agencies to make their data available to the public as open data. She is interested in making data accessible and usable to promote government transparency and spark innovation. Prior to joining OPM, Pauline worked in higher education and the nonprofit sector. She holds a Masters in Public and Urban Policy from The New School.